English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

7:00 PM

It's beyond a hefty blow that resulted in the shattering, but... I don't see any motivation for people to want to remain as a community. Which is why the commitment analogy fails.

user19161

@GraceNote Maybe it will all be fine in a while...

Cerberus

@Robusto Ways could no doubt be found. Edit the posts a little bit, host the site in Germany, etc.

@GraceNote I encourage your optimism. But what exactly do you mean by commitment? Whose commitment to what?

Grace Note

@Cerberus The commitment of all of your peers to each other.

Not to Jeff. Not to Stack Exchange. To each other.

Shog9

@Robusto The applicable license - you can take it anywhere, just gotta attribute and keep the same license.

See, there's the idealistic @GraceNote

user19161

@Cerberus That is another reason for me to like Germany.

Robusto

7:02 PM

@Cerberus — But what would be the point? The answers in and of themselves are not what makes this place good or bad. In fact, most of the answers are merely pointers to other sources, with commentary.

user19161

@GraceNote To one another, since there are more than two.

Shog9

@Robusto Which is what @Grace is saying - the value is the community as a whole, not bits and pieces.

Cerberus

@Robusto The best ones aren't. The point would be to have a community with its own standards of academic merit, commitment, etc., elsewhere. And spite.

@GraceNote Sure; but this commitment doesn't depend on the site so much, once it has been formed?

Robusto

@Shog9 — The community as a whole? I'm not so sure. To be frank, I think there are fewer than 20 contributors here whose opinion I esteem, maybe another 20 whose opinion I respect, and the rest I hardly even notice unless they're obnoxious for one reason or another.

Maybe 20 is high for the "esteem" part of that, btw.

Grace Note

@Cerberus Is your identity "Just a bunch of English learners and experts who happen to hang out together"?

Circles start somewhere. It's not unheard of for a circle to divorce from the roots from where it is birthed.

So in that end, yes, it is possible to retain such a commitment even in leaving the site entirely.

Shog9

7:09 PM

@Robusto I'm part of a mailing list comprising ~20 members of another site who grew dissatisfied with the way it was run. Lots of good conversation there. But... We haven't exactly been successful in setting up a new site. There's this whole "long tail" thing that's a bitch to bring with you. You can easily collect 20 top, disgruntled users; that doesn't necessarily give you anything though.

Robusto

@Cerberus ποταμοῖσι τοῖσιν αὐτοῖσιν ἐμϐαίνουσιν, ἕτερα καὶ ἕτερα ὕδατα ἐπιρρεῖ.

Grace Note

But I'm not seeing that commitment. I'm seeing a smattering of users trying to go about their day normally, a smattering who think something must be done but aren't sure what to do, a smattering who are continuing the crusade on the front lines, a smattering who are in the process of packing up or who dwell on the prospect, and yet others who fit in neither of the above categories (such as Kos, who is in a bit of a unique position).

RegDwight

Apr 19 at 19:56, by RegDwight

@Vitaly You appear to have spilled some letters all over the ground. Shall I help you pick them up?

Robusto

@Shog9 —Internet circles are nothing but soap bubbles. The miracle is that they survive for any length of time at all.

Shog9

@Robusto Yup...

Grace Note

7:12 PM

And there's barely any communication within those smatterings, nevermind between each one. There's no working it out. This is why the commitment analogy fails.

Cerberus

@Robusto Very true.

Robusto

I'm the highest-rep user on this site, but I've put more time and energy into verbal sparring with @RegDwight and a few others in chat than I have into answering questions.

Grace Note

@Robusto I see this as a good thing, myself.

Cerberus

@Robusto But if suddenly the flow stops for a year, the river may be overgrown and never recover.

user19161

@Cerberus Until the rains come again.

Robusto

7:16 PM

@Cerberus — That's kind of the point. But let's not take the river analogy out to six decimal places.

Cerberus

@JasperLoy It may be too late.

@Robusto Agreed.

RegDwight

@Robusto You mean you've put more time and energy into losing to RegDwight over and over and over again than into fixing your rotten trees or something.

Cerberus

Hey that's below the belt...

Robusto

@RegDwight — That would be the Commie way to phrase it, yeah.

user19161

@Cerberus Ouch!

RegDwight

7:18 PM

@Cerberus Sorry, what do you expect from a communist who wants to destroy America?

I have to destroy the corn belt, the milk belt, all of them!

Robusto

@RegDwight — Start with the Bible belt.

Shog9

whew, no banana belt. I'm safe.

Cerberus

@RegDwight Don't even mention the bible belt...

RegDwight

@Robusto There be dragons.

Cerberus

Jinx!

Grace Note

7:19 PM

Ring~ring~ring~ring~ring~ring~ring~ Banana phone! ♪

RegDwight

Cerberus is so slow, it's ridiculous how slow he is.

Cerberus

In fact I was cooking and typing at the same time.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Really? That's what passes for an insult in Soviet Workers Paradise?

Shog9

@GraceNote i hate you so much.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Lies.

Cerbera don't cook.

Cerberus

7:20 PM

It is true!

RegDwight

Them's only restaurant go to.

Grace Note

@Cerberus You need a better radiator on your computer, then.

Cerberus

@RegDwight *-i, or possibly *-oi

user19161

Have you people gotten your T-shirt? I didn't ask for mine. :)

Grace Note

I thought Cerberus was a proper name, not a species or noun.

Cerberus

7:21 PM

@GraceNote Heh what?

RegDwight

Apr 21 at 23:51, by RegDwight

Авпваойцехрварждоы.

Robusto

— Here, let me help you out:
@Cerberus is so slow if he was any slower he'd be moving backwards.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Haha, you fell for it.

Cerberus

@RegDwight How could one not?

There are some things one falls into with eyes wide open.

RegDwight

@Robusto That is so boring I'm not even commenting on how boring it is.

Grace Note

7:22 PM

@Cerberus Aw man, mine fell flat. Um... well, if you're typing (at a computer, theoretically), and cooking, then one conclusion is that you're doing both at the same position.

Cerberus

Like the possibility to mention Latin or Greek; or love.

Shog9

@GraceNote Wikipedia sez: The name "Cerberus" is a Latinised version of the Greek Kerberos, which may be related to the Sanskrit word सर्वरा "sarvarā", used as an epithet of one of the dogs of Yama, from a Proto-Indo-European word *ḱerberos, meaning "spotted"

Which sounds pretty proper.

Robusto

@RegDwight — I guess you like losing. You go down quicker than Paris Hilton at a frat party.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Since I am so nice I will just warn you in advance that next time I will use Cerberii.

Except that you'll forget the warning in a minute.

Cerberus

@GraceNote So much I gathered... but a radiator? Is that used for anything but heating a room? I may be technically or lexically deficient, or otherwise slow...

RegDwight

7:23 PM

4 hours ago, by RegDwight

@Cerberus I would reply, but typing Cerberus takes too much time. I have to look up if it's Ker or Cer, and us or os. It's a nuisance, really.

Shog9

@Cerberus cooling a car... Or a computer.

Cerberus

@Shog9 Thanks for looking me up. How many of you are on Wikipedia?

Grace Note

@Cerberus I'm pretty sure any technical or lexical deficiency is going to be on my end, not on yours, but I figured that you could use "radiator" as the name of the cooling unit on a computer.

Shog9

@Cerberus Depends on what I am

RegDwight

And that I typed without looking on Wikipedia.

Robusto

7:24 PM

@Shog9 — You need more authoritative sources if you're going to diss @Cerberus in chat. Or even to, like, venture an opinion. On anything.

Cerberus

@RegDwight True, and please don't! I couldn't bear that one.

Robusto

@RegDwight — You already had that answer in an open tab.

user19161

@Cerberus I am.

Cerberus

@Shog9 Oh, one of those things with water in them that are used in computers? I knew of their existence, but didn't think of them...

Grace Note

I'm kinda more familiar with using the term for Wanzers and Armored Cores, though, so... to wit, it may probably be intended for more vehicular constructs.

Robusto

7:25 PM

@GraceNote — You misspelled Wankers ...

Cerberus

@GraceNote Apparently Shog agrees with you. I am only a dog, don't punish my ignorance...

Grace Note

@Robusto Can I just raise the white flag on this match now?

RegDwight

Jun 15 at 12:58, by RegDwight

(Or not.)

Cerberus

@Robusto I am rather good at bluffing, muwaha.

RegDwight

@GraceNote Please no Dido in this room.

Also, U2.

Grace Note

7:27 PM

@RegDwight You enjoy sending me to Wikipedia, don't you?

RegDwight

Wow, first it didn't know who Gagarin was, now it doesn't know who Dido is. Unpossible.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Dido. Hmm. Isn't that Latin for "I didded"?

Cerberus

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Jasper%20Loy

Shog9

"Please don't... something something Eminem rapping"

RegDwight

@Robusto No, it's a misspelling of an adult toy.

user19161

7:28 PM

@Cerberus Hey you know what I mean!

Mr. Disappointment

►

Robusto

@RegDwight — Yeah, if you don't have some semblance of a classical education you can't cut it in The Incomprehensible Room.

Mr. Disappointment

Just rock music, or nothing.

Cerberus

@Robusto The Latin perfect always ends on -i.... oh.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Hey that question Wikipedia asked you interests me! Did you mean Jasper Lloyd?

Cerberus

7:29 PM

@Robusto Hear, hear.

Grace Note

There's too many results for Dido...

Oh. English Songwriter

Shog9

@GraceNote I'm sure he meant the queen and the spy plane.

Cerberus

@RegDwight Eh, probably not! I don't know who that would be (of course).

Grace Note

@Shog9 Hey, you know which one I'd be paying attention to.

Cerberus

BRB back to cooking.

Shog9

7:30 PM

@GraceNote No, I don't

Robusto

Required epics for participation: Gilgamesh, The Iliad, The Oddysey, The Aeneid, Beowulf ... and, probably, The Lord of the Rings (but you have to have actually read it).

Grace Note

@Robusto I've only read the first 5. Is that okay?

RegDwight

@Robusto What about Crime and Prejudice?

user19161

@Robusto I only watched the last weo.

Shog9

@GraceNote You've read Beowulf?

user19161

7:30 PM

I mean last two.

Grace Note

@Shog9 'Twas a pain at first, but yes.

Robusto

Also it doesn't hurt to be conversant with The Divine Comedy, The Mabinogion, The Prose Eddas, The Decameron, Don Quixote, and a few other pieces.

Grace Note

Grendel is to blame for that one.

RegDwight

@Shog9 There are quite a few people here who have.

Shog9

@GraceNote Cool. I will remember that next time I have questions on it. Because I do have questions more often than I'd expect, but have no desire to actually read it myself.

Robusto

7:32 PM

@RegDwight — Stop conflating Dostoevsky and Jane Austen. You never know what abomination might breed from that.

Grace Note

(Much like Anchises is to blame for the Aeneid)

RegDwight

@Robusto Huhuh, you said breed, huhuh.

Robusto

@GraceNote — If you'd read The Aeneid you'd know who Dido is.

Grace Note

@Robusto Not in the context of being with U2, I wouldn't

(Also, it was years ago. I had to re-look up Anchises' spelling just now)

RegDwight

Wow, I have 85 energy and 79 stamina. Laterz.

Robusto

7:33 PM

CYA

I mean CIA.

Grace Note

Later ♪

Cerberus

@RegDwight What? Punishment and Pride? You call those epics, or what?

RegDwight

@Cerberus I will call you a litotes if you won't stop pinging me.

Grace Note

@Robusto I'm decidedly less read up on this, only on Don Quixote, and only because of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda.

Cerberus

@RegDwight I sort of remember that, so I am immune.

Shog9

7:36 PM

Just a reminder: FOLLOW vvvvv (Unless you're planning on quitting SE in disgust, in which case, probably don't)

179

Literature

Proposed Q&A site for literary enthusiasts and those passionate about the written word.

Currently in commitment.

RegDwight

@Cerberus I don't know who mune is, but yeah, you're the opposite of him.

Grace Note

@Shog9 Literary analysis was the one thing I was very happy to graduate from high school and shift my focus to writing courses.

Cerberus

@RegDwight You know better than induce me to explain Latin root: I will do it. munio = protect, reinforce.

user19161

Hey did you see the newsletter ad on the front page?

Robusto

@Shog9 — It'll never fly. Nobody has bite-sized, unequivocal answers for literature questions. Literature is all about discussions, which SE abhors.

I mean if it's not discussion-worthy, it's gen ref.

Cerberus

7:38 PM

@Robusto A problem similar to Philosophy's. I should have been there more often, I wonder how it's doing.

Shog9

@Robusto This is probably true, but then again Philosophy is the same way and that launched.

Robusto

When did James Joyce write Dubliners?

Grace Note

@Robusto I take it you don't think too highly of the Science Fiction/Fantasy site?

Cerberus

@GraceNote I like it.

Robusto

@GraceNote — I don't equate it with literature. It's more about fanboi obsession.

Grace Note

7:39 PM

@Cerberus I'm not really a SciFi or a Fantasy buff, so it hasn't really been my cup of tea. That said, I do miss reading Redwall.

@Robusto I cannot fault you for that assessment.

Shog9

@Robusto How is literature not fanboi obsession?

Grace Note

@Shog9 Literary enthusiasts get to be snooty and wear monocles.

Robusto

@Shog9 — Because literate people spell it "fan boy" ...

Shog9

Ahhhh

Cerberus

@GraceNote Hmm I am no buff myself at all, and I don't know Redwall. Sounds nice, from Wikipedia.

Has anyone been to Scifi.se of late?

Grace Note

7:41 PM

@Cerberus It's amusing, but I haven't read it since I was a child.

Cerberus

While I like the genre very much, I could never think of anything to ask or asnwer there.

Shog9

@Cerberus Apart from Harry Potter fans?

Grace Note

@Cerberus I pop into their Meta every now and then but not much other involvement.

Cerberus

@Shog9 Eh... is that who populate it? (Never read Harry Potter...)

Grace Note

@Cerberus Used to be Ashley Judd fans

Cerberus

7:43 PM

Hmm never heard of her.

Shog9

@Cerberus It's just sorta popular right now. I mean, more than usual. There's some movie.

Grace Note

in The Bridge, May 25 at 15:08, by badp

In other news, Final Minutes Of Last Harry Potter Movie To Be Split Into Seven Separate Films

@Shog9 The movies have been okay but I've never really forgotten that they opted out of one of the best lines in the first book.

Mana

Was it a Fred and George line?

Grace Note

@Mana No

Cerberus

@Shog9 Yeah I'm usually terrible behind on things...

Shog9

7:47 PM

@GraceNote I watched like... 20 minutes of the first movie. Never read any of the books. Heard they were good; then again, I heard Stella Artois was good too, and that's complete bunk.

Grace Note

@Shog9 I'd tell you then, thinking the humour wouldn't be lost on you, but in thinking, 20 minutes isn't all that far into it, so it's more an issue that there's not enough context.

Shog9

@Cerberus That's fine. With a bit of luck, you'll be able to watch all of the movies, back-to-back, in either your own home or a friendly second-run theater, with sufficient booze to enjoy them by the time you care to do so.

(and yes, I'm a firm believer that very few movies are actually intended to be enjoyable sober)

Martha

@GraceNote Pray tell?

Cerberus

Hmm I don't know. Somehow I am biased against Harry Potter, though the poor kid has done nothing to offend me.

Grace Note

@Martha Forgive me if I butcher it, but it was along the lines of "There's no wood!" "You're a WITCH!"

Cerberus

7:50 PM

@Martha Mommy!

Shog9

@GraceNote Unless it's an obscured Monty Python reference, I don't get it.

Martha

@GraceNote Ah, yes. That's definitely a good line.

Grace Note

@Shog9 Like I said, no context was the main threat.

Shog9

@GraceNote No worries. Martha got it, so all's well.

Martha

@Shog9 I forget the exact circumstances, but they're in desperate need of a fire, and Hermione is getting all flustered and says something like "but there's no wood", and one of the guys responds, "you're a WITCH!" (Who happens to be the best in her class, maybe even the entire school, at conjuring fire. If she could only get over her Muggle-born preconceptions long enough to realize it.)

Grace Note

7:54 PM

@Martha Giant plant go'an constrict Ron to pieces.

Shog9

Ah. I see.

Cerberus

8:16 PM

Looks like the site is punishing me with odd Javascript warnings all of a sudden. I see this a lot, even with Javascript enabled on all domains:

Grace Note

@Cerberus I'll check to see if there's a new deployment that is causing this, or are you saying this has been an ongoing issue?

Robusto

@Cerberus — There are many ways to say "We don't want you here." This is what SE came up with.

Cerberus

Apparently so.

At least it isn't shy about it.

You do not see this?

RegDwight

@Cerberus Obviously, it's the Juanes video. D'oh.

Use this one instead:

Feb 2 at 21:09, by Vitaly

►

Cerberus

Oh shi... I should have hidden that.

RegDwight

8:20 PM

LOOOOOOOOOL

Grace Note

@Cerberus I do not see these warnings.

Cerberus

@RegDwight Right, that works just as well as the Juanes video!

@GraceNote I suspect that SE made some change that conflicts with Noscript...

Grace Note

@Cerberus But you noted that you even activated JavaScript on all pages, no?

RegDwight

@Cerberus Then you must follow these instructions:

5

A: Why aren't there any unicorns?

The unicorns are in the garden. Eating roses and lillies. That's how they roll. I can see at least two of them right now, just by looking out of my browser window: Generally speaking, if you can't see something, that means that you must have a bug installed in your PC. Simply remove it, and e...

Cerberus

@GraceNote Yes, but Noscript does all kinds of protective stuff under the hood even if you enable JS for all domains.

RegDwight

8:25 PM

@Cerberus I see. Well, in that case hold on while I

Jul 16 at 20:11, by RegDwight

Reboot the universe!

Cerberus

Please start the hold muzak.

RegDwight

gamethemesongs.com/Conkers_Bad_Fur_Day_-_Elevator.html

Robusto

"The only law that Congress cannot repeal is the law of unintended consequences." — Simon Johnson

slate.com/id/2299460

Cerberus

@RegDwight Such an artistic feat! Well done.

Robusto

1

Q: What does `tints` mean in the poem: She walks in Beauty?

In the poem, She walks in Beauty, And on that cheek and o'er that brow So soft, so calm yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow But tell of days in goodness spent What is the meaning of tints?

word-usage

Surely this is gen ref.

RegDwight

8:29 PM

@Robusto They could just ask Blizzard to fire one of their janitors and give the money to the US govt instead. Problem solved.

Grace Note

@Robusto If the definition is the standard dictionary one, and there is no reason for someone who looks it up in a dictionary to doubt that definition's veracity, I think that'd be a yes.

Cerberus

@Robusto I am seriously curious why Bush and Obama kept on spending for so long. Anyone could see that this wasn't sustainable. Why did noöne raise alarm?

Robusto

@Cerberus — If you find out, let me know.

Cerberus

Dutch politicians are always talking about cuts.

Grace Note

'lo, @Kit!

RegDwight

8:32 PM

May 1 at 21:42, by Robusto

Kit

@GraceNote kisses to you, Gracie!

Cerberus

@Robusto I really expected more from Obama.

Kit

So who needs schooling?

Robusto

Well, don't laugh. If the idiots permit the U.S. to default on debt, the whole world economy will come crashing down. We will have a global depression. And I ain't kiddin', kiddies.

Cerberus

Hai!

@Robusto Yeah that might happen.

Robusto

8:33 PM

@RegDwight — Good man.

Grace Note

@Kit If you mean thwacking, I don't recall anymore. If you mean on questions... we've cleared out most of those.

Cerberus

It would reduce Dutch and German government-debt interest to an extreme low...

RegDwight

@Robusto We already have a global depression, or so I'm told. So I'm not afraid of your vapid chantage.

Grace Note

That said, Dwig did bring up this question and its brethren.

Kit

@GraceNote Sorry, it wasn't you. I misremembered. It was @aedia who said some peoples needed corrupting.

Grace Note

8:34 PM

@Kit Oooh, corrupting.

Cerberus

@RegDwight It's not that bad now, not nearly as bad as in the Interbellum.

Grace Note

Yeah, I'll let you go on with that.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Congratulations on your powers of imagination.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Interbellum Galicum?

nohat

so... I think a question constitutes "general reference" only if you can get an answer by looking at exactly one page on a dictionary site.

Kit

8:34 PM

Right. And so now I have to go pick up my boys. Chat with you all later.

Grace Note

@nohat That's a pretty sensible approach.

@Kit Travel safe.

nohat

Have to look at two separate pages and compare? Then it's not general reference and can be asked. (It might be closable for some other reason, but not "general reference")

RegDwight

@Robusto I am serious. Europe is collapsing, will collapse, has collapsed and was collapsed right from the start, according to the stuff I hear. So.

Cerberus

@RegDwight Sorry, is that not English?

Robusto

Reports of its collapse are an exaggeration.

Grace Note

8:36 PM

@Cerberus I've gotten no clueful response with regards to the JavaScript thingadongdong, so it would probably be a good idea to post a bug report on your Meta.

Robusto

— tint (tnt)
n.
1. A shade of a color, especially a pale or delicate variation.

Cerberus

Yeah, there isn't any serious problem in the northern half of Europe so far.

@GraceNote Oh, you asked? That is kind of you.

RegDwight

Well, Norway is what Switzerland would like to be.

Cerberus

?

RegDwight

They are better off in every respect.

Except that them's cold like hell.

And no grass, only vikings.

Grace Note

8:38 PM

@Cerberus I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if anyone had any off-hand knowledge.

Cerberus

I suppose so; but Switzerland is still doing fine as well? Their banks must be troubling them, but the government seems to have everything in order, or doesn't it?

nohat

I mean, I guess if you don't have to compare two separate pages then it might be general reference.

Cerberus

@GraceNote I'll try testing with Noscript disabled, see what happens.

nohat

But if you have to compare definitions, that could be summarized as a useful answer which adds value to the universe

RegDwight

@Cerberus What I'm saying is that Norway has always silently been better off than the Swiss, who have to rely on banks and chocolates.

The Norsemen, they just pump oil and be happy.

Cerberus

8:40 PM

@nohat I agree in all respects. But will He?

@RegDwight Absolutely right.

RegDwight

I once saw a documentary about prisoners in Norway. It got reddited four years ago or something.

Cerberus

Thanks God we have some gas.

@RegDwight They lay on satin cushions?

Robusto

@RegDwight — The other difference is that Norway resisted Nazi aggression, while Switzerland came up with the idea of identifying Jews on their passports so that they could prevent them from fleeing Germany in the '30s.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Better. They have islands of their own, where they just live. Like free men.

nohat

@Cerberus I would be very intrigued to hear any argument to the contrary

RegDwight

8:43 PM

So basically you have that awesome place with jobs and schools and shops and nature and fishing and holidays and everything, except that on some piece of paper somewhere, they are considered prisoners.

Robusto

Anyway, politics is overwhelming me at the moment. Talk to you all when the U.S. gets its debt crisis sorted out. Or whatevs.

Cerberus

@Robusto True. But the Nords burned our monasteries.

Alain Pannetier

@RegDwight Isn't Alcatraz an island as well?

RegDwight

Yes, and so are Cuba and Mainau. Your point being?

Cerberus

@RegDwight I support that. I don't think punishment should be about revenge.... but that's another discussion.

Alain Pannetier

8:45 PM

@RegDwight, is Mainau a prison?

Cerberus

@nohat I won't rehearse the anti-joke/vulgarity argument and keep our sanity intact.

RegDwight

@AlainPannetier It's certainly awfully close to that Norway prison in every respect.

Mainau

Mainau is an island in Lake Constance (on the south shore of the Überlinger See near the city of Konstanz, Baden-Württemberg, Germany). It is maintained as a garden island and a model of excellent environmental practices. Administratively, the island has been a part of Konstanz since December 1, 1971, when the municipality of Litzelstetten, of which Mainau was part, was incorporated into Konstanz. Mainau is still part of Litzelstetten, now one of 15 wards (administrative subdivisions) of Konstanz. The island belongs to the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung (English: the Lennart Bernadotte Fou...

Alain Pannetier

I wouldn't call it a deterrent to be living on a Lake Constance island.

RegDwight

Dingdingding!

Alain Pannetier

As for Alcatraz...

Since they closed it, Norway is probably less advanced that the US ;-)

Just playing the Devil's advocate here.

Grace Note

8:49 PM

Alcatraz was closed?

yeah...

@GraceNote Yeah, after Jerry Bruckheimer published the blueprints.

Grace Note

@RegDwight Nice try, I know who Jerry Bruckheimer is.

RegDwight

2 days ago, by Grace Note

@RegDwight I don't know who J. (Y.?) A. Gagarin is.

I will let this speak for itself.

Alain Pannetier

8:52 PM

Rikers Island isn't and apparently still has VIPs every now and then.

user19161

@reg Regarding your suggestion to read the entire transcript, I have half a mind to do it. There isn't that much, especially in the initial months. I may start soon...

RegDwight

@JasperLoy I sometimes re-read those early months. Good times!

Grace Note

@RegDwight Unfortunately, I watch TV.

RegDwight

@GraceNote And they don't have space flight on your TV?

Grace Note

@RegDwight The only News I watch is commercials advertising what stories will show up on the nightly news.

Or, like, tornado alerts when we're in danger of tornados. But that was only one day.

RegDwight

8:55 PM

And where does Jerry Bruckheimer come in?

Grace Note

@RegDwight In the credits, mostly.

RegDwight

Right. I forgot that the commercials for nightly news are made by him.

As are the news themselves.

Grace Note

I think some crucial components of this conversation have been skipped.

RegDwight

Repeat after me: in-comp-r-eh-en-sib-le.

With extra emphasis on in-.

Grace Note

@RegDwight I think that word sounds funny when read that way.

RegDwight

8:58 PM

Every word sounds funny when read that way.

Grace Note

@RegDwight Well, yes, if you pronounced every word as the one word, it would make for an interestingly unusual conversation.

Reminds me of some communications theory I was working on the other day, but that'd be boring to discuss.

RegDwight

In other news by Jerry Bruckheimer, I got stamina to spend.

Grace Note

@RegDwight Weren't you working on that a while ago?

RegDwight

Yes. And the key is "a while ago". It has refilled since.

Remplis ton verre vide. Vide ton verre plein.

Grace Note

Huh, that's where that game is...

aedia

9:07 PM

Aww, I missed @Kit again.

Grace Note

@aedia Well, Kit's looking for you, so I'm sure the two of you will run into each other

aedia

@nohat I have probably been a little overzealous in my flagging. I do hope I helped reduce the brightness of your shame, though.

user19161

@aedia Or its darkness.

Grace Note

@JasperLoy Darkness is a good thing in this scenario

The darker, the better.

user19161

@GraceNote I think both perspectives are valid.

Grace Note

9:14 PM

@JasperLoy Not really. Less darkness on the shaming means that it is brighter, which indicates a higher shame level.

With the goal being to reduce shame level by taking a greater percentage of the actions than previously performed, going less dark would be going backwards.

user19161

@GraceNote We can interpret darkness as negativity, so that darkness of shame becomes negativity of shame, or just shame itself.

Grace Note

@JasperLoy That is true, if taken from a different axis.

Though something could be said for using subtractionary methods to reduce negativity.

aedia

@JasperLoy Darkness, lightness, brightness, intensity... to laypeople, not much difference, I think.

user19161

@GraceNote As you can see, my mind often goes in a different axis. And by the way, you wouldn't know why simchona might have wanted to PM you, so on hindsight your answer was perhaps not that brilliant after all. :)

aedia

Same reason I can't talk about tints and shades with non-artists.

nohat

9:20 PM

@aedia some of your flags were excellent, some less so, though all were appreciated

Grace Note

@JasperLoy I don't know why simchona wanted to PM me. I only know what kind of element it isn't.

@aedia What about us quasi-artists? ♪

aedia

@GraceNote Do you know how to mix a tint of blue and a shade of blue with paint?

user19161

@aedia And it should be 'an idea', not 'a idea', spelt backwards, which would make it become aedina, another nice name. Also, encyclopedia is the preferred Oxford spelling, though encylopaedia is still used in BrE.

Grace Note

@aedia I do it by asking my aides to figure out which Pantone color I should use.

aedia

@JasperLoy Too much thinking does the young Padawan!

@GraceNote Pfft. Cheater.

user19161

9:24 PM

@GraceNote Well, if you did not know what the reason is, you cannot know what it is not. :)

Grace Note

@JasperLoy That's not really a sustainable logical conjecture.

A lot of determining what something is, is derived by step-by-step determination of that which it isn't.

aedia

@nohat Yay!

Grace Note

That's half the foundation of "20 Questions", even.

user19161

@aedia May I ask what your Yays to nohat mean? I have seen several of them today!

Grace Note

For example, if I told you the ring on my finger has a precious stone that is not an emerald, you can easily know that it is not an emerald, without knowing which precious gemstone it actually is.

It's not a sapphire, either, though I'd much love a sapphire ring.

aedia

9:28 PM

@JasperLoy Uh, I think that's the first time I have "Yay" in at least several hours. But generally, just click the little arrow on the left of the message and it will highlight the one it's a response to.

user19161

@GraceNote I see, but of course this example may not apply. But you should know better than me, since I did not study the entire transcript in detail!

aedia

@JasperLoy I don't mean anything (with this most recent "Yay!") except that I'm happy he appreciated my taking time to flag things and I'm happy some of my flags were helpful.

user19161

@aedia Oh yes, I just learnt that yesterday and now I must put it into practice!

Grace Note

Following the same logic, by knowing the specific subject matter to which I am not comfortable discussing in public, said subject matter is one that would not be brought up in private, either. This, combined with the reaction to my assertion of this fact, concludes that it is not of that subject matter.

user19161

@GraceNote Thank you but I was not looking for such an informative answer. Relax!

Grace Note

9:32 PM

@JasperLoy I'm quite relaxed. Exercising logic is a pastime

I mean, there's always other approaches I could take, one in particular, but that'd be bland and very unorthodox.

user19161

Did you guys see the weekly newsletter thing?

Grace Note

It's been around a while

user19161

I just noticed it, cos I don't usually look at the RHS.

Grace Note

@JasperLoy Miss out on a lot by doing that ♪

aedia

@JasperLoy I saw it, but now I can't find it again now that I wanna look at it. Sneaky thing.

user19161

9:38 PM

@aedia Exactly. If it is just a random ad, how can people sign up for it?

Grace Note

@aedia It's a random advert

user19161

:1390729 And how did you know this? I tried searching on meta but couldn't find it. Maybe it's on the other meta. I get the feeling that there are lots of rules at work on SE and nobody knows them all even if you read the entire meta SO.

Grace Note

Disregard that earlier note. Apparently that was only for testing purposes.

@JasperLoy Meta Stack Overflow will give you 80% of updates on average. So no, you'll always need more than just there.

Gonna jet. Later all ♪

Martha

10:33 PM

26

Q: Weekly site newsletters?

We've noticed that a lot of users (ourselves included) have a bunch of sites that they're interested in, but don't necessarily check in that often. While power-users can set up filters on stackexchange.com, the average user isn't going to figure that out. So we're planning to introduce a weekly...

discussion email feedback

Martha

10:50 PM

(The key point being that you can always find the link on your profile editing page.)

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…