English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

2:00 PM

@Cerberus turn the lights down... they already have some good ideas.

@RegDwigнt So I hear Putin is giving back 10% of his salary. Will he also give back 10% of the graft, or 10% of the $40 billion he has accumulated in office?

Cerberus

> large Dutch private-equity fund refuses to come to parliament to be interrogated

RegDwigнt

Putin is possessing a large gravity well.

Matt E. Эллен

he sells the gravity to Europe, and pipes it through Crimea

Mitch

@Cerberus Me too. Have you been to parliament? All those guys smoking cigars.

Cerberus

2:01 PM

I read estimates of €100 billion being topped off the Russian economy every year by Putin's clan.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto look up the meaning of "salary", then compare it to the meaning of "assets", then draw your conclusion from there. It's highly technical. Get a Walmart clerk to help.

Cerberus

@Mitch If you are from an "industry" that is under serious scrutiny, that's stupid.

Laws are being formulated to reign in the excesses of private-equity firms.

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен And the Turks are amassing troops on the border. Well, the sea shore. Same thing.

Cerberus

This is the perfect bad publicity.

RegDwigнt

Slayers are being formulated to reign in blood.

Matt E. Эллен

2:03 PM

@Mitch can you see shells?

Mitch

@Cerberus Laws like 'no smoking'.

@MattE.Эллен By the dawn's early light. By the late light dawn is over and it's not so inspiring.

RegDwigнt

"No smoking" is not a law. It was invented by Hallmark to sell signages.

Cerberus

@Mitch Let's hope they will be more effective.

By the way, do people still smoke in regular bars where you live?

RegDwigнt

Let's hope they will be less effective, then we can only be pleasantly surprised.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt Baby kittens don't smoke. QED

Cerberus

2:05 PM

Here, smoking is not allowed in bars, but many bars still allow it.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt I was not saying those were identical.

RegDwigнt

@Mitch baby kittens are dirt poor. They would totally smoke a Cuban if they could afford one.

@Robusto I was not saying you were, I was just posting my usual shit. Since when you read it?

Robusto

What?

RegDwigнt

What is not a time.

Cerberus

In other news, my friend's band is performing on the main stage at Gouda's central square on King's Day.

RegDwigнt

2:06 PM

Do they have midnight in What?

Mitch

@Cerberus Good question. On the rare equation I walk through a bar (to pick up food), no, no one smokes in bars here now. I'm pretty sure it's the law.

Robusto

Wut?

RegDwigнt

I double dare you.

Cerberus

@Mitch And people obey the law in all bars?

Robusto

@Cerberus They do or they wind up behind them.

RegDwigнt

2:07 PM

Some people obey the law behind bars.

Robusto

jinx

RegDwigнt

Other people just fuck there.

Cerberus

@Robusto Hah. But are you sure, also in small clubs that stay open until late?

Mitch

@Robusto In the bars that I don't frequent. In the bars I never go to I don't know.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto here's your bar coke:

Cerberus

2:07 PM

I mean, the bars and clubs can get fined here, but there are far too few inspectors, or something.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Nah, that's a Coke bar. There's a difference.

RegDwigнt

They say taste and then they say diet. I say lol and then rofl.

@Robusto sez you. I lookie-lookied for bar coke, and google sez this is.

Robusto

You are so trusting.

RegDwigнt

I am pretty fond of hedges, too.

Matt E. Эллен

I reckon that's a fairly accurate statement type thing

Mitch

2:09 PM

At the milk bar, they still allow smoking candy cigarettes. The puffs of 'smoke' is really powdered sugar. You can't get diabetes unless you start early.

RegDwigнt

Interestingly, though very mildly so, if you look for "crowbar coke", this is what you get:

assets7.thrillist.com/v1/image/1257098/size/…

Cerberus

> two large Dutch ~~locusts~~ private-equity firms refuse to come to parliament; the American and British firms that have been invited will come

I guess the foreigners are more polite.

Robusto

@Cerberus Then parliament must go to them.

Mitch

'weightfulness' what a dumb word. who makes up this stuff?

RegDwigнt

Cerberus

2:11 PM

@Robusto It will, by means of its tentacle: the law. Or so I hope. If they don't get lobbied too much...

RegDwigнt

There, now it inlined.

Not sure which part of a sickle is the bar and which the crow.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt In Soviet Union, the Coke hammers you.

RegDwigнt

Can't touch this.

Mitch

stop

RegDwigнt

That's why we only had Pepsi.

Dec 26 '12 at 4:04, by RegDwighт

Robusto

2:13 PM

@RegDwigнt I presume the rest of that word to the left makes it 'prospect'?

RegDwigнt

So do I.

No idea what that means, though.

Robusto

What kind of a stand is a prospect stand?

RegDwigнt

A prospect in Russian is an avenue.

Robusto

mm

RegDwigнt

Moscow is full of prospects. Nine lanes in either direction.

Robusto

2:15 PM

Supposedly full of parks as well, but I'll never know because I won't go there.

RegDwigнt

The park ring is great, and so is the boulevard ring.

Really nice places to go.

Robusto

I can't imagine flying for 12 hours and having to get off the plane in Russia instead of someplace like Tahiti.

RegDwigнt

Bill Burr said it best, something along the lines of "why the hell do people want to travel to places that are exactly like the place they came from".

Robusto

I only ever want to visit tropical paradises.

RegDwigнt

The whole point of travelling is that sometimes, you wind up in Tahiti, and other times it's Ganges.

Tropical, too.

Robusto

2:18 PM

Well, I make it a point never to go to India.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto then visit Siberia in summer. Paradise: check. Tropical: totally check.

Some people think it's like -100 degrees all year round. Some people also elect Bush.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Except . . . flying, biting insects.

Also, in Siberia I think "summer" is two weeks in July when you can't play hockey on the lakes.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto actually that's not universally true, either. I've heard that from Siberians I can trust. There are awful places, or times, where you'll be eaten alive, and there are other places, or times, when you'll be hard pressed to find a single mosquito for your fishing needs.

@Robusto see my point above.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Fortunately my fishing needs are quite modest. As in "none" . . .

Cerberus

Which part of Siberia?

RegDwigнt

2:21 PM

It's a continental climate. The winter is just as extreme on the one side as the summer is on the other.

Cerberus

Surely up north it will not get that warm, even in August?

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus and that is actually the most important question.

Robusto

Except it's a HUGE continental climate. So more extreme.

Cerberus

Naturally.

Siberia is huge.

RegDwigнt

Siberia is like five times the size of Europe, from Norway to Madeira.

Cerberus

2:22 PM

Both longitudinally and latitudinally.

RegDwigнt

You cannot fucking imagine how huge it is.

Robusto

Six time zones, I think.

RegDwigнt

Only the universe is larger than Siberia. Though some experts disagree.

Robusto

What does the Bible say about Siberia?

Cerberus

But the "core" zone of Siberia, the one Russians will think of when they hear just "Siberia", is the part right behind the Ural, is it not?

RegDwigнt

2:23 PM

@Robusto It says that on days 8 through 80, God created one part of it.

Robusto

I think Siberia is the land East of Eden.

Cerberus

I believe "Siberia" was expanded over time, but it was originally only the western part of the orange area, wasn't it?

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus nope. Some Russians will think Krasnoyarsk, and others will think Vladivostok.

Cerberus

Okay.

RegDwigнt

And others still will think anything in-between.

Cerberus

2:25 PM

But not in the 19th century, right?

RegDwigнt

Including the Siberians themselves.

Mitch

Tigers

Cerberus

People on Sachalin would consider themselves Siberians?

Mitch

Wear a face mask on the back of your head...

so the tiger will always think you're looking at him...

RegDwigнt

@Mitch your chances of seeing a bear in Siberia once in an entire lifetime are exactly zero. The chances of seeing a tiger are well below that.

Mitch

2:26 PM

and will have something to entertain himself while he disembowels you.

Robusto

Unless I am kidnapped and transported there against my will, my chances of seeing anything in Siberia are exactly 0.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt They make you see them two or more times? That's Russia being Russia.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus I can recommend a good book for you. "Rivers", by Yevgeni Grishkovets. It's just a hundred pages. Read it.

Not sure if it's been translated to Dutch.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt please please please have a picture of a river. I'll read the caption and be done.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt: Do people who sleep late in your area say "Ich bin verschlofen"?

RegDwigнt

2:28 PM

Verschlafen. And no.

Robusto

Is that Bavarian?

I know I heard it over there.

RegDwigнt

If you mean the O instead of an A, then yes, they do say that. But not with bin, that's too high a register.

"Isch han verschloof(e)" is ubiquitous, however.

Robusto

Maybe that's what I heard.

Long time ago.

RegDwigнt

The one with the final E is more like Swabian. The one without is more like Rhine.

Robusto

As bad as I was, I was actually surprised I could speak and understand as well as I did the other night, especially after a few drinks. Maybe German is just easier after a few drinks.

RegDwigнt

2:31 PM

amazon.de/Rivers-E-Grishkovets/dp/5180007984

Seems it's only available in Russian. Or as an audio book, in Russian again.

There's a four-hour video on YouTube.

It will tell you more about Siberia in a few simple words than National Geographic and Wikipedia combined.

Cerberus

I'm afraid I will have to polish my Russian a bit more first.

What is a salient point that the book makes?

Robusto

Why render Russian in Latin alphabet? That makes no sense.

Cerberus

> This is equivalent to an average population density of about 3 inhabitants per square kilometre (approximately equal to that of Australia), making Siberia one of the most sparsely populated regions on Earth.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto because it's merely the 21st century, so some people still don't have Cyrillic.

@Cerberus the most salient point that the book makes is that it does not make any salient points. It just tells you things. And then you know. And all your questions posted above go away.

Robusto

But does it asombrate with your

RegDwigнt

2:39 PM

It's a short story with no plot, basically a collection of memories not strung together in a particular manner or for any effect. It just starts and ends, and in-between it just flows. And it could start at any other point, and end at any other. Except it does not. Just like a river.

Matt E. Эллен

> On the country's system of coordinates in space and time, sowing us smile or gne components poster

RegDwigнt

Come to think of it, it ends not unlike "No Country for Old Men".

It says all it wants to say, and then it says no more.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.” ― Norman Maclean,

RegDwigнt

The author doesn't even tell you, at any point in the book, which particular Siberian city his memories are about.

Though you could easily look it up on Wikipedia, or just read some of his other books in which he does name it.

@Robusto buy, buy our American pie.

Robusto

I suppose that was meant to be caustic.

RegDwigнt

2:45 PM

Caustics are acoustics for the hard of hearing.

0

Q: Which one is correct?

I wrote this but I'm not sure if it's correct:

Great edit.

Cerberus

> The tower of a 17th-century ostrog fort, in Yakutsk.

RegDwigнt

Yeah. "Ostrog" meaning "fort".

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Ok noted.

RegDwigнt

A fort fort.

Cerberus

That is more of a pleonasm.

RegDwigнt

2:49 PM

Pleo di Nasmio.

Just look how huge and straight their trees are.

Cerberus

I trust the straightness of Siberian trees.

Robusto

I thought ostrog was an abbrev. for Ostrogoth.

RegDwigнt

Ostrogothic melodic speed death.

The best music since Britney Spears.

Robusto

So you watched Better Call Saul yet?

RegDwigнt

Note that [ostro][goth] is a sharp goth.

While the original o[strog] is basically a guarding place, a guard, a watch.

@Robusto nope.

I think I actually have the first three episodes somewhere. Or know someone who has them. Or both.

Robusto

2:54 PM

Pretty interesting.

Not Breaking Bad, but watchable.

And we get Mike Ermentraut's back story.

RegDwigнt

So is it like a comedy now or what.

Robusto

Well, as much as Breaking Bad was a comedy. Maybe a bit more than that, but Saul had a lot of the comedy lines of BB.

Matt E. Эллен

ostria is near Germany

Robusto

Anyway gtg2meeting.

RegDwigнt

CU

> All I can say is if I ever get anal polyps, I'll know what to name them.

@MattE.Эллен ostria being the Russian word for "tips", "points".

As in of an arrow or javelin.

Mitch

2:59 PM

@Cerberus a repetitive pleonasm

RegDwigнt

Not sure why you'd call an entire country "Tips of javelins", but then again those Hungarians only ever banged the Finnish, so they do have quite peculiar tastes.

Cerberus

@Mitch I was trying to think of something better...I suppose repetitive is better, but it still doesn't click into place.

Mitch

@Cerberus look man, we're all trying new material here, little by little we'll improve.

Cerberus

We shall.

RegDwigнt

A pleonastic pleonasm, you idiots.

Cerberus

3:01 PM

Haha.

Of course!

Mitch

Do you shall she salls?

Cerberus

Sometimes it pays off to have a simple mind.

Mitch

Zing!

RegDwigнt

I am still waiting for my first 3000 dollars.

Cerberus

Of how many?

RegDwigнt

3:02 PM

Of any number.

That's what "first" means.

But the first 3000 out of 3000 would be a great start.

Mitch

redundant pleonasm?

a pleaonasm that adds nothing extra?

RegDwigнt

Yeah, like he goes "whatsa redundant pleonasm" and I go like "your mama so fat".

Cerberus

@Mitch I like it!

That is a true pleonasm, it clicks for me.

Mitch

Yay! progress!

Next question... when was Cheryl's birthday? I need to know if I should rush out for a gift or just ask her directly. I mean, why so coy, just tell us your goddam birthday already.

RegDwigнt

Who is Cheryl?

Matt E. Эллен

3:10 PM

@RegDwigнt it's a crazy world we live in

@Mitch it was on the 14th

Mitch

@RegDwigнt You don't want to go there. google.com/…

@MattE.Эллен Next question... what's today? It's hard because it really could be any day, when a birthday is just one day out of the year.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch conclusion: don't buy her a gift.

RegDwigнt

@Mitch er. That seems trivial.

I did a lot of such "puzzles" as a kid.

You just draw a table, and make some crosses.

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен I was looking but then decided to get myself something. I think it would be awkward getting something late. So greatest good for the greatest number, you know

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch sounds fair

Mitch

3:13 PM

@RegDwigнt Exactly. SAT skills

@MattE.Эллен thinking locally, acting globally

Matt E. Эллен

defining locally, using locally. it's the safest way

RegDwigнt

So let's see.

   14 15 16 17 18 19
M     v  v        v
J           v  v
J  v     v
A  v  v     v

Can I do this in monospaced here somehow?

That's help.

Cerberus

@Mitch Haha, that Charyl.

Matt E. Эллен

@RegDwigнt "fixed font" button

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt So what's your answer?

I managed to figure it out.

RegDwigнt

3:15 PM

@MattE.Эллен Where's that?

@Cerberus let me see, I've only just started with the table.

Matt E. Эллен

@RegDwigнt to the right of upload when you have multilne stuff

RegDwigнt

   14 15 16 17 18 19

M     v  v        v
J           v  v
J  v     v
A  v  v     v

Oh. Much nicers.

Thanks.

Matt E. Эллен

no worries :)

RegDwigнt

So now let's see. What Albert says gets me...

Mitch

Don't listen to Albert, he's a liar

but only sometimes

RegDwigнt

3:16 PM

   14 15 16 17 18 19

M  ----------------
J           v  v
J  v     v
A  v  v     v

Right?

Mitch

also the June line

RegDwigнt

Mkay. And then what Bernard sez gets me

@Mitch right, exactly.

Mitch

and then...

RegDwigнt

   14 15 16 17 18 19

M  ----------------
J  ----------------
J  v     v
A  v  v     v

So, back to Bernard, then.

What he sez gets me the first column removed.

Mitch

and then Bernard gets all modal on us

RegDwigнt

3:18 PM

   14 15 16 17 18 19

M  |---------------
J  |---------------
J  |     v
A  |  v     v

And so the answer is clear.

Mitch

The trick part of the question is that Cheryl was born in a leap year.

RegDwigнt

J 16 is the only one that fits.

And that J is the July if I'm seeing correctly.

So July 16th is what I'm getting.

Mitch

If you're typing correctly.

RegDwigнt

That, too.

Mitch

But yes, that's what the NYT says is right

RegDwigнt

3:20 PM

This monospace thing was more of a problem than the puzzle itself.

Mitch

Which probably means that cambodia is being bombed right now on page 22

RegDwigнt

All is Roger in Cambodia.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt Everything is rock paper scissors, except for fonts.

RegDwigнt

So this thing somehow warranted a NYT article?

Why?

I'm missing something here.

What's next, "A sack of rice fell over in China?"

Mitch

@RegDwigнt Ooh ooh I know the answer!

RegDwigнt

3:24 PM

So apparently this is some new meme that Facebook produced.

Well, good thing I'm not using Facebook.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt It's just a thing. People freak out over the smallest things. Mosul is under siege. Madonna lost an earring (it's how she lost it that is compelling!)

RegDwigнt

Meh, I'm not reading up on either.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt Really? Oh. Good for FB. They need it.

RegDwigнt

I haven't been paying attention to the news in weeks.

Today I've heard that someone, I think Yemen?, ended some war. I didn't even know they were at war.

Or was it Saudi Arabia?

Who even cares.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt I get all my news from the implications of ads on my candy crush app

RegDwigнt

3:26 PM

And last week I heard that some German pilot had flown a fully boarded plane into a mountain a month ago, and the whole nation is in grief or something.

Mitch

Namely there's a trade war between Costa Rica and Indonesia over sugar cane futures. (the drought in Indonesia (and dispute over the Spratly's), and the rise in Dengue fever in Nicaragua are contributing factors). Ooh ooh I just passed 10K!

RegDwigнt

You see, once you do not care about the world just as much as the world does not care about you, suddenly you have all the time in the world to care about yourself.

And so at least one person in the world suddenly does care about you, and you suddenly care about at least one person. A win-win.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt yeah and people are freaking out about depression in pilots now.

RegDwigнt

First time I hear pilots are depressed. They are permanently on strike, yes, for the last five years. But depressed?

Mitch

@RegDwigнt wait... I care.

so do you

Feb 3 '12 at 16:11, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

I care.

RegDwigнt

3:30 PM

Mar 30 '12 at 18:38, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

Or it was a lie!

Matt E. Эллен

5 mins ago, by RegDwigнt

Or was it Saudi Arabia?

RegDwigнt

May 15 '13 at 19:41, by RegDwighт

Chris de Burgh.

Mitch

I think that means we have a consensus

RegDwigнt

Yes. Don't pay the ferryman.

Mitch

He's looking at us funny. I think he knows we're gonna jump the turnstyle

Cerberus

4:12 PM

@Mitch Mosul is under siege, really?

I didn't know, that's good.

@MattE.Эллен How is your arm?

Matt E. Эллен

@Cerberus My arm is fine, thank you :) I can't quite straighten it fully, but only just, it's barely noticeable. Practically back to normal!

Cerberus

Oh!

It doesn't hurt, and you can use it to lift things above your head?

Matt E. Эллен

yes :D to both of those

Cerberus

Great!

Such things heal fairly quickly while we are still young.

Matt E. Эллен

Indeed. It's almost a distant memory :D

Cerberus

4:25 PM

Good.

Robusto

@MattE.Эллен If your arm is barely noticeable, how can you be sure it's still there? Better check.

Matt E. Эллен

@Robusto pinches arm

ow!

Cerberus

Phantom pain?

Robusto

The best outcome.

Matt E. Эллен

@Cerberus real pain, phantom pinch

Cerberus

4:28 PM

Complicated.

Robusto

Phantom Punch (film)

Phantom Punch is a 2008 film directed by Robert Townsend. The film is a biopic of Sonny Liston, with Ving Rhames in the lead role. The film also stars Stacey Dash, Nicholas Turturro, Alan van Sprang, David Proval, and Bridgette Wilson. Music was composed by Stephen James Taylor. == Cast == Ving Rhames as Sonny Liston Nicholas Turturro as Caesar Novak Stacey Dash as Geraldine Liston Alan van Sprang as Nico Orso David Proval as Savino Bridgette Wilson as Farrah Rick Roberts as Father Alios == References == == External links == Official website Phantom Punch at the Internet Movie Database...

Did you mean phantom punch?

Matt E. Эллен

I like to think my water is punch with phantom alcohol and phantom fruit juice

Mitch

Mine has phantom water

It's very refreshing

Like a summer breeze

Robusto

Not quite a haiku. Your first line has six syllables.

Consider:

My phantom water
Is so very refreshing
Like a summer's breeze

Matt E. Эллен

Mine has phantom wa
ter It's very refreshing
Like a summer breeze