English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

crl

6:00 PM

George Pompidou

my friend says that he maybe didn't like being addressed as just "Professor"

I should've maybe written Hi Professor Privatdozent Doktor-Ingenieur Heidemann

KBE

Mitch

@crl but to that point, almost everything that has ever been in AI eventually moves over to regular old nonintelligent computing. Lambda calculus as the AI language? It's just programming language theory. A* for path finding? just dijkstra's with the right metric.

George Pompidou

Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI

your Imperial Majesty

Obersturmbanführer

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou That could be a thing. I don't know how really up-tight they are about titles. So you think you called him the wrong one and he is trying to be funny the same way back to you? Ask somebody (native German speaker) in your class how they would address him.

George Pompidou

the Germans really like their titles.

Mitch

6:04 PM

@GeorgePompidou That sounds like the boss of the train engineer

George Pompidou

it's actually an SS rank :S

but I can see where you get that. train engineer is Lokführer though.

what if he thinks I was disrespectful to his hoche Deutsche edukation?

Mitch

Obersturmbahnführer

George Pompidou

:'<

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It may interest you to know that the church only outlawed priestly marriage around 1000 A.D.

Mitch

before that it was party all the time

Robusto

6:08 PM

Before that, the priest was around with the womenfolk in the village all day while the men went out to the fields. Bad situation, all around.

George Pompidou

I assume A. D. means Anno Dickbutts?

Mitch

@Robusto at about the same time when they insisted on the virgin birth due to translation difficulties

crl

After Dyonisos

George Pompidou

I think it's probably Dickbutts

the Catholics really like those

Mitch

also at about the same time when the story was changed so that Cinderalla lost a glass slipper when originally it was a fur slipper.

All translation difficulties.

Robusto

6:09 PM

@Mitch Originally it was a fur bikini.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto Yeah, I heard that the primary reason was so that the Church could maintain ownership of everything, without having families inheriting stuff.

Mitch

@Robusto both cold and hot in winter

like iced hot tea

Robusto

@Mitch Cold sometimes, hot always.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch Ah, Cinderella. The story about a girl with magic clothes that disappear at midnight, except the ones she takes off first. Some rich guy falls in love with her but doesn't know her name or what she looks like, so he'll marry whatever girl has the same size feet.

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 when put in that perspective, well, yeah!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

6:12 PM

fairy tales are so dumb

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 La Petite Pantoufle de verre

Mitch

Exactly. Who in their right mind would kiss a frog, that you brought up from the bottom of a well.

I mean one or the other, but both?

George Pompidou

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 that's what I keep trying to tell my fundamentalist christian buddy here but he keeps saying I'm offending him and I'm arrogant

I don't get it

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@GeorgePompidou Well, you are pretty offensive ;)

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou You're an Aesop's non-believer? That's so offensive.

George Pompidou

6:14 PM

@Mitch in a way. I think there is great subtext to read of morality and how to treat your fellow human. but not belief like it's a history textbook—I wasn't flipping born yesterday

this guy… the implications and guidelines all went in one year an came out the other

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

My daughter brought home a jack-and-the-beanstalk kind of story, where Jack trades the cows for magic animals instead of magic beans. I tried to explain to her how everyone in the story was acting like an idiot.

George Pompidou

and he's like AN OLD MAN BUILT AN ARK AND PUT TWO OF EVERY ANIMAL ON IT TO SAVE THEM FROM A FLOOD

I'm like dude… you totally missed the point

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@GeorgePompidou Ugh. Flood believers.

Just don't bother. There's no possible way to reason with them.

George Pompidou

yeah I know, I just make fun of him

because he thinks scientology is silly.

Robusto

@GeorgePompidou You can totally dial it back, dude. We're pretty much all of us here a-religionists.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

6:16 PM

lol

Robusto

So you're preaching to the anti-choir, so to speak.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@GeorgePompidou scientology IS pretty silly though.

crl

@Mitch it's reused elsewhere, but AI has so important perspectives now with all that data everywhere, I wish I had learn more basics in school

George Pompidou

religionists or not religionists Robusto, my grandmother is religious, but she's not a fucking idiot. she reads the scripture and gets good ideas from it, like treating people kindly and helping out those in need and just being a good person

there's a difference!

crl

But as I see many people without studies (after baccalaureate) being extreme geeks, like dystroy.org I'm not sure studies are so important

George Pompidou

6:18 PM

all I'm trying to say is that I've never met someone who literally believes the bible word for word. and I am just shocked. I was unaware of this type of person.

well, I suppose I was aware of the type as much as I'm aware of Tibetan monks somewhere up in the mountains to which I will never go.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Ugh. I used to have a friend in high school who was pretty fundamentalist.

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou IKR! What about the fish?

George Pompidou

what fish?

terdon

I got into a fight with rhetorician here. He seems to be one.

Fundamentalist, I mean.

We do have perfectly reasonable religious people who hang out here. Our very own mod, Andrew, for example.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

JSB is religious too. Also very reasonable.

Mitch

6:20 PM

@Robusto is that pigs before swine?

George Pompidou

exactly, like my grandmother.

Robusto

@Mitch Speak for yourself.

terdon

Swine before wine. It's never wise to drink on an empty stomach.

And, unfortunately, wine before whine.

Mitch

@crl oh sure. I'm just playing with labels. It's all AI right?

George Pompidou

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 to me… well… I can't say that thinking humanity is 50 years old vs. 2000 years old is super different.

it's all just stories. scientologists are just as mental as this guy I met, IMO.

Mitch

6:24 PM

@GeorgePompidou haha. the fish swimming around the oceans when the floods came. did they like the flood more? Did Noah have a little aquarium on deck? Hey what about kangaroos? Also, the rest of the world came from noah's grandchildren, kissin cousins? It all starts with asking questions about the fish.

crl

@Mitch I think it is, AI is vast

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@GeorgePompidou I dunno. It's one thing to believe old things without proof. It's another thing to believe something totally new without proof.

Mitch

@Robusto haha OK then (it's pigs then)

George Pompidou

@Mitch oh I don't know. I thought we were all kissin cousins anyway because didn't Adam have sex with a snake and make some weird babies or something

hey, who knows.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 so you're saying in 1940 years roughly scientology will be totally reasonable to believe?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch The ocean fish would've been fine. But what about the freshwater vs saltwater fish?

George Pompidou

6:26 PM

personally I like Hamachi most

terdon

@GeorgePompidou No, no, no! Look, it's quite simple. Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. Those two were stumped and, after a few years, horribly horny (and straight, apparently). That's when they looked to the apes. And this nicely combines fundamentalist Christianity and the theory of evolution.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@GeorgePompidou No. I'm saying that it's not completely insane to believe the legends of your culture's deep past, because everyone else did. But the first guy who stood up and said "Wait, all that shit is wrong", he needs to provide proof.

It's insane to believe that guy without proof.

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou well, if you do the math, something a little icky happened a 30 generations ago

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

The old stuff should be examined too

George Pompidou

@terdon are you saying Adam and Eve invented a hacking program?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

6:27 PM

But it's not in the same league of insane as believing just whatever people spout off at random.

George Pompidou

eh. to me it's all reading stories and thinking they came from the wrong section in the library.

I was raised to question something if I don't fully understand it or of I'm not zufrieden with it.

Mitch

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 So you're saying that if Scientology wanted to date Mormonism, it'd be a long shot because Scientology is not in the same league?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Especially it's insane to believe new fairy tales as society gets smarter about what is and isn't true about the old ones.

George Pompidou

that's like going to class, not understanding how the professor came to a conclusion, and not saying anything because the field of Geometry is old as heck. fuck that. I'm gonna raise my hand and ask the professor to explain again.

I don't care how many generations were satisfied with an explanation

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch ugh. Mormonism is pretty insane too. But yeah, I grade it as less insane than scientology.

@GeorgePompidou Yes! That's the completely right way of looking at it. But there are many ways to be wrong, and I'm saying some are wronger than others.

Mitch

6:30 PM

Wicca?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch Don't know enough about it.

Mitch

The rapture?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

as insane as mormonism.

Mitch

That buddha guy should really slim down. but he probably wouldn't be as happy.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

basically I judge how fantastic the claims are, and how long those claims have been made, and how literally those claims are meant to be believed, and how much did society in general know at the time those claims arose.

Mitch

6:32 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 re your lengthiness argument... There are more miracles the further you go in the past.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch yeah, exactly

back then it wasn't insane to believe in miracles

cuz nobody knew better

George Pompidou

I wish English had a better word for satisfied like the Germans have zufrieden.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

but in the 1800s, some dude miraculously finds golden tablets, translates them miraculously, then miraculously loses them, etc? Not credible. People should know better.

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou angenehm? bequem?

oh in English?

George Pompidou

to me zufrieden adds an extra implication of something fully "clicking" in my head, and there being no flags raised, possible issues, etc

yeah

I am frequently "satisfied" with something but I wouldn't tell someone I'm zufrieden with it.

Mitch

6:34 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I know. what an obvious cover-up.

George Pompidou

I guess I could literally say at peace

but that sounds kind of silly in many contexts

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

grok ?

George Pompidou

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 interesting.

Mitch

that's more 'understanding' rather than 'accepting'

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah isn't that what GP wants?

George Pompidou

6:35 PM

speaking of GP, I need to buy my tickets

Mitch

o thought he wanted something about the feeling of 'satisfied'

@GeorgePompidou is your semester already nearing the end?

George Pompidou

no it's just gettin' started

I want to travel out to Spa in August though for the GP

that one's my favorite ^.^

Mitch

did you already have a semester that just ended a few weeks ago?

crl

@Robusto Is it safe to take that road by bike? 90 is 90km/h=56mph

Mitch

it seems kind of late to start one, unless the terms are short.

George Pompidou

6:38 PM

nah. my last semester was in US ended in December, then I worked at a trading firm until beginning of this semester.

German semesters are april-september and september-april.

I wonder if my answer will make it to 100. that'd be exciting, I suppose, even though I just get a gold star.

._. yawns …like all my shit's gold already.

cause I'm a G.

I read the guidelines to awards, Mitch. they're such a fascinating read that I woke up after only 3 hours of being asleep on my desk, just itching to read more

but I played FIFA on my Playstation instead, for some reason

way less interesting. anyway, I suppose the "badges" are just to kind of "have" on your "profile" so that "other people" can "see" what "good things" you've "done"

so that's… yeah. nice.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

If you get the badges during the hat dash, you get a hat too.

But you don't get to keep the hats.

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou that's how SE was built, as a game to gain points and other invisible stuff.

George Pompidou

WELL IT'S NOT DURING A HAT DASH RIGHT NOW IS IT MR SO CALLED SHINY AND NEW

gawd.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

that's why you should defer getting votes until then.

George Pompidou

for some reason I really want these three more votes though.

it's like… somewhere saying "if you get 100 you're better than before you got 100" made me really want to get 100.

Mitch

6:46 PM

@GeorgePompidou you got 97 votes in two days. I'm projecting 'yes' within the hour.

@GeorgePompidou Ha! They have you now!

George Pompidou

97?!

that's more than 58!

Mitch

YOu said you need three more.

@GeorgePompidou prepare team for hazing of GP at t-gold

George Pompidou

indeed. 100 - (97/100*10^2)

is how I figured that one out.

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou ha ha... your sensitivity. or is it False Positive Rate?

George Pompidou

who?

Mitch

6:49 PM

next semester in your ML class

terdon

Let's not mention FPR, please. I'm wrestling with R as we speak.

Mitch

Use the full nelson. a half nelson is just not enough.

George Pompidou

are you spying on my class registration?

wtf

@terdon did you already defeat F and P?

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou ha ha... really? Wrestling?

George Pompidou

:rimshot:

terdon

6:51 PM

@GeorgePompidou I wish :)

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou Just turned 98. See, any moment now.

George Pompidou

mmmmm. I can feel the crowd just going nuts for me already.

should I try crowdsurfing?

Mitch

98

A: What does “Your hair is so white now, it can talk back to police” mean?

I don’t understand why you can talk back to police when your hair is white. The key here isn't that you can talk back to the police if your hair is white, it's that the hair can because it is white. Ignoring recent events with people being shot by the police, it's generally a (possibly accu...

please upvote this to give GP a gold star.

George Pompidou

last time I did that at Lollapalooza I got dropped on my head and woke up in a billionaire kid's parents' movie theatre with his 13-14 year old sister and her friends watching a movie.

(actually a true story)

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou The only possible response to that is 'Oh'

Wait.. which movie?

George Pompidou

6:55 PM

then I tried to leave and triggered their house alarm and 7 police cars were there

thankfully I ran into my friend who happened to also be there cooking breakfast.

I have no idea man.

terdon

One more to go...

George Pompidou

thanks for the help Mitch!

I can't believe that was so successful! I just thought the question was super cute like all of that guy's questions and explained it to him ^.^

Mitch

hm... that's be funny if people just forgot about it now. All that hype.

@GeorgePompidou There's some sort of SO law about that.

It helps if the question itself has a good 'catch' which drives people to your answer

George Pompidou

it's just… questions that only someone from the other side of the world would ask about English.

Mitch

That's pretty much everything here

George Pompidou

6:59 PM

but not in such an adorable way.

you get a lot of people like WHICH IS BETTER A. THE HAT OR B. THE HORSE

them facepalmers

@George: Ha! As a programmer, there's no way I could imagine that, so there was only 1 true answer for me, but you're right of course. — Forklift 2 mins ago

what on earth does being a programmer have to do with hiding incriminating evidence from police searches cleverly inside a server case?

does that with pot all the time

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou I don't think your server will last very long if you keep doing that.

George Pompidou

pff, it's fine.

I'm more worried about the endo.

Mitch

The endoscopy? yeah, if you don't have general anesthesia it's pretty disturbing.

Today is misunderstand everything on purpose day.

Also tomorrow.

George Pompidou

I thought that was just one of the virtues in life.

Mitch

of life.

George Pompidou

7:06 PM

like being 2 Dope and honest

2 pac too sure

too fast to furious

too shy shy

How could a hyperbole be friendly and how could you physically put a pure fact on your mental state? None of those things are physical, much less sentient. — George Pompidou 12 secs ago

crl

too far to promiscuous

George Pompidou

7:10 PM

@Mitch am I doing it right?

wow, I'm totally pwning this guy.

he won't know what hit him.

Mitch

reload your profile now. you should have a little extra

Robusto

@crl Any road is dangerous, but that one looks like it doesn't have a lot of room for error.

Mitch

Hi @WillHunting

Will Hunting

Hi.

George Pompidou

@Mitch wahey

I'd like to thank Jesus

Mitch

7:19 PM

@GeorgePompidou Yeah I think you're overdoing it. the first comment was enough, now you're just pouring salt on the wound.

George Pompidou

who was with me every step of the way, from vote 1 to vote 100.

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou You know Jesus is gonna be all humble about it.

George Pompidou

it was all his doing.

Mitch

@GeorgePompidou don't you feel special though?

George Pompidou

I'm just happy I got 100 upvotes on a flippin answer!

that's really cool actually

Mitch

7:23 PM

Isn't it? It's as cool as having 10 fingers. So if everybody cuts off their thumbs you would have gotten your gold star 36 ... er.. I mean ... 44 points ago

George Pompidou

but Jesus gave us two thumbs.

I'm actually really confused about what you said.

furrows brow

Mitch

waits to see if brow unfurrows

gets adrenaline shot ready

big ol' syringe

George Pompidou

stands here with a blank look

crl

staring at the void

Mitch

7:41 PM

the emptiness gnawing ennui vomits out the abyss

@GeorgePompidou what is 100 decimal in base 8?

George Pompidou

144!

Mitch

really? I did the arithmetic right?

George Pompidou

double checks

yes.

Mitch

Nice.

George Pompidou

it's 12 remainder 4, 1 remainder 4 (, 0 remainder 1)

so 144.

sings the Computer Science theme song

anyway what's this to do with anything

Mitch

7:48 PM

If we all only had 8 fingers, we'd count in octal, and 100 in any base is special and so that would be the goal for a gold star.

George Pompidou

oh!

is that why we count in decimal usually?

Mitch

well, except for babylonians and mayans, yes.

and maybe russians.

George Pompidou

this is a new chapter of my life

Mitch

and those guys who count their wrists and elbows

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Those dang nostril-counters.

George Pompidou

8:00 PM

I can't stop eating Bifi snacks. they're not very gesund so that might be schlecht.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector ] Offensive answer detected: Is there a word or an idiom for people who only spend their families' money and fool around? by berserker washington on english.stackexchange.com

Cerberus

11:15 PM

Avete mortales.

Mahnax

Hello hello.

Been awhile.

Cerberus

Good evening!

Err, E=mc².

Or was C a capital?

Mahnax

Nah, it's lowercase, usually. How's it going?

Cerberus

11:32 PM

Ah, I thought so.

Good, had a few beers with friends tonight, and you?

Mahnax

Not bad! Finals are over.

Just waiting on one grade back, I've got the rest.

Still going steady with ol' Rutgers?

Cerberus

Ah, and are the grades that you have got so far any good?

Mahnax

Yes! A+, A, A, and A-.

Cerberus

Yup Rutger is going strong.

Wow, well done!

Mahnax

Great!

Thanks!

Cerberus

11:43 PM

That is a pretty good average.

Mahnax

I'd say so! I'm hoping for an A in the fifth class.

Cerberus

I trust that you shall have it.

Mahnax

The A+ is in Linguistics, I got 98% in the class.

Cerberus

So are those your first final grades?

Yay, very good!

Linguistics is important.

Mahnax

Hmm, they are the final grades for this term. I have final grades from last term too, not sure what you mean?

Cerberus

11:44 PM

Oh, so how many terms are there in a year?

Mahnax

There are two mandatory terms in an academic year, fall (Sept-Dec) and winter (Jan-April). Then there are spring and summer classes available.

Cerberus

Available, but not mandatory? And those are not called terms?

(And how are you and a certain person doing, by the way?)

Mahnax

Well, there are Spring and Summer terms. But they are less structured, with less selection.

(All is well on that front. We're taking a short vacation together in June, actually!)

Cerberus

I see.

Mahnax

I am not taking Spring or Summer classes. I'd rather work and save money and maybe even (gasp!) relax a bit.

Cerberus

11:49 PM

(Wowie, that's pretty serious! Or isn't that your first vacation together? I suppose you have been together for quite a while, so I shouldn't be surprised.)

Haha, you, relax? I am shocked.

So that means you will have no classes from May till September?

That's 1/3 of the year!

Mahnax

(It is our first vacation, yeah. And it'll be six months together in June, so it's really not been terribly long.)

@Cerberus That's right!

Cerberus

(Ah OK, that makes sense.)

Mahnax

I have to find a new apartment over the summer, actually. And my relatives are coming to visit from Finland.

Cerberus

@Mahnax That sounds relaxed. We normally have 40 weeks of classes/exams a year.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Yikes. I'm glad for a few months off.

Cerberus

11:51 PM

Two weeks off around Christmas and 7 in summer, or so.

So why the new apartment?

Mahnax

Well, my rental agreement is up at the end of July and I'm sick of paying through the nose to live here.

So, time for a new place!

Cerberus

Ah, how much do you pay?

And will be to able to find a cheaper, yet acceptable house?

Boarding was not included in your tuition? (Not that it ever is here, but I heard that was not uncommon in Anglo-Saxony.)

Mahnax

I pay $800/month. It's a quarter of the rent for a four-bedroom apartment with a tiny kitchen and poor amenities. If four people got together and looked for a place, they could do much better than $3200/month for something with four bedrooms.

@Cerberus Nope, not a dime.

Cerberus

Ah, yes, that is quite expensive!

I didn't know Eddy was so expensive.

(Or isn't that what we call it?)

Mahnax

For comparison, if I find two roommates, it is not unlikely that I will pay closer to $500 or $600 per month.

Cerberus

11:54 PM

OK better.

Mahnax

It's just the cost of living at the University. Expensive area, very desirable.