English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mahnax

12:02 AM

@tchrist In what way are you inspired?

My sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Robin Williams. This is a profound loss.

Robusto

@tchrist I just heard. Damn.

tchrist

I’ll wait to hear his reasons.

Mahnax

Sad to see that someone who brought so many smiles into the world was suffering so much.

I wonder if depression will ever be completely understood to be the disease it is.

A treatable one, in most circumstances. Maybe with better mental health education, more suicides can be prevented.

Robusto

@tchrist The smart money is on depression, I'm sure.

@Mahnax I'm not sure depression is necessarily treatable, except the way Williams did it.

Mahnax

@Robusto Manageable, then. I know lots of people living with it. I guess I just hate to see it end this way.

Robusto

12:15 AM

Everybody battles depression at some point.

Mahnax

Some more than others, I think.

Robusto

@tchrist: There's a bird that's nested outside my bedroom window, and it "sings" at night. The song sounds like a rasp, two or three short strokes: xxx-xxx, xxx-xxx-xxx, etc. Any ideas on the species?

tchrist

Brown thrasher.

Very few birds sing at night.

A mockingbird will, too. But it is a better mimic than a thrasher.

But what you describe sounds more like a catbird. However, I don’t know that it is much given to nocturnal serenades.

Robusto

I listened to the sounds on this page, but they're not really close.

tchrist

Try a catbird.

Have you not seen it? How do you know it is nesting nearby?

Perhaps it is a nightjar of some sort.

What time of night? 10pm or 1am or 4am?

Robusto

12:23 AM

Because there's a tree outside my window and it "sings" there all night. It sounds like a small orchestral ratchet, or a rasp filing on metal in short strokes: one-two, one-two-three, one-two, one-two.

tchrist

Not clucking like a robin at dusk, I presume.

Robusto

No.

tchrist

Catbird are raspy.

But really, very very very few birds make night sounds.

Robusto

I listened to the catbird sounds and didn't see the resemblance.

tchrist

The most likely birds to sing at night are the mimics, but then you would not be able to tell me what they sound like, because it would vary.

I’ve only ever heard of people having trouble like that with mockingbirds.

But a mockingbird has no more, nor less, of a song than an MP3 player has.

Johan Larsson

12:25 AM

This is a bit odd

Robusto

@tchrist Yeah, I think it could be a variant of the mockingbird rasping call.

tchrist

I’ve had friends mail me MP3 recordings of mockingbirds driving them mad at night, wanting to know what they were.

Robusto

> Both male and female mockingbirds sing. They often mimic the sounds of birds (and frogs) around them, including shrikes, blackbirds, orioles, killdeer, jays, hawks, and many others. They go on learning new sounds throughout their lives. The song is a long series of phrases, with each phrase repeated 2-6 times before shifting to a new sound; the songs can go on for 20 seconds or more. Many of the phrases are whistled, but mockingbirds also make sharp rasps, scolds, and trills.

I wish this thing would learn a new song.

tchrist

I’m surprised it has but one.

You’re certainly within breeding range.

Robusto

It's in this nice red maple outside my window, maybe ten yards away..

It doesn't keep me awake, exactly, but it's very odd.

tchrist

12:32 AM

I wonder if you aren’t hearing its call not its song.

Robusto

Oh, I don't think it's a song at all.

tchrist

Then that would be the call.

> Voice Call: a loud, sharp check. Song: long, complex song consisting of a mixture of original and imitative phrases, each repeated several times. Excellent mimic of other bird species. Often sings at night.

Robusto

6 mins ago, by Robusto

@tchrist Yeah, I think it could be a variant of the mockingbird rasping call.

tchrist

All songbirds have both a call and one or more songs.

I renege.

Waxwings don’t have a song.

Robusto

allaboutbirds.org/guide/northern_mockingbird/sounds

tchrist

12:33 AM

Because they are not territorial.

But they are the exception.

Robusto

Except it's not really a warning. It sounds kind of like what a boring old frog would do, over and over, for hours.

tchrist

The MP3 my friend sent me of his mockingbird was a bunch of repeated songs it was keeping him up with.

Perhaps it learned it from a frog. This is actually perfectly likely.

It is of course the national bird of the Republic of Texas.

Rarely are appropriate birds chosen for that honor.

Robusto

So the mockingbirds stay in one place all year?

tchrist

@Robusto Some do, some don’t.

Robusto

> Nighttime singing is more common during the full moon.

We're just past lunar max.

tchrist

12:37 AM

You are in the northern edge of its range, so yours might go away.

@Robusto Rather.

Robusto

We sleep with the windows open, because we like the fresh air.

I hate A/C.

tchrist

I don’t understand why yours would stay put and mine would migrate.

I knew them as a lad: notice they are just at the southern edge of Wisconsin. But they are a terrible annoyance in Texas. Here they do not bother me, but I don’t see them all that much.

Robusto

Beats me.

Mine has stopped rasping for the moment.

When I go shine a light in its tree it shuts up as well.

tchrist

It isn’t truly dark there yet either though.

Hm.

Robusto

If I wanted to be mean, I'd let my black-and-white cat out.

tchrist

12:40 AM

That really wouldn’t do much good.

Mockingbirds are seldom found on the ground.

Robusto

The website says they parade around on the ground, sometimes in aggressive displays.

tchrist

Well, for courtship, yes.

But they don’t do courtship at night.

At least, I don’t think they do.

Plus it is too late.

Unless they have multiple broods.

Robusto

We have holly bushes in front. No fruit yet, though.

tchrist

Almost no bird intentionally makes a racket on the ground.

The holly bushes would be purrfect though.

The deadly nightshade was getting berries on it in Wisconsin. They have such a pretty flower, assuming you like a cherry-tomato flower redone in vampire colors.

If you haven’t read this, you really, really must: slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/05/…

She doesn’t agree with the Texans’ choice of the mockingbird. But apparently she doesn’t get the joke, or know Texans.

Robusto

> Asked Jeeves and it told me that Yellowhammer is some backwoods name for a yellow-shafted flicker.

Who asks Jeeves anymore?

Hmm, and here I thought the California condor was the state bird.

tchrist

12:49 AM

El condor pasa.

Robusto

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.

> What’s [Florida's] state beverage, a half-glass of warm tap water?

OK, she seems to be unaware that Maine was once a part of Massachusetts, and that if anybody should get the black-capped chickadee it should be us. Not her and her pathetic state. Nobody good ever lived in Maine. And I'm including Stephen King in that assessment.

That said, the piping plover is a nice consolation prize.

tchrist

@Robusto miau

Robusto

Oh, and she calls us Taxachusetts. Does she realize taxes are way higher in Maine?

tchrist

I hate it when the wrong politics bleed through.

Robusto

We pay no tax on food, pharmaceuticals, or clothing. And our state income tax is way lower than Maine's.

tchrist

12:52 AM

@Mahnax O Canada! You have no state birds!

Merely provincial ones.

Alberta: Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)
British Columbia: Steller’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)
Manitoba: Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa)
New Brunswick: Black-Capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)
Newfoundland and Labrador: Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica)
Northwest Territories: Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus)
Nova Scotia: Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)
Nunavut: Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta)
Ontario: Common Loon (Gavia immer)
Prince Edward Island: Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
Quebec: Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiaca)

What gets me is that Canada has no dupes.

It’s almost like somebody was paying attention or something.

Robusto

Kansas shouldn't get the western meadowlark. That should be reserved for South Dakota.

tchrist

Cause?

Robusto

'Cause I lived there for a time and loved hearing the western meadowlarks at dusk along the bluffs of the Missouri River.

tchrist

I do like its song better than the eastern’s.

Robusto

I think I mentioned in chat that I can whistle a reasonable approximation of its song.

tchrist

12:58 AM

All mine are westerns here.

Robusto

No surprise there.

So why doesn't any state get the snowy owl? That is one of my favorite birds. I saw one of those in South Dakota too.

Hell, half the birds I've ever seen I've seen in So. Dak.

tchrist

That’s Québec’s.

Texas has the most species of any state, and Big Bend has the most species of any national park.

Robusto

The Habs shouldn't get the snowy owl.

tchrist

It’s funny: I think of the gyrfalcon as white, but its Latin belies that.

It looks like it means red-tailed falcon. Not sure.

Robusto

I like the peregrine falcon. Compact, but scrappy. It's not about the size of the bird in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the bird.

tchrist

1:03 AM

F = ma

Its stoop is at like 220 mph.

Robusto

I know. Awesome.

tchrist

Why does everything have to have a word?

All so lame.

0

Q: What are "good men that do nothing" called?

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Is there an idiom, phrase or preferably a single word that we can call people that could have helped but didn't? Bystanders don't necessarily have help to give. Cowards aren't particularly helpful eit...

-1

Q: Correcting the usage of singular "they" and "their"

NB This is not a question on how to use the said terms. This is not a question on what the said term mean. It might just seems like so. Starting with the following sentences. It's insulting that OP needs to explain himself for each case. Sometimes he should but not always. Now, to make it ...

single-word-requests grammar

And he swears up and down that the question has nothing to do with singular they.

Nuttinsky.

Robusto

There is a single-word for every request. I thought you knew that.

tchrist

Turn, turn, turn.

Burn, burn, burn.

Robusto

Tern, tern, tern.

tchrist

1:07 AM

No such thing as a seagull.

Nor a beagle.

Jason Marsh

I just watched a movie called "The English Teacher"

The story is basically about a old lonely woman (Slightly hot when she puts on make up) phucks her old student but she gets busted for doing it. Then she dates with her dad because he has the similar age.

tchrist

@JasonMarsh I can see what an English teacher was needed for.

Jason Marsh

1:23 AM

I know

Guys, what does it indicate when mid-age women tell me that I'm good looking but I've never heard such compliments from women of my age?

This happens whenever I enter a shop with my mum where owner is a mid-age woman. She says "Oh, you have a handsome son. Welcome!"

"Your son is so good-looking!"

Jasper Loy

7:10 AM

@JasonMarsh It does not indicate anything.

Jason Marsh

7:20 AM

k

guys, let's say you are hungry and you have Popcorns, seaweed and tofu. You have to choose one food from the above list and eat, which one would you choose and why?

cpx

7:44 AM

Hi. Is it correct to say "If I didn't get him to hospital, he would die" or shall I use "would have died"?

Andrew Leach

8:25 AM

If I don't get him to the hospital, he will die.

If I hadn't got him to the hospital, he would have died.

I can't think of a sentence like that where "would die" would fit.

Anonymous

8:38 AM

I wonder why this migration to ELL was rejected.

Matt Эллен

Closing a migrated question rejects the migration

Anonymous

Yes, I'm aware of that

Anonymous

Though on that note, it's an unfortunate design bug that it says "on hold" even though it's impossible to improve and reopen a question on the target site

Anonymous

Worse yet since on ELL sometimes migrations are rejected with the "Details, Please" close reason, which is a specific call to action (provide details so we can reopen your question)

Matt Эллен

I doesn't need to be improved here, it can be improved at ELL

Anonymous

8:44 AM

It can't. When a migration is rejected, it's locked and can't be edited in any way.

Matt Эллен

in fact it should be improved at ELL

oh

Andrew Leach

That is, a better question can be asked there.

Anonymous

So now it's in your court.

Anonymous

(Where I assume it will be deleted if it hasn't been already, or will otherwise stay closed)

Anonymous

(I haven't checked)

Matt Эллен

8:45 AM

it's still here, but closed

so we have to edit it and then send it again?

Anonymous

Even if it's been deleted from the original site (as migrations to ELL often are), if the migration is rejected, the migrated copy is permanently locked

Anonymous

That's how the site is designed.

Anonymous

I have no idea what the solution is supposed to be :-)

Matt Эллен

I see

oh well.

Anonymous

It does seem unfortunate to me

Andrew Leach

8:46 AM

I would just recommend that the question be asked on ELL. It's not suitable for ELU, and needs to be better for ELL as well.

Anonymous

It could definitely be improved. I'm not sure what was Unclear exactly, but...

Anonymous

Oh, there is at least one related Meta.SE post

Anonymous

7

Q: Migrations should not be rejected while question is "on hold"

We have had multiple instances of the following process recently. An on-topic question is migrated to us (cs.SE). We close as "unclear" because it lacks detail and/or effort, telling the user that the question may be reopened when they improve the question (standard operating procedure). The qu...

discussion feature-request migration migrated-questions migration-rejection

Andrew Leach

> Questions should be closed without migration when they are not quality questions, based on the standards for question quality on the site where the question was asked.

> I see migration as an escape hatch for very good questions that just happen to be posted to the wrong site, not a means of directing traffic.

Anonymous

It does seem silly, though, that if they'd asked the question on ELL in their first place they could improve it and get it reopened, and that users have to take migration status into account when deciding whether to close a question (since their intention is often to ask for more details or for some sort of improvement so it can be reopened, something that is ignored by the rejection process)

Anonymous

8:55 AM

I'm fairly certain many users don't take that into account

Matt Эллен

I suppose I could reclose the question in question as a dupe of :

14

Q: How does one know when to use a gerund or an infinitive?

As a native speaker of English, the gerund version of this sentence sounds better: infinitive: When used together in chains, extension methods are an unprecedented tool to produce extremely concise code. gerund: When used together in chains, extension methods are an unprecedent...

grammar gerund to-for infinitive-vs-gerund

Anonymous

That sounds like a useful thing to do!

Anonymous

I mean, I'm not entirely familiar with question-closing practices here on ELU

Anonymous

But I'm sure you can decide that sort of thing without my input :-)

Matt Эллен

:D

Give it a try. if it doesn't stick then maybe the question will be improved

Anonymous

9:10 AM

...Although looking a the OP's question, it actually looked like they were asking about gerunds and imperatives as page titles ("Getting Started with Google+" versus "Get Started with Drupal")

Anonymous

The latter doesn't look like an infinitive to me

Anonymous

Oh well. I will stop harping on about migration and let you do your moderatorly things as you see fit :-)

Matt Эллен

True. I hope that's enough impetus for the OP to clarify their question

Anonymous

Same on ELL. I'm just a regular user there. J.R. is the most active moderator there, and he's pretty good about moderatoring.

Matt Эллен

or maybe the migration has sent them to ELL and they'll find a better way to ask

Matt Эллен

9:28 AM

There. I've closed it as GR

Anonymous

Sounds reasonable!

RegDwigнt

9:43 AM

@Robusto: It was all basic bricks in my day...

And I'm looking forward to his followup on whether today's pieces are more specialized and less useful than they used to be.

To me it's quite obvious the answer is no, but apparently it's not so obvious to Community writers, so perhaps it's not that cut and dried.

Matt Эллен

I've never had a set without instructions. maybe I'm just simple like that

RegDwigнt

Well, the instructions that were there did use to be more like

But the more elaborate instructions of today do not mean they want to make people dumb, just that the people are dumb.

Think videogames.

Nobody would buy a game today in which you have to die thirty-two times before you figure out how to make it to the end of the first level.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwigнt cough minecraft, terraria, dark souls cough

RegDwigнt

But yeah, the real lesson here is

> I've just read those two Guardian articles. I am genuinely amazed that such poorly researched articles qualify as professional journalism. I'd be embarrassed to publish something that bad as a blog post.

@MattЭллен when I was young there were no levels in minecraft. Dark souls I never played, but I've watched a walkthrough and it took the dude just ninety minutes, start to finish.

Matt Эллен

yeah. newspapers pander to public expectations, which is that things were how they prefer to remember them

RegDwigнt

9:52 AM

Terraria is a word you just invented, poorly.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwigнt one guy, who has no doubt played it a lot. dark souls is hard.

terraria.org

RegDwigнt

I would have rather expected you to mention that stupid sidescrolling app. Where you have to navigate a dot between sticks or something, what's its name.

Matt Эллен

minecraft and terraria don't have levels as such, but are difficult. just like the games you prefer to remember

RegDwigнt

Anyway, you know what my point is and that it is true. A couple counterexamples do not a trend reverse.

If anything they are the result of the trend.

Jason Marsh

Guys, is eating a lot of fiber means food you just ate will turn into faeces and you technically ate almost no calories of food?

Anonymous

9:55 AM

I have terraria. Snails live in them.

RegDwigнt

Ugh. No warning about feces, and I'm eating.

BBL

Matt Эллен

@RegDwigнt the people who would play the games as difficult as you remember still play new games that are as difficult as you remember. casual games have attracted more people, so the hardcore looks smaller

RegDwigнt

@MattЭллен I played the games as difficult as I remember and I do not play new games that are as difficult as I remember. I have become a wuss. And I am not in a minority.

I gave up on that stupid sidescroller after three tries, thinking "what's the point, my lifetime's too precious".

Matt Эллен

@RegDwigнt but you are older now, I'm referring to new gamers

RegDwigнt

Right.

Matt Эллен

9:58 AM

they still play hard games

RegDwigнt

Well, let them play with olden LEGO, then.

Give them just ten parts but don't tell them how to combine them.

See if they can build that owl.

AFK

Jason Marsh

How do you pronounce Quinoa?

Q-u-E-noah? is it right?

/ˈkiːnwɑː/

ok

keenwaa

10:01 AM

That sounds funny

Matt Эллен

it does

Jason Marsh

Quinoinoinowawa

How does that sound?

Matt Эллен

I've not tried to say it

Jason Marsh

Quinono wawa nanabanana

How about "butter"?

How do you say it in your region?

I say it "butt-her"

Matt Эллен

[bətə]

Jason Marsh

10:05 AM

be-te?

I don't get it.

Matt Эллен

International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of oral language. The IPA is used by lexicographers, foreign language students and teachers, linguists, speech-language pathologists, singers, actors, constructed language creators, and translators. The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are part of oral language: phones, phonemes, intonation, and the separation of words and syllables. To...

Jason Marsh

Cool

Hey, what is your favourite condiment for your home-made meals?

Anonymous

@JasonMarsh Are you a non-native speaker, then?

Jason Marsh

@snailboat I am a maximum native-speaker

Matt Эллен

@JasonMarsh specifically this:

Mid-central vowel

The mid central vowel (also known as schwa) is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ə, a rotated lowercase letter e. The same symbol may be used for both the unrounded and the rounded forms of the mid central vowel, although there exist certain other notations that may be used to represent either variant specifically. == Mid-central unrounded vowel == The mid-central unrounded vowel is frequently written with the symbol [ə]. However, this symbol does not specifically represent an unrounded vowel, and...

Jason Marsh

10:08 AM

right

What is your favourite condiment for your home-made meals by the way?

Matt Эллен

I used the wrong symbol :(

Jason Marsh

Mine are soy-sauce and MSG flavourings.

Matt Эллен

salt, I suppose

Jason Marsh

Can't you live without having sodium in your body?

Matt Эллен

that is correct. humans require sodium to survive

that's why you shouldn't drink too much plain water if you've just sweated a lot, as you will wash useful salts out of your system (and into your bladder)

Jason Marsh

10:13 AM

Why don't you just soak your body in salt water and swim for awhile there? You can burn fat and intake sodium at the same time (if you slightly drown yourself for fun).

Matt Эллен

I don't have a convenient place to do that. Also, I like eating salty food.

Jason Marsh

Right

RegDwigнt

WTF, RIP Robin Williams.

Matt Эллен

Aye. A sad thing indeed.

RegDwigнt

And everyone's been discussing it like hours ago and I only hear it now.

Jason Marsh

10:18 AM

guys, imagine Australian asking for "tartar sauce" in a restaurant ^_^...

Aussie guy: hey, get me some sauce, Ta-Ta thanks. (ignoring 'r' sound).
Aussie waiter: You've thanked me 3 times straight so I brought you some Vegemite.

Isn't it phucking funny?

huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/condiments_n_4980858.html

Whoever wrote this is probably Non-Aussie and had bad experience with Aus.

9gag.com/gag/aLQKMDA

GnomeSlice

10:39 AM

Today's Listening | Trance / Dance (Mixsets day 12)

Jason Marsh

12:28 PM

Do you think there will be Silmarillion movie too?

Matt Эллен

probably not. it's not as well known as the other two stories. but maybe, if Peter Jackson thinks there's money in it

skullpatrol

Thanks @GnomeSlice :-)

tchrist

12:53 PM

@MattЭллен No rights.

Matt Эллен

ah. fair enough

tchrist

And Christopher probably secretly says over his dead body, and those of his heirs, and of his heirs’ heirs.

The Economist is all about sex this week.

Matt Эллен

Sex workers, eh? Well, it's the oldest profession.

tchrist

Their figures and charts are interesting.

Jez

1:15 PM

►

poetry in motion

Mitch

1:29 PM

@MattЭллен Also... booooooring.

Hi.

Hi.

So we do say hi.

HI.

> In 2008 the Republican and Democratic national conventions were held in Minneapolis and Denver respectively. ... advertisements for sex ... were 41% higher in Minneapolis and 74% higher in Denver around the conventions than expected for those days of the week and times of year

Mitch

@Cerberus Who says we don't?

@MattЭллен The market speaks.

Matt Эллен

1:32 PM

Democrats are more likely to hire an escort?

(based on 1 data point)

Mitch

@MattЭллен The advertisers think the democrats are more likely.

Matt Эллен

on maybe Minneapolis has higher escort rates

Mitch

Or the Republican convention occurred first and the market analysts saw a rise in usage and turned around and created more advertisements for the later conventino.

Matt Эллен

:D

tchrist

Wait, were there more adverts or were the rating advertised higher than before?

Cerberus

1:35 PM

@MattЭллен Eww.

Matt Эллен

> the numbers of advertisements for sex

Cerberus

@Mitch I forgot who. Someone.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist more adverts

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch or they think they're less likely, so they need more advertising to sway them

tchrist

Assuming a constant increase in number of adverts, I’m not especially convince that pre-convention Minnesota would have had so many more adverts than pre-convention Denver that the same numeric increase would have yielded a lesser percentage increase. If anything, I would have expected the opposite to occur.

Perhaps Minnesota just has fewer sexverts to start with.

Cerberus

1:39 PM

*convinceD

@tchrist Or perhaps you placed those adverts in Denver.

tchrist

The stuff I saw in The Economist's coverage — and I did not plumb its depths — said they only looked at female prostitution, although they did note that male prostitution accounts for like 20 or 25% of sex workers. Based on reports from a friend of mine who was assistant manager at the Denver convention hotel, this will have missed quite a few um ligatures.

The Hospitality Manager always knows these things.

I am precaffeinated.

In Spain, the verb for to hook up in the current youth-culture sense is ligar. So ¡Vamos ligando! means let’s go get laid, and Está ligando means he’s hooking up.

Jez

lol precaffeinated

tchrist

This was true 30 years ago, before it hit English. I wonder if it is crossover calque.

@Cerberus Too much legwork, thank you very much. Imagine all those bathroom stalls!

I feel a Question coming on.

Matt Эллен

> In the decade to 2010 the number of licensed sex clubs in the Netherlands fell by more than half

your economy is in freefall @Cerberus

tchrist

Cuz?

Didn’t E say this might be due to all the freebie hookup possibilities available in recent years?

Matt Эллен

1:48 PM

> Much of the decline will have been offset by the growth of sex work advertised online, it reckons

tchrist

That.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist it did mention Tinder

tchrist

Like someone of my tender experience is supposed to know what Tinder means.

Matt Эллен

it's a dating app, linked to face book

due to its ease of use, it's become known as a hook-up app

tchrist

I didn’t even learn about Grinder till Stephen Fry showed it to Clarkson on-air during a Top Gear episode.

Matt Эллен

1:50 PM

:D

tchrist

@MattЭллен Weird. Why would you want your public persona hooked into your pubic persona?

Matt Эллен

@tchrist I've heard that people make fake FB profiles for such reasons

tchrist

Then what good is the link? I am so confused.

Matt Эллен

it means tinder doesn't need to store photos or passwords

it's a benefit for Tinder, not the user

tchrist

You know how Standard Oil bought up all our tram lines so they could rip them up and replace them with bus routes? Well, I can see Facebook and Twitter and other triviati corps buying up landlines and ripping out the copper to make people buy handheld computers to talk to each other with.

Must. Drink. More. Coffee.

Matt Эллен

1:55 PM

funnily, Google are laying fibre in the ocean, and making mobile phones. does seem like a logical next step

tchrist

But where oh where is T.R. when we need him?

Theodore.

Roosevelt, not Geisel.

Although Geisel would do for showing us the poo that companies make peoples’ wallets to break.

Robusto

Trustbusters have been busted. Plutocracy rules.

tchrist