Search options (Page 137 of 169)

Yeah, it's the optional caps that kills me. If I use capitals for titles after "the", that results in: "The Emperor is dead." (perfectly reasonable) but also "The Governor is dead." (iffi) and "The Toilet Attendant is dead." (from fumes).

I went with my own variation, which has mostly worked - formal vs. informal titles:
    Apollo is the emperor. The emperor has arrived.
    Apollo is Emperor of the Imperium Romanum. The Emperor of the Imperium Romanum has arrived.

Now what do I with:
    Apollo is the holy Roman emperor ???
That just looks wrong in lowercase. I'll probably have to treat it as an exception. Basically there is no informal version of that title.

It sucks though when they both end up in the same sentence:
    "The emperor is dead, Governor. Henceforth, I'm the Holy Roman Emperor!"

Now where did we end up with the "rule of one"? Is there such a thing? (The Great One could fall under the category of a formal title with no informal equivalent, like Holy Roman Emperor.)

Since there are two emperors in the battle, then neither emperor has a unique title. There must be more to that rule....

And don't forget Queen Mary, who is the only queen so far in my story, yet her role is identical to that of a mere governor.

Many people around the world capitalize Queen when referring to Elizabeth II, even though there are other queens. I'm betting some American don't capitalize queen, although I've regularly seen President capitalized where I wouldn't.

You begin to see why my capitalization rules keep falling over.

The AI is damaged. Assuming it's giving correct answers to the three numbers (a HUGE if), that would include automatic emergency procedures, assuming it can initiate them. Exploring those details would detract from the real purpose of the scene.

So it is a separate rule? What about the example where I capitalize governor because there's only one in the conversation: The Governor is dead.

O
I
C

Correction. I do have a medical question. If someone's air supply is completely cut off (albeit slowly), how long is it before the heart stops? And how long can they be in that state (no air, no heartbeat) and still have a chance of being revived?

Thanks
Dirk

killer asteroid

Amy, I have characters in a small spaceship that's leaking air. Minimally, they'll be unconscious by the time they're rescued. They may even be dead. What would be the major medical steps taken to revive them? I'd rather they were actually dead before rescue, but that probably greatly complicates reviving them. I'd like at least one of them up and walking within an hour. I assume this is doable if they're only unconcscious. Being dead would be icing on the cake.

Thanks,
Dirk

Read again, Amy, r.e. the Roche Limit, above. It's sufficiently plausible that I'm keeping my rings.

I googled this. There is a Roche limit around planets that determines whether or not you get rings vs moons. If you have debris within the Roche limit, the tidal forces of the planet keep the debris from coalescing (the tidal forces exceed the force of gravity). Outside the Roche, you get moons. The Earth's Roche limit is 10,000 km, so based solely on that, we could have stable rings between the Earth`s surface (6,400 km) and the limit. However, other factors affect the formation of rings, so those might play a role (e.g., melting of icy debris too close to the sun, the effect of gravity of any nearby moons, the density of a planet, among others). This is googled info, so take it with a grain of salt.

I'm curious to know why rings around smaller planets would only last 2000-3000 years.

Amy mentioned in her review of my Caligula chapter that a small planet (e.g., 10% smaller than Earth) couldn't sustain planetary rings. Does anyone else agree/disagree? And why? Surely Kdot must have equations for this. :-)

Thanks

Never saw it. Did they do that? If so, I'll have to change mine somewhat. Duct tape, anyone?