LMB Quote Game

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:04 am

I can't believe it!

I woke up remembering vividly a dream where Suzette gave a hint after which the answer was ridiculously easy.... but I can't remember now what the hint was, neither the answer!

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 9:05 am

That's really funny, voralfred! Is it a hint to tell you I've chosen a quote from this book before?

No? Well, I guess an extension is in order, then.

"I'm all done," he realized with a groan, "and it's too early."
"Weeping because you have no more worlds to conquer?" inquired Xxx with a sarcastic grin.

Which book?
Who is Xxx?
Who is "he" and why is he upset?

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 11:53 am

Book: Novella "The Borders of Infinity"
He is miles (of course) upset because he has organised the prison camp, and he is worried lest people lose interest in all his beautiful organisation before ...

Spoiler: show

Xxx is Tris

This time I recognize at first sight.
I just had to check who was Xxx, there were several possible choices: Tris, Beatrice, Suegar, Oliver... In fact I was surprised it was Tris, she was my last choice among these four.

SPetty · Post by **SPetty** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:13 pm

Correct, of course!

You're up!

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Fri Jun 05, 2009 1:42 pm

Oh! That's a better dream...

Book?
Who is speaking?
What is the "better dream"?

Bonus: how did the person who heard this characterise this voice?

You can still get the bonus fro mmemory, I don't insist on a verbatim quote, any good approximation will do.

Caroline Tredez · Post by **Caroline Tredez** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:25 pm

I'd say Illvin about Ista having just kissed him, Paladin of Souls. But without the book to check, I won't hazard a guess on the bonus.

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sat Jun 06, 2009 4:09 pm

Correct!

Your turn and one sherlock.

Caroline Tredez · Post by **Caroline Tredez** » Tue Jun 09, 2009 12:29 am

Sorry for the delay. So next quote :

[...] he preferred to be right the first time.

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 3:00 pm

The Vor Game.

Miles.

He is trying to decide which drainage culvert to inspect first in order to discover why the soldier went into the drainage culvert and got trapped in the rising water and drowned. The soldier had gone in to check on the status of a packet of sweets someone had sent him from home, and with the rising water he was afraid it would get ruined.

James

Oddly, I was wondering if my septic tank was backing up when the solution hit me.

PS, since that wasn't actually a quote would anyone have any issues with me accepting the Sherlock? If so, I won't take it.

James

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 5:28 pm

Wasn't it an exact quote? Then your merit is even greater, to guess on just the general idea of the sentence. Anymwy if Caroline says the answer is correct, then she should give yo uthe sherlock, no problem

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 5:50 pm

Whoops, maybe I am wrong. I thought that by "quote", we were looking for something someone had said, or possibly thought in the stories. Are we simply looking for ANYTHING written in the stories?

James

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:18 pm

Quote means a quote from the book, whether something uttered or thought by a character, but also any line of text that can be recognized.

Caroline Tredez · Post by **Caroline Tredez** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 3:52 am

I thought about it the same way than voralfred : any text from the book (even if dialogues tend to make good quotes)

You get the sherlock, JKCade, of course, and the right to post the next quote.

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 10:10 am

"I just had a brilliant idea to buy us a head start...".

Book?
Who is speaking?
Why do they need a head start?

James

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:33 pm

"...And-oh. Oh, my." Xxx's eyes lit.
"What?"
"I just had a brilliant idea to buy us a head start...".

Book?
Who is speaking?
Why do they need a head start?

James

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 1:44 pm

"...That means all the advance planning for moving (?????) had better be done-in advance. And-oh. Oh, my." Xxx's eyes lit.
"What?"
"I just had a brilliant idea to buy us a head start...".

Ok, I couldn't type out who/what was moving, or that would give it away for sure. Or maybe I just did?

Book?
Who is speaking?
Who/what are they moving?
Why do they need a head start?

James

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:42 pm

Found it!

All this time I was sure the "brilliant" was ironic (in the mind of the author) and that it was some more disaster-inducing plan cooked up by Miles, or, possibly, Ivan or Mark in decreasing order of probability.

But no, the idea is indeed brilliant: it was Leo's idea in "Falling Free", to move the Habitat: they needed a head start because Brucie-baby would be in a position to kill the whole scheme as soon as he understood what was going on, but Leo managed to convince him that all the rearrangement was in order to dismantle the Habitat to recover as much of it as possible.

JKCade · Post by **JKCade** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:16 pm

Correct! Your up!

James

E Pericoloso Sporgersi · Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:07 am

1. Is the format of this quote & question game compulsory?

2. I'm thinking of a building design which, I think, is flawed from an architectural (or physical) point of view. I could quote from the book (or more than one) to point out the design. The question / task then being to discover and explain what the design flaw is.

3. Do I have to solve a Q&Q before being allowed to submit a question / task?

voralfred · Post by **voralfred** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:42 am

1) Normally, the question is given as a quote. But the asker can put conditions on the answer he considers as acceptable, namely, if you consider that just finding where the quote is unsufficient and insist the answer contains the explanation of the flaw, this is perfectly OK.

2) Again, normally, you have to solve a questio nbefore being allowed to ask a new one, unless either he previous winner never posts (this happened once, a new member appeared, answered correctly and then disappeared for ever) or a question stays for a very very ong time without being answered, the person who asked did not put further hints (or not enough) and the game stalled (this never happened in the LMBQG, but did in other games on different sub-fora)
In these two cases, at some point, whoever feels like it reacts and posts a new question/task.

But since I am the winner and it is my turn to ask, it is my pleasure to offer you my turn!
Do post your question, I am curious.
Of course I will apply to myself the usual "anti-ping-pong" rule : the previous winner is forbidden to answer for 5 days. Normally that applies to the question asked by the person who answered one's question (i.e. JKCade would have been prevented to answer my question) but we'll pretend you just answered my question, so James (Ie. JKCade) can answer your question at once.
Also since you did not really answer my question, you'll be allowed to answer next question at once, too. The ping-pong rule, in this case, applies just for me for your architectural question.

Just to make things clear, for the first time you find an answer : the anti-ping-pong rule applies for five days only to the question asked by the person who found your question; if the answer is found earlier, and a third question asked by a third party, even within a few hours, (or a few minutes! that did happen a few times!) the anti-ping-pong rule does not apply anymore and you can answer immediately.

E Pericoloso Sporgersi · Mon Jun 22, 2009 3:46 am

voralfred wrote:... But since I am the winner and it is my turn to ask, it is my pleasure to offer you my turn! Do post your question, I am curious. ...

Oh, thank you. I'm honored.

Well, hold onto your hat, here goes:
(in Diplomatic Immunity) Graf Station has a spherically shaped theater, the Madame Minchenko Memorial Auditorium.

It was an enormous sphere. Nearly a third of its interior surface was a round, transparent window-wall, the universe itself turned into backdrop, thick with bright stars on this shaded side of the station. ... the rest of the wall was lined with hexagonal cells like a silver-edged honeycomb filled with rainbow jewels. ... the cells resolved into velvet-lined boxes for the audience ... Other sectors, interspersed, seemed to be dark, flat panels of various shapes, or to contain other exits.
...
[about the lethal booby trap]
"In Minchenko Auditorium, just as the portmaster said. Attached to the wall in a stage light cell. It did seem to have been put together hastily, but it was deadly clever for all of that. Simple and clever. ... The ba had stuck it to the wall with ordinary packing tape, and sprayed it with a little flat black paint. No one would notice it in the ordinary course of events, not even if they had been working on the lights, unless they put a hand right on it."

An architectural/engineering design flaw in the Minchenko Auditorium has been bugging me, ever since I've read the book for the first time.

Question: What is the design flaw?

Bonus question: Does Graf Station rotate? If it does, what is its rotation speed? (in relative terms)

Caroline Tredez · Post by **Caroline Tredez** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 2:49 am

Can't find a design flaw, but for the bonus question : Graf Station doesn't rotate noticeably, or it wouldn't be partially null-gee. I think. I suppose it can in part move itself to re-ajust its position, though.

Or has your question anything to do with the fact that the transparent wall of the auditorium should always point to space, not the sun of the system ?

E Pericoloso Sporgersi · Wed Jun 24, 2009 3:28 am

Caroline Tredez wrote:Can't find a design flaw,...

HINT: Think of a one-ring circus ( Cirque Zabaglione ) where a flying trapeze performance is in progress . Compare that with the setup of the Minchenko Auditorium.

Caroline Tredez wrote:... for the bonus question: Graf Station doesn't rotate noticeably, or it wouldn't be partially null-gee. ...
Or has your question anything to do with the fact that the transparent wall of the auditorium should always point to space, not the sun of the system ?

YES! Now elaborate on its rotational behavior, please. There is a specific phrase to describe its main characteristic.

Caroline Tredez · Post by **Caroline Tredez** » Wed Jun 24, 2009 8:28 am

Then it may be in synchronous rotation relative to their sun.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_rotation). Depends on whether it moves itself or just rely on gravity (if I where the designer, I'd make sure it can behave as a big ship, or several ships anchored together)

As for the design flaw, still no clue. I mean, if you're suggesting a problem of anchorage (ropes and so on for the performers to use, since without something to push on they wouldn't be able to stay in the middle of the scene), such ropes or pillars could cross the scene quite discreetly without contradicting the implied design exposed in the book

E Pericoloso Sporgersi · Wed Jun 24, 2009 9:17 am

Caroline Tredez wrote:Then it may be in synchronous rotation relative to their sun.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronous_rotation). Depends on whether it moves itself or just rely on gravity (if I where the designer, I'd make sure it can behave as a big ship, or several ships anchored together)

As for the design flaw, still no clue. I mean, if you're suggesting a problem of anchorage (ropes and so on for the performers to use, since without something to push on they wouldn't be able to stay in the middle of the scene), such ropes or pillars could cross the scene quite discreetly without contradicting the implied design exposed in the book

Well done, Caroline! Though I was thinking of "rotation locked to its primary", I must concede your turn of phrase is correct too (says the Wikipedia).
You have the bonus half point, if I understood the rules correctly, but I don't know (yet) how to award it. Help!!!

BTW. At first I thought "synchronous" = "geostationary orbit", but I was in error.

For the design flaw, I'll post an additional hint tomorrow (to give others some more time/oportunity).