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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Queue: Memorial Day
by Alex Ziebart 
May 30th 2011 at 11:00AM
Today is Memorial Day. If you're an American and you know what it is, great. If you're an American and you don't know what it is, look it up. If you're not an American, you may continue to do whatever it is you do, unless you live in the U.K., in which case I demand you mail me Jaffa Cakes.
No, don't actually do that.
mik3st3r asked:
What is the story behind the dragons in the elemental planes? Most specifically, the stone drakes. Did they simply form from rock, or were they part of one of the dragonflights, and somehow got bound eternally to deepholm?
They're just stone elementals in the shape of a dragon. I think at some point, Blizzard realized that its lore structure for dragons is a bit ... adolescent? One of the first things kids do when they get creative is start color-coding things. I think every writer in the world has gone through a phase where they thought color-coding things was the most brilliant idea ever. Having "black dragons" and "red dragons" as specific species of dragon can work fine, but when you break sentient/sapient creatures down into rigid organizations based on color and make that your canon, it is not only rather childish, it is also extremely limiting. Also a little racist, if you want to put way too much thought into it.
I feel that at some point in World of Warcraft's lifespan, Blizzard realized that yes, those color-based barriers are foolish and they want to do a lot more with the idea of dragons than preestablished lore allowed. They said to hell with it and started making whatever drakes they felt like making. Nether drakes, Twilight drakes, proto-drakes, stone drakes ... the more drakes they add to the game, the less effort they put into trying to tie them to the preestablished dragon lore. I think we're better off that way, too. I like having these independent dragon variations. I like that much better than "My skin is green, therefore ..."
TL;DR: At some point, Blizzard realized dragons aren't the Power Rangers and stopped worrying about that dragonflight thing.
Tim West asked:
What time will the BlizzCon meet-up be? The Benefit Dinner is at 7:30pm – 11:30pm and my $500 requires me to be there.
Before I even start to answer this question I want to make a clarification so people don't start jumping to conclusions: We have not yet finalized plans for our BlizzCon meetup. We are not ready to announce a venue, so anything I say about event scheduling here is tentative at best. The only guarantee is that we will be doing something Thursday evening.
With that out of the way ... historically, our meetups have started between 6 and 8 p.m., and they last until whenever people leave or our venue shuts us down. This time around, we may need to implement a definite time for the end of the party, because we started receiving noise complaints as the clock approached midnight last year. While everybody going to BlizzCon is up partying that night, people visiting Disney and other attractions in that area are not.
Last year, I believe the final party attendees were flushed out around 12 a.m., and we did have a number of people who attended the benefit dinner manage to swing by our party for awhile. However, it looks like Blizzard's benefit dinner is running later this year than it did last year -- last year's ended at 10, not 11:30. You might be out of luck for attending the bulk of the WoW Insider party. However, the staff is all over the place that whole weekend -- if you're looking to meet someone in particular and we have them in California, chances are good we can hook you up with a handshake or a sweaty, sweaty hug at some point.
EidlonImp asked:
I'm going to surprise my baby tomorrow night by stuffing some dates with manchego and wrapping them in Bacon, but all we have in the house is turkey Bacon. That should still be good, right?
Does he/she like turkey bacon? The answer to that question will answer yours. Turkey bacon is very different from regular bacon, so if you don't know whether or not your baby likes it, you should probably take the extra trip for real bacon, if your goal is romance -- unless by "baby" you mean a literal baby and not your significant other, in which case you should probably reconsider feeding a baby stuffed dates.
Palamedes asked:
It seems for the past month or two, 6/7 days of the week the Queue is answering questions on the VP to JP conversion rate. Why is this?
...
Noyou asked:
Happy Memorial day! Brat vs Hamburger for your holiday feast? (no substitutions please) Also, favorite side dish for your outdoor grilling pleasure?
As I am a Polack from Wisconsin, I enjoy nothing more than getting my hands on a warm, juicy sausage and cradling it between two halves of a nice, fluffy bun. I'm a brat man, though I'm certainly not going to turn away a good hamburger if offered.
Also due to being from the Midwest, most of my side dish recommendations come in the form of noodle salads with either mayonnaise or Miracle Whip as a primary ingredient. My girlfriend is from the east coast and finds all such dishes vile, so I assume all of you not from the midwest would feel the same. I'll skip the noodle salads and go to my family's non-creamy side dish fallback:
Sour Cucumber Salad
3 cucumbers
1 onion
1 c. sugar
1 c. white vinegar
Peel and slice the cucumbers and the onion as thick or as thin as you'd like. Throw them in a bowl with everything else. Salt and pepper to taste. Marinate for an hour or two, stirring often. Hooray, you're done! If you want, you can add other vegetables to it -- wedged tomatoes, pepperoncinis, or sport peppers, for example.
Dang, sport peppers are a Midwest thing too, aren't they? All of you just need to relocate to the Milwaukee-Chicago region.
Have questions about the World of Warcraft? The WoW Insider crew is here with The Queue, our daily Q&A column. Leave your questions in the comments, and we'll do our best to answer 'em!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, The Queue
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 10)
ScorchHellfire May 31st 2011 4:55AM
The dragonflight lore was created by Richard Knaak (who is also a writer for the Dragonlance series) and Metzen when Knaak wrote Day of the Dragon... one of his few contributions that aren't generally disliked by the majority of Warcraft fans...
Before that (as in warcraft 2) there were just dragons... Alextrasza was queen of the dragons and Deathwing was a powerful rogue dragon that helped the Horde take control of her but all the dragons were shown with green skin and hair/wings that matched their current player's color... Deathwing's unit portrait actually had the top half of his head totally covered in metal and the bottom half had pale skin... Back then dragons were all one race with their own individual pursuits... there was no Ysera, Malygos, or Nozdormu and no concept of the aspects or what their purposes were... so yeah... blame Knaak for the power-ranger-ness...
Reklisc May 31st 2011 12:14PM
Let's not forget that all "fantasy" topics are completely ripped off from Norse mythology. Which rocks, don't get me wrong.
Udderpowered May 30th 2011 11:07AM
You don't have Jaffa cakes in america!? You poor souls.
anuillae May 30th 2011 11:24AM
Mmhmmm. Jaffa Cakes are made by the British company, McVities. They are available only in the UK and Ireland.
There is actually another species of Jaffa cakes, produced in Serbia, by a Serbian company. They, also, are called Jaffa Cakes, but are apparently inferior. These are sold in Serbia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia and Croatia.
It's an interesting fact that Jaffa Cakes are actually legally a cake. Although there is much debate over this question, the case for Jaffa cakes being a cake was won in court by McVities.
On the other hand, more people think of Jaffa Cakes as a biscuit than as a cake, as shown by a poll published in the Sun in 1999.
Robin Torres May 30th 2011 11:33AM
Wow, that is a whole lot of info about Jaffa Cakes.
Saeadame May 30th 2011 11:39AM
Ugh, I want Jaffa Cakes now... I had them while I was in the UK.
I wonder if you can import them...
anuillae May 30th 2011 11:41AM
I am totally a jaffa cake fan.
Nitride May 30th 2011 11:42AM
IKR!
Avan May 30th 2011 11:44AM
Jaffa Cakes, KREE!
Kuro May 30th 2011 11:48AM
You can find Jaffa cakes in the US. Can we run down to our nearest 'off license' and pick up a box? No... the Piggly Wiggly doesn't carry em.
But you can sometimes find em at World Market and other import stores...
Quill2006 May 30th 2011 12:02PM
You can get Jaffa Cakes in the US, but sadly, they're expensive imported Jaffa Cakes and cost way too much. They're also hard to find if your normal grocery isn't a high-end type with an imported food aisle.
However, I have found an acceptable Polish substitute which is called something completely different (Delicje, made by E. Wedel)and which my local grocery sells for $1, which is cheaper than I could get the real thing when I lived in the UK. Even better, they come in different flavors, like raspberry. I'm sure Jaffa Cake purists would tell me they don't count, but they're delicious and not 4,000 miles away, which is a big selling point.
I have had friends who've traveled to the UK bring me Jaffa Cakes in their suitcases, but something goes wrong when squishy cakes are flown in unpressurized cargo holds, and they aren't the same.
Vangelis May 30th 2011 12:06PM
Jaffa Cakes not being biscuits were proven by a simple experiment
Old biscuits go soft
Old Cakes go hard
Jaffa Cakes go hard
Jaffa Cake = Cake!
Rob47 May 30th 2011 12:09PM
If I can buy a box of Lucky Charms in the UK for £6.50 a box I'm sure you can get Jaffa Cakes in the US
Vangelis May 30th 2011 12:10PM
Also the reason behind the cake/biscuit argument is in the UK we pay VAT on biscuits and not cakes!
anuillae May 30th 2011 12:12PM
@Vangelis Actually, I believe that it is just *chocolate covered* cakes that we don't pay VAT on.
Keith May 30th 2011 12:23PM
Cakes go stale. Biscuits go soft. Ergo, Jaffa Cakes really are a cake.
The reason it matters, btw, is that VAT is payable on chocolate biscuits but not on chocolate cakes.
Hob May 30th 2011 12:25PM
No love for Eccles cakes? I mean, the Jaffa cakes sound very good, but... really?
themightysven May 30th 2011 12:49PM
in Texas at least Jaffa Cakes are available at HEB Central Markets and Fiestas (both have large foreign foods sections)
TheBigBlueScaryBear May 30th 2011 2:41PM
So Jaffa cakes are something like Pim's ?
http://www.google.com/search?um=1&hl=en&biw=1680&bih=841&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=pim%27s&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=
DeathPaladin May 30th 2011 3:47PM
So what are Jaffa cakes anyway? Are they like eclairs, but with goa'uld instead of cream filling?