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12:13 AM
Q: ID of SF short story, probably late 80s-early 90s, where a physics professor goes to a timeline where his son doesn’t exist

slgwvA physics professor, in a fit of exasperation with his teenaged son, tweaks things so that he ends up in a timeline where he never had a son. Except that his vanished life haunts his dreams, and in his new timeline he's not a good enough physicist to go back. I'm almost sure I read it in one of t...

3 hours later…
2:51 AM
@AncientSwordRage I'm sorry for your loss :(
3:35 AM
Q: Is The Wicker Man (1973) on topic?

BuzzThe Wicker Man is a famous British folk musical/horror/erotic thriller film from 1973. (There was a 2006 American remake that I have never seen and which is not that well regarded.) I was wondering about the consensus on whether questions about the original film are on topic for Science Fiction...

4:12 AM
Real world Kyber crystals = diamond
3 hours later…
6:43 AM
@SQB It doesn't. I told you they live in Sweden. They can get Lego (or order it online) cheaper than I can here.
@b_jonas ah, I had missed that.
Q: How did Harry's sacrifice protect the students of Hogwarts?

AnthelothAccording to the answer here: Was it Dumbledore's charm or Lily's that protected Harry all those years?, Harry was only protected by his mother's sacrifice because Dumbledore invoked the ancient magic created by Lily's sacrifice. If that is the case, how did Harry's sacrificing himself in Deathly...

7:31 AM
@SQB @b_jonas in any case, Duplos are evil >:(
@Mithrandir done.
Oh darn.
(I like organizing moderation things in chat)
Should've left a "welcome to Stack, but please don't do this, take the tour"-comment first.
Any mod around who can do that?
Pinging @Randal'Thor as I expect him to be the first one in.
7:52 AM
eh, users get shown a "why was this deleted? see the help center" message
Oh by the way, thanks for your reply, @Catija.
@Mithrandir are messages like that sufficiently in line with new policies?
@SQB No point if you're deleting straight afterwards, users won't see it
@SQB it's... done by the system, why wouldn't it be?
@Mithrandir ideally, yes, but policies have been revised recently.
I have a screenshot somewhere...
8:01 AM
Where does that link point to?
8:52 AM
Q: cartoon series about a boy having nightmares

noClueI remember sometimes watching a cartoon series, where the entire concept is based around the main protagonist, a young boy with glasses (whom I'll just refer to as boy for simplicity sake), having crazy nightmares. Some episodes I faintly remember: Boy went to see a movie in the cinema with hi...

9:17 AM
@SQB Oh, and I forgot to mention that we have a huge box full of Lego including Duplo that we (me and my brother) played with as a child. We have given away lots of clothes, books, and toys, but none of the Lego. So my niece will inherit that as soon as Duplo is no longer a choking hazard for her.
Oh hey, new avatar for @Mith :)
@Jenayah Does that Q need the author tag? I don't think so but didn't want to edit it straight away just in case
@TheLethalCarrot I don't think so either
But it deffo needed history-of
Whilst you're at it then... :P
9:39 AM
@Jenayah indeed
figured it was about time
Going incognito for a bit with it I see?
@TheLethalCarrot mh ?
How relevant
@Jenayah I meant edit it out before your edit re-bumps the post but meh
@TheLethalCarrot ooooh I read you wrong then
I thought you meant there was an tag
Oh lol
9:41 AM
Which wouldn't have been needed yes
This tag is borderline useless by the way
[authors]? I don't think there's any need for it
Though I haven't bothered checking
Fun fact: @Mith's list of rooms is so long, the full info box is about a screen high.
An author-identification could be of use for stuff like this...
Q: Successful author who began writing while completely disabled

ognockocatenI can't for the life of me remember or find the details of this, but I recall reading about an author who was disabled and completely unable to work, and began writing as a hobby, going on to become highly successful through it. IIRC, the author is: Canadian Male Writes fantasy Made millions o...

but just feels plain wrong
@TheLethalCarrot ?
9:44 AM
It was nuked though
A: What to do with the [author-identification] tag?

AdamantLet’s get rid of it The vast majority of the questions listed are standard story-identification questions. Sure, the querents don’t know who wrote the story, but that’s because they don’t know the story. As long as we have this tag, it seems, people will continue putting in on such questions. ...

@Mithrandir Just a poor joke about Violet having invisibility and people not knowing the new avatar
@SQB I have my user ID memorized so that when I need to visit my own profile, I can just type that in directly.
@SQB it was nuked...
@Jenayah the tag is still available.
Reanimated. Raised from the dead. Switched to an alternate power source.
Well yeah, nuked not blacklisted
9:48 AM
@SQB well I mean sure, you can re-create it but the point is that it wwasn't needed
There's been a cleanup, though
Although the tag makes sense there so meh, I'm in favour of keeping it
So might be its rebirth
Q: Seeking name credits for pulp SF artists

As IfI'm trying to identify a few artists whose work appeared in SF pulps currently in the public domain, but whose name credits did not appear in the original issue. I have their signatures but not their full names. I wonder if anyone here might know...? The artists I'm trying to identify are: DI...

Q: Who wrote "The Monsters" short story published by Purnell

icbutsyI have a sci-fi book from the 80's "Purnell's Book of adventures in space" SBN 361 044070 Many of the stories have kept in my mind for so many years, particularly "The Monsters": "From his bedroom window, Zek watched the great space battle in the skies" Does anyone know the authors nam...

quoted by Adamant in linked meta should use it too?
> Only use this when not looking for a specific work; for that, use [story-identification].
> Only use this when looking for the author who wrote a specific known work. Do not use it when looking for a specific work; for that, use [story-identification].
Q: Short story where diplomats eat babies who failed to meet certain standards

sidThis is a short story. A society is seeking admission to a "federation". At a state dinner it is discovered that the food is actually babies that the society recycles after the babies fail to meet certain standards. The visiting delegation is horrified.

9:55 AM
@TheLethalCarrot In the question that brought about this discussion, there is no "specific known work", though.
True, I was trying to clarify it a bit more and clamp it down
Although I don't really like that first question
How about now?
> Only use this when looking for an author. Do not use it when looking for a specific work; for that, use [story-identification].
Yeah seems fine
I don't think it's really worth going through those
Most seem , though. Some are borderline.
Almost all are going to be false positives
No, wasn't planning to either.
Although the top three (when sorted by relevance) seem edge cases.
Aye, people use the "I'd like to know the title and author" or "I can't remember the title or author" and similar statements all the time
10:13 AM
On an unrelated note, @Randal'Thor and the other mods should be pleased to learn that I've finished the 22 pages of dupes, so no more 40 flags/day 😄
Usually, the querant would be looking for the story, ultimately.
Looking for the story, want the author too if possible
Which I mean, if you have the story, you should have the author haha
Q: Which British author wrote about Shellworlds before Iain M. Banks?

LokariIain M. Banks is remembered as creator of Shellworlds-artificial planets with layers of habitable space within them. Except this is incorrect. I distinctively remember reading a British author in my youth that had a whole SF series dedicated to this very idea. One of the titles was something al...

Q: Author of the short story "Owls"

AutoLooking for the author of a short story called Owls which I read in a sci fi magazine in the 80s. It was about 2 travelers driving through a forest at night and seeing a caution sign that says owls. The story has these 2 travelers driving through wooded area and passed a caution sign that says o...

@Jenayah in this case, the querant had the name of the story wrong, though.
10:15 AM
@SQB true
@Jenayah of story-id dupes, I mean
Q: Looking for patronage era European scifi scientist/inventor male author?

WilliamI'm looking for the author of a science fiction series (it may just be a loose collection of his works), written by a patronage era European male scientist/inventor. I remember seeing his name in a comment section on science fiction authors. The author himself (if memory serves) spent his life in...

Although that's more like a .
Dammit, OR and negation only work on tags when searching.
Search is really poor
Okay, negation works on fragments as well, but not on sections.
I want to search for author is:q [*-identification] -[author-identification] -title:title
Because if the title contains the word "title", they're probably looking for the title.
Can't you just pop a SEDE query?
Yeah, but I should get back to work.
10:31 AM
@SQB You already auto-left a comment which gives the user relevant links to explain why their answer was deleted.
@Randal'Thor yeah but can they see those deleted answers of theirs?
They can see their own deleted posts as long as they're logged in to their account.
Assuming they have the link of course
@TheLethalCarrot "I'm looking for a sci-fi story written by an anonymous author ..."
10:36 AM
Do you ever turn off the pedantry part of your brain?
@SQB Depends on the screen size :-P
@Randal'Thor Right, because anonymous authors are usually revealed afterwards aren't they? :^)
(case very in point today ahah)
@TheLethalCarrot Yes.
Did you turn it off or did you just encounter someone being more pedantic than yourself? Haha
10:52 AM
@Jenayah Thanks. I've been meaning to share it round more but lifes been chaotic since I signed up
11:15 AM
Q: What was the first work to posit the equivalence of magic rituals and computer algorithms?

user1030I have run across a small number of stories that posit a metaphysical equivalence between traditional magical rituals, and modern mathematical rituals (i.e. computer programming or proving certain theorems): The Atrocity Archive and the rest of the "Laundry" series. (Charles Stross, 2001) Digit...

Any clue if the spam edits of its answers are still a problem?
All answers are locked.
That was about 5 years ago.
Also, and seem to overlap a bit
@SQB Ages ago so probably not a problem anymore
There's only a dozen of questions though so that should be an easy clean
@TheLethalCarrot I just tilted - are there blacklisted tags?
11:25 AM
I don't know if we have any but it is certainly possible
See [[blacklist-request]](meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/blacklist-request) on SO meta
Aww that doesn't work
Oh well
@TheLethalCarrot Single brackets.
blacklist-request on SO meta.
I was trying to keep it formatted with the [] surrounding it
Ah gotta escape them
Q: Grades are too high for the department - what should I do?

Erel Segal-HaleviI recently taught an undergraduate seminar course, in which each student has to read a research paper, summarize it and present it to the class. In the first lesson I explained to the students the components of the grade: attendance, summary writing, and presentation quality. Most of the studen...

11:42 AM
Greetings, Hubble guy.
Greetings, Earthlings.
Another day of Writing The Code.
Hey @SQB, is it like, badly seen to take free food from someone else in the Netherlands?
@Jenayah wdym?
Is someone offering free food? Or are you offering free food?
I had extra cans in my cupboard, and I didn't want to put them in the trash of course, but I also did not want to leave them to the geese roommates so I put them in the common room at work with a "internship ended, it's free, take your pick :) " note
I look from time to time, lots of people read the note, spend some time looking at the stuff but no one picked anything
Oh, like that. Nah, shouldn't be a problem, although I'd either clean them out by the end of your last day (today?) or check with someone to do that for you somewhere next week.
You wouldn't want to leave a lasting memory in the form of a couple of cans stuck somewhere in a cupboard until someone throws them out.
11:51 AM
@SQB yeah it's my last day, I don't know what else I could do with those cans though, I can't bring them back home (it's heavy and not handy in the train)
What's in them?
@SQB they're on a table, note is anonymous, and nobody knows me anyways :p
it's a uni
Ah. Just leave them, then.
@SQB ravioli, peas, condensed milk, corn, some pasta, some soup powder, spinach
No Little Free Pantry near you, as far as I can tell.
But perhaps something similar.
11:53 AM
Which would be open on a Friday evening? :/
> "Leave the gun. Take the ravioli."
Yeah, they're just a cupboard/chest outside someone's door.
You can drop 'em off at the Delft food bank.
@SQB now I would feel bad taking them back from the table ^^'
The foodbank will be closed anyways :/
Buy a can opener, put it all in a basket, and make a local beggar happy.
11:58 AM
@SQB well as I said now I would feel bad taking them back from the table
Damn I should've thought of this earlier ><
I don't think it'll go to waste though
@Jenayah well, if no one knows you put them there... You could be the one taking the free food.
@SQB yeah, but taking it all at once feels overdoing it
Q: Film about a time travel ring

Ponder StibbonsI am fairly sure that this film is not in the English language. I think it was French, but perhaps not. It was low budget, perhaps 1970s. Right at the start it shows a confusing series of shots that might be of the controls of a spacecraft. Then it shows a big splash - intended to be the spacecr...

1 hour later…
1:11 PM
Q: One possible future or multiple ones?

SevenWell, I see a clear contradiction between how the concept of time is considered in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and how it is in the Doctor Strange and Avengers: Infinity War films. In the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D TV series we find some inhumans with the power to glimpse the future, like Raina in S2 and C...

Q: Why do people take the Wall seriously in A Song of Ice and Fire?

user5179531An issue has been occurring to me as I am reading the first book. That is: why do people in the North, especially the Starks, take the Wall so seriously? Moreover, why do the people on the Wall take their role so seriously? The reason I ask is that the stories of the Others are thought to be mer...

1:45 PM
Q: Do we still need to keep this thread locked?

FuzzyBootsI recently noticed What was the first work to posit the equivalence of magic rituals and computer algorithms? being pushed to the front page. Currently, every answer is locked (maybe due to spam edits according to the comments). Is it still necessary to keep these posts locked?

2 hours ago, by TheLethalCarrot
@SQB Ages ago so probably not a problem anymore
@Slartibartfast probably just could've raised mod flags to unlock them, but whatever
@Marvin because they're really into Pink Floyd?
@SQB bwahahah
2 hours later…
3:25 PM
@xkcd what about Bat-things?
Batmobile, Batboat, etc
"Robin, get the battery!" "What's a tery?"
@WebHead Terry McGuiness?
I think that joke is beyond most people
3:44 PM
Q: A cat and a dog, a dollar store Lucky Luke and... Sebastian from The Little Mermaid

noClueLooking for a bizarre collection of cartoons that are part of one cartoon, playing back to back, each having their own segment. The segments I remember (not sure if there are more): Sebastian - it centers around Sebastian from The Little Mermaid. I don't remember much about this one. Cat and Do...

4:15 PM
Q: Sci-Fi book where spider-like alien lives on the hull of a ship and configures his web to forecast space weather or the future?

Cesar4987I read a book about 11 years ago that was part of a larger series and I can't remember the name or author. I randomly picked it out of the Sci-Fi section in the library because I liked the cover and became really invested in it. After realizing it was not even the first part of a larger series, I...

Q: Shall we delete this old, off-topic but highly viewed, question?

Rand al'ThorThis question was recently bumped by edits: In what order should I read the Robert Langdon books? At first I was going to delete it because it's off-topic for our site, but then I saw the incredibly high view count, meaning that (like many suggested-order questions) it's being useful to drive-by ...

@Jenayah It's possible a new user won't know what you mean here, particuarly the last sentence.
@Alex Ah, well, to be honest that was more addressed to people who will likely edit in anyways
As for nuking, I don't know, it sounded self-explanatory?
4:31 PM
@Jenayah Well, I was mainly referring to the flagging part, but to be honest, I haven't really heard that term used outside of this site (besides for its original meaning), though granted it is relatively self-explanatory.
@Alex well in any case if I see the tag added I'll delete my comment though
Just pointing out to others that I know it won't be needed in the long run, so if anyone wants it to be deleted faster than having for me to remember to check, go on
@Jenayah Don't worry, I'm not criticizing the comment. Just pointing out the possibility that the questioner might not fully understand it.
@Alex aye, true, but was not worth pointing to 40 help center pages, and a Meta post, through an especially long comment for that
4:52 PM
@Alex self-deleted :grin:
@Jenayah Well now we'll never know...
@Alex bah
Hey, has it ever been proposed to pop a "don't forget to self-accept" popup when someone self-replies?
Usual scheme goes:
> new user ask story-id question
> new user eventually finds their answer
> new user either post it as a comment or a self-answer (which is nice, though)
> new user never comes back and doesn't see the "please accept your self-answer" comments that ensued
A popup with this comment could be useful when both conditions (new user, self-answer on ID question) are met
Of course that doesn't help when new user answers instead of commenting, but still.
@Alex Yeah, but a self answer might not be the best in such cases. On the very particular case of IDs, you can be pretty sure it's going to be the one
Hence the conditions above
A: Answering your own question? Accept it.

ChrisFAs you know, you can already accept your own answer. The delay is built in to allow others to provide answers that may be better than your own. You are already prompted to accept an answer (or raise a bounty) if you revisit the question page and (I think) on your profile page. There may be mile...

5:04 PM
Q: Looking for story about humanity denied space flight

This isn't my real nameI'm looking for a story I once read, in which Humanity sends out a space ship to try leaving the Solar System, and it is promptly destroyed by a military ship belonging to the Galactic Empire, which then broadcasts an announcement declaring that the ship was destroyed for the crime of attempting ...

@Jenayah Wait, you're asking for a prompt to only exist for a specific tag?
@Alex basically, yeah. Since there's a (off the hat) 90% chance a self-answer on IDs will be a "I found it, it's ____" answer.
the remaining 10% are answers that should be comments ("Thanks for pointing me to that guide; I read it in English in 1995, the cover had a blue cat and a piano")
@Jenayah I don't know if that's even possible. And if it is, I don't think the bosses would consider it a worthwhile endeavor if it only affects one tag on one site.
Unrelated, kudos to the mods who cope with my numerous "no longer needed, and see also the discussion below which was a reply to tthat" flags 😄
@Alex To be honest, I don't think either, but boy would that solve one of SFF's issues...
(and possibly Lit, Arqade, basically every site with an ID tag)
Talking about self-answers, this one scifi.stackexchange.com/a/194424/98028 could use one more upvote to make it to the top, in case it's never accepted
@Jenayah Interesting point. I wrote a Meta post for a different site arguing that the accepted answer feature is worthless (and actively harmful) for that site. Maybe I should edit it to add that for story identification questions it serves a purpose.
5:12 PM
@Alex Mi Yodeya?
(since it's the one you're the most active on)
@Jenayah Yep.
Q: Who cares which answer the questioner thinks is the best?

AlexThe way answers are ranked across the Stack Exchange Network is that an accepted answer appears first, followed by the other answers in decreasing order of votes. If there is no accepted answer then the answers are listed solely by votes. I would like to argue that while this might make sense fo...

@Alex makes sense. I don't think much things are more prone to interpretation and subjectivity than religion.
(just to clarify, it's not a judgement of sorts on whatever religion :) )
@Jenayah And here I was thinking you were judging me.
Notice, by the way, that despite the proposal being highly upvoted, and a follow-up proposal on main Meta that was even more upvoted, no one did anything about it, likely because it's not worth it to change things like that to help an individual site.
@Alex "Is it going to be useful for Stack Overflow, Super User and Server Fault? No? Then why should we care about it?"
@Jenayah Welcome to the plight of the hoi polloi.
5:24 PM
@Alex We are the ninety nine percent!!!
Q: How would a male giant procreate with a witch?

Alex DownsNow, to be fair, Hagrid did ask Madame Maxime if her mother or father was the giant, but Hagrid isn’t that smart. Unless the witch uses an Engorgment Charm or Swelling Solution, how can she procreate with a giant?

@Marvin duuuupe
How come First Posts and Late Answers queue are closed when you've used your daily votes? I mean, you could review them with other actions - edit, comment
5:57 PM
@Alex I must be smarter than I thought. I had actually already noted in the post that there are a few tags where it might serve a purpose.
@Alex smarter than you thought... or premises of memory loss :p
@Jenayah Are those mutually exclusive?
@Alex no, but there's one you'd like more than the other.
@Jenayah Hmmm, that's a good question. Would I rather be smarter with a worse memory, or less smart with a better memory?
Q: Short story, horror, doctor hypnotises his patient, convinces her to kill herself, realises he has locked himself in with a dead body

MillyThis was a story I read when I was young, I remember it being a short story and in an anthology. It would have been floating around our house in the 90's but is probably much older. I remember at first the girl is talking to her mum, begging to come home, the mum convinces the girl, one more nig...

6:04 PM
@Alex Depends on how you define "smart". If smart is the ability to cross-cut info and make deductions out of it, I'll take the memory over the smart, because oh boy knowing that you could have a result, but can't find the right info (former case), seems way more frustrating than knowing you'll eventually make something out of what you've got (latter case), just that it will take time.
Also, latter case implies some kind of hunt and to always challenge your wit. That sounds more fun, or at least bearable, than "shit, I knew this. Where did I read that? When did it happen?"
Then again, depends on how you define smart.
@Jenayah It's funny, there's actually a Talmudic debate about this very question (or a slight variation of it) and the answer given there is very similar to yours.
@Alex today I learned :)
@Jenayah Shall I give you the relevant quote (in English, of course)?
@Alex Given the Wikipedia page's legnth, that'd be appreciated, yeah
@Jenayah Heh, the Wikipedia page is not even relevant to the topic. That was just to define what the Talmud is.
[On the following point] there is a difference of opinion between R. Simeon b. Gamaliel and the Rabbis. One view is that a well-read scholar is superior [to the keen dialectician] and the other view is that the keen dialectician is superior. R. Joseph was a well-read scholar; Rabbah was a keen dialectician.
An enquiry was sent up to Palestine: Who of these should take precedence? They sent them word in reply: ‘A well-read scholar is to take precedence’; for the Master said, ‘All are dependent on the owner of the wheat’.
Meaning that the keen dialectic doesn't really help if there's no broad knowledge for it to be applied to.
6:20 PM
@Alex similar indeed
7:04 PM
Q: In the movie "In Time (2011)", where does time go when it flows?

ClockworkThis question addresses where time comes from. However, when I first watched the movie, the first thing I wondered was: When you pay for your food or for public transport, your time obviously goes into the machine or the other person's personal time. However, when you live that time out, w...

7:50 PM
Q: How do i find scientific scifi?

stkvtflwI've read just a few books in SciFi genre, never liked it, because it's usually written by writers, not scientists. Though, recently i've read few books written by Peter Watts and Stanislaw Lem. There is actual science in those books, with some speculation, but still: science instead of usual mam...

8:06 PM
Q: What powers does each Infinity Stone impart?

C. R. YasuoIn Infinity War, we see Thanos wielding the Infinity Stones with the Infinity Gauntlet. His powers seem to expand as he obtains more Stones Furthermore there are examples of other characters using the Stones to obtain powers which seem to be specific to the Stone being used: It's pretty cle...

2 hours later…
9:38 PM
Q: Does Damian Wayne ever see his mother again after 'Son of Batman'

AmberBruce takes Damian under his wing in 'Son of Batman', and becomes Robin. However, I wanted to know if Damian ever gets to see his mother again? Even in the comics, was there and evidence that Damian sees Tahlia again?

10:08 PM
I'm so, so glad. For my last day here I stayed late at work to make sure I did not forget anything. Then upon coming back to the house I made a little detour into the city (because who wants to go back to the geese...) and stumbled across a military music parade. It was closed without a ticket but you could see it from a distance.
These last three months have pretty much been an awful waste of time, money and energy, but I'm really glad the last thing I'll remember is the sound of drums and trumpets.
@Jenayah What sort of internship was it?
@Donald.McLean software developing
Interesting premises, actual tasks had nothing to do with what was on the internship planning but still ended up to be relevant to the studies
However, it started off on the wrong foot due to an awful organization and did not really improve afterwards
Great team, really competent guys but not enough of an organized structure for an intern (even less for two of us) to fit in and feel that what you do is actually useful for the company, and yourself
@Jenayah That's a real shame. I know that we use interns here where I work, and I sure as heck hope that we give them a good experience.
10:25 PM
@Donald.McLean to be honest, the overall "bad experience" was also strongly influenced by the jerks I had to live with. Not easy to be productive and feel satisfied when you don't sleep well and spend a lot of time actually restraining yourself to flip things over.
@Jenayah Blech.
As for the internship part, for what it's worth, we both reported that to the guys (well, me maybe a bit more explicitly than fellow mate, but still politely of course), and they acknowledged the problem. They're happy with what we've done, but apparently, they don't want to take a new intern soon.
I'm glad they were happy with us, but I don't feel we actually did anything that they couldn't have done themselves. Interns aren't supposed to make breakthroughs or whatever, we're here to learn and stuff, but we both feel like what we did saved the company, what? One month? Probably less, since they will have to review our stuff anyways?
For comparison, last year's internship was basically three months of putting archives' number into an Excel file, archives' files into boxes, and boxes in the underground storage, but in the end I knew that it was indeed worth three months of work and that no one would ever had the time to do that, and that their work would be eased afterwards.
I don't like working for someone and leaving feeling that I didn't actually add value, nor could have had in any way.
@Jenayah Was it clear from the start that this was how it would be?
@Alex no, otherwise I wouldn't have signed up.
@Jenayah Well, sorry for your bad luck, then.
10:39 PM
I wouldn't want to work for someone if I knew beforehand that I won't bring anything. As I said before, of course I'm an intern with still tons of stuff to learn, I'm perfectly aware of that.
@Alex eh, I'll just keep thinking of the military music parade. That was a great thing.
