English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room - 2014-10-21 (page 2 of 4)

« first day (1440 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (3465 days later) »

6:01 AM

I can't think of any way that this question is on topic. It's a list-type question that is too broad and possibly primarily opinion based. I can't help but think he's trolling, after all the fuss in meta. If someone can help me to be a better person, I'd really welcome it.

Of course he’s trolling.

Doctor, it hurts when I do Ebola projections.

           @𝑅₀=1.5   @𝑅₀=1.85   @𝑅₀=2.2
Gen  0:        1         1           1
Gen  1:        2         2           2
Gen  2:        2         3           5
Gen  3:        3         6          11
Gen  4:        5        12          23
Gen  5:        8        22          52
Gen  6:       11        40         113
Gen  7:       17        74         249
Gen  8:       26       137         549
Gen  9:       38       254       1,207
Gen 10:       58       470       2,656
Gen 11:       86       869       5,843

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 If it is not a factual event, then what is it in those branches?

Hi, Tom.

@medica Hi S.

They’re giving population spread rates per patient (𝑅₀) in figures ranging from 1.5 – 2.2. Scroll up in chat log.

6:06 AM

I really think Ebola will be a bad thing for Africa (already is) but that we will be spared the brunt of it, if one doesn't speak from a global community POV.

Hi, Jasper!

Sometimes, I wonder if these viruses are created by certain pharmaceutical companies so that they make money out of giving out the vaccines...

CDC says could be 1.4m cases in West Africa in three months unless extreme(ly unlikely) response is taken.

Here, this is an optimistic thing to think about.
http://www.latimes.com/world/africa/la-fg-in-liberia-woman-fight-ebola-20141005-story.html

I think they're wrong. I believe that's an absolute worst case scenario, and that it won't come to that.

For the first time in my life, I have not slept for 22 hours, lol.

omg, I did that every third night for a year!!! 36 hours up every third day!

6:09 AM

@medica That sucks! You should quit the job.

The fact that 21 days passed without Duncan's relatives getting sick says a lot.

They don’t have enough medical personnel.

@JasperLoy haha, that was as a rsident. I don't do it any more.

@medica I think one should not go without sleep for more than twenty hours. Anything more is abuse.

They’re going to try to use some survivors to help man the makeshift hospitals. They appear to have (some?) immunity.

6:10 AM

They'll get it when enough white people have contracted it.

This has never been done before.

The cost was staggering.

@tchrist that's tricky, but I would do it if I survived.

> The monthly cost of running the unit comes out at around $1m, which is about $15,000 a bed. The WHO puts the costs of a 50-bed facility at about $900,000 a month. These figures suggest that a 100,000-bed operation would cost in the region of $1 billion-$2 billion a month.

Yes, but you are a trained physician. This is asking lay people.

They have to have instruction.

There is no reliable immunity conferred by survivors; that's one of the reasons there's no good vaccine.

Have there been re-infections?

Most of the original doctors who waded into this are dead now.

6:13 AM

@tchrist Yep. And is a nursing student can keep 3 out of 4 ebola patients in a small house alive with plastic bags and bleach and soap for protection, that says a lot.

@tchrist Not that I know of.

But the antibodies don't persist for very long, and even with antibodies, one might not survive a large innoculum.

It is really tragic.

> For a sense of the resources required to raise the tempo, consider that the 70-bed facility in Bong cost $170,000 to build. It needs a staff of 165 to treat patients and handle tasks like waste management and body disposal.

To live through it, then die later.

That’s 2–3 staff per bed.

@tchrist waste disposal is huge.

This has been part of the problem.

6:16 AM

It's staggering to think of all these numbers. But I really think there's a lot that's still to be learned, and one of them is the actual rate of infectivity.

It’s going to vary for social reasons.

And stuff harder to predict.

Yes, which is why it will always be worse in poor, underdeveloped countries.

Sad to say.

There are as poor as countries come.

The Onion predicted at the start of this outbreak that the world was still 50 white people away from a vaccine.

It’s very hard to staff these up.

6:18 AM

I think they were on the right track.

Nigeria seems to have stopped it.

economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/10/…

As long as it's NIMBY, people ignore it.

But they were never the big problem, except that they were, because of the population.

I know, isn't that great!!

1.4m cases in 3 months will destroy those countries, and it won’t like suddenly stop.

We are far from seeing the worst of it — that’s what I get out the E articles.

Now, that’s 1.4m if nothing at all is done.

6:20 AM

Another country did that, too. I can't recall now which one. But, of course, they weren't on the border of Sierra Leone

We still have no clear idea on who many are actually infected.

All we know is that it is much higher than the documented cases.

Right. I think that number is actually higher than reported.

Everybody does.

And yet... it's a number not growing as recently predicted.

> ON MARCH 25th the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported a rash of cases of Ebola in Guinea, the first such ever seen in west Africa. As of then there had been 86 suspected cases, and there were reports of suspected cases in the neighbouring countries of Sierra Leone and Liberia as well. The death toll was 60.

> On October 15th the WHO released its latest update. The outbreak has now seen 8,997 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola. All but 24 of those have been in Guinea (16% of the total), Sierra Leone (36%) and Liberia (47%). The current death toll is 4,493. These numbers are underestimates; many cases, in some places probably most, go unreported.

> This all pales, though, compared with what is to come. The WHO fears it could see between 5,000 and 10,000 new cases reported a week by the beginning of December; that is, as many cases each week as have been seen in the entire outbreak up to this point.

> This is the terrifying thing about exponential growth as applied to disease: what is happening now, and what happens next, is always as bad as the sum of everything that has happened to date.

6:23 AM

I am really doubtful it will get as bad as that. I may be naive, but I don't think it will.

Surely a lot of people will die.

But I think it's not as highly infective as those numbers are based on.

In a proper facility, no, of course not.

They have none.

I have read of villages that have reported 4 or 5 cases, but have a hundred new graves.

Yes, that’s the problem.

the whole thing is out of our grasp of it.

There’s a black-market in death certificates, so people can be buried “normally”.

6:26 AM

Gosh!

Horrible.

This of course makes it worse.

On that happy note, I must take my leave.

Good night, all.

You know, in Zaire, it never took off; I think the first cases were in the 40's

ah, gnite.

I'm glad your question was ressurected.

@medica You misspelled resurrected.

@JasperLoy I am a spoonerian speller.

which is to say, terrible. :-)

I am the chat autospellchecker, lol.

6:29 AM

It's fruitful when I'm around!

Didn't you have your picture for a bit?

Well, maybe.

I also had a pic of Justin Bieber before, lol.

Do you know who he is?

I thought I saw a handsome young man for a few days, and, no, lol, not bieber!

I think Bieber is the most handsome young man in the world, lol.

Yes, I know of him. From what I read, I don't think I'd like him for a neighbor!

:-) Handsome, yes, he is. But he's kind of a punk. Egging his neighbor, etc.

But, if it's only looks, he's a good one.

@medica What do you think of a 15 year gap in a relationship?

6:33 AM

Depending on the ages, I think it could be a lot or a little.

My parents were nine years apart, and it was a lot.

Hmm, I guess it also depends on the specific individuals.

Always.

Are you in a relationship now?

Or are you 15 years older than Justin Bieber?

Hi, @Mahnax! How is University life?

@medica No, LOL.

:-)

@medica Also no, lol.

6:35 AM

(Just wondering...)

Hey, anything is possible, right?

Yes, all things are possible for him who believes, lol.

@medica Hiya. It's going well enough, but I'm very busy between work and school. How are things on your end?

same old. Not much news.

This is an exciting time, though, for young people. So much more freedom (and responsibility)!

A lot of people struggle with being out on their own at first (apparently), but I seem to be doing fine.

Yep.

I found it to be very liberating, though.

I really flourished in college, as I ever had before.

6:40 AM

I went mad at 18.

Yeah. Being out on my own is nice. I went grocery shopping at 11:30 tonight.

It's the freedom to do things like that that I enjoy.

:-) Isn't it nice to be in charge of your own self?

@Mahnax Do you live with Maria?

@JasperLoy did you really?

@JasperLoy Of course not!

6:41 AM

@medica Yes. I have been trying to get well the past 15 years. I think I will take 1 more year.

@Mahnax Then it is no fun, lol.

One more year should do it!

Yes. After that, I will find my Maria too.

I do hope so.

@medica Yes. Although I do feel like my mom sometimes. My roommates don't really clean up after themselves.

Have you heard from nonsmoker? Is he doing ok?

6:43 AM

So I'm always either cleaning everything or continually requesting that they clean.

Ugh! That's the hardest part.

@Mahnax You don't have a room to yourself?

@JasperLoy I do. But we share the kitchen and living space.

@Mahnax So they are housemates, not roommates.

You have my sympathy.

6:44 AM

@JasperLoy If you like. Here we just say roommates.

@Mahnax You should sit down with them and establish some rules. Or I will punch them.

I had a roomie who would "wash" the dishes with just water.

@JasperLoy No need.

So they were always greasy. ugh.

@medica That might be fine if the foods are not oily.

6:44 AM

We do not share dishes, thankfully.

Are your housemates all boys?

I had to teach them how to compost and recycle. They still can't sort plastics and paper etc properly, but they usually get composting right.

I once lived with two girls, lol.

Well, that's one down. Now, if you had your own bathroom, you'd be very well off.

@JasperLoy Yeah.

6:45 AM

And then another time, I lived with two girls again, lol.

However, we had separate rooms, lol.

@Mahnax Well, I'm very happy for you. Enjoy these four years; take some fun courses, too. Like photography, or sculpture, or something that you've never thought of doing. It's really fun.

I am trying to see if I can last another hour without sleep.

You are young yet. You can do it.

I am old. Anyone past 30 is old, lol. I guess that makes you super old, lol.

I'm an old lady and it's still not hard for me to do 24 hours.

And with that, I'll say my goodnights as well.

6:49 AM

OK, goodnight!

@medica See you in your dreams

CU!

@mahnax Recently I have been chatting with someone, though I am not too sure if it is a Maria yet...

@JasperLoy Oh, great!

Mariah Carey is singing here in three days.

But I am not going for the concert.

I never went for a pop concert.

Hmm, maybe I will get a ticket last minute, lol.

6:52 AM

Maybe you should! I'm sure it would be fun.

One ticket costs about 80 USD, very expensive.

Oh, yeah. Hm.

Too bad Mariah is taken, lol. Or Mariah could be Maria, lol.

Haha. You're silly. Anyway, bedtime for me too. Night!

@Mahnax See you in your dreams

4 hours later…

11:18 AM

Morning!

Matt Эллен

hallo!

How are things?

Has the storm reached you?

hi

a term of scorn for blacks is like a N word?

Matt Эллен

11:49 AM

@Cerberus we've got a lot of wind

no storm as yet

@user4550 yes and is considered as one of the most racist terms in english

user116848

"Blissful ignorance"--->not knowing any of the unpleasant facts about something.

user116848

What would the opposite of that?

thanks

np

@Arrowfar tortured by knowledge

11:59 AM

@MattЭллен Hmm then you will probably survive?

user116848

@IceBoy okay. Thanks.

np pal :-)

user116848

"Not knowing any of the pleasant facts about something." Any word for that?

user116848

I can't find it on google.

user116848

Keeps looking

user116848

12:05 PM

Anyone who has an answer they can 'Ping me' anytime :)

user116848

I want to use a word in a sense that...Suppose we have never met any great friend/girlfriend etc. but when we meet them we think 'Wow! I was missing this all along etc'.

user116848

So, what would be the word for that situation?

@Arrowfar pessimist

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus probably

12:36 PM

user image

2

12:49 PM

@tchrist ha ha ha.... shit. I should stop unknowningly taunting him then.

@Arrowfar "too much information" like when your parents tell you about something they did ... in their youth (I can't say because it would be too much information!).

@RegDwigнt Well done, have a cookie.

@Arrowfar Oh. hmm... no I don't know one for that. I don't think that happens very often. A 'pleasant surprise' maybe?

@JasperLoy You're giving out free cookies? Where do I sign up?

user116848

@Mitch okay. Thanks.

@Arrowfar soul mate

user116848

Yeah.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

1:01 PM

aw, @RegDwigнt was here, and I missed him again

@medica Wow. I feel almost responsible. Go to sleep thinking the world is in order. Wake up to a melee, blood in the streets, cats and dogs living together.

@matt Boo! Today I went out with a friend again and asked him his advice again on that matter. I have not come to a decision yet. Maybe I will ask some more friends. Anyway, we went Dutch, he did not treat me today, lol. Tmr is a public holiday.

user image

@IceBoy Very nice.

thanks

Matt Эллен

1:14 PM

@JasperLoy good, good :)

I think I will aim for 1500 and then retire. Only 15 points more to go, lol.

@JasperLoy What does retire mean?

@Mitch It means I will no longer post, lol.

answers?

what about questions?

Same. But maybe when I reach 1500 I will aim for 2000, lol.

1:20 PM

Like why the hell are people so uptight about Shakespeare?

I never read Shakespeare. It is too shaky and spearful for me.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Just re-analyze it as "Shakes pear".

Still shakey, but now fruitier.

Aha! Just like we reanalyse Mr Shiny as Mrs Hiny, lol.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch autumn's coming, people would rather be asleep, so it's making them cranky about the strangest things.

1:46 PM

the autumn wind is a raider

in Mathematics, 6 mins ago, by Ice Boy

on average, i think american spelling has less letters

Matt Эллен

oh

do you agree?

Matt Эллен

sure

math is so minimalistic sometimes

people take minimalism to the extreme

@RegDwigнt Today is my Thousandth Day.

Matt Эллен

2:09 PM

hmmm. I don't know what happened on August 29th, but it was more important than visiting here!

@IceBoy fewer letters

@AndrewLeach on average

I meant fewer not less

Matt Эллен

fewer is the British spelling of less ;)

:D

Matt Эллен

2:12 PM

just like was can be the British subjunctive spelling of were

I bought The Language Myth yesterday. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@AndrewLeach You know that's a made-up rule, right?

Matt Эллен

I'll have fewer out of you, Mr. Shiny and New! how dare you say a rule is made up!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

It must be true. I read it on a website.

I think it was Language Log.

oh, more importantly, there's an ELU post from nohat about it.

59

A: "Less" vs. "fewer"

Ah, less vs. fewer. Another arrow in the prescriptivist’s quiver of pointless pedantry. There's even a Wikipedia article about the dispute. There is also a Language Log entry about the matter too. According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, a usage guide that looks carefully at ...

Matt Эллен

if i tweren't fer made up rools, I don't know, you'd be talking French

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

> the rule creating a clear separation for less and fewer was invented in 1770 by Rober Baker in his book Reflections on the English Language

Matt Эллен

2:25 PM

well done, that man!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Learning to stop hating less-with-countable-things is one of my life goals. It's hard, like letting go of religion.

Matt Эллен

one step at a time

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I don't plan to stop using fewer, but I plan to stop peeving on less.

with the ~~fewest~~ least steps?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

with the least steps!

shivers uncontrollably

2:27 PM

sorry pal

:(

@tchrist ha, that is quite cool.

@reg I have not spoken to you for a long time. How are you? I am feeling much better these days.

@terdon Instructions unclear. You mean « 12, rue du bois d'Hongrie » ?

I have 96 flags on math, amazing.

@JasperLoy I am mostly busy, and also bored, in no particular order or pattern.

2:32 PM

I am still sad that Kit no longer comes to this chat. Maybe she will change her mind in 10 years.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt You should visit bricks.se, where every 3rd question is about how to glue Lego.

Matt Эллен

It's weird to think the EL&U might still be online in ten years

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MattЭллен It's weird to think that in 10 years my daughter will be driving. GODS I'M SO OLD

@MattЭллен I am not sure if I would still be alive in 10 years.

Matt Эллен

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 so very very old

2:35 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 wait what when did that happen.

Matt Эллен

luckily I don't have a daughter, so I'll never get old.

On the one hand, I am getting better. On the other hand, I might not have a future after all.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/glue

@MattЭллен It's true! you're like Peter Pan.

Hm. Nine questions. So your math checks out.

Matt Эллен

tempting children to my hidden island

no, wait! not that

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:37 PM

I knew a guy who never had kids, was in his 40s, got divorced, then married a divorcee with a 7yo daughter. He told me that all his life, he hadn't had to grow up, until suddenly he was a father.

Though one is about stickers, and another one about removing glue.

So let's settle for "every fourth question".

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwigнt Oh, possibly I mentally ignore every Mindstorms question, of which there are over 9000

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 people tell lies

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 what is Mindstorms? Never heard of it.

Matt Эллен

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 that must have sucked.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:39 PM

@RegDwigнt exactly.

I went without sleep for 23 hours just now, a record.

I just slept for 4 hours after that and woke up.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MattЭллен well, dunno if "sucked" is the right word. But it changed his perspective a lot, and quickly. I lost track of him shortly after that happened so I dunno how he turned out in the end.

@MattЭллен so that book propagates the myth that language is not an instinct? Luckily I already read the book that was titled the language instinct, so I seem up to date.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@IceBoy Pretty sure his story is true. It's similar to my story... I didn't feel like a grown-up until I was responsible for a baby. It's one thing to have a job and own a house and stuff. It's a whole nother thing when there is a person whose life literally depends on you.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwigнt well done! I will see who I agree with more.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 must have got so old he couldn't leave the house.

2:42 PM

@MattЭллен now I am confused if you got my joke and spun it further or if you didn't get it in the first place.

This place is confusing. Why am I here?

Matt Эллен

@RegDwigнt I don't know why or how. but I'm glad

@MattЭллен Anyway. Just for the record. This book's title "The Language Myth: Why Language Is Not an Instinct" can be taken to mean "Language Is an Instinct", so either she's basically selling Pinker's book all over again, or she is not very good at not expressing the opposite of what she means. In either case, I suppose I'm better off not reading it, right?

Matt Эллен

(he)

Vyvyan is a he?

Matt Эллен

yes

2:46 PM

What has this world come to.

Matt Эллен

Who knows, but it has bad subtitles and people who argue in favour of Fahrenheit

"The future of publishing since 1584".

Matt Эллен

lol

there was beeping, but the world didn't end, so I think it was a false alarm

user image

So this is a bloke. That explains a lot.

Matt Эллен

nice hair

that's Vivienne, not Vyvyan

2:51 PM

Do you always split nice hair the moment you see it?

Matt Эллен

Only with an axe wielding homicidal maniac

user image

Shopped. I can tell by the pyxyls.

Matt Эллен

those dang pyxyls. where ys mi mynd?

@MattЭллен Looks like you.

Nah, Matt is a girl's name.

Matt Эллен

2:57 PM

@JasperLoy lol. yeah, I've been compared to adrian edmondson before

mostly when I've shaved my head

How did it turn out?

You can compare anything to anything.

@MattЭллен I think you look best with short hair and no beard, but it is your choice.

Matt Эллен

a favourable comparison, I think

0

A: What does such mean in this context

I have no idea what you are even asking. This is perfectly ordinary English.

A solid answer.

Matt Эллен

Ornello! Grrr shakes fist

2:58 PM

According to my doctor friend, my hair loss is not male pattern baldness but due to severe stress. However, even though my stress has reduced, my hair is not growing back.

Matt Эллен

polish your head

« first day (1440 days earlier) ← previous day next day → last day (3465 days later) »

Transcript for

Oct '1421

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…

Not for the faint of heart or those easily triggered by Englis...

phrase-requests pronunciation single-word-requests synonyms

join this room
about this room

00:00

06:00

12:00

18:00

all times are UTC

site design / logo © 2024 Stack Exchange Inc; legal

mobile