Persistent, Niggling Questions

[whoiam]

I think because with a clockwise groove on the bottle lids, twisting clockwise increases the tightness, therefore it's an anticlockwise turn to remove it...

Which does kinda make sense if you associate taking the lids off with turning the volume off...

[mudshark]

Why do we open cans, bottles, toothpaste tubes, etc. by turning counter-clockwise but increase the volume on a radio by turning the knob clockwise?

Seems a bit inconsistent to me. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v27/Sloublues/Smilies/pd_thinking.gif
I think that's two separate things, really. Twist caps and such open with a counter-clockwise (or anti-clockwise, if you like) twist because someone (Archimedes, maybe) decided that a right-handed thread was The Way We Will Do Things (unless it really, really had to be left-handed.)

Volume knobs and other potentiometer-type controls work more in the reading-left-to-right sense -- Left = Lo/Min ---> Right = Hi/Max -- even though a rotary motion is used, it's a linear function.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/mudshark58/photos/spinal_tap_but_it_goes_to_eleven.jpg

Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

[Nate the Great]

Do they say anticlockwise in Canada? Putting aside my Americentrism, it seems to me that "counterclockwise" is just plain easier to say. Less mouth movement and all that.

[Nate the Great]

I'd create a new thread for this, but I'm not really sure it's worth it. I have no idea how many TVTropes fans we have here in the forums, but a major event just happened over there. I'll let the newspost (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScavengerHunt) explain it, but technical difficulties have deleted a huge chunk of the site. I'd help with the effort (I LOVE the site), but as I've established several times, my webpage authoring skills stink.

In any event, the PNQ is this: how come webpages today aren't automatically backed up? As in, if the page is modified a certain number of times in a day, a backup point is automatically generated that the administrator can access. Even keep a few backups: last change, a day ago, a month ago.

[whoiam]

I could type out a nice, long, disjointed rant on this point, but essentially it comes down to: "Most hosting packages and prebuilt servers come with weedy little allocations of disk space and/or restrictions on permanent scripts or data transfer, which, together, make regular/multiple backups unfeasable for any site not backed by a decent amount of money"

[Nate the Great]

So how come the Wayback Machine can keep track of this stuff?

To change direction...

If there was one set of homonyms that you could just snap your fingers and POOF they'd be represented by different words? Its and it's? Their and there? Heck, "bank" is a financial institution, an array of terminals, the area of land on one side of a body of water, etc.

Would it be neat or worthwhile if the tropics could get one decent snowfall a year, with the northern latitudes getting one decent hot summer day a year in return (a la The Year Without A Santa Claus)?

Would it be easier to get ten random people to agree on pizza toppings or ice cream sundaes?

Okay, this is a BIG one: how come we can't get pronounciation guides (whether print or online) that actually consists of letters and phrases that we can understand? To whit: I go to the page for Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia) itself and see:
"Wikipedia (IPA: /ˌwɪkɨˈpiːdiə/, /ˌwiːkiˈpiːdiə/, /ˌwɪkiˈpiːdiə/ or /ˌwiːkiˈpeɪdiə/)"
Putting aside the fact that a site shouldn't have four official pronounciations for its own name, what does "wɪkɨˈpiːdiə" sound like? I don't know. What's wrong with phonetic pronounciation guides? "wih-kee-pee-dee-ah." You can pronounce that, right? Oh, I'm sure Professor Henry Higgins knows exactly what each symbol means, but I don't have a clue.

[whoiam]

[long, long, long rant] -I used greater and lesser than, and it thought it was a tag...

Pass

HELL YES. I've been waiting to see a summer's day that didn't have rainclouds in it since my last holiday to America.

Ice-cream, probably. Last I checked pizzas tended to get shared between more people, so more people have to agree on one set of toppings... (Unless this is the 10-person version of each, in which case, probably still pizza.)

As for the wikipedia pronounceation guide, I think it's part of their not-so-secret conspiracy to keep control of the wikipedia in the hands of 14-year-olds with too much time on their hands.

As for in general, beats me. Maybe the guide authors are afraid they'll be considered the idiots of the pronunciation-guide industry if they don't use at least three defunct symbols per every 2 syllables...

[Nate the Great]

At least you Canadians get pleasantly warm (not boiling) summers to correspond with frigid winters, right?

You're right, ice cream and pizza are bad to compare. How about ice cream and coffee? Even though I don't drink coffee, I can see all of the options available...

Joe Fox (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/You%27ve_Got_Mail) (Tom Hanks, You've Got Mail): The whole purpose of places like Starbucks is for people with no decision-making ability whatsoever to make six decisions just to buy one cup of coffee. Short, tall, light, dark, caf, decaf, low-fat, non-fat, etc. So people who don't know what the hell they're doing or who on earth they are, can, for only $2.95, get not just a cup of coffee but an absolutely defining sense of self.

[whoiam]

I'm not a Canadian, I'm English. And in England. And it's raining. Again.

I'm with you on the Coffee. Where'd I leave that Anti-Starbucks Revolutionary Army recruitment poster?

[Nate the Great]

I use Canada as a convenient catch-all for 5M.net forumgoers on the assumption that if I don't know otherwise, Canada is a safer bet than anything else.

[mudshark]

Do they say anticlockwise in Canada?
You should go ask a Canadian.

I use Canada as a convenient catch-all for 5M.net forumgoers on the assumption that if I don't know otherwise, Canada is a safer bet than anything else.
I should think that, in whoiam's case, "Birmingham Uni" in the location field would have been a dead giveaway.

You do look at those, right?

[Nate the Great]

Not very often. Where is UMRK anyway?

[Chancellor Valium]

Somewhere ishways from NWSE?

[Nate the Great]

So I'm watching the Star Trek V DVD, and I notice something odd for the first time. The caption says "Yosemite National Park." Are there really still "nations" as such in the 23rd century? The United States ceased to exist in the late 21st century, right?

[whoiam]

Whilst the nation ceased to exist, it may still exist as an administrative region / they might have been too lazy to rename the landmarks.

Or the captions weren't done by Trekkies, so they used the wrong name - you do see mistakes in them from time to time.

[NAHTMMM]

There are probably still "state"/"province" and "local" parks as well.

[Nate the Great]

Oooh, geography semantics! Gotta love 'em.

[LtFielding]

Why is WWW an abbreviation to World Wide Web when it is easier to say World Wide Web?

[Nate the Great]

For that matter, why is it called "double u?" Why not "wuh?"

[mudshark]

Why is WWW an abbreviation to World Wide Web when it is easier to say World Wide Web?
Easier to type or write, I'm thinking.

[Tate]

Why is WWW an abbreviation to World Wide Web when it is easier to say World Wide Web?
It isn't. WWW is an abbreviation for World Three (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Three).

What?

[LtFielding]

Why does the World Wide Web need a logo?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/WWWlogo.png

[mudshark]

It isn't. WWW is an abbreviation for World Three (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Three).

What?
Or, sometimes, The Wild Wild West (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Wild_West), also known as W3.

No, not the Will Smith one, the other one.

[mudshark]

Why does the World Wide Web need a logo?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/WWWlogo.png
At the time the logo was created (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_wide_web#History), it was much more of a unique product, service and web presence. Now, not so much -- things have gotten a lot more crowded.

[Chancellor Valium]

Why do people always refer to the Fifth Way as the Argument From Design? It's nothing of the sort!

[Nate the Great]

Have scientists calculated the optimal moisture content needed for snow to make the perfect snowball?

[AKAArzosah]

Oh god, don't suggest such a thing! I've read of studies to find out what the best method is to help with nicotine cravings (smoking apparently) and extensive scientific studies into what's worse, the sound of puking or a baby crying.

Whatever happened to that cancer thing that was popular a few years back? They cured it I suppose? You don't hear about it.


And while we're on the topic: Cancer. CAN it be cured? From my understanding of it it seems like it couldn't possibly be possible. But that's with only a basic education in Biology.

[Nate the Great]

Um, next topic?

[MaverickZer0]

It isn't. WWW is an abbreviation for World Three (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Three).

What?

I was also under the impression everyone knew this.

[catalina_marina]

Why is WWW an abbreviation to World Wide Web when it is easier to say World Wide Web?

Only in English, dear. :P

[Nate the Great]

I could look this up, but I might as well hassle you guys: Is it

Blue, blue-green, green-blue, green
Or
Blue, green-blue, blue-green, green?

How do you know if you're in love? Honestly, this one has been both Persisting and Niggling me for quite some time.

What does fruitcake really taste like? I've never had any, never intend to, but still...

[PointyHairedJedi]

Only in English, dear. :P

You do all speak it anyway. :p

[mudshark]

What does fruitcake really taste like? I've never had any, never intend to, but still...

Like brandy, if done properly.

[Nate the Great]

And what if it's NOT done properly? ;)
Actually, I have no idea what brandy tastes like.

Don't most people just say "the Web" these days?

[PointyHairedJedi]

And what if it's NOT done properly? ;)
Hobo feet.



(Ha ha, I made you imagine what hobo feet taste like.)

[Nate the Great]

No, you made me question anew how you managed to get out of that straightjacket. :)

[mudshark]

And what if it's NOT done properly?
Hobo feet.



(Ha ha, I made you imagine what hobo feet taste like.)
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/mudshark58/smilies/mad.gif

[Nate the Great]

I hereby declare today to be Junk Food Day here in the PNQ thread!

I can understand how "pop" was applied to carbonated beverages, but what about "soda?"

Do they say "ketchup" or "catsup" in Canada?

Aren't there umpteen more efficient ways to get flavored sugar to your mouth than Pixie Stix?

What's the more common pronounciation: "car-mell" or "care-a-mel?"

Why do peanut butter and chocolate make such a great combination? WHY?

[mudshark]

I can understand how "pop" was applied to carbonated beverages, but what about "soda?"
Soda water is the part which gives it the carbonation (contains sodium bicarbonate, or did in Britain.)

Do they say "ketchup" or "catsup" in Canada?
Both.

Aren't there umpteen more efficient ways to get flavored sugar to your mouth than Pixie Stix?
Define "umpteen".

What's the more common pronounciation: "car-mell" or "care-a-mel?"
Neither.

Why do peanut butter and chocolate make such a great combination? WHY?
They just do. Ask again, and we'll take yours away.

[Nate the Great]

Um, how can baking soda add fizz to water? Or are we assuming here that water back then was slightly acidic?

Umpteen is an unknown, theoretically large number. Eighteen, nineteen, ... umpteen.

So how do you say carmel?

[AKAArzosah]

Caramel? ... ... ... ... Nope, I give up. The Australian pronounciation just doesn't work in text. Seriously, I spent about 10 minutes trying to figure it out.

But the ketsup? Here in Australia we pronounce that 'tuh-ma-toe sorce'.

Pixie sticks - that's those foot long tubes of fizzy-ish powder right?

Peanut Butter and chocolate, god I wish they had Reeses Peanut Butter cups here... as it is I have to buy them online.

Whoops, I would ask some questions of my own but I gotta get off the net (stupid not-broadband, *mutter mutter*).

[Nate the Great]

But ketchup isn't just tomato sauce.

[AKAArzosah]

Is there really as many HotDog stands in the USA as the movies make out (seems like practically every street corner)?

What's your favourite chocolate/candy bar? (open to everyone, US or otherwise)

Are there really TV dinners in little trays with each food item separated?

Random question: How much do you get trading in bottles and cans in the US?

[AKAArzosah]

I always thought they were the same thing. It's 'the red sauce you put on Hot Dogs' often accompanied by mustard. Hey Wikipedia agrees with me!

Is ketchup chunky or smooth or what? I guess it just depends on your own definition.

[Tate]

I always thought they were the same thing. It's 'the red sauce you put on Hot Dogs' often accompanied by mustard. Hey Wikipedia agrees with me!

True enough, but by my understanding, there are two ingrediants in ketchup that set it apart from other tomato sauces: corn syrup and vinegar. It's vinegar in particular that give ketchup its distinctive flavor.

What I want to know is why ketchup is so often referred to on labels as "tomato ketchup." Is there some sort of non-tomato ketchup I just don't know about?

Oh, and I'm not certain that I've ever seen a hot dog stand (except in movies), despite have lived in America for all my life. That's not to say that I've never had a hot dog before. But when I've had hot dogs, I've usually gotten them at a barberque or restraunt, not a stand-alone hot dog cart or stand. Then again, I've spent practically no time in big cities, like Chicago or New York, where I could more easily imagine such hot dog stands existing.

[Nate the Great]

Unless you're talking about one of our MANY county fairs, festivals, and so forth, no, we don't really have that many hot dog stands. However, at the Minneapolis State Fair we pride ourselves in having many MANY things on sticks, including hot dogs (with and without fried corn batter over it).

Ketchup is smooth. That's what makes it ketchup. If the tomato is unevenly coagulated that's called "you didn't shake the bottle before using it."

My favorite candy bar (if you mean out and out candy bar, not just any old candy that you can get in the grocery store checkout line), it's the Fast Break. I love those things.

If you mean any candy sold in roughly bar-shaped parcels NEXT to the proper candy bars, Starbursts. Yum.

Yes, we have TV dinners with each entree in a separate compartment within the same tray.

Can and bottle reimbursements depend on the state. Some states give nothing, others a nickel, others a dime.

[mudshark]

But ketchup isn't just tomato sauce.
The ketchup (ketjap manis) which originally came to the attention of Europeans (brought back by the British and Dutch East India Companies in the 18th century) didn't have any tomatoes in it (tomatoes are native to the New World), and ketchup as we know it here and now most certainly is tomato sauce. (Have you ever made ketchup? It takes a lot of tomatoes to make it.)


What I want to know is why ketchup is so often referred to on labels as "tomato ketchup." Is there some sort of non-tomato ketchup I just don't know about?


Many of them, in fact. See here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup



There aren't as many hot dog stands as there used to be, and even in the old days, I don't think even Brooklyn had one on every corner.

There really are TV dinners in compartmented trays, but there's a lot more variety than there used to be and some of them are really quite good.

How much you get trading in cans and bottles depends upon the size of the container and where you are, to some extent.

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Here in Australia we pronounce that 'tuh-ma-toe sorce'.

When I was in Grade 3 in Australia, someone told me not to confuse the words "sauce" and "source". Since I wasn't really listening with an Australian accent then (everyone sounded normal, and I couldn't tell that I didn't speak the same way as them), I had no idea what he was talking about because the two words sounded completely different.

[Nate the Great]

Banana ketchup? Actually, that sounds like a good name for a rock band. :)

Yeah, I'm told that with a certain accent "garnish" turns into "gornish." I'm sure a similar phenomenon happens all over the place.

[AKAArzosah]

When I was in Grade 3 in Australia, someone told me not to confuse the words "sauce" and "source". Since I wasn't really listening with an Australian accent then (everyone sounded normal, and I couldn't tell that I didn't speak the same way as them), I had no idea what he was talking about because the two words sounded completely different.

I agree that they sound completely different, I'm just finding it impossible to WRITE how they SOUND.

In my opinion there's a very distinct 'r' sound in both, but MORE distinctive in 'source'. Then again, there are differences across Australia just like there are in the US - not as pronounced, but definitely there.

[Nate the Great]

Considering how some English-print mangas mirror everything to left/right instead of right/left, I wonder: Is there actually some factor that makes one orientation preferable, or is it totally a coin-flip personal preference?

[NAHTMMM]

Is there really as many HotDog stands in the USA as the movies make out (seems like practically every street corner)?
I will go with Tate's answer on this one.

What's your favourite chocolate/candy bar? (open to everyone, US or otherwise)
I dunno. Snickers or plain chocolate. Others are good too.

[Chancellor Valium]

What's your favourite chocolate/candy bar? (open to everyone, US or otherwise)

Humm. Tough one, but I'd go for Fry's peppermint creams.

[Nate the Great]

Should we start a second list of "signs you've been around 5M.net too long?" I think I could come up with some fun stuff!

[PointyHairedJedi]

Considering how some English-print mangas mirror everything to left/right instead of right/left, I wonder: Is there actually some factor that makes one orientation preferable, or is it totally a coin-flip personal preference?
The only one I've read is Nausicaa, and that wasn't flipped which bothered me not a jot, so I guess I don't care all that much.

Also, corn syrup is why Americans are all fat (hooray for gross overgeneralisations!).

[Tate]

"No wonder everyone in America is so fat. All there is to eat is waffles and French fries." - Masahashi Ando-Kun, "Seven Minutes to Midnight", Heroes

[MaverickZer0]

Should we start a second list of "signs you've been around 5M.net too long?" I think I could come up with some fun stuff!

We did that ages ago, but I think it died on page 50 or something ridiculously high like that.

[Nate the Great]

A third list then, or however many lists it takes for me to actually be present to contribute.

[AKAArzosah]

In keeping with the 'junk food' theme a bit back, what are 'grits'?

[Tate]

In keeping with the 'junk food' theme a bit back, what are 'grits'?
It's been a while since I've had any, so my memory is a little rusty, but I think they're basically a hot cereal, like oatmeal or cream-of-wheat. The difference is that grits are thicker than other cereals and are eaten on a plate with a fork instead of in a bowl with a spoon. I usually think of grits being served topped with butter and with sausages on the side, instead of with sugar or fruit like other hot cereals.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I could go to wikipedia to check, but if you had wanted their answer, you probably would have just gone there. :)

Edit: I did check the wikipedia article after all. It specified that grits are made of ground corn. The picture in the article showed grits in a bowl, so I may have been wrong about the "plate instead of a bowl" aspect of my answer. Oh well.

[mudshark]

^ Grits are indeed made from corn (maize). What you may have seen eaten with a fork was whole hominy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominy) (corn kernels) but grits may be served either in a bowl or on a plate. In the South, they're often served with breakfast, instead of (or alongside) potatoes. I likes 'em -- butter and sugar, please.

[AKAArzosah]

I asked here instead of using Wikipedia because I knew I'd get variations on the same answer. :)

Strangely, I had pictured some sort of fried meat of something. I don't know why exactly, I think that's just what the word 'grits' sounded like to me.

I'm hungry...

[PointyHairedJedi]

We did that ages ago, but I think it died on page 50 or something ridiculously high like that.
Holy cow, I can't beleive how much spam we used to generate. I mean, Topic Title alone...

[Nate the Great]

"Used to?" Past tense? There's a PNQ for you...

[mudshark]

No, it's all yours.

Really!

[PointyHairedJedi]

"Used to?" Past tense? There's a PNQ for you...
This? This isn't anything, kid. Seventy-odd pages of "Statement of vague agreement, followed by promises of further summary executions until significant improvements in morale have occured", now that's spam.

[Nate the Great]

I suppose so?

How come the forum header has CamelCase for "Minute," but not "Net?" Shouldn't it either be fiveminute.net, Fiveminute.net, or FiveMinute.Net, but not FiveMinute.net?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Confusing, isn't it. :D

[Nate the Great]

Didn't we give a few people the power to delete spam threads? That porn thing is really bothering me...

[PointyHairedJedi]

I do, and I have. First spam bot to get through in a while - Zeke will be so pleased to hear of it.

[mudshark]

We had a porn thing?

[NAHTMMM]

Why is any post we don't understand called a "thing"?

[PointyHairedJedi]

We had a porn thing?
Yes, the Internet invaded, but I took care of it. Incidentally, if anyone asks about that freshly turned patch of earth out back, you don't know anything.

[Nate the Great]

Yeah, if anybody asks, Zeke's starting a rutabaga patch.

Why rutabagas? First of all, it's just a funny word. Second of all, in Winnie-the-Pooh and the Blustery Day, a Piglet-kite-towing Pooh plows through Rabbit's carrot patch, neatly depositing the carrots into a wheelbarrow. So Rabbit says, "Next time I hope he goes through my rutabaga patch."

Today's lesson has been brought to you by the letter X, as in "Nate's mind can be so X-asperating."

Why do I suddenly hear groans? ;)

[mudshark]

Call any vegetable, and the chances are good that the vegetable will respond to you.

[Nate the Great]

Is there a way to stop these stupid porn threads? Perhaps a rule within the forums themselves that says that you can't post images when you start, but only when someone gives you the right to, perhaps along with your personalized member title?

[PointyHairedJedi]

I suspect that question might have to go back to AntonyF first, but I'm sure something can be done about it.

[Nate the Great]

How stupid are these spammers to think that we're actually going to click on threads with titles that look like license plates?

[Nate the Great]

What are the standards that make some threads "sticky-worthy" and others not? Of course, some site-specific events deserve to be more prominent for their duration, but if traffic a la the Link Dump thread merits stickying, perhaps this thread is just as worthy. Just a thought, and a PNQ to boot.

[PointyHairedJedi]

You'd have to delve into the depths of Zeke's mind to find the answer to that one.


Bon voyage!

[Nate the Great]

Is that latest spam topic title actually supposed to mean, well, ANYTHING?

[AKAArzosah]

Åñëè ó êîìïàíèè "Microsoft" ëó÷øå âñåõ, ïîëó

It means they need to get a Mac.

[Nate the Great]

The other day I saw the following PNQ on a T-shirt. I swear I saw it in real life first, but you may want to see it for yourself:

If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? (http://www.roadkilltshirts.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=PS%200058%20CHOCK%20A%2 0SMURF_RK)

Understand, I've nothing against Smurfs. It just tickled my funny bone.

[Nate the Great]

Yeah, I'm too lazy to look, but do we have a joke thread? Because I just found a joke on TVTropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/ykttw.php?interval=1) that I just love:

Q: How many Pokemon trainers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Only one, but he needs the six badges and the HM for Change Lightbulb.

He-he.

[PointyHairedJedi]

I actually remember what a HM is too. I think I've still got Pokemon Blue around here somewhere...

[Nate the Great]

That leads into another PNQ: How could a live creature just "forget" one skill to learn another?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Bring alcohol into the picture and it's not so hard to imagine.

[Nate the Great]

Would anybody care to apply the following to me?

Dave (http://www.reallifecomics.com/archive/041206.html): You're like an enigma, wrapped in a Twinkie.

:)

[PointyHairedJedi]

Wrap you in crinkly cellophane? You know, the the thought does have a certain strange appeal to it...,

[Nate the Great]

Har har. Not quite what I meant. I do admit, however, that I was reaching for a way to post another Real Life comic without making the Link Dump thread look like the Nate's Kitchen Sink Mind any more than it was. So I reached and turned the link into a PNQ.

[Nate the Great]

Less a PNQ than a game, but...

Suppose you had to create a new webalias for everything you did online. No variation of anything you'd gone by before would be allowed, nor would any variation of your real name. This means no adding on numbers, modifications such as CamelCase and underscores, etc. What would it be?

Sometimes I think Hooloovoo would be a cool webalias. After all, what could be better than being a superintelligent shade of the color blue if you're online? :)

[MaverickZer0]

Eh. I already have five or six screen names floating around out there, what'd one more be? Five or six at least, actually.

[PointyHairedJedi]

I'd probably just pick something from Dune. I did once, already.

[Chancellor Valium]

I quite fancy "Negative Dialectic".

[Nate the Great]

Mav, the point was to think of something unusual.

PNQ: Why would a zombie want to eat brains in the first place? It's not like any known digestive process would let them absorb the brains directly into their own skulls or anything. It'd just be broken down like any other food, and there are a plethora of other foodstuffs that must be easier to come by.

[MaverickZer0]

I already am unusual. Therefore thinking of myself would be unwarranted and cause a quantum paradox, not to mention being exceedingly vain.

As it is, I would probably use 'shadeofblues' because that's my special writing/ranting livejournal already.

[Nate the Great]

"No variation of anything you'd gone by before would be allowed, nor would any variation of your real name."

Try again, Mav?

[MaverickZer0]

Then that leaves out pretty much anything I would use. I think up new screen names fairly often for character journals and while I might think about using one of those (13), I probably wouldn't pick a new screen name for myself.

[PointyHairedJedi]

I feel a rebellion coming on!

No, hang on, that's just wind.



(Zombies don't need a reason, by the by; much like Chuck Norris they exist for one purpose only, and logic doesn't even begin to come into it.)

[Nate the Great]

It's Food Day again in the PNQ thread!

1. Were New York-style pizzas and Chicago-style pizzas really invented in those cities?
2. I can sort of understand the evolution of black licorice, but why make something the exact same shape, only strawberry-flavored? Not that I'm complaining, I love red vines and gag on the black ones, I'm just saying that while the evolution of black licorice is understandable, the evolution of red ones is less so.
3. Does the term "low-sodium Saltine crackers" seem a little bizarre to anyone?
4. Along these same lines, is there really no artificial sodium-free "salt flavor" yet?
5. I'm still confused about this whole umami/savory/"sixth flavor" business. Anyone care to take a stab at it?
6. Simularly, while I know there's a connection between smell and taste, how? Do the sensory tracks somehow overlap to create a new sensation once in awhile? Is smell just a different "data layer" (to use a bizarre optical disc metaphor) than taste?
7. Knowing that it's possible to overknead bread dough, has someone come up with a unit for this, to calculate how many times you have to fold and smash the stuff?
8. I think I once read an Uncle John's article about this, but still...how can one set of people say cookie and another set say biscuit, which means something completely different to the first set? It's a cycle of confusion!
9. Whatever happened to Sprite Remix? I know that it was just a temporary thing, but did it seriously not sell enough? I should've stocked up on Berryclear when I had the chance, I loved that stuff...

[PointyHairedJedi]

4. Along these same lines, is there really no artificial sodium-free "salt flavor" yet?
I would guess not, though there's a product in the UK called LoSalt which contains only a third sodium chloride (the other two thirds being potassium chloride), which is supposed to be a healthier alternative.

5. I'm still confused about this whole umami/savory/"sixth flavor" business. Anyone care to take a stab at it?
What's to be confused about? It's just a thing we have taste receptors for, though I seem to vaguely remember we have less of those taste buds than the ones for other flavours.

6. Simularly, while I know there's a connection between smell and taste, how? Do the sensory tracks somehow overlap to create a new sensation once in awhile? Is smell just a different "data layer" (to use a bizarre optical disc metaphor) than taste?

I suspect there will be an evolutionary reason for them being tied together like that; what's a more interesting question to me is is this a human thing, or does it effect other animals too?

7. Knowing that it's possible to overknead bread dough, has someone come up with a unit for this, to calculate how many times you have to fold and smash the stuff?

I expect so, even if it's completely unscientific or just plain made up (go look up the 'smoot' on Wikipedia).

[Nate the Great]

Yeah, but I keep seeing descriptions that use "sixth flavor" in quotes, as though it's not quite official. If there are taste buds that are not sweet, sour, bitter, salty, or spicy, then it's as official a taste as the others, right?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Yes, but it's a relatively recent discovery, and so hasn't filtered into the popular consciousness yet; it's therefore perfectly understandable why it should be described so, not perhaps least because of lingering scepticism.

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: Will "umami" stick, or will everybody just use "savory?"

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: Anybody care to go on a scavenger hunt around the Internet for me?

Long story, but suffice to say I accidentally closed a window on something I wanted to keep track of, and now it's gone and I can't find it. PM for details.

[mudshark]

In 25 words, or less: What is it?

[Nate the Great]

As best as I can remember, this is the story...

I was wandering around TV Tropes as per usual when I found a link to a particular strip from a webcomic. I can't remember the name of the comic nor which TV Tropes page I used to get there, but this strip at least was very memorable. I accidentally closed the window before I could bookmark it.

The trope that was being discussed was how people like Batman can leave any room as soon as people look away or are temporarily distracted by a smokescreen or something. In this strip (drawn by a fan in Timmverse/Diniverse style, if that helps) Commissioner Gordon is saying that THIS time, he's not going to look away, so Batman will have to exit via the door like a normal person. This leads to an awkward moment which is very funny, then Batman says something lame in a pathetic attempt to distract Gordon so he can leave as he'd like.

I hope that helps. I didn't describe this in the first post because...well...I didn't want my embarassment catalogued for eternal posterity on the Net, I suppose. But I guess I've had much more embarassing things saved in the forum archive, haven't I?

[Chancellor Valium]

...Given the formulaic nature of the joke, Ctrl-Alt-Del?

[Tate]

I believe <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StealthHiBye">this</a> is the page you were looking for (the comic is one of the first examples).

[Nate the Great]

You are AMAZING. I didn't quite remember what page it was, nor the proper words to input into the search engine.

Seriously, what's with all the CAD bashing? As TVTropes says, formulaic isn't necessarily bad.

[mudshark]

I hope that helps. I didn't describe this in the first post because...well...I didn't want my embarassment catalogued for eternal posterity on the Net, I suppose.
And you're suddenly worrying about this now?



Seriously, what's with all the CAD bashing? As TVTropes says, formulaic isn't necessarily bad.
Did someone delete several posts before I had a chance to read them? I don't see any CAD bashing at all, nor do I see anyone saying that formulaic = bad.

(If that last were true, would we all have been likely to end up posting at a forum attached to a site at which formula has frequently been flogged to within an inch of its life? I rest my case.)

[Nate the Great]

I'm sorry, but when people go like this...

CV: Given the formulaic nature of the joke, Ctrl-Alt-Del?

...I start to Hulk out. Figuratively, of course. Nothing against CV, but lately I've been seeing far too much CAD bashing. Far too much. [Typical Nate rant deleted] So once again, I apologize to CV. He just had the unfortunate luck to provide the hair that broke the camel's back.

[Nate the Great]

Okay, on to a lighter subject...

PNQ: How much work and/or HTML knowledge does it take to be a viable contributor to TV Tropes? I'm not sure I want to jump into that pool without knowing how deep it is, if you know what I mean.

[Nate the Great]

Does anyone know how to create wikis? I just ask because after all of the other things I've seen wikis devoted to (Tetris springs to mind, not to mention long-ended webcomics such as Kid Radd), I think FiveMinute.Net deserves one, too. It might be nice to have pages explaining the jokes for each fiver, hyperlinks between fivers that reference each other, profiles for major fivists, and so on. Not to mention areas where we can post fivers for stuff that'll never show up on the main page, such as animes and non-scifi movies.

[PointyHairedJedi]

The software isn't the problem (Google knows all), it's just like any other website you've got to have somewhere to host it.

[Nate the Great]

Well, that's sort of implied in the initial question.

[Nate the Great]

Okay, how about this one...

Was I the only person in the world who spent YEARS thinking that the "she's just a girl" who shot down the skater boy in "Sk8ter Boi" (ugh, that name...) was the same person as the narrator? For years I thought it was

A. She has a crush on the guy.
B. Her friends use peer pressure to make her shoot him down.
C. Cue a horrible relationship and breakup on her part, stardom for him.
D. She decides to take him back.
E. Happily ever after.

Only to learn that it's really another girl saying "too bad, so sad, you had your chance, now he's mine, neener-neener-neener"?

[NAHTMMM]

Suppose you had to create a new webalias for everything you did online. No variation of anything you'd gone by before would be allowed, nor would any variation of your real name. This means no adding on numbers, modifications such as CamelCase and underscores, etc. What would it be?
A reference that would strike me as likely to be hilariously obscure. Like Za--no, wait, I did that once. Dagnabbit. Ummm.

*tries to visualize the space of usernames, with his prior aliases stretching out like axes, and then move in a different direction*

. . . Well, I do think I would do my best to find something neutral yet distinctive again. "NAHTMMM" has worked amazingly well in that regard (accidentally, as it were) and I appreciate the freedom of not being tied down to something like "Pizza" or "DS9Rocks" or "Irritating_Posting_Style".

No me-referential acronyms allowed? Bah. I dunno, I'm stuck. All that comes to mind is "Rodov", but that would carry too much baggage for me. No, no, wait, I've been inspired. :D Let's see . . . "Frogs in the Tide" is the only one that really works. A bit long, but it would have to do.



It's Food Day again in the PNQ thread!
2. I can sort of understand the evolution of black licorice, but why make something the exact same shape, only strawberry-flavored? Not that I'm complaining, I love red vines and gag on the black ones, I'm just saying that while the evolution of black licorice is understandable, the evolution of red ones is less so.
Easy: everybody loves strawberry! :) If we can have cherry colas and fifty varieties of candy cane, why not strawberry licorice?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Easy: everybody loves strawberry! :)
Speak for yourself; I'll take raspberries, every time.

(Yes folks, I guess this is your cue.)

[NAHTMMM]

Raspberry = Good Stuff too. :)

[Nate the Great]

I'm still stumped about that a bit myself. After all, I'm hardly a fan of using your real name and then adding numbers after it until it's unique. There is a board where I'm nate42, but that mostly consists of people who know me in Real Life, so it's important that my username not be too farcical.

The combination of letters hbcai (or more specifically HB=C,A,&I) have long held meaning for me, but it hardly rolls off the tongue. How would you pronouce that, anyway?

There's always kabutchka. Don't ask me to explain that one, it's a long, LONG story.

[NAHTMMM]

"hb-că-i"?

[Nate the Great]

You say each letter phonetically. And there is no connection at all between hbcai and kabutchka.

[NAHTMMM]

Sorry, didn't realize it was a rhetorical question. :p

[mudshark]

Speak for yourself; I'll take raspberries, every time.

(Yes folks, I guess this is your cue.)Here you go. http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/mudshark58/smilies/raspberry.gif

[PointyHairedJedi]

My faith in humanity is restored!

[Nate the Great]

But is your hope and charity in humanity restored as well? Lame...

[PointyHairedJedi]

Stand still while I beat you with this wooden spoon.

[Nate the Great]

You know, a whisk would be so much more effective...

Have any of you ever used a fountain pen?

How about a slide rule?

Does this business about TI-89s being allowed in exams and TI-92s not make sense to anyone? As I understand it, the only real difference is the keyboard, right? Does having a full keyboard really just automatically make an electronic device a "laptop," even though it doesn't have any more capability than the keyboardless model?

How much different would our lives be if they never invented microchips?

Or LCDs and other flatscreen technologies?

[NAHTMMM]

I have a slide rule. Rather nifty how someone worked out how to get all the scales to work together, i think.

[Zeke]

I have a slide rule. Got it at an antique shop. It's great fun to use, though I'm glad it's no longer the standard pocket tool for calculations. UW's math department (or is it Carleton's?) has a giant slide rule on the wall of the lounge.

The scales "fit together" because they're based on logarithms -- base 10, to be specific. For example, the number 2 is found about 30% of the way along because log₁₀ 2 is 0.301. When you multiply numbers on a slide rule, you're basically adding their logs. (Whatever base <i>b</i> you pick, log_bxy = log_b x + log_b y. By hand, adding is much easier than multiplying, so log tables were a revolutionary shortcut when they were first published.) Because the base of the logs on the slide rule is the same base our number system uses, the 2 can represent 20, 200, etc. as needed; you just have to remember where to move the decimal point afterwards.

I actually figured all this out myself. The tipoff was that my slide rule (like most) has an L scale for logarithms, and that one IS evenly spaced.

Only to learn that it's really another girl saying "too bad, so sad, you had your chance, now he's mine, neener-neener-neener"?

'Fraid so. Avril (or her label) has a bad habit of choosing her worst songs as singles. "Sk8er Boi" and "Complicated" are the low points of Let It Go, and "Girlfriend" has an even more annoying concept than "Sk8er Boi". (Not that it's hard to find a bad track on The Best Damn Thing. Oh, Avril... why did you dumb yourself down so much?)

[Nate the Great]

This reminds of a story told by Robert Fulghum. There was once an abacus-versus-pocket calculator competition, and the abacus won. The calculator guy was in such a hurry to show off that he input fuzzy facts.

In fact, more than once in school we've had lectures teaching us to NEVER take the calculator at face value and ALWAYS keep in mind the range of where the answer should be. What order of magnititude? What units? That sort of thing.

[Chancellor Valium]

...Panditur interea domus omnipotentis Olympi, conciliumque vocat divom pater atque hominum rex sideream in sedem, terras unde arduus omnes, castraque Dardanidum adspectat, populosque Latinos.

And yes, I frequently use a fountain pen. It's a tool of distinction from a more civilised age. Using a biro by contrast is like leaving a black-tie dinner party for McDonalds.

[Nate the Great]

Whoa, biros. CV, have you ever heard the story from Hitchhiker's Guide of the guy who decided to find out where all the missing ballpoints went, only to find a planet inhabited by pens?

Okay, a sort of game. What's THE most esoteric thing hanging on (any of) your bedroom wall(s)? Just looking around, I can see (and this is the SHORT list):

A wall plaque that says "If a man speaks in the woods and there's no woman to hear him, is he still wrong?" :)
A set of Yu-gi-oh dogtags.
A Schoolhouse Rock refrigerator magnet.
A toy duck umbrella.
A suction cup Chicago Cubs teddy bear (named Cubby).
Two medals I won in Science Club back in high school.

[PointyHairedJedi]

I have used neither - about the most archaic thing I've ever used in that regard is an electric typewriter. I don't write with pen anyway, unless I have to - propelling pencils are my thing. I once had a really really cool one that had a cunning mechanism whereby if you gave it a shake the lead would come out, rather than having to press in the end. Never been able to find that model again, annoyingly.

Most esoteric thing... hmm. I've got a pair of clippy picture frames that have a collection of various (mostly SF) images I've printed off in them - two concept art images from the game Homeworld 2, one from Red Alert 2, a piece of artwork from Nausciaa of the Valley of the Wind, a fanart image of the TARDIS in the vortex, a cutaway artwork of the refit Enterprise, a fan rendering of the USS Excelsior flying through an asteroid field, a piece of Chris Foss artwork (used as the cover for the Asimov collection The Complete Robot), a cityscape of Mega-City One, a piece of cover artwork that I scanned years ago from a comic in which Judge Dredd teams up with Batman (you heard me), and... two photos of Ash, a deceased cat.

Otherwise, my walls are nearly bare. I've a Simpsons cloth poster thingy that was a present years ago pinned to the ceiling, and filled in tennis draws from Grand Slams blutacked to the walls, and that's it.

[Nate the Great]

At one point my ceiling had an Escher print on it. It was the one where the fish gradually turn into birds via a modified tesselation. It was cool.

[Nate the Great]

So somewhere on the Internet I saw a modification of the Even/Odd rule of Star Trek movies, which says in effect: evens are good, odds are bad, multiples of five are HORRIBLE.

Opinions?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Eh, they'd have to make another eight or thirteen to be sure. I'm not sure Paramount's spirit of inquiry stretches quite that far, though. ;)

[Nate the Great]

Have we talked about the TOS HD-DVD set yet? Besides that offer of a phaser remote if you preordered of course. That thing still looks cool.

[PointyHairedJedi]

"Have we talked?" Does that really count as a PNQ? Does this? Or this?

;)

[Nate the Great]

Fine, Mr. Smarty-Pants. What are people's opinions on the HD-DVD set? Worth it? Not worth it? Best thing ever? Will single-handedly kill the franchise?

[Chancellor Valium]

In (late) answer to the esoteric things question, I can't decide: Does a foot-tall statue of Horus as a falcon count?

[Nate the Great]

Yes, it does.

[PointyHairedJedi]

In (late) answer to the esoteric things question, I can't decide: Does a foot-tall statue of Horus as a falcon count?
Do you ever ask him why he has a long face?

[Nate the Great]

What, is it Lame Punchline Week or something?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Only every other Thursday.

[Nate the Great]

"It must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays..."

[Chancellor Valium]

Do you ever ask him why he has a long face?

I don't have a counter-joke, so I'll just have to respond with "By gad sir, you're a chap worth knowing!"

[Nate the Great]

My sister has claimed that I'd like the show Big Bang Theory. Any opinions from you guys? I'm elsewhere the nights that it's shown, so it'd involve taping for later viewing (I don't have TiVo or anything similar) and I want to know whether it's worth the bother.

[Tate]

Here's a question for all you Metroid fans out there. It's not particularly persistent or niggling, but it probably doesn't warrant its own thread, so I'll put it here.
Which do you think I should buy: Metroid Fusion or Metroid Zero Mission. I'm planning on buying one or the other of them (eventually I may want both). I haven't entirely ruled out the other handheld Metroid games either (Metroid II, Prime Hunters, or Prime Pinball), but I'm leaning toward either Fusion or Zero Mission, and I don't really have a preference for one over the other. So, any suggestions?

My sister has claimed that I'd like the show Big Bang Theory. Any opinions from you guys? Sorry, I've never seen it. From the little I've read, though, the concept sounds interesting.

[JVTruman]

My sister has claimed that I'd like the show Big Bang Theory. Any opinions from you guys? I'm elsewhere the nights that it's shown, so it'd involve taping for later viewing (I don't have TiVo or anything similar) and I want to know whether it's worth the bother.

I enjoyed the show quite a bit. It's a sitcom focusing on four physics/engineering types, the most socially capable of which is about on par with McKay from Stargate Atlantis. They have quite a few things in there that would be funny to scientifically inclined people.

[Nate the Great]

Fascinating.

[Nate the Great]

So I'm listening to a fan commentary of The Incredibles, and they use this "It's a TRAP!" line that I've also heard in an episode of Yu-gi-oh The Abridged Series. Can somebody explain this joke to me and how it's penetrated pop culture?

[mudshark]

So I'm listening to a fan commentary of The Incredibles, and they use this "It's a TRAP!" line that I've also heard in an episode of Yu-gi-oh The Abridged Series. Can somebody explain this joke to me and how it's penetrated pop culture?
Click (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Ackbar#Popular_culture)

[Nate the Great]

So it's just another example of inane attachment to random things. I'm as guilty of it as anyone, so I won't judge further.

[mudshark]

"It's a T-shirt!" (http://www.faroutshirts.com/detail.php?id=294)

[PointyHairedJedi]

It mystifies me that no-one has yet done Ackbar-as-Guevera on a t-shirt, but perhaps they have and I've just never seen it.

[Katy Jane]

Here's my question of the day... "What's that smell?" :confused:

[Nate the Great]

So I saw Indiana Jones 4 for the first time the other night, and I gotta ask: What the photon are aliens doing in Indiana Jones?

[Chancellor Valium]

I think that's the same question a lot of people are asking.

[Nate the Great]

Well, I may as well cause some trouble. ;)

So, what do you guys think about the Windows Mojave Experiment?

[JVTruman]

Personally, I would expect that most of the more knowledgable computer users would already know enough about Vista to be unable to participate, mostly limiting the sample to novice users. I think that's one of the main problems.

[NAHTMMM]

So I saw Indiana Jones 4 for the first time the other night, and I gotta ask: What the photon are aliens doing in Indiana Jones?

I dunno, a re-enactment of Fantastic Voyage, perhaps?

[Nate the Great]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Another_Thing..._(novel)

So another author is writing a sixth Hitchhiker's Guide book. Words fail me.

[Nate the Great]

So I'm gonna use you guys as my tech support. Does anybody know how to have a USB flashdrive plugged in and have Windows XP _not_ attempt to boot from it? I use two of them currently, and it's annoying to have to take them out, turn the computer on, then plug them in again.

[Nate the Great]

Yeah, that problem's solved.

Has anyone bought any DualDiscs? Opinions?

[Tate]

Has anyone bought any DualDiscs? Opinions?


GUY: Since you qualify for the tournament, here's your free duel disk.

YUGI: Sweet! This is going straight onto eBay.


Oh wait, you said DualDisc. Never mind.

[Nate the Great]

Opinions on Rifftrax? Worth the money?

[Nate the Great]

Why do people still RickRoll? It's stinking annoying, the joke's been killed, buried and necromanced a hundred times by now!

[Nate the Great]

Furthermore, isn't one of YouTube's rules that you could be banned if you misrepresent videos, either through title or screenshot?

[whoiam]

The same reason chain-emails full of heartwarming stories would still be filling my inbox if my aunts weren't manually added to my spam filter: Some people simply haven't learned to wake up and smell the zombies...

[Nate the Great]

So I'm considering buying an iPod, so I want to browse the iTunes store to see how much stuff there is I'd want to buy. Is there some hidden back door to that site, 'cause all they'll let me see is a page telling me to install iTunes first. PNQ: I can't even SEE what they have to help me decide to BUY it?

[whoiam]

You can install iTunes without actually owning an ipod: The program itself is free. Not sure why the iTunes store requires you to have the program already installed (Maybe they're just too fancy to have an actual web-based product catalogue) simply to browse the selection, but at least all you have to spend to get it is bandwidth.

Personally, I never bothered with the iTunes store, as my MP3 players came from Creative and so didn't support apple's flavour of DRM.

[Nate the Great]

Yeah, but WHY install iTunes (and set up an account) if you're gonna decide not to go through with it?

PNQ: Okay, I've got a speedrun video file in .avi, and a commentary for it in .mp3. Same number of segments, same duration for all of them. HOW do I overlay the commentary track onto the video track so they're synched? And since the thing is in 25 parts, is there also a way to merge all of them into one massive file?

[whoiam]

Grab yourself a copy of VirtualDub.

File->open->first segment of video
file->append avi segment->second, third, fourth etc.

Audio->audio from other file->select audio


Note: If the audio's in chunks the same as the video, it's probably better to combine each chunk with it's audio before attempting to string the AVI files together. I think .AVI files still have a 4GB filesize limit, but if that's really a problem you can always finish on two chunks instead of one

[Nate the Great]

Does YouTube keep intact copies of pulled videos, so that in the future they can be restored if conditions change? Or is all that work lost forever 'cause WMG got riled up?

[Nate the Great]

All of a sudden Firefox is cutting off the ends of the alttext in XKCD comics. Advice?

[evay]

change browsers?

[MaverickZer0]

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1933

Works for me.

[Nate the Great]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-N2jUd7h8&feature=related

Is this actually a real form of musical notation?

[Nate the Great]

So I'm reading an annotated version of Alice in Wonderland, and the topic of the immortal riddle "Why is a Raven like a writing-desk?" We all know that originally there was no intended answer, but Lewis Caroll later invented the answer "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front." Note that "nevar" is "raven" backwards.

The annotated version presents the following alternate answers. What's your favorite?

"Both have quills dipped in ink."
"Because it slopes with a flap."
"Because without them both 'Brave New World' could not have been written."
"Because one has flapping fits and and the other fitting flaps."
"Because one is good for writing books and the other better for biting rooks."
"Because a writing-desk is a rest for pens and a raven is a pest for wrens."
"Because 'raven' has five letters, which you might equally well expect to find in a writing-desk."
"Because they are both used to carri-on decomposition."
"Because they both tend to present unkind bills."
"Because they both have a flap in oak."

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: When will Zeke change my title away from this one that references my old Dopefish avatar? Hehe...

[Nate the Great]

So I finally broke down and downloaded iTunes. Does anybody have any recommendations for free podcasts I should subscribe to?

[evay]

Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
Skeptics' Guide 5x5 (Five to seven minutes on a single topic)

Car Talk from NPR

If you enjoyed BSG, there are all the podcasts of Ron Moore's commentaries going back to the first season (not every ep, IIRC) and several sets of writers' meetings, which are fascinating from a storyteller's viewpoint as well as an audience member's.

[Nate the Great]

So the new iPod Shuffle is out...

PNQ: Does anybody else think that if an iPod is so small you can't fit the controls onto it, maybe it's TOO SMALL?

I'm not enthusiastic about having to use proprietary earbuds either, especially since i hate earbuds when they aren't required. I almost wonder why they couldn't make a set of headphones with an iPod shuffle built into them. You know, have the 2G-style fake clickwheel on one earpiece and the power and volume controls on the other earpiece. Memory on one side, battery on the other. No cord at all! You could fit a lot more rechargeable battery space in it, not to mention more flash memory.

[Nate the Great]

So I'm trying to enjoy some Let's Plays on YouTube...

Is there any reason why people feel the need to read aloud all of the onscreen dialogue and instructions? I can READ the dialogue, after all. Can't they, y'know, do commentary on the dialogue, just like they do for everything else in the game?

[Chancellor Valium]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-N2jUd7h8&feature=related

Is this actually a real form of musical notation?
No.

[Wowbagger]

No, really: how do you pronounce "dsokpach"? I need to know this by Tuesday.

...and, in the category of "sentences I never thought would be written," a new challenger emerges.

[Chancellor Valium]

D'sok'd-pakh, at a guess.

Also, does anyone else feel there would be more opportunity to say "bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronnt uonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk !" if it were possible to remember the word?

[NAHTMMM]

So I'm trying to enjoy some Let's Plays on YouTube...

Is there any reason why people feel the need to read aloud all of the onscreen dialogue and instructions? I can READ the dialogue, after all. Can't they, y'know, do commentary on the dialogue, just like they do for everything else in the game?
Assuming you're talking about someone doing a "walkthrough" of a game, maybe they aren't sure that the text will be legible in the video?

[MaverickZer0]

Pfft, the YouTube ones are by and large horrible.

You need the Something Awful ones. <a href="http://forums.somethingawful.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=191">In progress.</a> <a href="http://www.letsplayarchive.com/">Complete.</a> Animal Crossing is highly recommended.

[mudshark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9g-N2jUd7h8&feature=related

Is this actually a real form of musical notation?

No.
If written music can be said to be equivalent to written language, this guy's white-board scribbling is like a crude sentence diagram. He's drawn a sketch showing different sections of a simple piece in relation to each other and spelled out what the sections contain, but you wouldn't want to put something like that white-board in front of a musician and tell them to play it.

This "piano lesson" is akin to the tripe purveyed by the "play piano in a flash" (http://www.scotthouston.com/store/home.php) guy on PBS, and is aimed at the person who "always knew I felt musical" but couldn't be bothered with putting in a little time and effort to acquire basic music-reading skills. Strictly home-recreation and self-amusement stuff, this.

[Wowbagger]

D'sok'd-pakh, at a guess.

Also, does anyone else feel there would be more opportunity to say "bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronnt uonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk !" if it were possible to remember the word?

Yeah, I'm in a Catholic Studies class that would benefit enormously from the ability to make that allusion on a regular basis. It would be a genuine help. It would also be beyond awesome.

Thanks for the pronunciation shot.

[Zeke]

No, really: how do you pronounce "dsokpach"? I need to know this by Tuesday.

...and, in the category of "sentences I never thought would be written," a new challenger emerges.

Crap. I hope you meant this Tuesday.

I've always pronounced it basically as written: "duh-SOCKED-patch". And if anyone's curious, it was totally random -- doesn't mean anything, or at least I don't remember it meaning anything.

[Nate the Great]

deh-soak-pach. At least that's how I'd say it.

[Chancellor Valium]

If written music can be said to be equivalent to written language, this guy's white-board scribbling is like a crude sentence diagram. He's drawn a sketch showing different sections of a simple piece in relation to each other and spelled out what the sections contain, but you wouldn't want to put something like that white-board in front of a musician and tell them to play it.

This "piano lesson" is akin to the tripe purveyed by the "play piano in a flash" (http://www.scotthouston.com/store/home.php) guy on PBS, and is aimed at the person who "always knew I felt musical" but couldn't be bothered with putting in a little time and effort to acquire basic music-reading skills. Strictly home-recreation and self-amusement stuff, this.

True, but he has done some (moderately) more complex stuff as well, like the Chopin C sharp minor waltz.


Yeah, I'm in a Catholic Studies class that would benefit enormously from the ability to make that allusion on a regular basis. It would be a genuine help. It would also be beyond awesome.
I'm sure you could get away with just mentioning the fall of a once wallstrait oldparr. :p

[Wowbagger]

Crap. I hope you meant this Tuesday.

I've always pronounced it basically as written: "duh-SOCKED-patch". And if anyone's curious, it was totally random -- doesn't mean anything, or at least I don't remember it meaning anything.

Dammit! I just sent off my "guide to pronouncing dsokpach" to Larry a few hours ago! I'll tack this on to my note as an addendum.

No, it doesn't mean anything. I know this because I have gone through every single mention of the word ever referenced by Google in an effort to answer this question. It is, however, a hilarious word which I have always wanted used in an oral context. It also scared the pants off Larry when he saw it in his script. :P

I was pleased, incidentally, to find that VVS8/9 has gotten itself archived over at Trekipedia. I thought it was just gone forever, which would have peeved me considerably.

[Nate the Great]

How come whenever you double-click a file to open it in Quicktime, you still have to press Play? Most other programs have autoplay, so why not Quicktime?

[Zeke]

By the way, some people have been "misspelling" the word here, if such a thing is possible. It's dsokdpach.

I was pleased, incidentally, to find that VVS8/9 has gotten itself archived over at Trekipedia. I thought it was just gone forever, which would have peeved me considerably.

I noticed this recently too. Unfortunately, I've been unable to reach the people who used to run the site. I'm glad to hear it's archived at Trekipedia; you can also use the Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org/web/20071219143618/http://vv8.jetc.org/index.html) to get it. All the links still work as far as I can tell, and even the forum is preserved.

I was thinking about hosting VVS here if the site wasn't going to come back, but now I know it's in good hands. Trekipedia is an excellent Trek site, and not just any -- it's the work of Jeff Harlan, who was on the VVS team. He'll take good care of it.

[Nate the Great]

I just saw an incident on Scrubs that bugs me. Turk orders fries with his lunch, Carla does not, ostensibly because they're unhealthy. Carla proceeds to steal fries from Turk's plate. Turk is incensed. Why didn't she order fries for herself? Because she can't have fries, they're unhealthy.

PNQ: Is this common when dealing with women? 'Cause I know if that ever happened to me, I'd say "If you have the opportunity to order fries, choose not to, then attempt to steal mine, then you are being selfish and self-deceiving. I'm dumping you."

[JVTruman]

Well, one time I went to a movie with a girl who was allergic to popcorn, and that's why she wouldn't get any. But she wanted me to get some so that she could have some of mine. I didn't really get that one.

[Nate the Great]

Okay, I look and I look, and I just can't find. Does anyone know of a free audio recording software out there on the Internet? I don't need whistles and bells, I know I'd have to pay for those, I just want to be able to record two hours of my voice in a row for a commentary without nagware popping up!

[evay]

PNQ: Is this common when dealing with women?

yes, dear. It is self-deceiving, and it is both perfectly normal and staggeringly common. The subconscious idea is that food isn't unhealthy if it originated on someone's plate. It's the same logic which dictates that raw cookie dough has no calories (because it's not baked), leftovers eaten directly out of the Tupperware over the sink don't count (because it's not on a plate), and broken cookie parts aren't fattening (because the calories all leaked out when the cookie broke).

If you're going to dump every girlfriend who orders a salad and then snags one of your fries, Nate, you're in for a cold and lonely existence. I suggest you re-examine either your standards or your sexuality.

[Nate the Great]

It has yet to happen to me, I was just wondering. And maybe I wouldn't break up with a girl after one infraction like this, but she will be getting a (gentle) lecture from me. And if she dumps me for overreacting, fine. I wouldn't want to be with her anyway.

Understand, it's not the fries itself, it's the principle of the thing. I read somewhere that you should never go anywhere on a date without being prepared to buy two of the most expensive entrees on the menu. I'm fine with that. If my date wants to order TWO orders of fries on the side, fine, as long as she eats them. But blatant self-deception is something I will not allow. If that means I die alone, fine.

Oh, and don't think I won't say "if they were too unhealthy for you five minutes ago, they are too unhealthy for you now. Make up your mind."

[evay]

Well, your statements are reasonable enough, but I predict you may have a bit of a time finding someone who lives up to that standard. Not impossible, just a challenge. And my guess is that she's going to be over 30. If you're not, you may have a wait ahead of you.

[Nate the Great]

Well, I'm 27 now, so over 30 isn't too far of a stretch. And is being honest with yourself really too much to expect?

[evay]

Well, I'm 27 now, so over 30 isn't too far of a stretch. And is being honest with yourself really too much to expect?

When it comes to women and food...yes. American culture has done terrible things to our psyches. But I have some hope for the millennials.

[Nate the Great]

Ignore.

[NAHTMMM]

Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download) should do the trick, I believe.

[Nate the Great]

Yeah. I already had it installed. I forgot about it.

[Chancellor Valium]

Yeah. I already had it installed. I forgot about it.

It does sort of lurk in the background...

[Nate the Great]

So I keep a lot of stuff on my jump drive. To bad using Start->Run->Browse->(My jump drive) only reveals programs and folders unless I specifically choose to look at files as well.

PNQ: Is there a way to tell Browse to show me all files as a default?

[NAHTMMM]

Umm . . . Run is of course intended for running programs, so . . . I really don't know whether there would be a setting for that.

[Nate the Great]

Too bad I can't supplement the My Computer icon on the Start menu with icons for each drive.

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: As a lifelong Kid Radd fan, I gotta ask...

Why in the name of all that is webcomic are newer versions of web browsers incompatible with the comic? How can the implementation of code have changed so much? Is it impossible for browsers to have full backwards compatibility?

[Wowbagger]

Following up on my two-month-old post about "dskodpach":

I was (not surprisingly) using the word in an episode of Star Trek: Excelsior, my fan show linked from my sig. Now our audience of thousands has heard the word! Now Fiveminute.net's cultural supremacy is assured! Mwahahahaha!

If you care, you can hear the episode at StarshipExcelsior.com (www.StarshipExcelsior.com). It's called "The Manchurian Officer," and the "dskodpach" use is within the first five minutes. Probably not worth downloading just for the 5MV reference, but it's a good ep in its own right. So yeah. Halfway-shameless plug.

[Nate the Great]

A British character in a movie I'm watching refers to a food called "chop 'n' chips" or something like this. I can't find any reference to this, or maybe I'm just not spelling it right. I know that "chips" mean French Fries, but "chop?" Chopped steak? A hamburger?

[Nate the Great]

So I'm trying to find a browser that's compatible with my archive of Kid Radd. The main page says that the thing was designed for Internet Explorer 4-6. Why modern browsers can't make themselves backwards compatible for all webpages I'll never know. So I download the installer for IE 4, and it won't let me install it 'cause I have a newer version of IE already. What does that have to anything? If I want to I should be able to have five different versions of IE in five different folders, right? A little help here?

[evay]

Switch to Safari. Or Firefox. Honestly, why are you still running that stone-knives-and-bearskins browser? It doesn't work because it's <i>Microsoft,</i> that's why.

[Nate the Great]

I do use Firefox for my main browser needs, but guess what? It doesn't work either! Why is this so hard? It's triggers for different images on the same webpage, along with a few simple animations and midi soundbytes. It should not stop being compatible with browsers as they get more advanced! A webpage built in the Internet Explorer 4 to 6 days should work in Internet Explorer 8 that have now, or Firefox, or MSN Explorer, or Opera, or Safari, or whatever else I want to use!

Is 100% backwards compatibility too much to ask? Is it?

[JVTruman]

Maybe the version of Netscape from the same time would work?

[Nate the Great]

Why is the ten minute YouTube limit still necessary? Couldn't they just require people to post a segmented version as well, just in case there are still people in dialup purgatory, but allowing highspeed people a single segment?

PNQ #2: Do you know anyone who still watches YouTube on dialup?

[Nate the Great]

In reading Tsubasa Resevoir Chronicle I'm starting to get confused about this Syaoran and his clone business. So am I right that the first Syaoran we meet is the clone? But which one is technically called "Syaoran" continues to confuse me.

[MaverickZer0]

Oh god, Tsubasa.

Don't worry. No one understands Tsubasa. Brains have been destroyed trying. It's like Eva on crack.

[Wowbagger]

Last I checked, YouTube was shedding money faster than an onionmonger sheds tears. That's why they have the ten-minute limit. I would not be at all surprised to see that limit contracted this year to five -- it saves bandwidth and server space.

We'll see, though. They started offering HD, which ran sharply counter to my expectations.

[Nate the Great]

I thought the ten-minute limit was so that dialup people don't have to wait 'til the end of time to see anything. Thus my question. How many YouTube-intensive people are still on dialup?

[NAHTMMM]

Is it possible to simultaneously use YouTube intensively and be stuck with dialup?

[Nate the Great]

Okay, rephrase it. How many people who WANT to be YouTube intensive are stuck with dialup?

[NAHTMMM]

The world may never know. :(


(Alternate answer: Probably about as many who would like to be internet-intensive but are stuck with dial-up.)



I would guess that another reason for the limit, besides the issues raised already, is so that people can't upload an entire episode at one go. No, it probably doesn't help much, but I imagine the lawyers feel a little happier.

[Nate the Great]

I have no problem with limits for shows you can go to a store and buy, but when the show just out and out does not exist on DVD, the fans should be able to have entire episodes in one segment. Yes, I'm looking at you, Batman 1966.

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: When did the exclamation point become standard usage for denoting different versions of a person? Like, when John Doe meets his older self, you suddenly see Old!John and Young!John?

[Wowbagger]

I think, like many of the most recent advancements in the language of fiction, it came out of fan fiction communities on LiveJournal and FanFiction.net. It survived because it was successful.

I only heard about it earlier this year, but it seems to have been in common use for perhaps two or three years.

DISCLAIMER: IANA Linguist.

[mudshark]

I remember seeing the exclamation point used as much as five years ago (possibly longer) in the TBBS Enterprise forum among the Reed-Ragers and Tuckerites. Evil!Reed sticks in memory, but I know there were other examples. Whether this constituted standard usage at the time I can't say.

[Nate the Great]

So sfdebris is reviewing Red Dwarf. Aside from "smeg", I knew nothing about it.

PNQ: What is the allure of this show? A grunt, a copy of a pretentious peon, a cat that can talk, and a computer trapped aboard a starship three million years in the future?

I can understand British scifi/comedy, that's why I love The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But this stuff is just too much.

Am I missing something here?

[MaverickZer0]

Yes.

The hilarity.

It's a seriously funny show. So long as you're watching the original, anyway. Give it a chance. If you like HHGttG, you'll probably like Red Dwarf.

[Nate the Great]

I can understand not listing hidden tracks on the back of a CD case, but WHY can't the information be part of the file's metadata for iTunes purposes? Why "unknown" or whatever?

[Nate the Great]

Disney bought Marvel?

PNQ: What? Just...what?

[Nate the Great]

For complicated reasons I was reading some lists of those movies considered the best of all time.

PNQ: What's with Citizen Kane? Whether or not it's a good movie is a discussion for another time; I'm just debating it's position as one of the best of all time. Have any of you ever watched the thing for entertainment? Or did you watch it for scholarly reasons?

[Nate the Great]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Tower

PNQ: They renamed the Sears Tower? What? I kinda thought that this building had achieved enough notoriety to have an immutable name!

[evay]

PNQ: What's with Citizen Kane? Whether or not it's a good movie is a discussion for another time; I'm just debating it's position as one of the best of all time. Have any of you ever watched the thing for entertainment? Or did you watch it for scholarly reasons?

Scholarly. And frankly I didn't get it and didn't really enjoy it. I think Citizen Kane is one of those movies which is famous more for being a First than for being a good film. I am not a film student, but Wikipedia has an overview (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_kane#Filmmaking_innovations) of why the movie is considered "important" in film-making terms. The problem for modern viewers is that everyone after Welles borrowed all his tricks, so when we come to see CK after years of seeing his methods used as standard MO everywhere else, unless we know what to look for, all we see is a standard movie with a not-particularly-interesting plot.

Other examples of Firsts would be the kinds of films or TV shows which launched genres: "An American Family" plus The Truman Show and "Survivor" were the predecessors of voyeuristic reality TV. Halloween and Friday the 13th begat legions of mostly mindless horror flicks. Our own beloved "Star Trek" was one of the first TV series to treat scifi as intelligent adult drama rather than the kiddie-level "Flash Gordon" tripe from the '50s. I think "Hill Street Blues" was the first police procedural, IIRC. Again, whether any of these examples stand up to being "good" entertainment years later is in the eye of the beholder; I'm saying that these were the important, ground-breaking works. A different kind of First would be Pulp Fiction and Sixth Sense, as I would argue that those two movies have the added layer of being great First films for a director or writer who then can't come up with any other directing (Tarantino) or storytelling (Shyalaman) gimmicks and so keeps doing the same thing with every new movie.

So whether CK deserves the "best film of all time" label is dependent on what your definition of "best" is. Broke new ground? Categorically. Revolutionized the art form? Quite possibly. Engaging to watch a century later? Your mileage may vary.

[Nate the Great]

So I just saw the pilot of Stargate: Universe on Hulu...

PNQ: Is anybody else annoyed by this "you have to start off with a bang, then use flashbacks to show how people got here" thing?

I like events to occur in their proper order, except when necessary for exposition. If there is no valid reason to shuffle events out of order, I hate to see it. As simple as that.

P.S. Aside from that, I'm excited about Universe. Sure, I would've liked another season or two of SG-1 to finish the Ori storyline properly, and the cancellation of Atlantis ticks me off greatly. Well, any Stargate is better than none, right?

[Nate the Great]

So once again I see a YouTube video with the annotation "all negative comments will be deleted."

PNQ1: Does anyone else think that posting this is grounds for deletion of the video? If you can't handle criticism you should NOT post the video!

After all, one of the guiding principles of democratic countries is freedom of speech, right? As long as you're not making threats or making judgments based on race/religion/gender/etc. everything should be allowed.

PNQ2: And a lot of these videos really are of low quality! Why bother posting something that you know will garner a negative response? Why torture yourself like that?

[Nate the Great]

Forget it...

[NAHTMMM]

PNQ: Is anybody else annoyed by this "you have to start off with a bang, then use flashbacks to show how people got here" thing?
Not much, but if I kept seeing it be done over and over again, I expect that it would get old fast.


So once again I see a YouTube video with the annotation "all negative comments will be deleted."

PNQ1: Does anyone else think that posting this is grounds for deletion of the video? If you can't handle criticism you should NOT post the video!

After all, one of the guiding principles of democratic countries is freedom of speech, right? As long as you're not making threats or making judgments based on race/religion/gender/etc. everything should be allowed.
Well, some people are really sensitive to criticism or just overly defensive in general, I guess. I agree, you should be able to take that, but it's YouTube's site and they have decided to allow people this much latitude in handling their uploaded videos, and they have that right. *shrug*

And KJ just brought up the point that they may not be warning off negative comments in general, but senseless flaming in particular. Insipid little bits like "this iz dum" really aren't much good to anyone anyway.

(I should probably say something about that here, shouldn't I?)

Anyway, this brings up a PNQ: How much server space would it save YouTube if all those ridiculous "chain letter" comments suddenly disappeared entirely?

PNQ2: And a lot of these videos really are of low quality! Why bother posting something that you know will garner a negative response? Why torture yourself like that?
You know, it occurs to me that some of these people may be uploading it to show a particular group of friends, not to show the world in general (although if they actively wanted the world in general to not see it, they wouldn't put it on YouTube). If I did that, it would certainly annoy me if random strangers kept stumbling upon it and leaving derogatory comments. I'd feel like "This isn't for you in the first place, so why do you care?"

[Nate the Great]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Mickey

So there's a new Disney game coming out. I'm kinda proud that I remembered that the sorcerer from Fantasia was named Yen Sid, the existence of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the Phantom Blot, and so forth.

PNQ: Opinions? Fresh new take, or horrible abomination?

[Nate the Great]

From a review of And Another Thing (AKA Hitchhiker's Guide 6):

"'Frood' isn't a verb! Zark is spelled with a lower-case z! Did this guy even read the first five books?"

PNQ: Are these allegations valid? 'Cause if so, this guy needed to do more research before writing a Hitchhiker's Guide book. I don't expect a 100% fit, even Frank Baum had to tweak the rules of Oz as the sequels were written, but "frood" and "zark" are simple enough to be considered immutable and very easy to use properly.

[NAHTMMM]

Well, I only recall "frood" being used as a noun, and I think "froody" as an adjective. But hey, technically, fish aren't designed to go in your ear, either. *shrug*

[Nate the Great]

The point is that certain grammatical rules were set up by Douglas Adams for radio/TV/books, etc. and were followed consistently. These rules exist and there is no reason for this guy to change them without appearing either presumptive or negligent.

[Nate the Great]

So RandomGuy has made another video to promote a comic book convention, and Marvel is maintaining their policy of asking him to not use action figures based on the movies for these convention videos. And it appears that you can't used DC figures for these either.

PNQ: What's the logic?

Both Marvel and DC know of RandomGuy and the Marvel guys at least like them. They could sue, yet they don't. What is the point of saying "you can use our characters for convention videos, but you can't use the movie versions"? Seriously, PLEASE explain this logic to me!

Every single time RandomGuy posts one of these videos he has to say "no, we're not changing our action figures, Marvel asked us to not use the movie versions for convention videos." Every. Single. Time. Doesn't this create animosity toward Marvel?

[Nate the Great]

Current iPod Classics can hold 160 GB.

PNQ: Does anyone actually have 160 gig of stuff that you have the need to carry around with you? Does anyone really take the bus/train/plane enough to sit down and play all that media? When do you find the time to use it?