The Sand Trap

lyxal

00:07

Y'know, there's something serene about getting an automatic car wash. Just being able to sit there without the pressure of society and its expectations as the hose things spray soap, water, polish, surface protectant and a bit more water onto the car

No one hassles you as you sit there watching the rgb lights go back and forth over the vehicle

The soap cover hides you away from the gaze of humanity

Good fun

Ginger

@RydwolfPrograms quick write a story about ^ :p

~~great story~~

Rydwolf Programs

wrong paste lol

Rydwolf Programs

00:29

It was a morning like any other. Snow blew across the tundra, as the katabatic winds sent white walls of fresh powder into the sky like the great tsunamis of the past. Covered head to toe in wool, I made my way down the rocky path toward the car wash. We didn't know what it was for, or why it of all things survived the blast, but it was as much a part of our lives as the cement bunkers and rugged farms we called home.

I got to the car wash shortly, with a thin crust of ice already coating my clothing. I took the scraper and cleared it off; the warmth would cause it to melt otherwise. Standing carefully away from the entrance, shielded from the steam and clouds of ice it would send blowing my way, I turned the key. I ran and jumped inside what we knew to be a "car".

It lurched forward on the automatic tracks, and I heard the tremendous whooshing of water, more water than we would ever drink or touch in our lives, collecting in buckets strapped on top and running in streams into the snow. I felt the world melt away as the strange machinery around me worked. None of it touched the car as it used to.

In the dreadful calm of the world, where everything was understood and all that was to be done or thought about was the next spinach crop, and concrete walls and domed steel ceelings saw naught but boredom and wasted potential, that place was a reminder of the glorious oddities and mysteries which the Old World must have possessed. I opted to collect the water every morning, not out of a duty to my family or community, but out of a deep sense of purpose.

The car finished its journey through the wash, and the nozzles switched off. I waited for the now icy cold mist to clear, and crawled through the window to retrieve the buckets. Using my geiger counter, I checked the water. Still higher than normal, but, somehow, safe. I took the largest of the two, and set off through the snow back toward camp. Someday, we'd have mysteries too, and when the snow cleared and the clicking slowed, we'd build our own car wash.

emanresu A

wow

Rydwolf Programs

@Ginger Is this what you wanted? :p

Ginger

@RydwolfPrograms YES

that is very good

if being a programmer doesn't work out you should consider being an author

lyxal

@RydwolfPrograms it's good except for the tiny inaccuracy that the car stayed where it was parked the whole time. There are no automatic tracks to move along :p

Ginger

@RydwolfPrograms also SE Nitro status update plz

lyxal

00:43

twitch.tv/unlimitedsteam

Unrelated String

is this the successor to the ai generated seinfeld stream

lyxal

This is way too funny

gatorade, beerwurst, cuts of meat

experimental chilli

lyxal

01:18

examples.yourdictionary.com/reference/examples/…

> Well, I’ve certainly never tasted chicken cooked that way before!

Idiots don't realise that isn't ambiguous anymore

Rydwolf Programs

@lyxal Maybe an AUS vs. USA thing

@Ginger Might get around to writing C5 soon

Did I ever post C4?

Ginger

:D

Rydwolf Programs

I did not apparently

Altho IIRC I did finish it

Yeah I def did

Lemme check on that rq

Ginger

oh yeah you were like "I can give my entire Downloads directory to you" and I said "hell naw" :b

Rydwolf Programs

Oh right lol

@Ginger Enjoy

Ginger

01:35

:D

Aiden Chow

funniest socratic seminar i had today at school... it was on the hiroshima and nagasaki a-bombs and we basically had to take a stance for if the bomb was needed or no. what ensued was a cycle of a group of about 10 to 15 ppl (including me) just agreeing with each others points and absolutely demolishing any counter arguments by sheer numbers alone. by the end of the socratic only 2 or 3 ppl were against the a-bombs while the rest of them converted to supporting the a-bombs

Ginger

lmao

Rydwolf Programs

I've got mixed feelings on them

Aiden Chow

we would just be like completely agreeing with each others points... and everytime someone else give a counter point 5 or so ppl in the group just immediately jumped into the discussion to rip apart the point

@RydwolfPrograms well me too but i complete agree with the a-bombs just for the seminar lmfao

gotta do it for the grades u know :P

user

@AidenChow Wow, kids these days are bloodthirsty

Rydwolf Programs

01:45

Well I mean Japan would've been completely blown to pieces with conventional bombs if it wasn't nuclear ones

Look at Tokyo

user

Like, I get the war would've dragged on without them because the Japanese leadership at the time wasn't willing to back down even after the first nuke, but nuking civilians is ridiculous

Rydwolf Programs

At least the nukes sent a clear message that maybe we don't wanna use those anymore

Plus Japan was kinda asking for it by killing twice as many people as the nukes killed using biological warfare

Aiden Chow

@user lmao, the funny part is that some of our arguments for supporting the bombs werent even that good... we just had so many ppl agreeing with each other that no one could argue otherwise :D

Rydwolf Programs

That sounds like a bad thing

And pretty counter to the idea of a socratic seminar lol

user

@RydwolfPrograms While most of the civilians probably supported the war, I'd hardly say they were "asking for it"

Rydwolf Programs

01:47

Oh yeah no the Japanese people weren't, but Japan as a government

Aiden Chow

@RydwolfPrograms as long as i get a good grade on the seminar i couldnt care less lol

Rydwolf Programs

lol

user

Understandable, have a good day

Rydwolf Programs

@user I think this is a misconception, Japan was going to surrender anyway from what I understand

user

Socrates' way of asking people questions until they trapped themselves into contradictions would probably take too much time for a single class period

Aiden Chow

01:48

we literally had 4 or 5 core arguments and just kept paraphrasing them in all these different ways, it was hilarious

user

@RydwolfPrograms So the second nuke wasn't necessary?

Rydwolf Programs

Neither really was

user

$@^*%!

Why tf did they drop them then?

@RydwolfPrograms Do you have an article about this btw? I need to read about this and work myself into a frothing rage now

Rydwolf Programs

Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki

►

Aiden Chow

@RydwolfPrograms huh, i was under the conception that some of the japanese military generals were willing to fight on to the death despite what the emperor or others may say otherwise

Rydwolf Programs

01:49

(Haven't actually watched more than the first half or so of this video, but I know it has a pretty solid counter to the idea that the bombs were necessary)

Aiden Chow

i read that there was an assassination attempt on the emperor the day before he was going to announce the surrender to the world

so like clearly not every japanese was on board with surrendering

^ that was one of our arguments during the socratic lol

Rydwolf Programs

I'm not super knowledgable about the timeline/details of Japan's planned surrender, but yeah, I'm sure that's true

And the purpose of the second bomb was just to show (pretend) that we had the capability to drop them every week. They could've done it over the ocean or something.

user

I can't find anyone with strong evidence that Japan would've surrendered even without the bombs, but I guess it doesn't matter now

Aiden Chow

yea tbh the second bomb was probably just a show of power to scare off both the japanese and the soviet union, who was planning on invading japan with the u.s.

user

Hopefully we'll never do it again

Rydwolf Programs

01:53

But independent of the nukes I really do think there needs to be more public awareness of the horrific stuff Japan did in WWII

Aiden Chow

@RydwolfPrograms yea truly some horrid stuff

user

To their own people or to their enemies?

Rydwolf Programs

China mostly

Unit 731

Unit 731 (Japanese: 731部隊, Hepburn: Nana-san-ichi Butai), short for Manshu Detachment 731 and also known as the Kamo Detachment: 198 and the Ishii Unit, was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that engaged in lethal human experimentation and biological weapons manufacturing during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. The unit is estimated to have killed between 200,000 and 300,000 people. It was based in the Pingfang district of Harbin, the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (now Northeast...

Aiden Chow

^

Rydwolf Programs

NSFL

Aiden Chow

01:54

also en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanjing_Massacre

Rydwolf Programs

Their biological weapons campaign in China killed twice as many civilians as the nukes did

Aiden Chow

damn... thats like what, around 500k?

Rydwolf Programs

600k IIRC

Aiden Chow

damn

Rydwolf Programs

IMO Japan's medical experimentation was way worse than that of the Nazis, at least in terms of sheer sadism

Aiden Chow

01:57

@user true, especially since nuclear arsenal has only become more and more dangerous since then...

Rydwolf Programs

But unlike Germany, which is very open about its history and trying to keep anything like it from happening again, Japan kinda tries to keep it covered up

Aiden Chow

@RydwolfPrograms yea they deny a lot of the stuff thats happened

Rydwolf Programs

And all of the doctors and people in charge of 731 got off completely free of punishment (Ishii, the lead "doctor", survived 'til like 90 something) because the US wanted their garbage data

Aiden Chow

were their data actually useful or was that just an excuse perpetrated by the u.s.?

Rydwolf Programs

The data turned out to be useless, but I think the US genuinely wanted it

And with Nanking...if your country's actions make visiting Nazis the good guys you're doing some stuff really wrong

@RydwolfPrograms I don't see what benefit the US would have derived from keeping Ishii and co. alive other than the data

Aiden Chow

02:02

@RydwolfPrograms well damn... whose idea was that...

lyxal

02:31

Last night, there was an advertisement on the television for a broom that was also a rake and a squigee depending on what attachment you use

And I couldn't help but get annoyed with it being a solution looking for a problem

It claimed that it helps get rid of all those outdated tools in your home

Assuming people say "dang bro, I'm so tired of my broom, rake and squigee falling out of my cupboard all at the same time because I keep them all indoors in a cupboard for some strange reason"

I swear companies just have a random product generating machine that's powered by manatees just like family guy has a joke generator powered by manatees

user

Ooh, I wanna be able to swap out my arm for a brook, rake, squeegee, death ray, TV remote, plunger, whisk, etc.

I almost wanna be attacked by a shark so I can do that

lyxal

Sorry, these attachments only fit onto the handle that comes with this magical innovation

user

02:49

Oh well, I guess I'll settle for having a normal arm with a hand at the end that can grip those attachments. Doesn't work as well as being able to slot stuff in, but it'll do in a pinch

Rydwolf Programs

03:42

Almost ¾ of the way through the school year and it cannot be soon enough lol

I've only got 4-6 more weeks of actual work tho. Advantage of having all AP classes is that once it's a week or so from the tests you abruptly have zero work to do in any of your classes :p

I guess soon I should start studying for the Physics C exam and reviewing for the rest

Here're the tests I have in order from most to least confident:

1. AP US History
2. AP Language and Composition
3. AP Physics C
4. AP Biology
5. AP Art History
6. AP European History

Rydwolf Programs

04:31

I find it interesting that Spotify seems to be aware of songs it doesn't have

If you search for "We Don't Need Another Song About California" or "Zero Percent" or "Sister to Sleep", MCR comes up as a suggestion, despite those songs not being on Spotify

I'm guessing it looks at people's playlists containing local files and is able to piece together that they exist

Unrelated String

12:27

it might also just have database entries prepared manually for stuff they haven't gotten licensed

lyxal

12 hours ago, by lyxal

https://www.twitch.tv/unlimitedsteam

some of these are leaving me wheezing

there's been lemon butter, blood moons, how I met your skinner, werewolves and more

Unrelated String

lemon butter?

lyxal

Now there's Maya's dam cheese

and herbal tea

and a lot of praying

oop he burned the cheese

"oh you know how it is in the grocery store. Sometimes they don't have what you want"

"no it isn't a fire, it must be paranormal activity"

"now lets see if we can sort out this budget crises before dinner"

Bbrk24

13:30

@Ginger ¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯

Ginger

you fool

lyxal

finally, a worthy contender!

Ginger

¯\_(ಠ_ಠ)_/¯

Bbrk24

(� ̰�)

lyxal

grabs popcorn this is gonna be good

Ginger

13:31

YOU FOOL

I CAN DO THIS ALL DAY

ಠ=ಠ

Bbrk24

(� ̰�) has an interesting origin: I tried to type a different one into snapchat, but it didn’t like the characters I used for the eyes, so it replaced them with that

Ginger

lmao

lyxal

@Ginger a bold move from ginger here. Everyone waits in anticipation of what the challenger will reply with

Bbrk24

I’ve now configured my phone so & confus ; (without the spaces) becomes that

I also have & shrug ; for ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and & degdeg ; for ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

but beyond combinations of those three I can’t type any of them easily

Ginger

so do you forfeit?

Bbrk24

13:34

wait I do have one more

;⸻;

Ginger

⦂👄

lyxal

@Bbrk24 A valiant effort from the challenger! Truly one of the classics!

@Ginger but alas, ginger counters with an effort just as valiant!

Bbrk24

@Ginger 👁️👄👁️

Ginger

눈_눈

lyxal

oh but excellent counterplay from the challenger!

Bbrk24

13:35

ʘwʘ

lyxal

with equally excellent counterplay from ginger

Ginger

♨︎_♨︎

lyxal

A critical hit! The challenger could have ginger pegged!

but ginger responds with a forceful strike of their own!

and somehow, both contenders manage to frick up the transcript order!

Bbrk24

mm I’m running out of options here

Ginger

surrender

lyxal

13:37

will this be another decisive victory for ginger?

Bbrk24

I think I’ll take this in a slightly different direction with :Ö̤=Ö̤:

lyxal

solid play from the challenger, deflecting the pressure from ginger

Ginger

you have left me with no choice

one second...

time for me to use my finishing move

🤓

lyxal

oh the humanity! Ginger unleashing the undisputable force of the italicised nerd emoji!

how will the challenger ever come back from this?

Bbrk24

oh it’s italicized! I didn’t realize because my device strips formatting from emoji!

Ginger

13:41

and if that doesn't work I have one last trick up my metaphorical sleeve

lyxal

the crowd goes silent. Everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to see if and how the challenger will respond to this power move

Ginger

There is no audience.

lyxal

hey shut up I'm the announcer here

I'm docking 19 kromer from your next move

mousetail

Audience

Ginger

most of whom are asleep

mousetail

13:43

Yea it's a really boring match

lyxal

@mousetail (it's a deltarune reference - the point deductions are for the interruption)

Bbrk24

@Ginger I almost feel like I can’t respond to this because it was barely anything — it just looks like “🤓” to me

Ginger

skill issue

in Off-Topic TNB, Jan 21 at 13:22, by Ginger

l + ratio + no �� + get mojibaked + invalid start byte 0x93 in position 0

lyxal

@Ginger hey hey hey we don't disrespect others here in the emoji arena

Bbrk24

> invalid start byte

lyxal

13:44

get that trash talk out of here

mousetail

Can you move the staring contest to TTNB please?

lyxal

← 59 messages moved from The Nineteenth Byte

@mousetail I was going to before going to bed anyway :p

Ginger

so are we done or

lyxal

Probably

Ginger

cool

lyxal

13:49

I hereby declare myself the winner because I decided that would be funny

Thank you all for playing

Ginger

funny

Rydwolf Programs

14:44

Any objections to this room becoming The Sand Trap?

Going twice

room topic changed to The Sand Trap: Room for discussions off-topic to CGCC (on-topic discussions should go to chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/240/the-nineteenth-byte) (no tags)

Credit to Ginger + user for the name suggestion

Rydwolf Programs

15:04

@UnrelatedString Possibly. Altho for one of those songs there's nothing to license, just a couple of live recordings floating around the internet

Considering going to a Paramore concert

It'd be pricy tho since the tickets've all been scalped already

It's in the middle of summer and in Austin so my parents would probably not complain about it particularly much aside from the cost

And I'd probably be fine with bad tickets

Looks like a bad ticket would be in the $140 range

Ginger

15:35

me when name change

Seggan

16:24

name change woooo

oof i just realized one of my assignments was due yesterday not sunday

so i got an F for that

my class average is still 90 tho, being reported as a B for some reason

Aiden Chow

dang name change!

i was like wtf is sand trap

never seen that room before

then i realize lol

Rydwolf Programs

18:10

Thanks Wikimedia lmao

mathcat

18:48

If I have a periodic decimal, and string together every eg. n^2+n+1+n*(-1)^n (or an function, really) do I get a periodic number back?

I feel like that's quite obvious, but smh can't figure out why.

Ginger

Presenting, a single-image summary of why I'm making Rabbit:

The Python environmental protection agency wants to seal it in a cement chamber, with pictorial messages to future civilizations warning them about the danger of using sudo to install random Python packages.

Rydwolf Programs

19:06

@mathcat Wdym by "periodic"?

As in after some prefix, the decimal representation is a repeating pattern?

If so, that's just equivalent to whether it's rational

mathcat

@RydwolfPrograms repeating decimal

Rydwolf Programs

Can there be a non-repeating prefix? E.g., 1.133333...?

mathcat

oops sorry

wait a minute

yup, it can be any rational number

Rydwolf Programs

Yeah no combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division-by-anything-that-isn't-zero, or integer powers can make a rational number irrational

So basically unless you have a square/nth root, logarithm, something like that

mathcat

cool, thx