Q&A: Questions and Answers

[flower1818]

Was TJ planning on taking Internetometer down? Or is the server just being cranky?

[Ewhanene]

Everyone is asking some serious question.
But my question is too trivial.
This 2020 Halloween event game is difficult. T_T) I can't clear the potion making room.
Does anyone know how?

[Fuzzbucket]

Yes; collect all the ingredients and - in the FIRST room add them to the cauldron in this order:

 

Spoiler

moonflower, wormwood, water, jester's cap, magi's scale

 

and in the second, add them in this order.

 

Spoiler

 Venom, Leaf, Scale, Root, Puffball, Flower

 

But this would fit better in the event thread, where such issues are being discussed...

 

 

[catstaff]

Question for the Brits on the board, especially London-area people:

 

I'm working on a story that's going to involve a part where someone is going to have their (foreign) significant other come to stay for a week or so over the Christmas holidays. I can Google all the usual tourist-y stuff, but I was wondering, what sort of things might locals do during that time? Like, is there ice skating anywhere special, like how there's a rink below the giant tree in Rockefeller Center in NYC? I'm particularly looking for things that tweens and teens might also enjoy, as the London native has three kids of 12, 14, and 16 that he'd like to include in at least some of the outings.

 

Thanks!

[Fuzzbucket]

There's a rink at Somerset House (USUALLY !)

https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/skate-somerset-house 

 

(Here from past years - it isn't running this year, of course.)

https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/press/skate-somerset-house-fortnum-mason-1

 

Hyde Park usually has a wonderland thing:

https://www.timeout.com/london/news/winter-wonderland-confirms-it-wont-take-place-in-

 

Christmas market stalls at London Bridge.

https://www.christmasmarkets.com/christmas-markets/christmas-by-the-river-at-london-bridge-city/

And elsewhere:

https://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/christmas-in-leicester-square-guide

 

The lights on Oxford and Regent streets - and Covent Garden - are usually splendid. (And Covent Garden is fab anyway.)

And people love the huge tree in Trafalgar Square.

 

If they like that kind of thing, the Nutcracker is always on - or a pantomime.

 

Harry Potter:

https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/event/33177725-hogwarts-in-the-snow-at-warner-bros-studio-tour-london-the-making-of-harry-potter

 

For a start !!!

Edited January 22, 2021 by Fuzzbucket

[catstaff]

@Fuzzbucket Thank you! The skating looks great, although my characters might end up laughing at the level of posh that I suspect Fortnum and Mason delivers. And the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park fits perfectly with one of the characters, who's already mentioned loving amusement parks and such.

 

Would the market stalls still be open after Christmas? I'm not sure yet if the visitor will arrive on the 23rd or the 26th. The lights are always good, and the panto might be as well, but these characters are definitely not ballet types. The Harry Potter thing might appeal to at least one of them, but as the story is set before Deathly Hallows was published, I'm going to guess that the Harry Potter attraction didn't exist quite yet.

 

Either way, this ought to be plenty for activities; they're going to want a bit of time to relax in front of the telly as well, I'm sure! 😉

[Fuzzbucket]

I think F&M just PAY for it, but I don't know; never been.

 

https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/whats-on/christmas/best-christmas-markets-in-london

 

suggest that at least some stay open till New Year. As continental ones do, I expect they match up.

[Confused Cat]

Is there a song that has a (possibly more spoken than sung) part that says

"verb-ing noun(s), verb-ing dinosaur bones"?

("verb" and "noun" being some actual verb and noun that I can't remember)

 

I have no hope that I can find it by googling "dinosaur bones"...

And no idea who the band or singer might be. Maybe someone like Bob Dylan or the Rolling Stones, but it could also be someone completely different. And I could also have misheard the words.*

(It's not Bob Dylan's song "I Shall Be Free" in which he says "I catch dinosaurs".)

 

I know I've been wondering about the same thing a few weeks ago, but I can't even remember if I found out what it was then! If I find out this time, I'm going to write it down.

 

 

(* Can't trust my ears - I just learned that it's not "guilty feelings got no rhythm", but "guilty feet have got no rhythm"...  )

Edited February 9, 2021 by Confused Cat

[Astreya]

@Confused Cat

Could it be this?

https://genius.com/Johnny-cash-rusty-cage-lyrics

[Confused Cat]

@Astreya OMG THANK YOU!    Of course that's it! (How on earth did I forget Johnny Cash?) 

[Astreya]

@Confused Cat

You're very welcome.

 

By the way, I actually did search for "dinosaur bones lyrics" and then was lucky that the first result was a website that then allowed me to search more targetedly: https://genius.com/search?q=Dinosaur Bones

 

Edited February 9, 2021 by Astreya

[Confused Cat]

And it's me again, with a possibly stupid question...

I've seen lots of tweets saying "Post a photo of yourself as [end boss / leader of an underground organization / whatever] without downloading any new pics", and people posting more or less funny photos of themselves.

 

Okay, but... what does "without downloading any new pics" mean?

They probably want to say "you can only use photos you already have on your computer or phone", but why "downloading"?  (Doesn't that word mean "copy a file from a website to your device" anymore?)

There is no website that I could visit to find photos of me that I don't have on my phone or computer yet.

So what exactly is this "downloading new pics" that I'm not supposed to do if I wanted to participate in this twitter thing?

[Fuzzbucket]

Makes no sense. I have asked a "competitor". Not that I would ever post a pic of myself on twitter... I would not want to participate!

[Confused Cat]

Wait, wait, wait... Are you saying... people on twitter can write things that make no sense?

No way! Twitter is a reliable source of only the highest quality informati- okay, maaaaybeeeee it is not. 

 

 

[Fuzzbucket]

You should see the positive posts about CPAC....

[G'lant]

Doesn't everyone know social media is more accurate than in person communication?😉

[catstaff]

Question for the Brits: is there a "standard remedy" for someone sick to their stomach?

 

Like, in the US, we usually give the sick person ginger ale (soda) since most of them still use real ginger, which can help settle the stomach, as can the carbonation. Do you use that over there, or something different? (Yes, I'm asking so I get it right in the story I'm working on.)

[eldrec]

Hey guys? I picked this egg up in the AP yesterday when I didn't have a lot of time to spare, I was just wasting a few minutes between meetings. It has a gorgeous lineage, but has a weird message in the lineage, requesting that 'If found in AP, please return imzadi' or some such. How do I handle that? I'm not used to participating as anything other than a breeder/collector, and don't regularly communicate on forum or much of anything else. Is the person who bred it expecting that whomever finds it returns it to them, and how?
I'm just confused, and don't want anyone to be angry with me if I'm breaking some rule that I don't know about.
Please tell me if you are less clueless than I?
Thank you so much,
Eldrec

https://dragcave.net/view/WCY3s

[RainDear]

8 minutes ago, eldrec said:

Hey guys? I picked this egg up in the AP yesterday when I didn't have a lot of time to spare, I was just wasting a few minutes between meetings. It has a gorgeous lineage, but has a weird message in the lineage, requesting that 'If found in AP, please return imzadi' or some such. How do I handle that? I'm not used to participating as anything other than a breeder/collector, and don't regularly communicate on forum or much of anything else. Is the person who bred it expecting that whomever finds it returns it to them, and how?
I'm just confused, and don't want anyone to be angry with me if I'm breaking some rule that I don't know about.
Please tell me if you are less clueless than I?
Thank you so much,
Eldrec

https://dragcave.net/view/WCY3s

When someone changes the parents' names like that, yes, they are hoping to get the egg back. You can do that by pming imzadi (https://forums.dragcave.net/messenger/compose/?to=17208). You can either set up a transfer (in the "trading" area) and send them the link, or try to set up some sort of trade with them. Of course, you can just choose to keep the egg. It's up to you.

[catstaff]

Yet another Brit-picking question!

 

Several characters in my story have just been out doing some serious drinking, and are in the state of rambling nonsense and finding everything hilariously funny. Well, one of them is currently being sick, and I'm picturing the others not only finding it funny, but yelling out every possible euphemism for what the poor sufferer is doing there in the loo. Yeah, I know a zillion terms for being sick, but what are some common British/English terms in particular? (Two of the characters are from the East End of London, one's from near Sheffield, if there are any regional-specific terms floating about.)

 

Thanks!

[Kestra15]

Chundering, yakking, pucking, making pavement pizzas, hurling up.

[catstaff]

@Kestra15 Thank you!

[catstaff]

Yes, resurrecting this thread once again with yet another Brit-pick question, would someone from Sheffield refer to a bacon sandwich as a bacon butty or a bacon sarnie? I've seen both terms used in stories with British characters, but I know there can be regional differences and I like to get the little details right whenever possible.

[Kestra15]

I think it would be 'butty,' as 'sarnie' is not so widely used these days and definitely wouldn't be a sandwich! I would say either bacon butty, or less likely would be bacon bap. However not from that end of the country so I can't promise I'm correct!

[catstaff]

3 hours ago, Kestra15 said:

I think it would be 'butty,' as 'sarnie' is not so widely used these days and definitely wouldn't be a sandwich! I would say either bacon butty, or less likely would be bacon bap. However not from that end of the country so I can't promise I'm correct!

 

Thank you!

 

The internet claims that bacon butties (or whatever other name might be used in a given region) are considered an excellent hangover "cure" once the sufferer has hit the point where food sounds appealing, and the story involves several young men recovering from a celebratory bender, during which they played Truth or Dare... the one making the butties thinks he might have gone a step too far with a dare he laid on one of the others, and so is cooking by way of an apology.

 

And that situation was combined with a challenge from my writing group to include bacon in the story, lol!

Edited December 3, 2021 by catstaff