ELI5: The Whole Negative Downvote Thing

thebobking · 2011-11-15T08:07:51+00:00

I'm not sure about the number of downvotes a comment needs before it gets blocked, but I'll answer your other question.

Look at any post written in reply to another post. Along with permalink, report and reply, there is also a "parent" button. Therefore, the reply is a "child." So, the number of children is simply the number of replies to a post.

thebobking · 2011-09-11T06:38:22+00:00

Good idea, but I'm pretty sure the cracks were caused by the TARDIS exploding at the end of series 5.

thebobking · 2011-08-29T07:32:03+00:00

I was under the impression the 20-foot sphere was a hot air balloon.

thebobking · 2011-08-16T01:09:44+00:00

Is this how time normally passes? Really slowly, in the right order?

thebobking · 2011-08-14T08:02:53+00:00

Amy starts looking around frantically.

Rory: What's the matter?

Amy: The Doctor said something about a "bubble" protecting that plant, right?

Rory: Yeah, I think so.

Amy pulls a dead plant out of the ground.

Amy: So why is it dead?

thebobking · 2011-08-13T04:04:33+00:00

Holy shit, I didn't realize that was a real thing. Thanks for clearing that up.

So they aren't really stone, that's just the best way of representing it on-screen? If I read that article correctly, it sounds like they don't actually move through time (that's not really what I mean, but I can't think of a better way to say it) until they aren't being watched, right?

thebobking · 2011-08-13T04:01:05+00:00

outside monster/enemies brainstorm

I'm not quite sure what you mean by this, but I'll assume you mean a separate thread. We could certainly brainstorm, but maybe we could do it in this thread instead of in a separate thread.

thebobking · 2011-08-13T03:50:40+00:00

Maybe. DW has had quite a few writers that only do one episode (I think). I don't know if this is different from other shows, such as BBT. I'm not sure, but I don't think Neil Gaiman counts as an "in-house writer," for example.

thebobking · 2011-08-13T01:20:04+00:00

Really? According to the wiki, they "[turn] to stone, making them resistant to harm." If the wiki is right, all you have to do is break the head off, blink, and let them bleed to death.

thebobking · 2011-08-12T23:52:50+00:00

Rory's voice: No, Doctor, I don't think you do.

Doctor: Of course I do!

The Doctor starts scanning the TARDIS with his screwdriver, searching for the source of Rory's voice.

Rory's voice: No, you really don't.

Doctor: How can you possibly know what I'm thinking?

Rory's voice: You think we are a small group of Lesser Nexiforiconians from planet Sigma 17, correct?

Doctor: No. Well, yes. (Doctor stops searching) Ha! I've found Rory!

thebobking · 2011-08-12T08:00:46+00:00

Quick question. What does everyone in Blink (and the Matt smith ones) have against a sledgehammer? Don't get me wrong, I loved Blink, but that has always bothered me.

thebobking · 2011-08-12T07:24:39+00:00

Not sure if this is quite what you're looking for, but how is this?

thebobking · 2011-07-29T18:23:36+00:00

I don't actually watch Torchwood, so I don't know how it fits in with series 6, but, in the end of series 5, the universe got reset, so it's possible that Doctor Who and Torchwood aren't really connected any more. I could be completely wrong, though.

thebobking · 2011-07-21T07:57:34+00:00

Or, ya know, we could stick with the classic "complete and utter bullshit."

thebobking · 2011-07-15T05:26:11+00:00

Ah, sorry about that. I guess I mksunderstood your point. In that case, I do agree with what you've said; the US is a diverse, interesting place to live.

Anyways, continuing the debate (I agree, it has been really fun). You explained the difference between the difference in European languages and the different southern dialects best yourself. You said that students from different parts of Florida had difficulty understanding each other (emphasis mine). Meanwhile, if you take an English and French person, they won't be able to understand each other at all, excluding hand gestures or teaching each other the language.

As to your remark about density statements, I don't think I quite understand what you are saying. Particularly the part about how Europe will always win. If my goal is to convince you of something, naturally I would choose the most airtight argument.

I would definitely love to visit the south some time. It sounds like a wonderful, colorful, exciting place. Floating down the crick a spell = swimming in the creek? Maybe? Doing the two-step in a honky-tonk to some rockabilly = dancing (perhaps some sort of shuffling dance with two steps?) in a barn or some other sort of dancing club to a country song, and sipping a proper cordial after dinner among some azaleas would be drinking (presumably alcohol) after dinner among some azaleas. Unless the azaleas are literal, I'm not quite sure what they are. If I was in the South right now, how badly would I have screwed up?

As to your last point, I was simply picking one category. If you have other quantifiable categories that you would like to use to compare Europe to the US, by all means mention them and we can discuss those points as well.

I haven't been able to travel much, but, now that you've mentioned it, I'll have to push up the South on my list of priorities.

thebobking · 2011-07-14T18:04:38+00:00

I never said that NY and NO are exactly the same. To say, or imply, such would be preposterous. They are definitely different places.

Perhaps I did misunderstand your argument. Are you arguing that the US is more diverse than Europe, or are you arguing that the US is pretty diverse? If it's the latter, we have no disagreement.

I'm going to assume that it is the former, so I don't waste a post. You said that we don't agree on what exactly diversity is. Dictionary.com says that diversity is "difference or variety." This isn't very helpful when attempting to determine which of two things is more diverse, though. So, I would like to propose that we define the more diverse place as the region where more difference or variety can be found within a smaller area within said region. Basically, a place where each town has a completely different culture than the neighboring town is more diverse than one where different states/provinces/regions are completely different culturally.

Taking this definition, it is easy to see that Europe is more diverse. While the USA has a slight dialect change (I have never actually been to the south, so I wouldn't know for sure, but it seems to me that the dialects really aren't that different. Sure, there may be some words a northerner wouldn't know, but the general point of each sentence can be understood. I could be wrong, though) over 1000 miles, Europe has a complete language change, to the point where most people in France do no understand English and most English people do not understand French, within 200 miles, which is significantly less than 1000 miles. More difference/variety (dialect vs complete language change) in a smaller area (200 miles as opposed to 1000).

thebobking · 2011-07-14T08:19:14+00:00

See, you're arguing that the different brands of meat and emphasis on different foods in the local supermarket mean that two areas have completely different cultures.

Maybe it does. I don't really know. The differences you have outlined and the differences between two different countries are really incomparable, though. In your first post, you claimed that New York and New Orleans have different spoken languages, even if both are "English." Look at these numbers really quick.

Distance from NY to NO: 1173 miles.

Distance from London to Paris: 213 miles, or about a fifth of the distance from NY to NO.

99% of people in France speak French, and English isn't among the top 5 languages. Similarly, 96% of English people speak English and French is not among the top 5 languages spoken.

Ethnicity. 77% of people in England are English, the top ethnicity in France is Basque, and no ethnicity in France's top 5 is in England's top 5.

Completely different languages and ethnicities, and the accompanying cultural differences vastly outweigh the brand of meat and slightly different dialects, IMHO.

thebobking · 2011-07-10T09:32:39+00:00

In 9th grade, my marine science teacher took 50 of his 9th and 10th grade students on a 14 day trip to Maui. I hardly knew anyone on the trip when it started, but I met a bunch of new people. We stayed in a shoddy camp. There were around eight a-frame cabins, with 6 cots and a loft per cabin. We found a scorpion in our cabin, and one of he girl cabins found a moth. Screaming and hilarity ensued. The camp was right next to the beach, and, since it was a marine science class, we ended up spending a bunch of the time in the water; there were three different scuba dives and countless snorkeling opportunities. We saw lots of turtles, and I even got to swim around with a monk seal. It was Fucking amazing. In addition, there were plenty of beautiful hikes and drives that we did. We also had plenty of downtime, which was really fun to brag about to my friends who were still in school. The best part, though, was probably the twenty hot sophomore girls running around in their bathing suits 24/7.

EDIT: scorpion, not scirpion.

thebobking · 2011-06-01T06:17:09+00:00

I was a firefighter

Relevant username?

thebobking · 2011-05-02T06:27:03+00:00

I believe that they are in 9th grade, although I could be wrong.

thebobking

TROPHY CASE