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November 28

Humphry Davy

Do we have a reliable source for Sir Humphry Davy's attitude to gravy? DuncanHill (talk) 00:57, 28 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean aside from the source of the little poem about how Davy "abominated gravy"? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:57, 28 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

For those in the dark:

"Sir Humphrey Davy / Abominated gravy. / He lived in the odium / Of having discovered sodium".

From Edmund Clerihew Bentley, Clerihews: Biography for Beginners (1905).

This writeup[1] indicates that no one really knows. It might be poetic license, like when Tom Lehrer wrote a song about Lobachevsky allegedly being a plagiarist, not because he really was a plagiarist, just that his name worked in the song. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 03:09, 28 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Similarly, it seems unlikely that "Edward the Confessor slept under the dresser", but it is incontrovertible that Clive ... is no longer alive". 11:13, 29 November 2018 (UTC)

And maybe William Lyon Mackenzie King didn't sit in the middle and play with string, but it's possible that he loved his mother like anything. Adam Bishop (talk) 11:46, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The whole Clerihew is here. I've always thought it a bit of a cheat to re-use the first line at the end if you cant think of a better rhyme. Alansplodge (talk) 17:11, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

"God save our noble queen ... God save the queen." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:39, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the tune is much better than the lyrics. A worse rhyme is in the third verse which tries make "laws" and "cause" go with "voice", But it's the thought that counts, I suppose (BTW, it's "God save our gracious Queen / Long live our noble Queen"). Alansplodge (talk) 19:31, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I thought something didn't look quite right. I've sung that tune many times, except it starts with, "My country, 'tis of thee..." ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 19:40, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Also Heil dir im Siegerkranz. Alansplodge (talk) 11:11, 30 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Lois does rhyme with voix, so maybe laws is playing a double role here? —Tamfang (talk) 07:35, 2 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Tamfang, our God Save the Queen article relates a "doubtful" tale that the anthem had originally been written for Louis XIV but adds "The entire story might have been intended as a joke". As far as anyone can tell, it was never written in French and it seems likely to be just an eye rhyme, which was a common device at that time. Note that New Zealand's anthem, written 130 years later, tries to rhyme "star", "war" and "afar". Alansplodge (talk) 21:30, 2 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Baseball Buggs, Often just shruggs: "Ignoring my carrots, makes you all parrots." Martinevans123 (talk) 17:26, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

That should be shruggs. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:40, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Real lawsuit for virtual theft

I've been searching and I haven't found anything... I have to write a paper for school. I want to write about legality of stealing virtual stuff, like stealing somebody's weapons in an online game. Are there examples of lawsuits like that? If I can't find reliable online resources, I have to change topics.

Would such theft involve money, such as for professional gamers? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:17, 28 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried searching for "theft of virtual property"? There was at least one case,[2][3] in China of all places. Clarityfiend (talk) 08:16, 28 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Of course there have been some over bitcoins and also over domain names. Those should be easy to find. For in-game assets, maybe this[4] counts, though it wasn't user-v.-user. 173.228.123.166 (talk) 03:48, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

If domain names count, then you could look up the whole sorry "sex.com" scandal (at the center of it was the sleazy company Network Solutions Inc.[ptui!] which set many bad precedents for the early Internet). AnonMoos (talk) 03:37, 5 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Who was Colonel Drewry?

Peter Rowland's The Last Liberal Governments: Unfinished Business 1911-1914 is dedicated to the memory of Lt.-Col. G. Drewry, O.B.E., T.D., B.Sc., A.R.I.C. Who was he? DuncanHill (talk) 01:27, 28 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

There's not an awful lot about him out there, but I found an obituary here. --Antiquary (talk) 10:40, 28 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 13:44, 29 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]