The Awkward Silence

Extroverted Main Man

00:33

0

Q: How do I start a casual relationship while travelling abroad?

I'm a 24 year old Canadian man on an extended holiday abroad. The country where I am is irrelevant because most people I meet are from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Ireland. Due to a fundamentalist religious upbringing (which I have now abandoned) and a mild case of Asperger syndrome (which I...

Extroverted Main Man

01:30

0

Q: Is there some interpersonal skill as to "give people something to react to"?

One time at a company new hire introduction, each of us should up to the front and tell "which movie we like best" and "something special about us". So I went to the front, and spoke in front of everybody, and I said, I liked the movie "Life of Pi", and nobody said a single word. It was rather s...

interpersonal-theories

M.A.R.

08:50

@ExtrovertedMainMan uh, if you want yeaaaahs, Life of Pi is not the movie you mention

You should mention Bad Boys 2 or Rambo or, yeah, Die Hard

Tinkeringbell

09:09

Depends on your audience, I guess...

M.A.R.

12:56

@avazula Spanish flu?

Oh, holocaust

Still, how much does it mean for someone who's never been there to deny it?

I don't mean just physically or historically

If someone hasn't ever spoken a word of Polish, has never had a single (pleasant) conversation with a jew, and never been acquainted with Polish culture, what does it mean if they deny the deaths of Polish jews?

Nothing, I guess.

Just as much as me saying the insides of a Lamborghini are infested with gremlins

Should someone working at one of the Lamborghini factories be offended by that?

Shrug

Tinkeringbell

You're monologuing. You okay?

M.A.R.

Never been okayer

Tinkeringbell

:D

M.A.R.

I'm proficient at talking to myself. I always agree on things.

Tinkeringbell

That's the danger of talking to yourself. Echo chambers :)

M.A.R.

13:01

We all need echo chambers

As long as they don't cause an avalanche

Tinkeringbell

@M.A.R. In some cases, perhaps. But we should also always remind ourselves they are dangerous and there's more out there than the walls of our echo chamber.

M.A.R.

As for that, I'm content with letting myself know what a speck I am and not get too ahead of myself

Not even a red data point. And those get all the attention.

I'm ivory. Everyone considers me the data point that's just there. The control group

Tinkeringbell

;) Control group is good. No one ever does silly experiments on their control group.

Tinkeringbell

16:01

Hey @M.A.R. turn that frown upside down? ;)

Mithical

then he'll just be squinting upside down

*squints at @M.A.R.*

Vivek

17:35

*sighs in awkward silence

M.A.R.

18:00

@Mithical ಠ_ಠ

@Vivek actually, the chat seems lively when I'm chatting

Unbiased objective observation. QED.

Or maybe I chat when chat is lively, hmm

Tinkeringbell

18:38

Blegh. We already have several of those...

And this one is just an empty paradox again :/

Hey @Loong ! How are you?

Loong

@Tinkeringbell goedenavond! I am fine, nothing special.

How are you?

Tinkeringbell

Same here. Quite enjoying the rhythm and quiet social distancing and working from home brings here, to be honest...

Done anything interesting in the time we haven't talked?

Loong

not really

I am still going to work as usual.

Tinkeringbell

Essential job? IIRC you did something with nuclear reactors?

Loong

but enjoying the empty streets and low fuel prices ;-)

Mithical

18:47

You're probably used to protective gear... ;)

Tinkeringbell

@Loong Did gas prices drop much? Over here they didn't really :/ I have heard good stories about travel times, highway traffic and spots to sit on the train though :D

Loong

@Tinkeringbell Yes, they have given me a permission letter, just in case people would be ordered to stay at home.

Tinkeringbell

Is yours just as easy to forge as the one my mom has? :P

Hers doesn't have her name on it. Just that 'the bearer of this letter is an employee of'

Loong

@Mithical Yes. But that reminds me that we have to do our annual SCBA exercise soon.

And our decontamination guys are now disinfection guys. ;-)

@Tinkeringbell Oh, mine has my name. It's supposed to be used together with my company's passcard.

Tinkeringbell

Too bad. Could've earned you a nice sum of money otherwise :P

SCBA?

Loong

18:53

@Tinkeringbell Is there a black market for toilet paper and permission letters?

Self-contained breathing apparatus

A self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), sometimes referred to as a compressed air breathing apparatus (CABA) or simply breathing apparatus (BA), is a device worn by rescue workers, firefighters, and others to provide breathable air in an immediately dangerous to life or health atmosphere (IDLH). When not used underwater, they are sometimes called industrial breathing sets. The term self-contained means that the breathing set is not dependent on a remote supply (e.g., through a long hose). If designed for use under water, it is called SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus). An...

Tinkeringbell

@Loong Probably, if a total lockdown hits there's always people that want to break the rules. They're already there breaking the rules now! :)

Loong

yeah

Our company canteen had to close last week. But it looks like the new regulations include an exception for companies with limited access. So I don't have to pack a lunch bag anymore.

Tinkeringbell

That sounds nice! Most of my clients offices are still open, but they also closed all the canteens...

I'm kinda feeling a little bad about it, since the week before they all sent us to work from home, I was at a location I only go to once a week... and the cardreader they use for payment wasn't working, so they just wrote down our names and what we owed, thinking we'd be able to pay next week... That was 4 weeks ago :/

Oh hey @Alex is here too :) How're you doing? Long time no see too!

Quite a busy Sunday evening this way.

Alex

19:10

@Tinkeringbell I was just thinking that I hadn't been here in a while, so I dropped in.

Tinkeringbell

Good thinking! :)

Alex

Have I missed anything momentous?

Tinkeringbell

I don't think so... We're all still here ;)

No really big life events for me... You were still around when I started buying an apartment last July/August, right?

They started building a few weeks ago. The hole has been dug.

Alex

Yes. The last time I posted much here, I think Avazula was getting elected as moderator and Rainbacon was getting married.

Tinkeringbell

Oof yeah that's been a bit further back, I think ;)

Well, I guess you're up to speed again then now... besides buying the apartment, I haven't really done much.

Alex

19:16

Looks Like I did miss something big - a question posted by no one:

Tinkeringbell

Oh wait... I ordered a lease car. If I'm lucky that'll be here before the year is up too.

Alex

I'm guessing that has something to do with being migrated.

@Tinkeringbell Are they still doing that kind of stuff in the current circumstances?

Tinkeringbell

@Alex OP does seem to have claimed their account here, so that's definitely weird..

@Alex Well I started ordering just before everything was getting shutdown... but the day after I talked to the car dealer for the last time, I think the Volkswagen factories shut down too... so yeah, there's an order somewhere but I don't know when it'll be produced.

Alex

7

Q: Migrated questions don't have a user action label in the question list

The active tab on MSE just showed this: Normally I can see what caused that question to popup in the active list. But for migrated questions a friendly text is missing. I could only find out by visiting that question. Is the default behavior for migrated posts to show no label for the user ac...

bug migrated-questions question-lists

Though at least there it shows the user's name.

Tinkeringbell

@Alex Hmmm. Might be worth posting a screenshot of this one as an answer and tagging it status-review?

It's a really really old bug...

Lemme look up the status-review guidelines again.

Alex

19:25

I don't think I have the power to add status-review.

Tinkeringbell

I still have, on MSE :) It might fall under 'close UX' for older posts, but it's iffy... They do specifically ask not to tag older question unless they meet some criteria and I don't really thing this bug meets any currently :/

Alex

I posted it in Tavern on the Meta for now...

Tinkeringbell

:) Fingers crossed... that room seems pretty silent lately.

Alex

I guess I've been gone from there for a while too. It used to be pretty busy.

Or was that only because of all the Meta issues going on at the time?

Tinkeringbell

Probably both, it used to be quite busy when I first joined there and IIRC there weren't many disgruntlements back then.

Mithical

19:33

a.) it's the weekend b.) staff doesn't hang out there as much now c.) a lot of other users have left

Tinkeringbell

I think it got quieter when Shog stopped hanging out there, and even more quiet when people moved to Discord.

Alex

19:43

I guess I'll have to MAKE SOME NOISE then.

Tinkeringbell

:) Does depend on the kind of noise, if you ask me ;)

Alex

Fireworks?

Tinkeringbell

Hmm. Torn on that one. The noise is usually a source of complaints, while they are pretty to look at... they're also a metaphor for making (slight) trouble...

Alex

Like this?

Dec 31 '17 at 15:16, by Tinkeringbell

There were 2 little shitty kids firing fireworks (the heavy duty kind that's supposed to go meters into the air) at a building that houses some refugees.

Because there were more kids outside, I decided to interrupt breakfast when I noticed fireworks going horizontally instead of vertically. Herded the kids out of the way, then noticed the two pieces of shit deliberately putting another on the side and lighting it.

By that time two neighbors were there as well. I grabbed one kid by a coat, neighbor grabbed the other.

Tinkeringbell

Heh, yeah. :P

Those kids were particularly bad ...

Alex

19:49

I'd like to think I can behave myself somewhat.

Mithical

*raises eyebrow*

Tinkeringbell

:) Okay. Then fireworks, but responsibly!

Mithical

one word: elephant

Tinkeringbell

pink?

Alex

@Mithical Is that a reference to one of these?

in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Aug 11 '19 at 19:13, by Jenayah

@Mithrandir it's simple though: Alex is a dehydrated robotic squirrel bathtub. With a bit of elephant heritage from their mother.

Mithical

19:51

Yes.

I guess that's proof I picked the right word. ;)

Alex

Wow, looking at the Chat history there, there were a lot of discussions about this.

Good times.

M.A.R.

20:53

-6

Q: Can Corona beer kill Corona Virus?

Can Corona beer kill Corona Virus because beer has alcohol but I don't know if you can use it to kill Corona Virus

discussion questions

Alex

@M.A.R. Deleted too quickly for me to see.

Or was it just that one sentence?

Mithical

That's the whole thing.

M.A.R.

It's nevertheless important that people can believe in such things O.o

Alex

I'm surprised it took this long for someone to ask it.

M.A.R.

This guy was explaining at great length how vaping can kill it the other day

I mean, so can nukes

And @Mith

But there's a teeny tiny bit of collateral damage

Nothing universally significant, to be sure

Unless we're the only life forms

What if this virus is alien.

If the only life forms out there turn out to be things too small to even squash, 1) was it worth all the hype, and 2) what does that make of E.T.?

And 3) will you still be watching Paul

Mithical

21:03

Who's Paul

M.A.R.

Seth Rogen

Mithical

....who

M.A.R.

google.com/…

Alex

Paul

Paul may refer to: Paul (name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) Paul (surname), a list of people == People == === Christianity === Paul the Apostle (AD 5–67), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Christian missionary and writer Pope Paul (disambiguation), multiple Popes of the Roman Catholic Church Saint Paul (disambiguation), multiple other people and locations named "Saint Paul" === Roman and Byzantine empire === Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (c. 229 BC – 160 BC), Roman general Julius Paulus Prudentissimus (fl. 2nd century AD), Roman juris...

M.A.R.

@Alex I was of course referring to "multiple other people and locations named "Saint Paul""

"'""'"

Alex

21:06

I thought you were referring to this one:

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (c. 229 BC – 160 BC) was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a noted general who conquered Macedon, putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty in the Third Macedonian War. == Family == Paullus' father was Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the consul defeated and killed in the Battle of Cannae. He was, in his time, the head of his branch of the Aemilii Paulii, an old and aristocratic patrician family. Their influence was immense, particularly due to their fortune and alliance with the Cornelii Scipiones. He was father to Scipio Aemilianus Africanus. == Ear...

M.A.R.

No, I always call him Aemy.

Alex

Makes me wonder about my name...

Alex

Alex (Aleck or Alec is the Scottish form) may be a diminutive of the male given name Alexander, or its female equivalent Alexandra or Alexandria, or a given name in its own right. Alexander is derived from the Greek "Ἀλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros). The East European male name Alexey (Aleksei, Alexis, Aleksa) is also sometimes shortened to Alex. It is a commonly used nickname in Spanish for Alejandro, Alexandro, Alejandrino and Alexandrino, and related names like Alexa and Alexis. == People whose first name is Alex == Alex Allan (born 1951), British diplomat Alex Arthur (born 1978), British boxer Alex...

M.A.R.

@Alex You may be a diminutive.

Alex

Only question is which section to add myself to.

People with the name?

Animals?

Fictional characters?

Mithical

1 hour ago, by Alex

in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Aug 11 '19 at 19:13, by Jenayah

@Mithrandir it's simple though: Alex is a dehydrated robotic squirrel bathtub. With a bit of elephant heritage from their mother.

M.A.R.

21:08

You were declared a bathtub

Yeah, that one

Question; do people sit on your belly, or your back? I mean, it's confusing

Like that other question that says who painted the first zebra

Alex

Who did paint the first zebra?

M.A.R.

Shrug

But it must have happened long ago

Like when Obama was president

Alex

There's no zoology Stack Exchange?

M.A.R.

That one's filled with coronavirusaes

Extroverted Main Man

22:36

0

Q: Can I get a dating advice?

so im in a situation that i dont really have any idea whats going on i could really use an opinion or advice. Me and this guy met may 2019, on a social media platform, he lives 100 miles away for me. Back then i wasnt looking for a relationship (never told him that) and the conversations were r...

dating

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