The many questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XXI

[ace99]

Has anyone ever read a book written in present tense? For instance "Lord Royce nods." vs. "Lord Royce nodded."

It seems to me that most people who try to write in present tense are amateurs or trying to be different.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Has anyone ever read a book written in present tense? For instance "Lord Royce nods." vs. "Lord Royce nodded."

It seems to me that most people who try to write in present tense are amateurs or trying to be different.

Well most people who write books anyway are amateurs or trying to be different. I know that's not the point I'm just amateurishly trying to be different.

 

[strijder20]

Why doesn't Cuba change it's flag to something less American?

 

[Cutlass]

I don't think it looks like it's unscrewable.

It probably is, but the threads are on the inside. And it's hard to get ahold of the outside. Or, at least, that's common to kitchen faucets in the US. If you can't get it loose, them you could try taking some tool and tapping or pushing it around.

 

[_random_]

Has anyone ever read a book written in present tense? For instance "Lord Royce nods." vs. "Lord Royce nodded."

It seems to me that most people who try to write in present tense are amateurs or trying to be different.

The Hunger Games books are written like this. I think it can have some legitimate purpose. The stakes seem higher if things are ongoing and there are no foregone conclusions. I'd agree that amateur authors tend to overuse it though.

Now, a book in future tense I've never read. It could be interesting for a sci-fi piece. It'd probably get really wordy with all the auxiliary verbs you'd need though.

 

[DroopyTofu]

Has anyone ever read a book written in present tense? For instance "Lord Royce nods." vs. "Lord Royce nodded."

It seems to me that most people who try to write in present tense are amateurs or trying to be different.

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner does it through much of the book, though I'd never recomend that book to anyone. If count plays as books, they're always like that.

 

[ace99]

Now, a book in future tense I've never read. It could be interesting for a sci-fi piece. It'd probably get really wordy with all the auxiliary verbs you'd need though.

How would that work? "Lord Royce will nod." ?

The Hunger Games books are written like this. I think it can have some legitimate purpose. The stakes seem higher if things are ongoing and there are no foregone conclusions. I'd agree that amateur authors tend to overuse it though.

Mehhhh....the Hunger Games are poorly written. I wasn't impressed by it.

 

[_random_]

Something like that yeah. And Hunger Games were solid entertainment. Nothing more and nothing less.

 

[shadowplay]

Why doesn't Cuba change it's flag to something less American?

I don't know, why doesn't America change it's flag to something less Cuban?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

The American flag is older. By centuries.

 

[Gamemaster77]

Now, a book in future tense I've never read. It could be interesting for a sci-fi piece. It'd probably get really wordy with all the auxiliary verbs you'd need though.

Spoiler :

One of the major problems encountered in time travel is not that of becoming your own father or mother. There is no problem in becoming your own father or mother that a broad-minded and well-adjusted family can't cope with. There is no problem with changing the course of history—the course of history does not change because it all fits together like a jigsaw. All the important changes have happened before the things they were supposed to change and it all sorts itself out in the end.

The major problem is simply one of grammar, and the main work to consult in this matter is Dr. Dan Streetmentioner's Time Traveler's Handbook of 1001 Tense Formations. It will tell you, for instance, how to describe something that was about to happen to you in the past before you avoided it by time-jumping forward two days in order to avoid it. The event will be descibed differently according to whether you are talking about it from the standpoint of your own natural time, from a time in the further future, or a time in the further past and is futher complicated by the possibility of conducting conversations while you are actually traveling from one time to another with the intention of becoming your own mother or father.

Most readers get as far as the Future Semiconditionally Modified Subinverted Plagal Past Subjunctive Intentional before giving up; and in fact in later aditions of the book all pages beyond this point have been left blank to save on printing costs.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy skips lightly over this tangle of academic abstraction, pausing only to note that the term "Future Perfect" has been abandoned since it was discovered not to be.

How do registrars work? What's making sure making sure that registrars aren't giving out domain names that are already taken and having them bounce around in DNS servers?

 

[The_J]

There are normally central registries per region and country, so there's no real possibility to have overlaps (e.g. DeNIC organizes all the .de domains, nobody else).

 

[ELITEOFWARMAN8]

Has anyone ever went on vacation to Cuba before?

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Has anyone ever went on vacation to Cuba before?

Dragon. (yes, this is quite a cryptic answer but I'll be interested too see who can explain it)

 

[strijder20]

Dragon. (yes, this is quite a cryptic answer but I'll be interested too see who can explain it)

You went there in April?

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

You went there in April?

Correctamundo

 

[_random_]

How the hell did you figure that one out?

 

[strijder20]

How the hell did you figure that one out?

I use magickx.
Knowing rugbyLEAGUEfan is from Australia helped too.

 

[salty mud]

April Sun in Cuba, by Dragon?

 

[GenMarshall]

I've debated this in my head for a while. I know that some would say hold off dating while unemployed, however I find that it's driving me nuts holding it off for about five years. Anyway, is it appropriate to lower my standards in dating women?