English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

tchrist

6:00 PM

Sting index

KitFox

Right.

Cerberus

Ceteris paribus.

Johan Larsson

@Mahnax nice, 5 dl of blueberries and 5 dl yogurt is a hard-to-beat breakfast

Cerberus

On average.

KitFox

That's the point.

tchrist

6:00 PM

I think that the bumblebee might be a 2 or so.

Mahnax

@tchrist Yep.

Cerberus

Do those bong photos on Facebook really translate to workplace habits? - New study analyzes badmouthing your boss and other social media faux pas.

tchrist

> Bumble bees rank 2 in the SSPI. The highest ranking is 4, and it's described as a brilliant pain (Like fire-walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch rusty nail in your heel). Rank 2 is defined as Hot and smoky, almost irreverent (like getting ur hand crushed in a revolving door).

WTF is wrong with these people?

Cerberus

Odd.

They were jealous of wine-nonsense.

KitFox

I don't understand the objection.

What's wrong about describing pain experiences?

Cerberus

6:11 PM

It's more like a giggle than an objection.

tchrist

Facebook: just say no.

Cerberus

"Hot and smoky" sounds like a description of good food.

tchrist

@KitFox “ur”

@Cerberus Or of a hot date.

Cerberus

Bleh.

> Many researchers are seeking nano-structural solutions that will accommodate the material’s expansion, but a team of Korean scientists turned to what may be the most surprising source for high-tech electronics components—rice.

shocked

> To increase battery capacity, many researchers want to replace the carbon anode in today’s technology with a silicon anode that has the potential for ten times the capacity.

> The authors suggest that rice husks could be recycled in the future to create these anodes at a production scale.

tchrist

Yeah, I read that.

Cerberus

6:18 PM

Building a better battery from rice - Scientists convert a natural silica nanostructure into high efficiency anode.

RegDwighт

> They also trended toward lower conscientiousness, although not to the point of statistical significance.

KitFox

swears profusely

RegDwighт

What a complicated and misleading way of saying that they did not trend toward lower conscientiousness.

Cerberus

22 mins ago, by Cerberus

> The results showed that, as theorized, participants with lower agreeableness did engage in more badmouthing. They also trended toward lower conscientiousness, although not to the point of statistical significance.

Yeah, pretty stupid.

RegDwighт

18 secs ago, by RegDwighт

What a complicated and misleading way of saying that they did not trend toward lower conscientiousness.

@Cerberus yeah.

Cerberus

6:19 PM

9 secs ago, by RegDwighт

18 secs ago, by RegDwighт

What a complicated and misleading way of saying that they did not trend toward lower conscientiousness.

tchrist

Bite him!

plays Jaws music

Cerberus

18 secs ago, by tchrist

Bite him!

RegDwighт

Mar 2 '11 at 13:43, by Robusto

2 hours ago, by RegDwight

Feb 18 at 10:59, by Robusto

13 hours ago, by Robusto

27 secs ago, by RegDwight

2 hours ago, by RegDwight

yesterday, by RegDwight

Feb 7 at 15:38, by RegDwight

Russell's paradox

In the foundations of mathematics, Russell's paradox (also known as Russell's antinomy), discovered by Bertrand Russell in 1901, showed that the naive set theory created by Georg Cantor leads to a contradiction. The same paradox had been discovered a year before by Ernst Zermelo but he did not publish the idea, which remained known only to Hilbert, Husserl and other members of the University of Göttingen. Let R be the set of all sets that are not members of themselves. If R qualifies as a member of itself, it would contradict its own definition as a set containing sets that are not member...

Cerberus

12 secs ago, by RegDwighт

Mar 2 '11 at 13:43, by Robusto

2 hours ago, by RegDwight

Feb 18 at 10:59, by Robusto

13 hours ago, by Robusto

27 secs ago, by RegDwight

2 hours ago, by RegDwight

yesterday, by RegDwight

Feb 7 at 15:38, by RegDwight

Russell's paradox

In the foundations of mathematics, Russell's paradox (also known as Russell's antinomy), discovered by Bertrand Russell in 1901, showed that the naive set theory created by Georg Cantor leads to a contradiction. The same paradox had been discovered a year before by Ernst Zermelo but he did not publish the idea, which remained known only to Hilbert, Husserl and other members of the University of Göttingen. Let R be the set of all sets that are not members of themselves. If R qualifies as a member of itself, it would contradict its own definition as a set containing sets that are not member...

tchrist

goes snicker-snack

Cerberus

6:20 PM

You know there isn't going to be a winner here, only losers.

RegDwighт

Well I won a long time ago, so by definition everyone after that can only be losers.

tchrist

You cannot win an argument with Superman.

Cerberus

I am a bit surprised at the chronology of that series of quotations of quotations.

> yesterday, by RegDwight

tchrist

It is not monotonically increasing.

Cerberus

It is neither increasing nor decreasing.

KitFox

6:22 PM

Why won't my RDP work?

tchrist

Is this somehow the product of fibulation?

Cerberus

As usual, it's just meandering about.

RegDwighт

It's the product of willingly confusing people.

Cerberus

And animals.

tchrist

@KitFox Because it involves Micro$oft.

RegDwighт

6:22 PM

You did check out this room's topic, right?

Cerberus

And random red lines.

KitFox

@tchrist That's not helpful.

tchrist

And random red lines.

RegDwighт

Behind red enemy lines.

tchrist

Quoth the red.

RegDwighт

6:23 PM

Behind red-enemy lines.

KitFox

How dangerous is it for me to delete a registry key?

brb or maybe not

tchrist

Hah.

Matt Эллен

not very unless it's an important one

tchrist

Good luck. You’ll need it.

Cerberus

Make a ba—

<animation of CRT screen shutting down>

tchrist

6:28 PM

Is “semantic meaning” really a dupe of “close proximity”, or is Fumbly just being close-happy?

Cerberus

It's just a pleonasm.

tchrist

Sounds naughty.

It’s not like it’s a PIN number or something.

Cerberus

One wonders how this causes so few deaths over the years.

How can that crowd possibly get away?

tchrist

Poor kine.

Evil bullies.

Cerberus

tchrist

6:31 PM

passes out cow tips

Cerberus

tchrist

cow tips, passes out

Cerberus

Apparently, the bulls are mostly fairly tame?

tchrist

Perhaps they’re steers.

Cerberus

Funny.

Bull = stier.

I didn't know you had steer.

tchrist

6:32 PM

Steer = caponated bull

Cerberus

tchrist

How to Tell the Difference Between Bulls, Cows, Steers and Heifers

Why isn’t there a Farm.SE?

Cerberus

Caponated?

RegDwighт

4

Farming and Agriculture

Proposed Q&A site for professional farmers, amateur plant-growers

Currently in definition.

tchrist

Made into a capon.

A castrato.

Cerberus

6:34 PM

I only know capon as fowl.

tchrist

> Steer: a male bovine (or bull) that has been castrated before reaching sexual maturity and is primarily used for beef.

> Stag: a male bovine (or bull) that has been castrated after or upon reaching sexual maturity and is primarily used for beef, but can and is also often used as a "gomer bull" for detecting cows and heifers in heat.

Really?

Never heard of that one.

But then, I don’t know gomers either.

RegDwighт

Wow there are like 64 proposals currently in beta.

tchrist

> Freemartin: an infertile or sterile heifer or heifer calf. Such infertility is a result of being maternally twinned with a bull calf which placental tissues were shared in the womb. During the first trimester, reproductive organs start to form and sexual hormones begin to be produced in the fetus. When male and female fetal calves are twinned together, the testosterone produced by the male inhibits estrogen production in the female.

Cerberus

> 1. A castrated cock.

tchrist

@Cerberus Something seems redundant there. :)

Cerberus

6:36 PM

Or contradictory, rather?

The OED doesn't give any other literal meaning for capon.

tchrist

I was avoiding mentioning castration.

> Steers: Steers have similar conformational qualities as bulls do, except that they lack that sac between their legs and their navel or sheath is much less defined. However steers still retain the hair hanging down from the middle of their belly, and this is, like bulls, where their penis is housed and where they urinate from.

Cerberus

In Dutch, kapoen is normally used to describe a dead, fattened rooster as food.

Or so I believe.

KitFox

See? That wasn't so bad.

tchrist

> Sometimes, when steers and heifers are living together, the only way to tell if the animal you are looking at is a steer is if the vulva is absent. If there's nothing else under the tail except the anus, and said animal has no testes, then it's a steer.

KitFox

of course, I'm on my tablet right now.

Freaking irony.

Cerberus

6:38 PM

Because your PC died?

tchrist

> When walking along the fence or with the cattle, be calm and quiet. Don't get excited, tense or fearful, around them, and if they come up to you, don't be alarmed as they are naturally curious animals. If you find you are getting tense or afraid of them, walk out of the pasture or corral to where they can't go and try to relax. Beware of those that paw the earth at you, throw their heads around at you, approach you aggressively, growl at you, or wrinkle their nose at you.

KitFox

Ohai.

tchrist

o

KitFox

The irony was that I typed those phrases about five minutes ago.

tchrist

> Always remember to look between the legs, under the tail, or at the underbelly if you are not sure whether an animal is a cow, a bull, a heifer, or a steer.

KitFox

6:39 PM

My tablet wouldn't connect. It must have fixed itself.

tchrist

If you have to lift the critter’s tail to figure this out, you’re probably too close.

Cerberus

@tchrist Wrinkle their nose, really?

tchrist

That’s what it says.

Cerberus

I didn't know that meant trouble.

As a child, I was famously unafraid of cows.

tchrist

@RegDwighт I wonder how likely they are to gather the requisite community. Don’t plenty of betas die on the vine?

> Be very careful around bulls. Bulls are typically dangerous animals, especially if teased or provoked, or if they sense you are a danger to their cow herd. Often it is best to view a bull on the other side the fence or in your vehicle if the farm you are seeing is beside a road.

RegDwighт

6:41 PM

16 out of the 64 have been in beta for 800+ days. Five have been in beta for 1k+.

tchrist

> Also be careful around cows and calves. Cows get quite protective of their calves, especially when it's towards a person they're not familiar with (like you), and will charge if you come too close to their babies. And yes, there are a lot of cows that have horns too, so watch out for them.

@RegDwighт That is a very long time.

RegDwighт

Yeah but that's also the opposite of dying.

They killed off electronic gadgets rather swiftly.

Cerberus

Do cows ever kick?

tchrist

Sure.

RegDwighт

As the Russian saying goes, fear a cow from the front and a horse from the back.

tchrist

6:43 PM

Oh look what I found: a desexing HOWTO for soon to be formerly male kine.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт That's more like what I would expect.

RegDwighт

I wonder who's the closest of us all to actual cows right now.

tchrist

I typically fear critters that outmass me.

thinks

RegDwighт

Mosquitoes.

tchrist

I do not know that I have any cows within a mile of me. Probably there are some within three miles, and certainly within five.

RegDwighт

6:45 PM

Yeah cows are hard. I can tell that there are horses within like half a mile. But cows? Hmm.

Cerberus

Do the exotic bovines in the zoo count?

Matt Эллен

I'm quite close. max 4 miles

RegDwighт

But five miles is a huge number. I most certainly can beat that.

KitFox

I've got cows within eyeshot, but I don't know how actually far they are.

RegDwighт

Well. Take off your glasses and check again.

tchrist

6:46 PM

steps out back to look for cows within eyeshot

Cerberus

I'm probably a few hundred metres from some bovine in the zoo.

tchrist

Zoos no county.

RegDwighт

No shit.

KitFox

Why would you have cows in a zoo?

RegDwighт

Because holland. They no have other animals.

Cerberus

6:47 PM

Do the English girls count?

RegDwighт

All the way till twelve, yes.

Cerberus

@KitFox An Indonesian mini water buffalo?

@RegDwighт As cows, silly.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus then all the way till twenty.

KitFox

I'd guess those cows are maybe 180 m away.

RegDwighт

Then you likely win.

Cerberus

6:48 PM

@RegDwighт OK.

KitFox

Do they have to be living cows?

RegDwighт

Errrr.

KitFox

Because I've got pieces of a dead one in my freezer.

Cerberus

Haha.

RegDwighт

Pretty much so I would say so pretty please yes please.

Cerberus

6:49 PM

Do electronic cows count?

RegDwighт

@KitFox zoos no county. Zoos in which you eat even less so.

Cerberus

Does the idea of a cow count?

KitFox

@RegDwighт You confuse me.

Complete me.

Completely confuse me.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus no

KitFox

What about a LEGO cow?

What about this LEGO cow?

Cerberus

6:51 PM

@MattЭллен I'm sorry.

@Cerberus good. :D

What about this cow?

@KitFox You have already won, don't risk your position!

KitFox

> A fascinating feature-length animated film about the incredible adventures of the brave space girl Alice scattered her father, scientist, astronaut unflappable Green and amazing alien friends. So in the summer of 2181 Captain Green, professor Seleznev and his daughter Alice sent to the space mission. They have to deliver to distant planets rare animals for the zoo. They will meet and amazing adventures ...

RegDwighт

Google Translate.

But it is a great movie.

tchrist

6:54 PM

@Cerberus That is completely horrible of you!

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Funny.

And it's funny how their hair moves in the wind while cruising through space in an open vehicle.

KitFox

@RegDwighт I will put it in the box of things to do after I learn Russian.

Cerberus

@tchrist Aww.

tchrist

I have a soft spot in my heart for cows.

And @MattЭллен isn’t here to defend his nation’s honor.

Nor her honour, for that matter.

KitFox

Hey @Matt, do you know anything about dynamic SQL?

Matt Эллен

6:57 PM

@KitFox some

Cerberus

> In September, Kroes will present plans to introduce free roaming and Internet neutrality across the entire EU.

KitFox

@MattЭллен I'm trying to figure out if I should use it or avoid it.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox as in building strings up and sending them off?

KitFox

Do you know enough to help?

tchrist

Ooh, free-range Internet, without BHA!

Cerberus

6:58 PM

@tchrist Hey, I like cows.

@tchrist BHA?

RegDwighт

Free NSA surveillance for everyone!

KitFox

@MattЭллен Yes. Dynamic table names.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт We already have that.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox ideally you should avoid it and use an ORM like entity framework or something

RegDwighт

@Cerberus so why propose it, then?

Cerberus

6:59 PM

@RegDwighт Because it's something else.

tchrist

Actually, I was thinking of BST/BGH.

Butylated hydroxyanisole

| Section2 = | Section3 = | Section 4 = }} Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) is an antioxidant consisting of a mixture of two isomeric organic compounds, 2-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole and 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole. It is prepared from 4-methoxyphenol and isobutylene. It is a waxy solid used as a food additive with the E number E320. The primary use for BHA is as an antioxidant and preservative in food, food packaging, animal feed, cosmetics, rubber, and petroleum products. BHA also is commonly used in medicines, such as isotretinoin, lovastatin, and simvastatin, among others. Antio...

KitFox

@MattЭллен Hey, let's go to the other room?

tchrist

Bovine somatotropin

Bovine somatotropin or bovine somatotrophin (abbreviated bST and BST), or BGH, is a peptide hormone produced by cows' pituitary gland. Like other hormones, it is produced in small quantities and is used in regulating metabolic processes. it became possible to synthesize the hormone using recombinant DNA technology to create recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST), recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), or artificial growth hormone. Four large pharmaceutical companies, Monsanto, American Cyanamid, Eli Lilly, and Upjohn, developed commercial rBST products and submitted them to the US Food...

Matt Эллен

@KitFox where's it gone? it's not on the site room's list

tchrist

They use BGH to jack up the cows.

So it’s easier to change their tires or something.

KitFox

7:00 PM

@MattЭллен I thawed it.

Matt Эллен

yay!

tchrist

7:12 PM

Orson Scott Card Wants Your 'Tolerance' for His Anti-Gay Intolerance.

Good luck with that one, Scott-buddy.

KitFox

My husband sent me that story, only the Huffpost version.

I thought it was funny.

tchrist

It is funny.

I know people who know him.

They like him, but find some of his politics icky.

Probably because they are.

KitFox

I like his book, but he's got a rather distorted view of reality it seems.

tchrist

I’ve read a great deal of his stuff.

KitFox

I've only read the one book, I think.

tchrist

7:15 PM

This one, though, was incredibly disturbing:

Songmaster

Songmaster (1980) is a science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card. The story of the Songmaster occurs in a future human empire, and follows Ansset, a beautiful young boy whose perfect singing voice has the power of amplifying people's emotions, making him both a potential healer and destroyer. He is trained in the art of singing so beautifully that his songs can express ideas and emotions more truthfully than words. This novel was based on Card's short story "Mikal's Songbird". Original Appearance The novel Songbird originated as a novelette, "Mikal's Songbird", appearing in Analog Scie...

When the boy finally has sex with another boy, it gets all terrible and destructive.

KitFox

Well, naturally, what with the unnaturalness of that and all.

tchrist

But he got dinged for it by the conservatives for portraying the love between the two boys as beautiful.

And dinged by the rest of us by pretending it could only exist if it was chaste.

> Ansset eventually offers himself to the young man, saying, "I know what you want, and I'm willing". Josif lovingly brings the boy to his first climax. As Ansset experiences his first ever orgasm, he experiences enormous pain. The Songhouse drugs have almost killed him and he is forever impotent.

Not a nice moral of the story.

At all.

I read it when I was like a freshman in high school.

KitFox

And that's how you got the gay?

tchrist

What do you mean?

Cooties? :)

KitFox

I got the gay in auto shop. Last place you'd suspect a girl to like another girl.

tchrist

7:19 PM

It kinda bugged me.

KitFox

But I didn't know what it was back then.

tchrist

Oh I dunno, I know a girl who’s a welder.

KitFox

Just some kind of weird itch I couldn't explain.

tchrist

These things come in waves.

KitFox

Do they?

tchrist

7:22 PM

Itches.

Do.

If you get it out of your system for a while, it doesn’t itch for a while.

Unless you become a sex addict.

KitFox

Well, they said penicillin would clear it up, but turns out I'm allergic, and since I'm an untheist, prayer doesn't work either. So I'm just stuck with being gay.

shrugs Oh well.

tchrist

Sorry about the penicillin not working. I heard that works on anything.

KitFox

You get used to it after awhile.

It's not so bad.

tchrist

Well, I guess. It seems to take a strong commitment though.

KitFox

How so?

tchrist

7:27 PM

Limits your dating life.

Labels just seem to complicate things. Best to just play ’er as she lies.

KitFox

Rather the opposite in my case.

tchrist

Good for you.

Holy shit!

-1

A: What is the difference between 'Muslim" and 'Islamic'?

There is no difference - both are medieval scum.

Muy unwelcome.

Matt Эллен

wow. that's so ignorant it hurts to read

in retaliation, a picture of me in flight

tchrist

It isn’t the ignorance, I think.

Matt Эллен

you think it's the using of a hyphen when it needs a dash?

tchrist

7:31 PM

It’s the malevolence.

Why are two of your friends protecting their tackle boxes?

KitFox

@MattЭллен Nice.

Matt Эллен

they had no faith in my ability to jump them

tchrist

I doubt their paws will protect them.

KitFox

Matt's muy good at jumping his friends, I've heard.

tchrist

Ayup.

KitFox

7:32 PM

Anyway, I destroyed that guy. Felt good.

Matt Эллен

is that a double entendre? I can't quite tell :Þ

tchrist

It always feels good when the Crusaders are victorious.

@KitFox If you had friends like that, wouldn’t you? :)

I think #2 might be a girl even.

Maybe #1 too. Can’t tell.

KitFox

First two have boobs.

And aren't covering their bits.

Which means they must already be safely contained.

tchrist

Well, they’re close to the starting point. Maybe they thought he could do two.

Matt Эллен

or that they have faith that I can jump over them

jinx

tchrist

7:35 PM

Trusting wenches, them.

KitFox

I think Matt probably could do two wenches easily.

Matt Эллен

lol

aedia λ

Vacation! Data service is poor out here on Cape Cod, so I'll see y'all more next week.

KitFox

kisses Have a nice one!

Matt Эллен

woo! have a good time :D

tchrist

7:37 PM

Where in Cape Cod?

Matt Эллен

Cape Cod was where I first read the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

aedia λ

Truro :)

KitFox

I read hhgttg sitting in a tree. I could pinpoint it on Google Maps, if that's of interest to you.

tchrist

Just before Provincetown then.

Not too big.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox yes!

Cerberus

7:42 PM

From space.

KitFox

I circled it in red.

Matt Эллен

I see. Thanks

KitFox

I used to go through the forest, down the trail in the center and then through the trees to that yard.

That house to the south wasn't there then.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus there is a fire in lac mégantic?

KitFox

7:59 PM

!!/google "fire in lac mégantic"

Caprica Six

@KitFox theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/07/… ; viralviralvideos.com/2013/07/06/… ; news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/07/…

KitFox

I am soooo lazy.

Oh, that fire.

KitFox

8:10 PM

So...my mom's birthday is tomorrow.

Also, my (ex-)girlfriend wants to take me to lunch Thursday or Friday.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Even had it been in a lake, I'm sure oil can burn on water...

Matt Эллен

@KitFox do you want to go?

KitFox

Not really.

She forgot my birthday and then left me a message on the 5th saying she'd like to have lunch, but she would be away for the weekend, so maybe next week...

It came across as totally lame anyway.

So maybe on Thursday when I have the boys.

Well, I should say, she wished me Happy Birthday on FB the day after my birthday.

Which is incredibly lame because she's married to her FB.

So it would have reminded her about my birthday on my birthday and she still didn't remember.

Cerberus

Perhaps she didn't have that notification turned on.

KitFox

Yeah. Maybe.

Either way, it's pretty clear that I'm not all that important.

Matt Эллен

8:17 PM