Stupid Questions

[Guest Other-in-Law]

From the last thread:

I'm looking at a book condition description on Amazon, which says "tall 12mo". What is this referring to?

Duodecimo. Just as the French use 1re instead of 1st, book sizes do alphanumeric abbreviations in Italian (so 8vo for Octavo). Why they start going into Elephants in the larger range I couldn't say, but my favourite book just squeaks into the Double Elephant range at a paltry 31". One wonders what a book over 50" tall would be...a Triple Elephant or perhaps a Mammoth?

[El-ahrairah]

Thanks Oil.

[BLU-RAY]

Stupid question from someone who usually purports to be an expert at air travel:

I'm looking at continental, and I can get a round trip from Cali to Jersey and back for cheaper than I can get a one-way, even if the Cali-Jersey flight is the same for the roundtrip and the one-way. Is this normal? What the hell?

[IheartTesla]

More people want to get out of Jersey for good than want to get out of California. You should be happy.

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

It's actually quite common for many airlines. The one-way fares are often higher fare classes, and don't always benefit from discounts such as the Saturday night stay, or the advance booking. Best bet is to get a roundtrip with an approximate return date, or the maximum allowed return date, and then change it if you need to.

Also, if you miss your return flight, well, that's just too bad! However, if the airlines suspect you'll miss your return leg deliberately (before you take the first one), they have been known to deny boarding and/or make you pay the one-way fare. Same with "back to back" ticketing.

Of course, there are still deals out there, and airlines who don't price their tickets that way, so it is also genuinely possible to find a one-way for less than a roundtrip. It's just rare, as I understand it.

[Iskaral Pust]

It's actually quite common for many airlines. The one-way fares are often higher fare classes, and don't always benefit from discounts such as the Saturday night stay, or the advance booking. Best bet is to get a roundtrip with an approximate return date, or the maximum allowed return date, and then change it if you need to.

Yes, it is common. One-way tickets are more often used by business travelers, who the airlines love to charge higher fares. Airline pricing strategies are actually a very interesting niche.

[Tobin]

Question about Opals -

I'm a sucker for fire opals and am trying to amass a small collection of the pretties (superstitious tradition keeps me from buying them all up myself however, so conning others into buying them for me has slowed the growth of my hoard).

I've looked around online and found conflicting information on how to care for the stones.

Some places say I shouldn't get them wet - others say I should dampen them every once in a while to keep them 'alive'.

I know that you're not supposed to heat them up, so that's not an issue - but should I give them a bath or not?

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

Depends on the kind of opal (or, more accurately, what the gem-object you have is actually made of) -- opals are extremely soft, and even dusting them can damage them from the dust being "scraped" across as you wipe it off. Water's generally only a problem if you're dealing with compound gems, such as a layer of precious opal being put on top of a layer of common opal, or of quartz or another object. Even then, a damp cloth or such won't cause immediate damage, nor even getting caught in the rain, etc. OTOH, the only time you should be adding moisture to your storage (i.e. storing it *in* water or in a small bag with a damp cloth) is if the environment is extremely dry.

If you really want it checked out, repaired, super-cleaned, or you have concerns, though, go to a jeweler, preferably one with lots of experience with opals. You never know the qualifications of some stranger on the internet. ;)

[Angeleyes]

From the last thread:

Duodecimo. Just as the French use 1re instead of 1st, book sizes do alphanumeric abbreviations in Italian (so 8vo for Octavo). Why they start going into Elephants in the larger range I couldn't say, but my favourite book just squeaks into the Double Elephant range at a paltry 31". One wonders what a book over 50" tall would be...a Triple Elephant or perhaps a Mammoth?

In Nordic Mythology class we talked about old books... So old that they were written on sheepskin, folded into 4ths (2 folds, totaling 8 pages) and these were cataloged as quartos or 4to.

I would imagine that it goes into Elephant sizes in order to indicate large books made this way on elephant skin instead of sheep/deer. Like I said though, I imagine, I don't know.

[Happy Ent]

Why doesn’t the genitive form of “it” take an apostrophe? (I could ask the same for he and her, but I’m going for snark, not grammatical enlightenment.)

[jurble]

Because then the confusion between its/it's would be worse?

[Insert Edit]

What's with the various foreign language typefaces in people's usernames, and is everyone eventually going to back to normal?

[Guest Raidne]

Yes, it's the world cup. I'm not participating due to the "interested" a/s/l PM's I received from real live Czechs last time I played along. Turns out "postmodern sleaze" translates into something like "open-minded whore" in Czech. Thanks a lot, whoever helped me out with that. :P

[Warg Arry]

um.. Stupid question about Batteries.

If batteries are stored in a cool, dark, dry place and are still within their use by date. What could cause them to lose charge prior to any use?

[Guest Other-in-Law]

I would imagine that it goes into Elephant sizes in order to indicate large books made this way on elephant skin instead of sheep/deer. Like I said though, I imagine, I don't know.

Your speculation inspired me to look at the most obvious source, which failed to satisfy, but did inform me of one humongous book. The first several double elephant results google yielded were ornithology books which incorporated the size class in the title.

[MinDonner]

Why might two DVD players run at different speeds? I didn't even think that would be possible, cos it's digital, not like old analogue videos with their variable spindles, but we tried a transatlantic movie session at the weekend, and I had to keep pausing (for 15-ish secs) every twenty minutes or so to let the Americans catch up again. Difference between Region 1 and 2 DVDs? PAL and NTSC framerates? Anyone know?

[Edda van Heefmstra Ruston]

Apparently I should put this in the "Something you learned" thread, too, because I had no idea PAL movies played faster.

http://www.michaeldvd.com.au/articles/PALSpeedUp/PALSpeedUp.asp

[Datepalm]

more of a minor rant, but maybe theres a good reason for this?

Overheard in the library: "I need to scan this form, becuase they want it emailed to them." "Oh, this is a printer." "I need to print it to fill it out."

[Paxter]

more of a minor rant, but maybe theres a good reason for this?

Overheard in the library: "I need to scan this form, becuase they want it emailed to them." "Oh, this is a printer." "I need to print it to fill it out."

I could be completely barking up the wrong tree here, but I assume the person was printing out an uncompleted form, filling it out manually with handwriting, scanning the completed form and then sending it via an e-mail attachment? Probably happens quite regularly when a form doesn't lend itself to being filled out electronically.

[Datepalm]

I could be completely barking up the wrong tree here, but I assume the person was printing out an uncompleted form, filling it out manually with handwriting, scanning the completed form and then sending it via an e-mail attachment? Probably happens quite regularly when a form doesn't lend itself to being filled out electronically.

I think so too - it wasn't the person being stupid, it was the organization that put out its forms in such a way that they need to be printed and yet needs to recieve them by email. (where they are probably printed out again, becuase what are you going to do with information on a bunch of image files?) Even if you don't have the technical resources and know how to put up an electronic form, just put up a bloody .doc file. How hard is that?