It’s definitely from (or at least included in the text of) The Hobbit. 
Correct Answer: A mountain.
It is indeed in There and Back Again.
Question of the Day #147: Should I watch Star Trek?
Which one? If none specific I recommend Voyager. That one is my personal favorite.
Voyager is highly inconsistent in quality; it has some very good episodes, but also some very bad ones. Next Gen is similar, and the original 60s show is mostly good and frequently excellent, but severely dated. Deep Space Nine is the overall best, and the only one where the very first episode is really a good starting point. However, much of what makes it really good is not possible to fully appreciate without context. The Federation is based on one man’s vision of a utopian future, and Deep Space Nine intentionally subverts some of the tropes of that utopia while also presenting a massive existential threat. So at the same time you realize that this future for humanity isn’t as perfect as it pretends to be, you also see it threatened with annihilation, and see the characters grapple with whether the price they’ll have to pay to save it is worth paying.
I could put together a pretty comprehensive guide of episodes that are or are not worth watching for all five series (counting Enterprise, which almost everyone agrees is the worst by far). But the abridged version I would suggest off the cuff is this:. Watch the first season of DS9, which is only twenty episodes (maybe skip “Q-Less” for now, and “Move Along Home” possibly forever). Then go watch various random Next Generation episodes from seasons 3 through 6. Then watch Voyager season 1 (16 episodes which are mostly above the average quality of the later show), then watch the Original Series (80 episodes in total, with only 5 or 10 that are generally considered bad, and easily double that which are excellent). Then watch Voyager season 3, Next Generation season 2, and now watch the rest of DS9, since you’ll have proper context to appreciate the magnum opus that it really is. And watch Voyager seasons 4 through 7, which are somewhat less good than DS9, but are loosely direct sequels to it, hence why I recommend waiting. Only then should you wrap up by watching the “bad” parts of the show (which do have good episodes mixed in, though your mileage may vary): season 1 TNG, season 2 Voyager, and all of Enterprise. Oh and there are ten movies you can fit in there somewhere, with highly variable quality.
I’ve intentionally omitted any mention of the new continuities: the three Abrams movies, which are their own little rebootiverse off to the side, as well as Discovery (a sequel to Enterprise and prequel to everything else, which ought to give you some idea of what to expect), its various spinoffs which may or may not actually exist, and Picard (very questionable followup to literally all of the others). Except for the films, I haven’t seen any of these, and most of what I hear is bad. They’re definitely not the classics which the others are; they may have some advantage in terms of modernism, if the crappy SFX of the older shows really get to you, but I doubt whether the tradeoff is worth it.
It’s a vast ocean of content, varying from Arctic to tropical in how pleasant your swimming experience will be. But it’d be kind of a shame if you never dipped your toe in.
Thanks for all the advice, The Justifier.
Aye, this is my reasoning. I’ve seen the first two episodes of the original series, and learned some stuff about it from pop cultural diffusion. But those episodes both centered on romantic/sexual relationships, which I didn’t like.
Question of the Day #148:
It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.
What is it?
Nothing or darkness, something like that.
I recommend watching The Next Generation. The characters are the best of all the series, and it’s extremely refreshing these days to see a show that consists of short stories in which everybody is competent, everyone operates on good faith, and the characters are working together to solve a problem. It’s really good to watch on opposition to modern drama TV. Or the news. It does have some…depths, though.
The original series is, well, classic – but also extremely dated and people over-remember the good episodes in comparison to all the painful “hey, look what we found on the set next door!” episodes. Deep Space Nine characters never were very interesting to me, they leaned way too hard into the one-dimensional Ferengi, and despite its attempt at continuity of plot I find it weirdly inconsistent. It jags between arc-plot episodes and standalone stories in which everybody forgets everything between them. Most egregious is one where a character spends 20 years locked in a mental time-prison, comes out with extreme psychological damage, and…it never comes up again. Voyager is a close sibling of The Next Generation and I love it. I once read it described as never quite getting either as high or as low as Next Gen, which I think is about right.
But those episodes both centered on romantic/sexual relationships, which I didn’t like.
Well there is admittedly a lot of that, in all the shows. Probably close to one ep out of every three or four.
Question of the Day #149: so, are we just doing riddles now?
Correct.
Yeah, that sounds great. I hate it when characters are working against each-other rather than the antagonist.
QotD #149 Reply: No. I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea. I just had a couple that I liked and wanted to ask. We’ll get back to questions that don’t have one correct answer shortly.
Question of the Day #149.5: Mute or deaf?
As much as I love the sound of my own voice, I couldn’t stand to give up listening to music, so mute.
I’d also go with mute. I’m fine not talking most of the time, anyway. 
Hearing is incredibly useful, and there are other ways to communicate that don’t require significant effort.
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As a tangent to that, we were discussing Star Trek earlier, and I recommended the first season of Deep Space Nine. One of the less good episodes of this is about a plague which causes the infected to speak in nonsense phrases, and part of what makes the episode kinda bad is that, even after all the main characters understand how this disease operates, they still try to talk. Nobody ever thinks of using nonverbal communication, including simple imperative actions (eg instead of saying “doctor, come here”, you just go over to the doctor and tug on their sleeve). I guess when you’re used to controlling the station’s computer by talking to it, you just don’t think of alternatives. (Conversely, one of the better early Voyager episodes has Chakotay, an officer with an anthropology background, make excellent use of body language and voice tone, to signal non-hostility to a group of alien cavemen. Which neelix of course promptly ruins, but still, Chakotay being boring was almost as consistent in the show as Neelix being a bumbling idiot, so at least one of those portrayals was improved on here.)
QotD #149.5 Reply: Like everyone else, I choose muteness. It is much easier to write or gesture things to others than getting others to do that for you.
Question of the Day #150: Who would win in a fight between Citizen Anvil, Citizen Hammer, Siege-Breaker (of La Capitan’s crew), the Imprisoned Rogue (of The Block), and the Cursed Acolyte (of the Cult of Gloom)?
In other news, my daily routine will begin getting significantly busier starting tomorrow. Thus, I may not always have time to post a QotD. If I fail to post a Question by 7:45 Pacific Time (14:45 UTC), anyone may feel free to post one in my stead.
Siege-Breaker, obviously.
Was that AM or PM?
And I bet on Anvil, he’s got 100+ years of combat experience and he can teleport.
There’s no contest here, Cursed Acolyte is clearly the superior combatant.
Isn’t The Informant also the likeness of somebody real?
I didn’t know Siege Breaker, is he based on Pydro?
My answer was about Anvil’s established abilities and backstory as a character, not just the fact that he’s Christopher. Since nobody ever based a card picture off my unappetizing likeness, I don’t really have a horse in that race.
Yep, you can probably guess who is the Cursed Acolyte. I am guessing the Rogue will be showing up soon too.
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My money would be on Anvil. 
I mean, the Rogue would just get away. If they had to, they would use a portal to send their opponent out for a long fall (or drop a car or something bigger on them if they can fly). But that’s not really fighting…
I don’t believe the art for The Informant is based on a real person, but The Broker is, as is The Deputy, The Enforcers… There are quite a few more, to be honest, some of which I believe have never been publicly shared.
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Ah, that’s what I was thinking of!
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