Persistent, Niggling Questions

[Nate the Great]

Following on from a YouTube video...


PNQ: .gif-is it "jiff (jiffy without the y)" or "giff (gift without the t)"?


I use the former, it's just easier to say.

[Nate the Great]

How commas have affected government/legal matters.


PNQ: Do you use the Oxford comma?


That is, the comma before the "and" at the end of a list.


X, Y, and Z or X, Y and Z?

[NAHTMMM]

jiff and of course I use the Oxford comma, it is best practice.

[Nate the Great]

So I stumbled upon the old saying "a boat is a hole in the water that you throw money into" again...


PNQ: If you had the money for storage, maintenance, etc. for a recreational vehicle, what kind would you want?



By "recreational vehicle" I'll cast a wide net. RVs, ATVs, canoes, sailboats, dirt bikes, hang glider, whatever. We'll also assume that you have the time and opportunity to actually use the thing on a regular basis.



If you already have one, you have to choose something in a different category.

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: Vulcan mind-meld vs Jedi mind-trick-who wins?


An interesting question. It depends on the mental training of both sides. Spock vs. Obi-Wan? Are we talking at a distance, or within the mindscape of a mind-meld? Does Spock get to use the Stone of Gol?



Give each of them the weapon of the other (lightsabre and lirpa, say the lirpa is lightsabre-proof)? I think Spock is more trained in traditional weapons, he'd win.



I think if Spock managed a mind-meld, he'd win. Jedi don't look like they deal with direct mind manipulation, that's a Sith thing.



Can Spock be tricked with a mind-trick? Also an interesting question. A casual "you want to go home and reevaluate your life", not a chance. A directed "see what I want you to see", possibly. Then again, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that Vulcans can train themselves to see through illusions like that.



So after achieving near-Kolinar on Mount Seleya, I think Spock would win.

[NAHTMMM]

I'm sure KJ would like a little ~4-person fishing boat to putter around in.

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: In "Best of Both Worlds" did Guinan know that Picard would be saved because she knows that he hasn't gone back in time to meet her in "Time's Arrow" yet?


Because it's an interesting question. El-Aurians can sense changes in the timeline, so is it possible that they know that their knowledge of future events can be changed, or can be fulfilled by alternate timeline versions of people?

[Nate the Great]

So I just watched The Giver movie for the first time. Like everyone else I had to read the book in school. I've even read the sequels (FYI: don't bother, the connections to the first book are weak at best and introduce even more plot holes). However, I'm not as passionate as some about "they changed X, Y, and Z from the book, this is a disaster!" with this book. (If the remake of The Phantom Tollbooth is ever made, expect me to be passionate about THAT!)



PNQ: Was it even worth trying? Are there some books that just can't be translated to the screen without serious damage to the message that was intended?


A key problem that I found was the amount of exposition that was blatantly left out because we didn't have a Jonas inner monologue. I know that this dates me even more, but upon reflection I think that the book falls into the Flowers for Algernon trap (yikes, I haven't thought about Flowers for Algernon in like twenty years). Some books are supposed to be about the inner workings of a person, and those kind of stories just can't be told well in movie format.



PNQ2: What books can you think of that are also focused on the inner workings of the main character?


One that comes to mind immediately is Dear Mr. Henshaw. (PNQ: Are kids still made to read Dear Mr. Henshaw these days?)



Think about it, the reason why a lot of books work is because there's the audience POV character that responds to the main character. That can be translated to the screen a lot easier. But in The Giver a key plot point is that nobody can relate to Jonas except the Giver himself.