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Anonymous
00:14
@DamkerngT. The first thing I thought of was the latter, perhaps because of the word expose
Anonymous
I guess your other interpretation is possible too!
Anonymous
02:03
It seems I've wasted another bounty. Maybe I'll need to try to write an answer myself
02:19
@snailboat Go for it!
 
4 hours later…
05:51
Word of the day: oxt
06:14
@Dam :)
What's oxt?
It's a new word.
Next week, not this week.
Oxt Tuesday?
So, "Let's meet oxt Thursday" is clear on any day.
Yes!
06:16
I don't think it suffices to solve the problem
I don't know how widespread it is.
If it's Wednesday, I'd still be unsure if oxt Tuesday is one t
The coming Tuesday or the one after.
Like I said, it's Tuesday next week not Tuesday this week, so it should be clear.
But it's already unclear how to differentiate next week and this week, especially in certain contexts.
I think their definition is tighter than my fuzzy one. :-)
(Where "this" is supposed to mean the current week, the week you're on.)
06:20
I'm sorta yucky/tired-ish.
Oh! What was the reason?
I am not sure.
Maybe it's because it's Sunday.
:P
Well, it's relevance, besides just sharing, is that I started to answer a question or two on ELL or ELU ...
And it seems like started to respond to a thing or two in chat here . . .
then my motivation seems to run out before I complete anything.
I suppose it's ok. :-)
Yeah. We have a 4-day weekend here.
Ahh... That sounds kinda like an information overload.
06:24
One holiday is "Children's Day" and another is "Tomb-Sweeping Day."
@JimReynolds Neat! I haven't been to Taiwan so I don't know...
Maybe I'm just supposed to be tired and use the holiday to rest.
Oh, I see. Some people in Thailand also have a Tomb-Sweeping Day every once in a while.
I did sleep a LOT last night.
Hah! Maybe that's the reason!
06:25
Oh, you mean it's something people decide to do as individual families, not a nationally designated or reserved day?
@JimReynolds It's not national for sure. But there are enough people doing tomb sweeping.
Thai person: "Hmm... what should we do today? I know . . . sweep a tomb!!"
Most Americans don't even know the dates our parents or grandparents die.
It's considered one of the best forms of doing a good deed here.
@JimReynolds Somehow I think that's a bit exaggerated, but I get your point.
06:28
I don't think it is.
I'd like to see some data. And also some on beliefs that our ancestors are in "heaven" or eternally somewhere in spirit.
Perhaps the communication link between this world and the next is not ready yet. :-)
So, there is no other way to see such data, unless...
Well, of course I suppose I mean what's now an illusion to many of us: stereotypical "mainstream/traditional" . . . white, middle-class US people of European descent.
Unless we start ghost.SE !!!!
06:31
Then statistically track how many ghosts participate from various world regions.
Oops. That's better.
Must be an awesome site!
What do Taiwanese people do on their Children's Day?
Oh. Are you feeling productive? You can continue your idea about language learning now, or another time if you'd rather.
Hmm... I should ask a few people. As far as I know, there is not all that much attention to it beyond that it is a day off.
I'm a little tired myself, too, but because of the exact opposite reason of yours.
06:34
Oh. Shirking the sleeping?
Bad boy.
:D
My cat woke me up. (So, bad cat! :-)
It seems that few of us keep to the circadian schedules that are good for us
Oh. An early awakening?
06:35
What time do you normally sleep and get up? If there is any normal for a robot.
I don't try to make it a schedule. But I usually go to bed before dawn and wake up in early afternoon.
Ah. I know that kind of schedule .
Cats can be quite effective waker-uppers.
Indeed!
Although I now get quite involved in issues of closing questions, I actually don't know what the significance is. O.O
What happens to closed questions? Do they die and who sweeps their tombs?
Eh? Hmm... I think it doesn't look good for the site if we have too many unanswered questions.
@JimReynolds lol
It will still be there, but nobody can't answer it or comment to it (I think).
06:43
OK. They show up on searches?
And we don't count closed questions unanswered.
@JimReynolds Not sure. It's already hard enough to search for anything in any open questions!
I think closed questions are filtered out in the search feature.
I knew you would comment on your search frustrations.
You really know me!
I had a thought the other day . . .
That if I want to practice what I preach, maybe I should not correct your and MAR's little English errors.
At least, without knowing why I'm doing so.
Eh? Why's that?
06:45
Or more specifically, without knowing why it would be helpful to you.
Correction is fine (and very much welcome!)
Well, I'm becoming a radical Krashenist.
I don't know Krashenist.
He is Krashen. His disciples should be, I am supposing, Krashenists.
Oh! Could you sum up the idea for me?
06:47
Or perhaps Krashenologists.
Krashenites?
Yes. Please.
trying to make cat eyes, begging...
We learn languages from reading and hearing input we can understand.
Makes sense.
Almost any other activity in pursuit of teaching, such as correcting, is a distracting waste of energy.
Hmm...
06:49
That's related to what I was saying, I think, when it came time for you to share your response when we were conversing before.
It requires more energy, but I wouldn't call it distracting.
Right, well, we recognized that you have special interests.
And Krashen actually keeps saying things like "Don't teach a grammar or vocabulary-based agenda . . . "
I see. I'm not sure if I had told you that I'm interested in language learning.
Rather, a great teacher will find ways to provide input that is very stimulating.
Good point.
06:52
It seems obvious, since you / we talk about it a fair bit.
(Not sure in what sense stimulating here is, though.)
Interesting.
Stimulates interest/caring.
Oh, I see.
That's problem #1.
What do you mean?
I believe, well, I've observed that most ELLs learn English not because they're really interested in English or really want to learn English.
So, how to make them like learning English is problem #1, imo.
06:55
Right.
It depends on people's motivations.
In countries like this one and yours, it's often highly valued by family/society.
Yes, but may be not by the learners themselves.
But the reasons for that are probably not clear to most people.
06:58
So, we say, You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
Exactly!
But getting their attention or their interest is only half of the puzzle.
There's a more central question than "How to motivate students", which is, I think, do students already carry some internal motivation(s) more or less consciously?
I use student for someone whose taking classes and learner more generally.
Of course, they do. (For most of them, the motivation is "fear", I think.)
That is, when I'm aware enough to be careful.
Ha. An effective one for some people.
07:02
Of course, if we find some way to enjoy or even love something, the learning is not only enjoyable but also much more effective.
Indeed.
I was like lol.
Snailboat wrote something like "That's/it's an elliptical postposed ____."
Do I ever want to know what that is?
Hmm... Maybe you don't. Maybe others do.
Yes, of course.
I have an above-average level of interest in it.
But I like to be engaged in, well, I guess it's more like communication theory, at a broader level.
0
Q: What does 'dalliance' mean here?

Vaibhav"So much preparation had gone into the diplomatic date that a US-India dalliance at the end of it was a foregone conclusion." Does foregone conclusion mean that a US-India dalliance was not conceivable? The issue was with the connotation of the word 'dalliance' instead of 'foregone conclusion'....

Should it be closed?
Oh, that.
I know it should be closed.
07:06
How do we evaluate the question?
Oh.
I was thinking so, but before I made another comment, I stopped to ask myself . . .
If GR questions are off-topic, then this question is off-topic as a GR question.
foregone conclusion: "noun [singular] a result that you can be certain about before it happens". — Damkerng T. 19 hours ago
How long do you think I need to post that? Not very long, right?
Our hero Damkerng T. answered it well!
Did you see that the question's been changed?
I started giving you a few upvotes on your comments lately. :D
I haven't checked it out, but I remember I read this last night:
Yes, it does. It is strange that the dictionary presents the meaning (for dalliance) that isn't generally used. Thanks! — Vaibhav 13 hours ago
@JimReynolds Hah! Thanks!
Not just because you're a lovable robot, but because I seldom used to think about upvoting comments.
If one looks at two or three dictionary definitions of dalliance, I think the meaning is clear enough.
nods
Hmm... Did he edit the question before or after David's answer?
After!
Hmm...
07:11
Yes. He's obsessed with keeping that question open!!!
I suppose!
Every step taken at this point could affect a person's life.
The responsibility is great.
He might be an airplane co-pilot. O.O
So I think he already know the answer by now; he edited it to make it reopened!
@JimReynolds I'm not sure why he might be a co-pilot!
You're not sure why I said that?
Yes. I can't relate our OP to "co-pilot"!
07:15
The recent news item.
Oh, I see.
So, if we upset this OP . . .
and he's a co-pilot . . .
O.0
What if he drives a bus for babies?
OMGoodness!!!
07:16
400 babies.
Do you want their blood on your hands?
Hehe!
Well, I voted to reopen it!
Hmmm... A personal question, Dam . . .
It's about my PC, so it's getting close to your heart, I know.
Originally, I had Windows 7 and MS Office on it when I bought it new.
07:19
Then I had to have it repaired, which stupid ASUS decided (wrongly) involved replacing it's hard drive.
Grrrrrr.
OK, but that was a long time ago. I've let that go.
ASUS insisted that they couldn't recover the data from the harddrive.
But I have powerful friends.
And one of them is an engineer at HP.
O.0
07:20
Well, all that is background, but I know it will stimulate your interest.
It's essentially Damkerng T. pornography.
:-)
You used my name attributively!
:D
I now have the original hard drive working.
I did?
You're right!
You are teaching the teacher.
I wasn't trying to. I'm just a good observer. ;-)
07:22
:-)
We all teach each other, all the time.
So, finally, ASUS put in a new hard drive.
By the way, which one is correct: Reynolds' or Reynolds's?
Oh boy.
Either.
@JimReynolds Uh-huh
@JimReynolds Oh, really?
Good to know.
I think the most widely-held agreement is that spelling on this follows pronunciation.
^The problem is that I don't know how to pronounce that properly.
07:25
I think traditionally it would always have been "That's Reynolds's house."
Reflecting both pronunciation and spelling.
Ahh... Thanks! Let's continue on Mr. Reynolds's question.
OK. Should I correct your "on" to "with"?
O.o
You should!
(I was hesitating between the two choices indeed.)
Yay! It lets me feel so valuable!
Prepositions, the last frontier.
I have a theory about what should be corrected, but maybe later.
07:27
OK. ok.
Maybe I'll get to the point.
I think I'm turning East Asian.
So much background.
Now my computer has the HD in it that ASUS installed as a replacement.
Along with their OEM Win 7 OS.
No MS Office.
Their?
So, it's a different copy from yours?
07:29
So my system thinks my OS is not "genuine."
And keeps telling me so.
It's so humiliating.
Oh, my!
breaks down sobbing.
@JimReynolds How could it be "genuine"!?!
Meanwhile, my HP friend got my original HD working again fine.
07:31
You mean, how could I make it genuine?
How could I genuinate it? If that was a verb?
IS THAT WHAT YOUR ASKING???
No, I meant, how in the world that it could be a genuine one.
Oh. I dunno. I suppose that since it was repaired by ASUS ...
ASUS must have some kind of license from MS.
But I don't really know.
Copyright does exist in Taiwan, right?
(I asked that because I'm now really unsure!)
07:33
Well, in any case, the original HD is now an external drive.
Yes. Copyright laws exist here. But until recently only as a theory!
See, my unsureness was quite reasonable!
Practical considerations still tend to come before questions of IP law.
Sure.
Perhaps Thailand is not dissimilar in some respects.
Indeed.
But I don't think I expect a branded shop will do such a thing.
07:35
Here, maybe most idiomatic would be another conditional
(For example, a notebook repaired by HP will never ever have this kind of problem. I'd say.)
I think you are right.
The thing is, the original OS and MS Office are on the fixed HD.
Which I've put into a case like an external HD.
But I have no idea how to, er, restore the original OS.
Or even if it's a good idea.
So, you are wondering if you could swap the HDDs and it would work, right?
07:37
Yeah. And not to mention Word.
And the procedure. . . .
Okay, let me think...
Do you have another unused HDD?
Well, I think I could find a Win 7 forum or a hardware forum and get help with the steps.
I'm just trying to figure out the basic decision.
Hmm...
Do I?
Here is what I guess. I guess that there are good chances that your friend put everything back onto the original HDD perfectly (because you mentioned that the OS and Word are still there).
I think determining that could be step 1.
Yeah. I suppose so.
If that's true, swapping the two HDDs should work.
07:40
So, just try putting it back in the machine? But take safety precautions.
But it's not a good idea to just swap them. Better back them up first than sorry.
Yes.
I remember (vaguely) something about . . .
This is the first computer I have, I think, that can restore its OS from a HD partition.
If I'm even saying that right.
There was something printed with the computer's documentation.
I see. Most notebooks nowadays will have a hidden partition for the recovery purpose.
It should still be there in your original HDD.
07:42
Though, I'm not even sure that's relevant if I might be able to just switch them and it might boot up again.
Is having product keys likely to be relevant?
It's kind of a bet (because we don't really in what condition your original HDD is), but I think you have more than a fair chance.
I still have the orig OS key, but I dunno where the Office key is.
@JimReynolds It's good to have, but I guess that you won't even need it if everything is as I guessed.
Yaaaay!
Good to know.
You've been most helpful.
My pleasure!
07:44
Inspiring me to dig through boxes of hardware and e-waste.
Sorry to mention that to you, it must sound very gory.
saying that makes this kind of stuff sound like graphical stuff to me!
lol
You are one of the funniest entities I know.
Thanks!
:D
But more than one Reynolds.
The Reynoldses' house.
Oh! Neat! Thanks!
07:46
Maybe a good ELU question. I think it's evolving.
Into ELL? :P
Haha
That too.
The more fuzzy things get, the fuzzier everything seems.
Oh, my eyes just landed on this: Do students read during sustained silent reading? (The California Reader 32(1): 11-13. 1998)
I suppose that the answer probably is, "No, they are sleeping!" :P
hehe
They text if they possibly can.
Do students still use cheat sheets?
07:50
Whew!
"Illegally" you mean?
Possibly.
a piece of paper bearing written notes intended to aid one's memory, typically one used surreptitiously in an examination.
Two kinds.
"Valid" study aids. Or actually cheating kind.
For me, I always call the valid study aids notes. :-)
I'm sure students do. There must be high-tech variants.
Do you let your teachers check your memory slots before tests?
Ahh... Maybe cheat pads they use. :D
@JimReynolds I'd shout violation!
07:53
I mean, the smart thing is when ... YES !!!!
great minds think alike.
I heart you, robot.
Likewise!
In a brother-to-machine way. Let's not let MAR come in here and start cheapening our friendship with taunts.
07:55
hah
Laughing is very good for the doldrums.
I think, with MAR, we can form a company. Maybe The Insensible Company.

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