English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Hmm.

He is right theoretically.

Too bad the question is so muddy.

Yeah, well, I think it is OK.

He just wants some background on ever and anon.

In case you ever thought Apple products where of high quality:

►

@tchrist I just don't understand the purpose of them.

1:39 AM

How else are you going to fertilize your garden for free?

> Little girls, like butterflies, need no excuse. —Lazarus Long

For butterflies, read cats.

@Cerberus It's not the garden that I object to; it's the lawn.

“Purpose” is the most bizarre of words imaginable there.

Lawn?

A cat won’t shit in the grass, silly.

I can see you need edumataking.

@tchrist You should tell that to all the cats that come and shit in the grass around my house.

Those are dogs.

Cats need open dirt.

They are not pleased with mere grass.

1:42 AM

No, Tom, they are cats. Cats defecate on my lawn. Frequently. I don't know how to express this any more clearly.

Very suburban of you to have a lawn. How many holes in your golf course?

You'd have to ask my son. He is responsible for the golf course.

I suppose if you trap them and they have no choice, but they certainly won’t like it. Cats always bury their droppings: it’s part of their M.O. to hide their droppings.

In fact, I have both a front lawn and a back lawn; or technically half of each. But the cats fertilise both.

Never heard of such a thing in my life. Are these lions that can dig through the sod?

1:43 AM

And they do NOT bury their droppings.

Must be possums or something. Cats are much tidier than that.

These ones are not. I have seen them doing it. I know what a cat looks like.

@tchrist That's not true. Cats always make some sort of half-assed gesture as if burying their droppings, but it need not come close to actual burial.

►

2:09 AM

Catastic!

►

Choir boys?

Something like that.

Or the back fence-line at night.

Oh my god my cat is joining in!!

Aww.

Isn’t that cute?

Cats.

3:07 AM

eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-15-simcity-review

TIKSN

3:53 AM

Guys you are only doing that lowering my raring? why? do you feel better that way?

Peter Tamaroff

Why is that being flagged?

4:31 AM

Hello.

You keep saying that. Aren’t you unconscious yet?

Nope!

It's not bed time yet.

But why aren't you in bed yet?

4:54 AM

Watching stupid TV.

Well, Youtube of old shows.

I made coffee after supper and it's jazzed me a bit.

5:19 AM

Watching stupid TV? Oh, dear.

Do you know Downton Abbey?

Watch that if you want an addictive, fun series.

Mahnax

6:40 AM

@Cerberus Sorry, sir.

7:07 AM

@Mahnax 's All right. I couldn't help but star some of your lines myselves.

Haha! I always complain about things I did myself!

7:30 AM

@DavidWallace Haha, life is beautiful like that!

Now I need to take a little nap.

Of about 8 hours.

Good night!

See you. Good night @Cerberus

@DavidWallace Good evening/night to you too1

A: Is 'that' necessary for this sentence?

10:19 AM

@tchrist's theory of how to spot a dupe instantly seems to be borne out by empirical observation yet again:

2

In speech, that is not necessary. If you’re recording direct speech, then you write what the speaker actually said, and, in your example, a comma would be advisable after pretty, whether it’s followed by that or not. If you’re writing a similar sentence yourself, rather than recording what someo...

We should start to plot these.

12:10 PM

@RegD, @Kit, @Simchona:

Nortonn alert.

@Shog9, @GraceNote: ^

12:26 PM

I got it

I've been watching the flags on EL&U a couple of times an hour

Thanks.

But seriously, WTF? Why can't we ban harder than this?

@Robusto He's coming from a new IP every time, and they're (recently) from all over the place. Some of them TOR exit nodes.

That really sucks.

We're working on it, I really wish I could say more, but please rest assured that we're as sick of this as everyone else.

@TimPost: While you're at it, maybe you could delete the link here in chat, because it still has Andrew's info.

12:33 PM

I did that with my mind.

Haha.

I'll be back in about 30 minutes. If it shows up again just flag it and ping me to look at the mod queue.

OK, thanks.

1:26 PM

@Robusto All models derive from observed data.

@tchrist Tell that to Aristotle.

3:58 PM

@tchrist my first guess was flags.

That sounds nice, though.

I can change my name!

@TimPost Another flag

Oh for f** sakes

@chatkillah No, temperature. It’s hard to get 75 flags in a day; youknowwho has to be especially active.

OCD gone bad.

@StJohnoftheCross Handled.

Hello all!

Need some help with this. Which of these words has the same pronunciation as "Feather" -- photograph, though, pole, pants

I've no clue

4:13 PM

None of them.

@tchrist sure?

The ph in photograph sounds like f.

That question is from an examination

So?

But none of the words is pronounced the same as feather.

4:15 PM

oh, ok

Feather is /ˈfɛðɚ/. All five words are heteronyms.

ok. So maybe I'll get extra marks for that

Pants. Always pants.

TIL: incunabula is from the Latin for "swaddling clothes" or "cradle"

you kid

4:20 PM

I'm no goat.

But yeah, of that list, pants is pronounced perhaps the least like feather.

@TheoneManis Seriously, that's a question?

@Robusto yeah, straight from my exam paper

Which has the same pronunciation as idiotic: bliss, rhubarb, taxi, or umbrella?

Bliss.

@Robusto I’ve always thought of it as from crib.

4:23 PM

@TheoneManis Tell them not even a rapper or Robert Pinsky could rhyme any of those.

bula, bula / bula boo

I still reckon they mean the F sound in photograph. But it's not much of a question.

hmm...

@StJohnoftheCross I doubly concur.

It's a poorly worded question.

4:24 PM

Very very stupid programmers.

My chat box will never come home, I fear.

Well, this is the problem with standardized tests. I remember seeing a question on an IQ test once that asked "Which of these shapes is most unlike the others?" And it showed a square, a rectangle, an equilateral triangle, a right triangle and a circle. You could argue that it is a matter of opinion whether bilateral symmetry is less of a difference than having curved lines.

I wonder whether @Kit has ever considered moving to the Lower 48.

I thought Maine was part of us.

The two northernmost states are Alaska and Maine. Hawaii is the southernmost state.

Therefore, she does not live in the Lower 48.

4:39 PM

That's just, like, your opinion, man.

Numbers do not have opinions.

The kind of numbers The Dude smokes do.

Also, the kind of numbers you mean don't have opinions, but what they mean is always open to interpretation.

How do you think Economics persists as a "science"?

Well, the other way to look at it is to exclude Colorado and Wyoming from the Lower 48.

TIL that when Michael Foot was put in charge of a nuclear disarmament committee, The Times announced the news with the headline "Foot Heads Arms Body"

> What with nobody buying Blackberries anymore, one of my favourites: "6,000 RIM Jobs on the Line"

Q: "Open up the floor" meaning?

-1

I'll open up the floor for other suggestions... What does this expression mean exactly? Didn't find any definition in Google.

meaning

Idiot. Can’t search and can’t read.

4:51 PM

And can't find the trap door, apparently.

And “Can’t find it in Google” really pisses me off.

Lazy.

5:12 PM

@Robusto Haha brilliant.

5:42 PM

@Robusto If you answer that question correctly, the NSA offers you a job.

6:06 PM

Don't worry. We are like that only. — Kris 12 hours ago

Hi.

Someone says that you still count as a "view" if you have Adblock on.

Is this true?

@Cerberus I would think so. All adblock does is hide some things from the viewer. It doesn't mean the server can't count.

Yup.

@MετάEd Hide some things from the viewer? It makes it so that your browser never contacts the advertising server, I believe?

Hello, holy man.

I believe Adblock on Firefox and Android works just like putting bad IP addresses in your HOSTS file and redirecting them to your own computer.

But that doesn't stop the server counting the page request, surely?

6:20 PM

No?

Hello Hound of Hell

The server is never queried?

The server serves the page.

The advertising server serves only the advertisement.

It is embedded in the main page, but the advertisement never leaves the advertiser's server.

So are we talking advert views or page views?

6:21 PM

While the main page in on e.g. Stack Exchange's own server.

Oh, advert views.

> It is believed (rather falsely) that AdBlockPlus hurts advertisers. It doesn't, it only registers a hit to the advertiser and not to the content. None of your personal information is given other than the fact that someone "saw" the advertisements on a page.

This is the quotation that made me wonder.

Hang on. I have Adblock and Firebug...

Hmm are you able to measure/test this?

With Adblock, a forum page made 86 requests. Without it active, the same page made 96 requests. As measured in the Net tab of Firebug.

I'll see if I can find the differences.

Okay, so that means it never made requests to the advertiser's domain, probably?

I know Adblock Plus used to say it wouldn't.

And I don't see how advertisers are otherwise going to register that people view their ads.

There are things in the Block list which are definitely missing from the Net tab requests.

So ten objects are not being requested.

6:31 PM

Ads...?

@Cerberus I assume you are talking about views of posts on English.SE. If you mean some other "view" then please explain the context of your question.

Ads and beacon scripts.

@MετάEd I mean the views of advertisements as registered by advertising agencies. The context is in the above quotation.

10 mins ago, by Cerberus

> It is believed (rather falsely) that AdBlockPlus hurts advertisers. It doesn't, it only registers a hit to the advertiser and not to the content. None of your personal information is given other than the fact that someone "saw" the advertisements on a page.

The advertiser will not know that I have not viewed their ad.

@MετάEd The suggestion is that a website will be paid out the same amount of money from its advertisers for your browsing the website whether or not you have Adblock Plus or Adaway installed, which I can hardly believe.

@StJohnoftheCross Ohh bacon strips?

@StJohnoftheCross Why not? How are these ad views registered, then?

6:34 PM

@Cerberus Adblock Plus blocks the request, so it's never requested, so the advertiser is none the wiser that I should have seen their ad.

@Cerberus Adopts Homer voice Mmm... Bacon...

@StJohnoftheCross Yes OK, so he just doesn't register anything, so the website doesn't get paid anything based on your browsing it, right?

That's right. It actually damages the website you want to see.

But the person in the quotation seems to be saying the opposite.

It looks like he's wrong, based on the minimal research just carried out.

Right. I expected as much.

Websites should use Flattr as an alternative.

You can have both ads and Flattr at the same time.

Flattr works really well.

Flattr

Flattr is a Swedish based microdonation provider founded by Peter Sunde and Linus Olsson and launched in March 2010. History In March 2010 Flattr launched via an invite-only basis Flattr is a project started by Peter Sunde and Linus Olsson. Users are able to pay a small amount every month (minimum 2 euros) and then click Flattr buttons on sites to share the money they paid among those sites, comparable to an Internet tip jar. (The word "flattr" is used as a verb, to indicate payments through the Flattr system-so when a user clicks a Flattr button and they are logged in to the Flattr ...

6:38 PM

That would probably work. The site I use ABP on most actually has a subscription in order to reduce ads. I just reduce them to zero because I paid the sub.

Ubiquitous advertising is abusive tyranny. No one has the right to tie you in a chair and tape your eyelids open while they pour their crap into your brain. Such evil enslavement should be fought, vociferously and vehemently, with any and all means possible.

@StJohnoftheCross But the subscription is probably much more than what the site would otherwise earn off your ad views?

@tchrist I'm working on it.

@Cerberus Pay per view ads which are blocked by an ad blocker are not counted by the advertiser as views and are not paid for.

@Cerberus Pay per click, of course, is not an issue.

And I agree: advertising is mostly a waste of everybody's time and money.

@Cerberus That's why I have no compunction in using ABP.

6:42 PM

@MετάEd Right, that's what I thought.

Remember: it is advertising that causes spam.

@MετάEd Do you know anybody who has ever clicked an advertisement in his life?

@tchrist Rather, spam is a kind of advertising.

Yes, that’s right.

@Cerberus I know people click ads, because I have seen it happen on my blog.

And I feel the same burning hate towards every single bit of it.

6:43 PM

@StJohnoftheCross Right. So Flattr is much better, in that you can pay a lot of sites small amounts of money from a low monthly micropayments budget, and all it takes one click.

@MετάEd How odd.

@tchrist So do I.

But the only advertising I see is in newspapers and on billboards.

We could declare spammers explicitly outside the protection of the law to allow for unfettered vigilante justice, like they used to do with outlaws.

So I consider the problem solved, as far as I am concerned. It has obviously not yet been solved for society, of course.

@tchrist Naah...they do so little damage.

@Cerberus So far, I haven't seen any sites I can Flattr.

@StJohnoftheCross Yeah Flattr is still young. I wish everyone adopted Flattr! Techdirt has Flattr.

techdirt.com/articles/20130315/15285222343/…

You see the Flattr button on the left?

And the number 2?

I am 1 of those 2.

In other words: websites, take my money, I beg you!!

Right. So effectively you Like or +1 something and it actually gives them money.

6:48 PM

throws Flattr money at websites

@Cerberus How do you avoid the religious nuts pounding on your door with their tracts and singsong delusions?

@StJohnoftheCross At the end of the month, your Flattr budget of the month is distributed between your clicks. You can set your own budget.

@tchrist Huh?

You mean Jehova's Witnesses or something?

Yes.

We don't have those in the city.

@Cerberus Yes, I read that on their site. Actually, Flattr keep 10%.

6:49 PM

They bugged me the other day in the middle of a tough work problem.

And besides I have my doorbell turned off except when I am expecting people.

@StJohnoftheCross Yeah OK.

Oh, now that’s an interesting approach.

Is it computer controlled?

Otherwise I'd have drunken tourists ringing my doorbell at night, or the same leaning against my doorbell by accident.

Ewe.

Ehm everything is computer controlled?

6:50 PM

@tchrist Ba.

If you can't turn the doorbell off, why not just pretend to be out?

I have an electronic doorbell + door opener, yes.

Oh, like in apartment complexes.

I have a home. I have a sign that reads NO SOLICITORS. And still they come.

I don't know, I wouldn't want to be caught dead in an apartment complex...

But most urban houses have these kinds of doorbells here.

Especially apartments that aren't on the ground floor.

@tchrist I say turn off your bell.

@tchrist But I bet no lawyers call.

6:53 PM

@tchrist Aren't you legally allowed to shoot them btw?

You know, there are signs you see now and then that read “Solicitors will be shot on sight.”

Haha yay!

Vivat America!