Things I've researched for writing

[Astrogirl]

Well this article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_tablet_PCs says slate is one type of tablet PC and the others are convertible, hybrid and UMPC (never heard of UMPC) and that one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_dev ... rm_factors says the four types are slate, convertible, hybrid and booklet. But the description for "slate" sounds like what one would think of for a tablet PC generally.

But wasn't Slate originally a brand name of Microsoft or so? That was my concern.

I have used "tablet" in my story already, I am thinking of something like the N810, N900 or the N9 when just saying tablet (not tablet PC, tablet computer). (Maybe this term works only well like this among KDE developers and groupies.)

And that iPad is a nuisance! We make software for goddamn enterprises, and suddenly everything has to run on an iPad or iPhone. I don't see how this is going to help our customers.

[Kimra]

It's increased the market of potential buyers. Oh no you have to do work to get more money, where will the horror end?!

[Astrogirl]

It's increased the market of potential buyers.

Except not really. This is not consumer software.

Oh no you have to do work to get more money, where will the horror end?!

Yeah, that working part is always a nuisance.

[Astrogirl]

I am watching Gangs of New York now. For research, of course.

[Oldrac the Chitinous]

Whee!

Names include: "armadillo bug", "carpenter" (Newfoundland), "cheeselog" (Reading, Berkshire), "cheesy bug" (North-West Kent), "doodlebug" (also used for the larva of an antlion), "pill bug" (usually applied only to the genus Armadillidium), "potato bug", "roly-poly", "sow bug", "roll up bug", "chuggypig" or "chucky pig", "slater", "gramersow" (Cornwall), "butcher boy" or "butchy boy" (Australia), and "wood bug" (British Columbia, Canadia).

[Kimra]

Request for this thread to be moved into the Writing and Art section so it's no longer specifically Nanowrimo 2010. Please. : )

[carbonstealer]

My research is watching Community

[Sahan]

I've been doing the same thing, but I'm not really researching anything.

[Felstaff]

Whenever I write, I try to get the names of parts of certain objects accurately. For instance, I was writing about a sword-fight, (a literal one, not the one two gentlemen play in public restrooms) and I wanted to know what the pattern on the guard between the hilt and blade was called. I found out it was called a Quillian. Which made me think; I do this often. Every time I describe an object in my writing, I need to find out what a specific part of the object is. Wikipedia doesn't help that much. For instance, if I want to find out what the side of a shoe is called where the shoemaker's logo usually goes (the "vamp"), Wikipedia doesn't help out with that, and I have to plunder the juicy internet to find the correct term.

Which makes me feel like there's a niche in the market here: a web encyclopaedia that provides you with visual diagrammes of objects (shoes, swords, cars, vaginas, monkeys...) and labels informing you of the correct terminology. Like Wikipedia with pictures. Pikipedia. DOES SUCH A THING EXIST? CAN I TYPE IN "WINDOW" AND SUDDENLY GET A HANDY LABELED DIAGRAMME OF EVERY PART OF A WINDOW? Because that would be *so* handy. I tend to describe objects in my writing, and dislike referring to them as "thingy".

[Kovvy]

I don't know of something like that, but it sounds like a lovely idea.

[carbonstealer]

I would love to know how to refer to quadrant grooves in doors in a better way. I know what I mean but I couldn't create an un-clumsy way to write it

[Tundra]

Composting toilets, in apartment blocks- possible or not?

[Kovvy]

I've done a little reading on composting toilets, and if what I remember is correct, that would be possible.

[Kimra]

Composting toilets, in apartment blocks- possible or not?

Ah, that's a hard one. I'm sending it onto the environmental scientists I know and I'll tell you. (Did you really want an answer? No? Well you'll probably get one anyway)

[Kimra]

Wormholes. And the speed in which travel through them would occur if it were possible etc. Fun times.