The questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread XII

[madviking]

Allemagne comes from the Alamanni people.

Niemcy is the Slavic name for the German people, but not the country. (Russian ex. the country is Германия [Germaniya], the language is Немецкий язык [Nemetskii yazik]). Немец (Nemets) in Russian means "mute", a label bestowed by the early Russian settlers (back in the Kievian Rus days) since they could not understand the Germans' language. The name stuck and is the name for the German language for all Slavic tongues.

 

[Cobalt Command]

Can anyone tell me the geographical location of a place called "Grudna?" I'm not sure whether it's a city, or a state, or province, or whatever, the only thing I am 100% sure about is that it's NOT in Poland; I'm rather certain that it is in Eastern Europe, however. I'm also about 90% sure that the name of this place has changed into something other than "Grudna" these days.

Any and all help would be appreciated.

 

[madviking]

Hrodna, Belarus?

 

[GenMarshall]

Quick question, how do you get your creative juices flowing again after a writer's block?

 

[PeteAtoms]

After a writers block, means my juices are beginning to flow again...
But when I hit the wall, it helps to do other things, focusing too hard only makes it worse and more disappointing. And carry a notepad around to write down fleeting musings.

 

[madviking]

Take a prolonged break. Sometimes block, for me, is caused by doing a task to often. So a break would make the task seem "new" again, making it worthwhile again.

 

[PeteAtoms]

In the debate on abortion, which analogy is more fitting:

1) Fetuserson* as Seed:Tree
2) Fetuserson* as Apple:Tree
3) Fetuserson* as Sapling:Tree
4) Fetuserson* as Trimmings**:Tree (**branches, leaves, etc)
5) Fetuserson* as [insert your own]

*By 'person,' I mean a developed organism in which the use of the word "kill" is not a non sequitur.

Which one would pro-lifers use, and which one would pro-choice people use?

 

[Turner]

I'd say it falls between two and three.

Any analogy breaks down if you take it too far, and this one seems to break down sooner rather than later.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Question. I got a new Petty documentry and one of the Heartbreakers says "we were so ny eve." Whats this word?

 

[PeteAtoms]

Here you go:

"Naive"

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

thank you, that makes sense.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

I remember seeing a pic of a vuvuzela attached to an air horn. Is it real, or just photoshop?

 

[Turner]

http://www.blameitonthevoices.com/2010/06/its-beginning-of-end-vuvuzela-air-horn.html

Doesn't look photoshopped...but that was with about two minutes on Google.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Are there even any new computers built with floppy disk drives anymore?

 

[Turner]

I haven't seen a floppy drive on a new computer in about five years. Maybe six.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

You know that methane explosion doomsday scenario posted in the "we're all gonna die" thread? Lets say that actually does happen. How long would it take for the toxic gasses (lol ) to completely cover the globe?

 

[Heretic_Cata]

I haven't seen a floppy drive on a new computer in about five years. Maybe six.

My work computer has one. But then again my work computer is probably 10+ years old.

 

[Lord Baal]

You can buy the floppy drives separately, but no new computers are made with them pre-installed.

 

[Turner]

We had new servers with floppy drives for a long time after the desktops stopped having them. But the computers were still being wired for them for a lot longer. We had a camera at work that was ancient but still took quite good pictures that had a floppy disk in it for storage. We got a new computer for the front desk, and I had to dig up a floppy drive and cabling for the camera.

 

[GoodGame]

I believe floppy drives were still needed for BIOS corruptions until they figured out other ways of updating or rewriting BIOS. E.g. there are some dual BIOS chips. I.e. if your BIOS was overwritten beyond repair you could only boot your computer from say a floppy drive.

Or it might be CMOS that I was thinking of. Anyways I had a BIOS update go wrong many years ago due to a power out which effectively made the MoBO worthless unless I paid for a new BIOS chip, etc.. Thankfully my current computer allows BIOS updates from startup.