Jim Syler > Recent Status Updates

I’m confused about the Clearwater tribe market. There are 5000 of them, but only 30–300 here; where are the rest? Why is the queen here? Why are there representatives of every clan here?

Nevermind the issues I have with the layout. Why is the queen’s tent in the most exposed location?

Is there a way to change the defaults to not paste styles?

Bafflingly, R. Esgalduin is not named on the map, though it is mentioned in the text and listed in the Index. And not because there is no room for it; there is room just where Christopher Tolkien himself puts the name.

Yes, I definitely wish that this book had coordinates after every place name, ugly as that might look. It’s deeply irritating to look up names in the back of the book, then on the relevant map, over and over. But it’s necessary to get anything worthwhile out of reading the text.

There is an astonishing amount of advice on creating and giving good presentations here. I almost wish there were as much advice on how to use Pages well (though there is some). I guess that’s a much wider field though.

Error: Tol Fuin is not at I-21, but at H-24. Baffling error.

And so instead of what should be quite pleasurable and enlightening reading, the reader is stuck between the choice of sitting in confusion, or arduously flipping back-and-forth between text, index, and maps to try to figure out what the author is talking about.

I feel like the text is written independently of the maps, which is problematic; I find myself flipping through the pages and even referencing the index(!) to see what she’s talking about in the text. Why? Why not reference the relevant maps? Isn’t the point of the text to provide context for the maps and explain what’s going on in them? But she doesn’t even confine her notes to one map at a time?

“Comments are useful for adding detailed notes or questions about specific part of the text, but they’re not ideal for adding big–picture commentary about the document as a whole. That’s where notes come in. The iWork.com document notes panel gives you and your viewers a scratchpad for sharing overall comments, to-dos, and progress reports.”

I wish every document, of every kind, had this.

Holy shit; Apple had a version of Publish and Subscribe in iWork in 2009. And far simpler; it just involved a copy-and-paste action. I miss Publish and Subscribe so much. Yes, the interface was clunky. But the potential was enormous. Imagine being able to do that today, over the Internet!

Again with how physical the gods are. Melko wants to fly??

This says that the pass is in the south, but Fonstad’s map shows it as to the northeast of the city. Is that an error, or are there other versions? Are there updated maps somewhere?

It occurs to me that you could breed a truly successful warrior race, the warriors of which would never quail or retreat, and whom did not care for their own lives. I guess I mean “evolve” instead of “breed,” because what I’m talking about is that, like bees, individuals don’t care about *their own* progeny as much as they do about others;and you could reward dead warriors with “offspring.”If you won.

And if he had to come in person to talk to Tuor, how is he communicating with the Noldoli he’s enlisted to guide him? What even are the metaphysics of this world?

It’s amazing how *physical* Tolkien’s gods are. Like—they’re sprits, right? They *can* instantiate, but they don’t *have* to. So why then are they blocked by mountains?

❇️Entry for plough: My dictionary (NOAD) says that a colter/coulter is a part of a plough distinct from a ploughshare.

❇️L. 2 from bottom: Note that "vorpal" has come to mean "(of a sword or other weapon) likely to decapitate," based on its usage in "Jabberwocky."

https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items...
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vorpal

❇️ I don't suppose anyone—perhaps Mr. Smith?—could record a reading of Bealuwérig and post it online somewhere? It would be a treasure.

❇️ I realize it would require significant space, but definitions for all these terms would be really appreciated. Maybe a web-only feature?

❇️ Any clue as to why the first three lists are in Old English? Whimsy? Embarrassment?

"Pereant qui ante nos nostra dixerunt" makes me realize, once again, that we are, culturally, still Romans. And no, I don't mean "humans"; try to understand Babylonians.

Oh, wow. "Abusus non tollit usum" seems incredibly useful.

My next cat will be named "Grimalkin."

Read “Poetic Diction”

I am not surprised to discover that Tolkien did not compose limerick B. It is far better, both as poetry and humor, than any humorous verse he ever wrote.

❇️L. 1: Could you explain the accent in "naméd" here? Pronouncing the "e" separately doesn't seem to help the rhyme. Or is it just a lark from an erudite 12-year-old? Though frankly I often have such questions about Tolkien's accents & diareses.

❇️ l. 8 I'm not sure all readers will identify "orang-outang" with "orangutan(g)," especially as my dictionary indicates the usual hyphenated form as "orang-utan."

❇️Line 4 from bottom of page: Is there a missing end parenthesis in this line? Or did Christopher leave a stray end parenthesis in the typescript with no beginning?