English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

2:00 PM

i'm glad that we have our sekrit greek letters on all of our names now, because we can easily identify outsiders

@Rhŵdri I think that one is taken care of :) I commented on the problems with his answer and it looks like he removed it. I wish all his opinion answers were that easy to dispatch.

badp

@JSBᾶngs I should perhaps join the fun =}

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς how about michael scofield?

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs Hmm. Don't know him, but he's cute. Reminds me of a girl I used to date. The first girl I used to date, actually.

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς "reminds me of a girl i used to date" is not the response i expected when asking about michael scofield :P

Rhŵdri

2:03 PM

@badp Our conversations are great rambling things prone to irrelevance and side-tracking anyway, so no sweat.

KitΘδς

Oh, I do remember him from Buffy.

JSBᾶngs

tattoos = !!!

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs Suppose that's real ink?

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς i'm pretty sure it's not

but still

KitΘδς

Says he also played Chris Redfield in Resident Evil. He'd be a good one for that part, based on looks alone.

I just realized that I can't remember my first girlfriend's last name. How weird is that?

JSBᾶngs

2:05 PM

@KitΘδς depends on how many girlfriends you've had

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs How many is enough that that's not weird?

JSBᾶngs

2

Q: Is litotes merely negation or more?

I came across the figure of speech litotes and it seems that it is the use of a negative to mean and emphasise the opposite. Now, take the following examples: "I just tried the soup. It's not the worst soup I've tasted." "We tried to get George Clooney on our show, but he's not the most ...

negation

off-topic?

@KitΘδς i don't really know. if i take an extremely expansive interpretation of "girlfriend", i can think of three girlfriends that i've had whose last names i don't know any more

and two of them were named "Jessica"

Rhŵdri

@KitΘδς Wow, I didn't recognise him from Buffy at all, and I'm a bit of a geek for that sort of thing.

JSBᾶngs

@Rhŵdri me neither. who did he play in buffy?

KitΘδς

@Rhŵdri He was the sea monster guy.

JSBᾶngs

2:08 PM

@KitΘδς that was a terrible episode. no wonder i don't remember it

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs I have never dated a woman named Jessica. Sounds too dangerous.

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς and i have never dated a redhead, for the same reason. but out of curiosity, what would be a nice, safe woman's name?

Rhŵdri

@JSBᾶngs I think the OP is just trying to get straight in his head what "litotes" is. If 3i's answer is acceptable, it's Gen Ref I'd have thought.

Martha

Ooh, @Rhŵdri, the 10K tools flags page has auto-flagged one of your deletions.

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs Safe? Safe is boring. Um, Myra.

Rhŵdri

2:12 PM

@Martha O ho. I think I tried one too many this morning.

Martha

> Possible vandalism of own posts; multiple deletions in a short time; english.stackexchange.com/q/6331 english.stackexchange.com/q/6402 english.stackexchange.com/q/6492 english.stackexchange.com/q/6585 english.stackexchange.com/q/6587

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς so jessica = too dangerous. myra = too boring. what's the happy medium?

KitΘδς

Molly.

Anna.

Martha

@Rhŵdri I flagged it "invalid". :)

Rhŵdri

@Martha I dislike the use of "vandalism", but hey.

JSBᾶngs

2:15 PM

@KitΘδς i have a cousin, aged 8, named molly. anna is nice

@Martha are we colluding in vandalism now?

KitΘδς

So the funny thing is, as it turns out, my first girlfriend's last name was the same as another's. (I've just looked it up.)

Martha

It's weird: hitting the reply link for Rhŵdri gets his name right, but the @-mention tab complete leaves out the ŵ.

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs Wendy. Jasmine.

user19161

I'm back. Apologies to whoever flagged me and Matt just now. We got suspended from chat for 30 min.

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς you looked it up? is it on wikipedia or something?

aedia

2:15 PM

@KitΘδς Do you have these on a bedpost somewhere?

KitΘδς

Oh, for heaven's sake. We went to school together.

I remembered her first name.

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς don't get me started on wendy. i had a very serious girlfriend named wendy, and ... long story

aedia

Good morning, all, btw.

user19161

@KitΘδς You're right that it attracted attention. Matt and I got suspended for half hour.

KitΘδς

@JasperLoy For the f*ck comment?

Really?

Cerberus

2:17 PM

Hi!

user19161

@KitΘδς For my p and d too, just from chat.

Cerberus

What happened?

Martha

In fact, it looks like the tab-complete leaves out everyone's weird characters.

KitΘδς

I can't believe they didn't suspend me too.

Rhŵdri

@JasperLoy See, you just have to keep your smutty conversations better concealed. Which reminds me @Kit, how about Callum Keith Rennie.

JSBᾶngs

2:18 PM

@KitΘδς i must have missed all of this. probably was deleted from the transcript

Cerberus

And why all the Greek? Not that I object.

user19161

@KitΘδς Well, it's a bit subjective.

z7sg Ѫ

You got censored for 'pussy'? Surely not... what prudes are running this show?

KitΘδς

@z7sgѪ No, I bowdlerized mine.

And you probably ought to too.

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus it's the ELU insiders' badge. all of the cool kids put greek (or other non-latin chars) in their name.

Cerberus

2:19 PM

What happened, they suspended Jasper and Matt? Who did that?

KitΘδς

@Rhŵdri From Memento? Yes, not bad.

JSBᾶngs

@Cerb you ought to get with the times

Cerberus

@JSBᾶngs I seee.

Rhŵdri

@Cerberus We are (a) celebrating EL&U's birthday, (b) showing solidarity with Alain P (c) a bit crazy.

user19161

@Cerberus Just from chat for 30 min, as we said some stuff which was too sexy. It's OK, no big deal,

Cerberus

2:19 PM

@Rhŵdri Why with Alain? Did he need any?

aedia

@Martha So it does. Makes JSB's and Rhodri's names a little vowelless.

z7sg Ѫ

@KitΘδς Hmm, I'd rather just not say the words if possible, as long as I know what those words are.

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus somebody said that alain had a phi in his name, and wondered if it had something to do with chaos. this turned out to be a huge lie, but anyway

KitΘδς

@Rhŵdri No, wait, not who I was thinking of.

Rhŵdri

@KitΘδς After all he's done, they pick "Memento" as the thing to label him with? Le sigh.

user19161

2:21 PM

@Rhŵdri memento

Rhŵdri

due South would have been so much better

z7sg Ѫ

@aedia 'w' is a vowel in Welsh. I know for example the word 'cwm' means valley. Like coombe in some English place names.

KitΘδς

@Rhŵdri He was in Due South?

Rhŵdri

@JasperLoy Oops.

@KitΘδς Yup. RayK

aedia

@z7sgѪ Right, but try tab-completing @Rhdri.

KitΘδς

2:23 PM

@Rhŵdri I'll have to go look again. What about Danny Craig?

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus i'm trying to convince someone to use ḫ in their name, hint hint

user19161

@z7sgѪ You should not say that, now you might get suspended too!

z7sg Ѫ

@aedia Ah right, I get Ѫ.

Rhŵdri

@KitΘδς A bit craggy, but yes. Also appears to be a fun guy.

Cerberus

@JSBᾶngs Alas, I couldn't use anything but Greek.

z7sg Ѫ

2:24 PM

@JasperLoy I think I'll get away with it, after all I wasn't being offensive. You guys were probably talking about someone's naughty bits, tsk tsk.

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs I tried, but can't change it. I did on my network profile though.

user19161

@kit I'm surprised you weren't suspended. You started it first! Let's just be more restrained from now.

JSBᾶngs

@Martha? Wouldn't you rather be Martḫa ?

KitΘδς

@Rhŵdri He's got a really nice smile. Like Hugh Jackman. Comes up from his toes.

user19161

@z7sgѪ I was talking about a cat if you read the original sentence.

z7sg Ѫ

2:26 PM

@JasperLoy Sounds like you've been wronged mate.

user19161

Matt must be drinking now to drown his sorrows.

Rhŵdri

I read a newspaper interview on Sunday that asked what his motivation for doing _Cowboys and Aliens_ was. To paraphrase:
> I get to play a cowboy. A cowboy who fights aliens. Isn't that the definition of a no-brainer?

KitΘδς

@Rhŵdri LOL

JSBᾶngs

i <3 daniel craig

Rhŵdri

Right, it's stopped raining so I'm going to risk running out for lunch. See you peeps in a bit.

z7sg Ѫ

2:28 PM

"This site is an extension of The Stack Exchange Network, so discussion should more or less revolve around the same topics you'd find at The Stack Exchange Network — but in an interactive, less strictly Q&A focused way. " Ummmm....

user19161

@JSBᾶngs I don't love him.

KitΘδς

Throw some pirates in and you've got yourself a movie.

JSBᾶngs

@z7sgѪ ha ha hahahahaha haa

user19161

@z7sgѪ Yes we all know...

KitΘδς

I bet it's because we were unmoded. I hope no one gets into trouble.

JSBᾶngs

2:30 PM

@JasperLoy i didn't say that i loved him. i said that i <3 him. there's a huge difference

KitΘδς

If our mods were here, you would've just gotten reprimanded.

Cerberus

Is that so?

user19161

@JSBᾶngs Isn't that the symbol for love?

Martha

@JSBᾶngs No, sorry. It wouldn't let me be Martha© or Martha™, either. Hmph.

aedia

Waah, my letter hasn't arrived yet.

user19161

2:31 PM

@KitΘδς Like reg always says, no flirting in chat!

user19161

@aedia What letter?

KitΘδς

@aedia It took me almost an hour for mine to show up.

user19161

@Martha Any sign of the swag?

JSBᾶngs

@aedia you have your lambda in the network profile

aedia

@JasperLoy I'm waiting for a lambda but it's stuck in the intertubes.

JSBᾶngs

2:32 PM

@Martha it actually wouldn't allow you to use ḫ ? that's criminal

user19161

@aedia I thought some letter in your mail box.

Martha

@JasperLoy No. J*ff posted once that it'd be "6 to 8 weeks", which we all know is code for "uh, how about never?"

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs But I have it on my network profile...

user19161

@Martha You don't have to asterisk that.

Martha

@JSBᾶngs No, sorry, my phrasing was confusing. I didn't want that weird b/h thing, and it wouldn't let me have what I wanted, so I'm sulking now.

KitΘδς

2:33 PM

Lunch sounds good. Wait for me, @Rhdri!

Martha

@JasperLoy I don't always do things only because I have to.

JSBᾶngs

@JasperLoy but it's funnier if you do. don't want anybody talking about He Who Must Not Be Named here

user19161

But it might be that saying Jeff's name gets an autoflag.

user19161

It's possible.

z7sg Ѫ

I reckon I'll never get my hooves on the swag cos I'm probably gonna move house before it arrives. Which makes me a sad unicorn. One can never have enough free sharpies.

user19161

2:35 PM

I did not ask for my swag, mostly because I don't think I'll wear it.

user19161

And the pen will be used up too quickly anyway.

user19161

And the stickers won't be used at all.

JSBᾶngs

i still totally want my swag

and i will wear it, and plaster my belongings with stickers

user19161

@JSBᾶngs Sometimes it is the wait that is exciting, not the end product.

user19161

Life is about the journey not destination, similarly.

user19161

2:38 PM

After all, the destination is just one point with zero area if you integrate over it, but at least the journey is an interval.

user19161

@KitΘδς Enjoy lunch Kit!

Rhŵdri

@JSBᾶngs ...and now I've got J*ff as Voldemort stuck in my head. Thanks everso :-)

user19161

@Rhŵdri You should not asterisk this. Maybe the asterisked version will be autoflagged but not the normal version.

user19161

And now I cannot search for say rhodri under users because of the greek letter.

user19161

What have you people done?

Rhŵdri

2:40 PM

@JasperLoy Well, now we've done an experiment to find out.

JSBᾶngs

@JasperLoy that's part of the plan. J*ff can't find us. we are secret, elusive, χάοτικ

user19161

@Rhŵdri Are your deletions being noticed? I have a feeling you will be suspended soon if you keep deleting, and then you cannot delete anymore.

Cerberus

peteava.ro/…

Dexter and Deedee fighting with labels.

This is how I imagine JSB will be when his "swag" arrives.

Rhŵdri

@JasperLoy I've never made any secret of what I was doing. I said as much when Joel and the CHAOS crew were in yesterday (or whenever it was -- I lose track of dates at the moment).

user19161

@Rhŵdri They should have suspended you instead of me! :)

KitΘδς

2:49 PM

I'm back!

user19161

@KitΘδς How was lunch?

KitΘδς

@JasperLoy Well, I ate the BBQ chips on the way back to my office. I haven't started in on the wrap yet.

@MattEllen I stand in the room of chat and I summon you. Will you return to us?

2

user19161

@KitΘδς It's not good to eat this kind of food too often. You need a proper lunch.

user19161

@matt I think you can return now.

KitΘδς

@JasperLoy I am having a proper lunch.

My typing is much slower when I'm eating.

JSBᾶngs

2:55 PM

@Cerb you really ought to change your name to Κέρβερος

user19161

@JSBᾶngs How do you get those symbols in your name in this case?

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs Then we won't be able to ping him.

Cerberus

@JSBᾶngs I might... but then noöne will be able to ping me?

KitΘδς

@Cerberus Jinx!

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus hybridize? Cerbερος

Cerberus

2:56 PM

Woohoo!

@JSBᾶngs But that is ugly.

JSBᾶngs

@JasperLoy i have the greek polytonic keyboard installed, so i just typed it

@Cerberus it is. there must be something better to do

Cerberus

Cool.

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs Oh, I just got all hot and bothered.

Cerberus

I don't see a solution.

KitΘδς

What about Cerberος?

JSBᾶngs

2:58 PM

@KitΘδς i rather like that. the single final sigma at the end is very pretty

Cerberus

I don't know.

user19161

@Cerberus Talking about solution and suspension, a solution is actually homogeneous while a suspension is not, in the context of fluids, interestingly.

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs I have one! I have one too! See?

user19161

@KitΘδς Yes I see that you are very pretty.

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς yes. yours is pretty, too

quasi-jinx @Jasper

KitΘδς

2:59 PM

tee hee

user19161

@JSBᾶngs or pseudo-jinx, or semi-jinx.

JSBᾶngs

quasi-semi-hemi-demi-jinx

Rhŵdri

So the real answer to why we all have these funny characters in our names is that we're stress-testing the chat software.

Cerberus

@JasperLoy I know.

Does anyone use ImageMagick?

It allows converting images in all sorts of ways through the command line.

I need it to do something that it won't.

KitΘδς

@Cerberus Nope, sorry.

Cerberus

3:03 PM

OK.

aedia

Coffee, anyone? yawns

Cerberus

No, thanks.

I will serve the tea.

aedia

@Cerberus It sounds familiar for some reason, but I don't use it now, sorry.

JSBᾶngs

@Kit any particular reason why you went with Θδς for your suffix ?

Cerberus

@aedia OK.

KitΘδς

3:05 PM

@JSBᾶngs You suggested the theta, so I gave it a gentle gradient to a trailing sigma.

Cerberus

But it is unpronounceable!

KitΘδς

@Cerberus What? My suffix? Get creative.

user19161

sips tea served by Cerberus

aedia

@KitΘδς Thuds? as in, thuds head against this stupid computer

Cerberus

"Suffix"! Well, I sound as if I were suffocating...

KitΘδς

3:07 PM

Besides, it adds to my charm and mystery.

user19161

sips coffee served by Aedia as well

Cerberus

@KitΘδς Honey, you don't need that.

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς i always played a fun game when i walked down Greek row during college, trying to come up with a greek word that used the letters on the houses in the same order that they appeared

Cerberus

Greek row?

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs ADP is for "Adelphia"

BTW, and that's supposed to be a secret.

aedia

3:08 PM

@Cerberus Where the fraternities and sororities are located.

Cerberus

@aedia Ah, OK.

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς um, but "adelphia" has no P

Cerberus

Is that Greek row some part of campus that all American colleges have?

z7sg Ѫ

@aedia We don't have fraternities and sororities over here and I think we're missing out on a lot of fun!

JSBᾶngs

αδελφια

KitΘδς

3:09 PM

What bugs me is the students wearing the GRΣΣK shirts. I see them and think "GRSSK? What the hell is that?"

3

@Cerberus Most.

aedia

Many American colleges have fraternities and sororities, but they don't always have their own houses, or houses located all in one area.

Cerberus

OK.

KitΘδς

OK, many.

Cerberus

I suppose I should encourage any use of Greek, however lame.

I have a t-shirt with the Etruscan alphabet.

z7sg Ѫ

We have Wednesday sports day and the post-sports drinking sessions in the student union. It's not quite the same though, I reckon you guys must get up to more imaginative stuff than leaping over tables whooping with a flaming arsehole.

Cerberus

3:11 PM

That sounds pretty imaginative.

user19161

I think all latin abbreviations should be removed from English, like eg ie am pm etc and so on.

JSBᾶngs

@z7sgѪ actually, that's about the level of stupidity that you get at most frat parties

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs ADP is the nickname for ΑΔΦ.

Wait, no!

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς well, that's better

Cerberus

@JasperLoy whacks you

Go wash your mouth!

KitΘδς

3:12 PM

I got ΑΔΠ and AΦ mixed up.

user19161

@Cerberus washes mouth with Listerine

z7sg Ѫ

@JSBᾶngs Yeah I should have known those ritualistic hazing ceremonies in films are just the stuff of films basically.

Cerberus

Fraternities have ehm evolved here in the same direction. Except that drinking is allowed at 16, so it's basically all they do.

z7sg Ѫ

It's part of the American mythos though.

KitΘδς

But that's not to say I'm wrong. It is a sorority after all. They're pretty dumb.

Cerberus

3:13 PM

They don't have real bad hazings in America?

KitΘδς

@Cerberus Not recently that I know of.

aedia λ

I went to a geeky school. I'm not sure what it's like at the party schools.

Cerberus

And what counts as bad?

In Germany, you get a scar on your cheek at the most conservative fraternities.

Holland is not so extreme, but people have died on occasion.

KitΘδς

Yeah, but Germans, I mean, come on...

z7sg Ѫ

@Cerberus Isn't that pre-war now though yeah? :D

This is the worst thing I've heard of : news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8327978.stm

And that really was a freak incident.

user19161

3:16 PM

@KitΘδς Men are dumb too you know.

Cerberus

@z7sgѪ I believe they still do it. So says my brother, who has some friend or acquaintance in one of the German Bruderschaften, or whatever they're called.

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus things of this sort are sometimes alleged in america, but don't actually happen all that often.

KitΘδς

@JasperLoy Yes, but then it would be a fraternity.

JSBᾶngs

actually, the worst i've heard of was hazing for new recruits to the marine corps, which, being the military, is less surprising

Cerberus

@z7sgѪ Yeah that's pretty bad as well.

@JSBᾶngs Hmm I'd have expected things to be more extreme in America; but I guess we beat you.

KitΘδς

3:18 PM

Mostly it's drinking exploits.

Of course, with young men that's always dangerous.

Cerberus

A guy I knew had been beaten and burned with cigarettes during hazing. He showed me the burns.

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς lots and lots of drinking exploits. fraternities are generally known as places where rich boys go to get drunk and laid a lot

Cerberus

Rich?

Do they cost a lot of money?

KitΘδς

@Cerberus You have to be rich to join. Pay dues.'

Cerberus

Are they high?

KitΘδς

3:20 PM

@Cerberus Several hundred per semester.

More than books.

Cerberus

Hmm that's not cheap. But not extremely expensive either.

aedia λ

@JSBᾶngs I dunno, on my campus it was cheaper to live there than in the dorms, and being a tech school, there were hardly any girls...

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus no, and there are plenty of regular middle-class people who join fraternities. but the stereotype remains

Cerberus

My brother's friend's bar tab at their fraternity was € 500 in the first month, I believe.

@JSBᾶngs Ah, OK. That's pretty much the same here.

KitΘδς

@Cerberus I knew a guy who had been beaten, burned with a hot poker and had parts of his fingers cut off. That was by the Sandinistas though.

Cerberus

3:22 PM

@KitΘδς Heh, well, apparently they are similar.

user19161

@KitΘδς But why do they want to do that to the poor guy?

KitΘδς

@JasperLoy I assume because he was a rebel.

Cerberus

I was once hazed for a small fraternity. We had to sit on our knees for 5 hours in a row or something, were yelled at all the time, were fed drunk and had to push-ups, had to roll through all sorts of disgusting food, slept 1 hour a night. But it was reasonably safe.

Oh, and we had to eat whole onions.

KitΘδς

@Cerberus Sounds like the military. Tough, but not too stupid.

Cerberus

Boiled.

KitΘδς

3:25 PM

@Cerberus Better than hard-boiled eggs.

user19161

So you have to pay to get tortured.

KitΘδς

@JasperLoy Just at the beginning. To make sure you are tough enough.

Cerberus

@KitΘδς It was stupid enough. If you're only feeling miserable and sleep-deprived all the time and are being yelled at all the time, no opportunity of bonding.

@KitΘδς I like those?

KitΘδς

@Cerberus Have you seen Cool Hand Luke?

Cerberus

I actually liked the onions well enough too, I was so hungry.

@KitΘδς No?

aedia λ

3:26 PM

My memories are fuzzy, though. There were all-nighters. And coffee. And all-nighters again. And projects, and finals. But that wasn't hazing. That was college.

That sounds better!

z7sg Ѫ 4,567 :)

@KitΘδς That looks delicious!

KitΘδς

It's a good movie too.

Cerberus

3:29 PM

My brother participated in the 100 kg dinner, which is for all those are are in frat commissions and weigh more than 100 kg (he weighs 90 now, 120 then). They had to eat one course for every 10 kg they weighed, so he had to eat 12. Some courses were fries, hamburgers, all sorts of fat and disgusting stuff. He won.

Marthaª

@aediaλ I remember the first time I pulled an all-nighter after college. I had to conclude that I'm too old for that sort of stuff.

Cerberus

In short, people are crazy.

JSBᾶngs

@Marthaª i had one job that required me to pull an all-nighter a few times, in order to get the product in shape for demos

you will not be surprised to learn that this company later went under

Cerberus

Ouch.

KitΘδς

@Marthaª There's your letter!

@aediaλ And yours too!

Marthaª

3:31 PM

@KitΘδς I still don't see it. I've refreshed like a dozen times. :/

KitΘδς

@Martha Makes me feel like you are echoing.

Otavio Macedo

A year before I went to college, a guy died in hazing

Marthaª

@KitΘδς Yeah, I thought of replacing the last 'a', but it just looked... unfinished.

Otavio Macedo

He was drunk and they pull him into the pool at a party

and he drowned

*they pulled him

Marthaª

@KitΘδς Ah! There it is! I see my letter now! Whee!

KitΘδς

3:34 PM

@OtavioMacedo Which is why a group of young drunk men can be dangerous.

aedia λ

@Marthaª I have rarely managed, anymore. With a good night's sleep going into it, I did one recently (well, with a little nap) for an amateur radio Field Day... but if it weren't for the sun coming up, man, I couldn't have made it. And I was still cranky.

@KitΘδς I don't see it next to my name but I see it in my @ messages! Yay! ... oh there it is next to my name now too!

KitΘδς

Did I mention I have two small children? Sleep is such a luxury.

Rhŵdri

@OtavioMacedo Drunkenness and pools do not mix, not matter what partygoers think.

user19161

@KitΘδς Or women too.

Rhŵdri

@aediaλ Try refreshing your browser

KitΘδς

3:36 PM

@JasperLoy Nah, young men are much more dangerous.

user19161

@KitΘδς Yes one boy 1 and the other 3, same as JSBangs.

Marthaª

@KitΘδς Yeah, my sister, who used to never get up before 10, now thinks sleeping till 7 is a luxury.

KitΘδς

@Marthaª I feel that.

Rhŵdri

@KitΘδς Having experienced a few hen parties passing by, I'm not convinced they are.

JSBᾶngs

@Marthaª sleeping until 7 is a luxury

KitΘδς

3:38 PM

@Rhŵdri But young men get full of bravado and start competing physically. Young women are much less likely to engage in such behaviors, even if they get bombed.

Rhŵdri

Heh. The holiday I'm helping with next week involves getting up at 7:15 to avoid the 7:45 wakeup. This is so not my normal routine.

user19161

There is a book that says those with young kids should sleep at 10 and wake up at 5 and somehow argues that this schedule is better for both kid and parent.

Cerberus

@OtavioMacedo Wow that is pretty bad.

KitΘδς

@JasperLoy How is it bad?

Marthaª

@JSBᾶngs It shouldn't be, though. (It's weird how our society thinks someone who gets up at 10 is a lazy bum, but someone who goes to bed at 9 is industrious and self-disciplined, even if both actually sleep the same amount.)

user19161

3:39 PM

@KitΘδς Not bad, just saying.

JSBᾶngs

@Marthaª when you have a kid who naturally wakes up at around 5:30 or 6, sleeping to 7 is a luxury. societal attitudes don't have a lot to do with it

Cerberus

@Marthaª I agree!

KitΘδς

@JSBᾶngs Right on! high five

Cerberus

At what age can you just tell your kids to be quiet when mom and dad are still asleep?

user19161

@martha I see you have added some strange symbol as well!

z7sg Ѫ

3:40 PM

@Marthaª It requires more self-discipline to live that way so more likely those people are also more industrious.

KitΘδς

@Cerberus Maybe when they are 5?

Cerberus

@z7sgѪ I don't believe it. They just have a different sleep cycle and such.

z7sg Ѫ

I'm not one of them, however, so I do feel quite keenly that I'm perceived to be something of a lazy bum.

Cerberus

@KitΘδς Ow that's pretty old. shakes head in pity

aedia λ

@Cerberus Uh, as soon as they can eat breakfast and play on their own safely?

Cerberus

3:42 PM

@aediaλ And that is around 5?

@z7sgѪ That is true. But I say it back at them when we're working on some project late at night and they get "tired".

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus our three-year-old will sometimes do this, depending on how needy he feels that day. but it does sometimes happen that we'll wake up late and find him playing with blocks in his room or somesuch

KitΘδς

My oldest can play on his own for reasonably long periods of time, and he's 3.

@JSBᾶngs Jinx?

Marthaª

@z7sgѪ It requires self-discipline from someone who is not naturally an early bird. But that's my point: why is being an early bird a better thing than being a night owl?

Cerberus

@JSBᾶngs And does he do that because you have told him so, or just at random?

JSBᾶngs

@KitΘδς different kids. no jinx

Cerberus

3:43 PM

@Marthaª Exactly! I believe it has been proven that night owls are more intelligent on average, seriously.

aedia λ

@Cerberus My mom probably left me alone for bits of time as soon as my brother was born, and we're near four years apart.

JSBᾶngs

@Marthaª in a preindustrial economy being an early bird has objective benefits. can't farm at night, you know. probably a holdover from then

Cerberus

Ah OK.

KitΘδς

@Cerberus My son used to holler for us in the morning until we told him it was perfectly okay for him to play if he wanted to.

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus mostly just when he wants he. he's very capable of playing by himself, but sometimes he just wants our attention

Cerberus

3:44 PM

@JSBᾶngs Probably... but then why are the other half night owls?

@KitΘδς Haha, jeesh.

KitΘδς

@Cerberus Vampire hunters.

Cerberus

@JSBᾶngs Ah OK.

KitΘδς

Or other guardians.

Cerberus

@KitΘδς Ah, of course.

I have always wondered why I like to carry a pointy stick around.

Robusto

@Cerberus: Thank god there are a few people left whose names don't have weird characters in them.

Cerberus

3:46 PM

@Robusto Yeah I don't feel it would become me.

KitΘδς

There are a lot of police sirens today. It is distracting.

Marthaª

@Robusto Your avatar is already your weird character.

KitΘδς

They are doing driving exercises in the parking lot next to my building.

Marthaª

@KitΘδς That's fine and dandy, but why do driving exercises require the use of sirens?

Cerberus

@KitΘδς Throw things at them. It helps.

user19161

3:48 PM

@Marthaª To warn people that there are dangerous drivers.

Marthaª

@JasperLoy ... in a parking lot?

KitΘδς

@Marthaª I don't know, but apparently they do.

Rhŵdri

@Marthaª Well, if they need training that much...

KitΘδς

Maybe to see if they can operate the sirens whilst PITting someone?

Marthaª

PITting?

KitΘδς

3:50 PM

@Marthaª Precision Immobilization Technique

PIT maneuver

The PIT maneuver is a method by which one car pursuing another can force the pursued vehicle to abruptly turn sideways to the direction of travel, causing the driver to lose control and stop. The acronym "PIT" has a number of different meanings, depending on the agency using it or school teaching it. The most common meanings are Precision Immobilization Technique, Pursuit Immobilization Technique, Pursuit Intervention Technique, Push It Tough, Parallel Immobilization Technique, and Precision Intervention Tactic. In each case, the meaning is clear, no matter how the acronym is explaine...

aedia λ

@KitΘδς You could start imitating the siren very softly. It might help drive everyone else mad faster.

KitΘδς

@aediaλ LOL

The diagram does not show it very well.

Marthaª

@KitΘδς OIC.

KitΘδς

You tag the back end of the pursued vehicle, causing it to spin 180 degrees.

Robusto

@Marthaª — But I don't pollute form fields with it, do I?

KitΘδς

3:52 PM

I learned how to do it in Grand Theft Auto III.

Cerberus

I think I used to do that in Driver.

z7sg Ѫ

Sometimes on British TV they show US police doing that manoeuvre, messing up and crashing hilariously. It's great fuel for the Americans Are Stupid meme. Our police don't do that, they usually just follow the guys till they crash into something.

Cerberus

Perhaps it makes more sense to do it in America, with their long roads in uninhabited areas?

And isn't the police supposed to call off pursuit if you enter another state? Or is that just in films?

z7sg Ѫ

Yeah there is less to crash into I suppose, you could just drive right across whole states. In the UK you have countless roundabouts to navigate.... one'll get you in the end!

Cerberus

Yeah, baby!

z7sg Ѫ

3:58 PM

@Cerberus Yeah I'd like to know that! Law Enforcement.SE?

Cerberus

And you can't get off the island.

JSBᾶngs

@Cerberus police generally don't have jurisdiction across state lines, but they can easily call their buddies in the next state over and have them pick up the chase

Cerberus

@JSBᾶngs Ah OK! But then it may be too late.

Silly. Why don't they simply allow the police to operate everywhere?

Besides the FBI.

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