u/jacklhoward

Hi, I was looking up the commentaries and annotations for "Moby Dick" and the old penguin classics edition edited by Harold Beaverreally caught my eye. It has a very good commentary that explains literary allusions, allegory and so on. However for the life of me I cannot find it anywhere. Could anyone help? I have tried most major online shopping sites, Archive.org, gutenberg etc., and secondhand book dealers, but it is not available anywhere. I looked it up online and it says it's out of print, and it only came to someone's possession after years of difficult search. I am all out of ideas.

I am interested in becoming an editor / author.
I am interested in having the degree of English education I can get out of a bachelor program (only trying to be competent, not competing for jobs against real English major graduates). The biggest issue I have right now is that I cannot afford studying at a university and I have only got high school level education. Is it possible to learn all the important skills an English degree offers by studying very hard at home
I tried doing some essay writings related to topics at university level, but I don't think I am doing well. I have been reading novels, essays and short stories by famous authors. I am just a bit lost in finding out how to build up a proper study plan and if there is any possibility of having a teacher taking a look at what I am doing wrong. Are there study groups / communities I can attend? Is it necessary to have a paid tutor (to get a studying plan started)?

I cannot help imagining the importance of recording what has historically happened to daedric lords and their realms. The school of conjuration must have relied heavily on the ability to bargain with Lords of oblivion based on daedra's relationships with each other and mortals. I know for example in Shivering Isle there is Dyus which is a living library of whatever happened to mad god and his happy realm. But are there equivalent figures in the domain of other daedric lords? Also, where do mortal scholars of daedric history get their first-hand materials (for second-hand history they can always interrogate a daedra under a binding spell)?

I was just reading "The Shonni-etta" and found the part about "dibellashuut" worship of cyrodiilic tribes crossing the border and being assimilated into ancient Chimer culture fascinating. In dunmer culture mystic beauty, fertility and death are largely associated with Mephala's teachings and Vivec. "The Shonni-etta" also depicts the violent, martial side of the "vestals" of Dibella being protectors of Reman's lineage, dynastic legitimacy and destiny as a ruler. This is surprisingly similar to the role Morag Tong is perceived to have in dunmer society. "Belly magic" is also mentioned to be involved in the beef between Vivec and Bal, in which hir teaches Bal to get the secret of CHIM out of him. The khajiit version of Mephala is said to take the role of a "clan mother". Is it possible the role of cultists of Dibella, was one of the prototype "sacred woman" that is connected with governing the fate of life and death a tribe faces and both unconventional warfare / assassinations, and the practice of dibellan arts are part of their sacred functions? And is it possible influences from Dibellan practices affected how Mephalaean cults operate. In a way dibellan arts "taught" the Chimer's perception of Mephala's true methods, and perhaps in the same way the vestals nourish and raise the seeds of Reman, Dibella "educated" how Boethiah should go about his endeavour?Since the sex magic part of Mephala seems to be a cyrodiilic product.

There is a line from "The Shonni-etta" that catches my attention, that Shonni-Et, along with her sister was from the cult of dibella,and it was mentioned in the text that " {Dibella}, which was the aspect of Beauty as belly-magicks in those times, practiced by the easternmost tribes of Ut Cyrod before the giving over to the borders of the ashmeri." This seems to imply "Belly-magick " and sexual beauty was transmitted to the dunmer via the original cyrodiilic culture of it. And who is associated with (mystic) Beauty, birth and sex in dunmeri culture? Mephala, and by extension hir avatar Vivec. (And the beef between Vivec and Bal is about Vivec showing him "Belly Magic") There is a parallel in Khajiit mythology that Mephala stands for the way of "clan mother," emphasizing lineage and the ordering of society through kinship. What if in ancient times, Dibella and Dibellan arts stand for a similar function in ancient cyrods and at least part of it had crossed the borders, influenced the Mephalaean doctrines of ancient Chimer and evolved into the teachings of Morag Tong? And eventually the act of murder is ritualized and incorporated into a larger religious and social order, instead of probably death-or-glory kamikaze assassinations of Mephalaean cultists among Chimer in the beginning. Compare also the role of Shonni-Etta and her sister in preserving the seeds with their "bladed" magic for Reman as future ruler of Cyrodiil, and Morag Tong's function as the knife / sword of Vivec and a preserving agent of social order and justice through murder.

in bg 1 it is just some extra stuff. in bg2 you need the items from neera for example, if you want to play a wild mage.
is there a level requirement before their quests start?
is there a way to speedrun their quests?
Can you just get them fresh from the beginning, rest a ton for banter to trigger, then go to whatever area that you need to go to and speedrun the whole thing?
Otherwise I am just going to mod them out with convenient ee npcs.

bg 1

PC F/C
Minsc
Dynaheir
Quayle
Imoen--> dual to mage
Montaron --> switch to Coran

SoD

PC
Minsc
Dynaheir
Safana
Viconia
the new bard guy

bg2

PC
Valygar
Mazzy
Aerie
Nalia
Jan

I don't want to swap out Nalia or (Imoen in bg1), but I am open to suggestion for any other choices for the lineup.
I am aiming to be a good (neutral) band.

For bg1, basically I am set on making imoen dual to thief. This lineup is mainly so I don't need to swap out companions for different parts of the game.
For SoD, just something that works.

For bg2, I think I heard that Aerie works as an arcane tank. Mazzy and Valygar will handle the damage output. PC is a pure tank. Nalia and Jan for spells / utlity.

*(with items added by rogue rebalancing and song and silence mods, and with the mod component that allows investing 3 pips into two weapons style for thieves)

What weapon proficiencies are good? I would like to dual wield. I am thinking katana+shortbow first of all.
Should I then get a pip into scimitar or short sword to use a +APR weapon?
Also from rogue rebalancing and song and silence mods, are there particularly useful weapons that could warrant investment of a pip?

The only other thing I installed is a glide to openGL wrapper. Any idea?