The Frying Pan

no ... they don't play/fight much ... they just seem to ignore each other a lot (but as said it is just to look cooler, as soon as one doesn't really know where the other is they get very worried)

and sometimes they surprise and cosy up together somewhere

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ In other words, fix your bloody sentence, because it's causing my brain to short-circuit!

SAJ14SAJ

@Cerberus Don't care, you have two spares :-) And I don't see anything that terribly egregious.

Cerberus

It was over a year before the MC would come up to the third floor **again** ?

Or at all ?

SAJ14SAJ

12:17 AM

Yes, that implies she used to do it regularly.

And then stopped doing it,.

And now does again.

Cerberus

You said "any more".

SAJ14SAJ

Get over it :-)

Cerberus

I had to work really hard to come with those two interpretations, you know!

SAJ14SAJ

Good, gives your brain something to do.

You have like 100,000,000 more rep on English and Ling than I do, so you can figure it out :-)

Cerberus

sticks out tongues

SAJ14SAJ

12:20 AM

sprays hose at them

Martin Turjak

hehe ... to calm you down a little, this one really cracks me up

SAJ14SAJ

What is he doing?

Martin Turjak

dunno ... sitting on the ladder

making a silly face

SAJ14SAJ

Cats have no facial muscles like humans :-) They can only move their whiskers and ears.

Cerberus

Ohh it's a ladder.

Nice.

@SAJ14SAJ And eyes.

Martin Turjak

12:22 AM

@SAJ14SAJ well look at the photo ... it certainly looks silly and it is a cat "face"

SAJ14SAJ

@Cerberus waves hose menacingly

I am worried you are showing us his catnip-face, which is dangerously close to kitty porn.

Although I suppose if he was high on the nip, he would be rolling around.

Martin Turjak

she

SAJ14SAJ

That is an orange cat, so unless she is an anomoly, she should be a boy.

Martin Turjak

or what is left of it

she was definitely a she ... and not the only orange one i know

SAJ14SAJ

bio.miami.edu/dana/dox/calico.html

Martin Turjak

12:26 AM

so anomaly or not ... it is not so rare after all

SAJ14SAJ

Does she have black patches I didn't notice, making her a calico?

Martin Turjak

she has only white in addition to orange

but a friend of mine has a totally orange one ... that I thought was supposed to be really rare

SAJ14SAJ

The expression of white is a completely different gene and mechanism

Martin Turjak

so I guess she is a homozygote on the X chromosome ^_^

and has some other not too unusual stuff going on with the loci controlling white fur

SAJ14SAJ

The white fur thing is pretty normal.

Its also dominant, which is why there are so many whatever and white cats.

Martin Turjak

12:35 AM

where I think the rarity of the completely orange cat might come from

SAJ14SAJ

Well, there are a couple of other genes and expressions too

Martin Turjak

that my friend has ... a recessive homozygote for the white ... and a dominant homozygote on the orange

i guess

I haven't really thought about it

SAJ14SAJ

Being obsessive, I read a book on cat color genetics.

It was called, IIRC, Cats are not Peas

Also, I like cats.

Cerberus

...

Martin Turjak

... being a biologist I try to avoid books on genetics ^_^

SAJ14SAJ

12:38 AM

There are many many kinds of biologists.

Martin Turjak

hehe ... don't get me started

^_^

SAJ14SAJ

What kind are you?

Martin Turjak

I am the worst kind

SAJ14SAJ

Ah, lima bean cultivation specialist, then

Martin Turjak

undergrad in systematics and ecology, masters in taxonomy, phd in theoretical phylogenetics

SAJ14SAJ

12:40 AM

That doesn't sound so bad, unless you specialize in the history of legumes.

And is taxonomy still an active field?

I am somewhat suprised.

Martin Turjak

I wish I would grow lima beans instead ^_^

SAJ14SAJ

Unless you are doing cladistic taxonomy.

Which would go with the phylogenetics.

Why, do you specialize in the phyologeny of cockroaches? How can that field be worse?

Martin Turjak

hehe ... the theoretical part tries to imply that I didnt specialize in the phylogeny of anything

SAJ14SAJ

I am not really sure what phylogeny means without being relative to at least some clades.

Martin Turjak

phylogeny yes ... phylogenetics as the field ... unfortunately not necessary to any specific clades

SAJ14SAJ

12:46 AM

I was early on training as a linguist, and my favorite area was phonology. But you still have to look at some actual languages.

Martin Turjak

for my phd I mostly had to look at philosophical rants about specific views on how the relationships between clades should be inferred

SAJ14SAJ

Ah... that sounds.... extremely technical and picayune.

are there not standard statistical models of genetic drift that are used in the field?

Martin Turjak

this was one half ... but the exciting part was that I got to develop my own mathematical model and implement it into a computer program

SAJ14SAJ

To measure difference, and thus infer the relationships?

Martin Turjak

in this direction

there are many models and methods, and many sects of scientists that stand behind one or another

SAJ14SAJ

12:50 AM

Ah, viscious infighting and politics!

Science at its best!

Martin Turjak

hehe

yes

SAJ14SAJ

I went to a school that was run by true-blooded Chompskians.

Martin Turjak

so you can understand why i mostly just do art and programming now

SAJ14SAJ

It takes a lot of dedication to get a phd. Most people don't walk away from the field afte that ;-)

Martin Turjak

maybe most don't

SAJ14SAJ

12:53 AM

I am just saying, if you suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous graduate school, why by walking away end it, melting and resolving into a non-scientist?

@Cerberus I just did a high culture moment. Thought you should know.

Martin Turjak

hehe

well

I find web design way more rewarding day-to-day work, working from home is also not bad (cooking, gardening, herding our cats ;-)

and it is also easier if only one in the family tries to get a good academic position in the same place

SAJ14SAJ

Ah, your finance is an academic too?

Martin Turjak

mhm

Cerberus

@SAJ14SAJ Hmm, what?

Martin Turjak

the more successful one ... or persistent

SAJ14SAJ

12:58 AM

@Cerberus I used Shakespeare as a model for a sentence. Thought you should know, since you like high culture.

Cerberus

Oh, very good.

Although I must confess I haven't read/seen that many plays of his.

A couple.

SAJ14SAJ

But no iambic pentameter. Never really knew what that was, but I am certainly not that good.

Everyone knows this line: To be or not to be... that is the question.

Not everyone knows what comes next:

Cerberus

He's not glorified here like in your country: he's a very respectable poet, but we don't read him more often than a dozen others.

SAJ14SAJ

@Cerberus I don't know that he is glorified.

We all suffer him in school, that is true.

But the Aeneid was worse.

Martin Turjak

... the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ... are the ones that got me out of academia

SAJ14SAJ

1:02 AM

@MartinTurjak Ah

I never even considered the academic thing.

When I was an undergrad, I had graduate student roommates for the most part.

That was a very telling lesson.

The difference between a phd candidate and a slave is that there may be laws protecting the rights and dignity of slaves.

Martin Turjak

well ... in europe the phd projects are mostly already advertised by the professors ... so it sounded interesting ... and I got excited

and i was blind for all the downsides

until the very end it was actually alright ... I enjoyed the atmosphere ... and did most of the it stuff for the lab, helped people with their fieldwork ... it was a great time ... i just didn't enjoy the politics and the publishing system and all the other important parts of an academic career

SAJ14SAJ

Ah.

I am afraid I have to step away from the computer for a while. But it must be quite late there.

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience with the academic world.

Martin Turjak

no worries ... i didn't mean to bore you

SAJ14SAJ

You didnt

Martin Turjak

it is just so easy to rant about it

SAJ14SAJ

1:11 AM

It is just so hot, I am going to take a bath and cool down.

Martin Turjak

enjoy!

SAJ14SAJ

bon soir

Martin Turjak

french is one of the languages that I haven't quite mastered yet

;-)

bye!

Mien

6:14 AM

Hi

SAJ14SAJ

Bon matin, mlle.

Mien

;-)

had a nice bath?

SAJ14SAJ

Yeah, I fell asleep. and now that I am out it is too hot to sleep. And my kitty is playing head rest behind me.

Mien

@MartinTurjak Nice cat! But who took the picture? :P

so @SAJ14SAJ it was cat talk again?

SAJ14SAJ

Not again so much as always

Mien

6:16 AM

:P

SAJ14SAJ

But technical cat talk with genetics

Mien

crazy

sounds like a party

SAJ14SAJ

We are fun, here at SA chat.

How goes the apartment hunt?

Mien

6:30 AM

Quietly :P

We have to know first where we'll both work as well, so we're waiting on that now.

SAJ14SAJ

6:48 AM

I assume you know where you will work, since you just took a job

Mien

6:59 AM

I do, bf does not

he's thinking about changing jobs

Martin Turjak

@Mien from the angle of the shot, I would guess the other cat did =D

Mien

How many cats have you got?

Martin Turjak

2

SAJ14SAJ

1:59 PM

FRIDAY

Martin Turjak

is it stromboli day?

hehe

as I am new here ... I am just trying to learn the schedule and to guess the friday topic

@SAJ14SAJ for me it is BBQ night ... the Germans are all out and grilling already ;-)

Mien

I will be making stromboli dough in a few hours, yes :P

Martin Turjak

@Mien I knew it ... i am getting the hang of the schedule ... hehe

Mien

:D

Aaron

Hello.

Mien

2:13 PM

hi @Aaron

Aaron

Is there a way to send messages to users on stackexchange sites? I found a user who asked a question that pertains to an issue I am having but there is no answer. I have been trying to find a way to message him but have not found anything yet.

SAJ14SAJ

The only ways you have are 1. LLeave a comment and hope they see it or 2. IF they chose to put an email in their profile, use it. Most people don't choose to.

Aaron

I think the comment option has been disabled somehow as all I can do is answer the question.

The post is from 2010.

SAJ14SAJ

You need a certain small amount of rep to leave comments. Dont misuse answers as they will just get deleted.

In that case, you are probably out of luck, sorry.

Martin Turjak

or ... if you need an answer ... you can also open a bounty

Aaron

2:16 PM

How do I do that? @Martin

Martin Turjak

well ... even more rep required for the bounty

I just noticed you don't have enough

sorry

Aaron

Great.

Why would they limit leaving comments?

That makes no sense how else are you supposed to ask questions on posts? Is there a way I can quickly earn the rep I need?

SAJ14SAJ

My guess would be spam, who knows.

You can always comment on your own questions and answers.

Aaron

Ok.

SAJ14SAJ

You can always ask a new question.

Worst case is that it gets marked as a duplicate, but that brings the issue back to the top.

Aaron

2:19 PM

Yea but aren't dup questions deleted?

Ah.

Mien

@Aaron which user are you talking about? It's possible that he comes into the chat.

Martin Turjak

well ... you would still draw attention to the question ... and I think only answered questions can be used as a base for a duplicate (is that true?)

Aaron

I found his email address.

It was inside a link in his profile.

Martin Turjak

@Aaron great, then you're set

Aaron

Yup. Thanks for the help guys.

Mien

2:24 PM

@MartinTurjak I don't think this is true.

Martin Turjak

@Mien ok ... I kinda had this idea stored somewhere in my small brain

@Mien I just tried on SE ... if I want to vote for closure something as a duplicate ... and I refer to a question that hasn't got an accepted answer yet I get this message: "This question does not have an upvoted or accepted answer"

Mien

strange

Martin Turjak

and it does not allow to use it as a duplicate reference

Mien

but I believe you

I just think you should be able to close it

if it didn't had answers the first time, why would there be an answer now?

You should put up a bounty if you really want it answered...

Martin Turjak

well this is what I suggested

but if someone doesn't have enough rep, he can not do it

Mien

2:32 PM

he could try answering the original question himself

that way, it will get some attention and he gets a bit of rep

or any question for that matter

or ask a different question :P

Martin Turjak

yes ... I think it is not too hard to get a little bit of rep ... at least to be able to comment

the required rep is 50

and for setting bounties it's 75 ... not too harsh ^_^

Martin Turjak

2:50 PM

@Mien so for sromboli you just use regular pizza dough?

Mien

yes

Martin Turjak

ok

Mien

but less wet than my pizza dough

but I use wet pizza dough :P

Martin Turjak

aha ... I knew there was a but

Mien

I would be surprised if you couldn't use the same dough

SAJ14SAJ

2:53 PM

There are many styles of pizza dough, at a variety of hydrations.

I make a moderately high hydration pizza dough for pan pizza that certainly could not be used for stromboli. It nearly flows!

Martin Turjak

@SAJ14SAJ but I guess you wouldn't want to make it too wet ... cause you are gonna roll most of it in with the filling, right?

Mien

Yes.

But I think you could use a 60% or something dough for both pizza and stromboli

Martin Turjak

makes perfect sense

SAJ14SAJ

@MartinTurjak You want a stretchable workable pizza dough, a new york or Napoli style crust for stromboli. I don't have the hydration level memorized, but it won't be too high.

Martin Turjak

what would be too high ... 60% ... I wasn't really thinking about that ... just that there might be a compromise that you can use for both

that made sense

^_^

Transcript for