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The Metanode Destruction Team
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YOUR CASHIER WAS DESTINY

Previous versions of this home node have been archived at my personal online journal, or what you young whippersnappers refer to as a WebLog. They are located at my entries for the dates February 2nd 2005 and February 7th 2003. Copy one of the following links into your browser's URL field, if you're so inclined. With help from voices in the catbox, I've endeavoured to link directly to my WebLog, but Everything2 doesn't allow direct links outside itself. I consider it a form of egomania. Hopefully you'll figure it out on your own. =)

http://www.zachsmind.com/entry.asp?date=2/2/2005
http://www.zachsmind.com/entry.asp?date=2/7/2003





Notations by others for Gunga Din

themanwho says re Gunga Din: sargeant -> sergeant but I may be wrong. also villianous -> villainous. I really like this film as well. Particularly the reading at the end and the way they come through the mountains singing will ye no come back again




Back By Popular Demand!
for a limited time only

I've had a lot of people asking me about this recently, so I pulled the following out of Node Heaven and am reposting it here. At a rep of +21 it was removed by the Mods, who apparently didn't appreciate the Things To Consider nodes. I recall attempting to argue the point at the time, but in the end decided it futile. No, I have no plans presently to write more Things To Consider nodes, but I appreciate you precious few people who liked them. =)

Here's the original things to consider if you're considering a write up about things to consider node in its entirety:

Well this is a lot of fun, and I want to share the joy. Whether you're just hurting for an idea about your next write up, got nothing better to do than try it, or you're just a glutton for punishment like I am, the fact of the matter remains: there are a number of things to consider if you're considering a write up about things to consider.

  1. Is it going to be funny? - I don't mind the thought of anyone stealing my thunder and trying this out themselves. I mean, I didn't come up with this idea. I'm just in the process of perfecting it. Sluggish, Hamster Bong, and Kesper North were doing this before I was. I just found a formula which seems to be a lot of fun, and I'm trying it out. However, if you do this and it's not funny, and A LOT of other people do it too and it's not funny, then the Powers That Be around here might tell us to quit, which won't be any fun for anybody.
  2. Is your node going to be useful to anybody? - If you're not going to be funny, or if you try to be funny and don't succeed, there's a failsafe catch. If you do a Things to consider node that's actually useful for people, then the Powers That Be will perhaps again turn a blind eye. So try being funny first, and failing that, try to be useful. Notice by the way that my attempts aren't exactly useful, unless someone actually finds themselves organizing a team of superheroes or slowly turning into a cartoon character. I don't know about you but I ain't holding my breath.
  3. Can you both be funny and useful at the same time? - Well you're a better bastard than me then.
  4. If it doesn't work, don't blame me. - Hey, we're all making this up as we go. And you know how this place is. You come up with what you think is a great writeup and people diss you for it cuz your node's title just happens to be thirty words too long. I mean them's the breaks. It happens. Granted, I'm getting some positive feedback so far (and please by all means keep it comin!), but let's face it: Everything2's usual routine is you pick a NOUN and just use that noun for the title. Again, the Powers That Be may one day glance at a Things To Consider node and go "uh, I don't think so." So you gotta be careful. And if this doesn't work out, I ain't takin' no flack for it. So don't get mad if things start turning messy.
  5. Pay attention to the formula. - Think outline. That's all this is really. It's not something that will give you a topic immediately, but it's a mindset you can choose to have which will help you organize your thoughts in your head. This is very specific. It's not like most nodes. Granted, there's room for variation and experimenting, and you may find that you start yours as a Things To Consider node and it evolves into something else. Let the muse take you where it wants to go. Anyway. Here's the formula.
    1. The Title - To work most ideally, a Things To Consider node should have a title that starts with the words "Things To Consider" and then the rest is a whatif proposal. I know this sounds simplistic, but some people will purposefully try to break from this and claim to be a TTC and it just won't work.
    2. Opening sentence - You can embellish here where the muse takes you, but at it's most simplistic, the node should start with one sentence that begins with the word "Whether" and then offers at least three examples of situations where someone could imagine themselves while reading your piece. If you can't come up with at least three examples, you may need to rethink your initial concept for the TTC node, because it probably means you have narrowed the scope of the idea too far to be able to play with it.
    3. The List - Now you can do this in simple paragraph form, or utilize some html numbered listing, or go unnumbered listing, however you want to do it. Just try to use bold and italics where you can to separate one thought or idea from another, so overall the whole node looks structured when you're done with it. You may find that keeping this idea in mind gives you a rough outline, which can help you better organize your thoughts as you go along, and it may even become beneficial when you compose other more traditional nodes for E2, or even for other writings you do outside of here.
    4. Explore every avenue - Try to think of at least three different general topics or areas of interest that involve the topic you have started with. Then explore them to their limit. No matter how far fetched the initial idea is, or the general topics you find under the initial idea, follow them through to their conclusion, go as crazy as you want with it, and don't hold back and think you might be going overboard. The farther you go with the idea, the more fun you'll have and the more fun others will have reading it.
    5. Concluding statement - If you can, summarize your findings and conclusions at the end of the piece, and if necessary repeat the initial Things To Consider statement. This will tie everything up in a nice bow, and you'll theoretically have a node to be proud of.
  6. Does it really need to be a Things to Consider node? - Notice that most nodes aren't and there's a very good reason for that. Most nodes describe or define a particular noun, be it a person, place, thing or idea. Most of the time you won't need to do a TTC. These things are much more specialized. First off, they're not dealing with normal basic tangible concepts. TTC's tend to explore out of the ordinary intangible concepts. Situations someone could unfeasibly find themselves in. Theoretically TTCs can also be used for more realistic but still intangible concepts. For example,
    • Things to consider if you want to go to college could be very useful to any senior in high school. However, if the node just ends up describing and defining what a college is, and doesn't go into step by step avenues of things a person needs to accomplish before they make it to college, you could have just called the node college and left it at that.
    • Things to consider before baking in the kitchen is another example. We're not defining baking or defining what a kitchen is. The node would theoretically become a checklist of things to be sure are available in the kitchen before you actually started baking. See the difference?
    • Things to consider if you're stuck in rush hour traffic can have a bit of everything we're considering in this node. It can be both fun and useful. It lends itself very well to the formula. It's dramatically different from just describing what rush hour traffic is. And it's got a lot of nouns within it like car and highway and policemen and rubbernecking and accidents which you can refer to without going into too much detail. Some of those things are already nodes, and some can become nodes pretty easily.
  7. Link the hell out of your node - Wherever you can possibly link, do so. Allow the reader to go to the nouns that you're discussing, but don't always take the time to define every little thing while you go along. Let E2 take care of that for you. Let's look at the kitchen TTC idea again for example. You will be mentioning different kinds of recipes and specific utensils and working up an inventory for your refrigerator and pantry so you know if you have the right ingredients before you begin and whether or not the stove is working properly and so on, but you don't want to go into detail about every noun already available in this database. TTCs can theoretically be more complex than that, and simpler concepts, or complex concepts already discussed elsewhere can help to flesh out your TTC node, but only if you link to them. Also, if you create an anchor for a noun that doesn't have a link, you can go back later, find that noun that hasn't been addressed in E2 yet, and write up a node which will further flesh out your TTC, giving you even more ideas for future nodes.
  8. Link to other TTCs at the bottom if you can. - Well, I just do that for fun. None of this is required. It's not required. I mean I guess eventually someone can come along and create a Things To Consider Metanode but let's be reasonable. We got enough metanodes around here already.
  9. Let me know when you're done. - Really. I'd like to see them. =)

So there ya go. Now ya know what I know about these things so far, and I hope you give it a try. There's some advantages to outlining your thoughts in your head as you go along. Sometimes people write very brief nodes, and they're just as good. However, if you find yourself having a little difficulty fleshing out your nodes, having in your mind an idea of an outline will help you see gaps in what you're doing, and allow you to find more things you can talk about in order to improve your own node. Now remember, if you're doing fine on your own and don't think you need or want my help, I'm NOT telling you or anyone how nodes MUST be done. Quite the contrary. I'm just offering another variation on the theme. Some possible things to consider, if you're considering the possibility of writing up a Things To Consider type of node.

And to those of you who have upvoted the TTCs I've done so far, and to those of you who have written me in the Chatterbox complimenting me on these things, thank you very much for reading, and I'm sincerely glad to see some people get as much enjoyment out of reading them as I did writing them. Thanks. =)




More Things to Consider: