English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Europe, England, and America have all invested pre-emptively in the research and production of vaccines by many pharmaceutical companies, larger and small.

And rightly so.

And they also signed contracts with those companies on deliveries.

Robusto

12:21 AM

> Von der Leyen added that the United States and Britain had systems in place that effectively blocked the export of COVID-19 vaccines.

Cerberus

Whenever meeting the agreed numbers or dates was not possible, one would expect a company to deliver to each contract pro rata.

But A-Z didn't do that.

Robusto

That was all I could find about what you said, @Cerberus.

Cerberus

Right.

Robusto

I would like to see more, since a one-sentence assertion would seem to require a bit more, uh, detail.

The vast majority of the stories involve EU/UK problems.

@Cerberus Meanwhile, the EU is being accused of the same thing.

So, as usual, plenty of blame to go around.

Cerberus

> I am also shocked when I hear the accusations of ‘vaccine nationalism’ against the EU. Here again, the facts do not lie. The United Kingdom and the United States have imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory. But the European Union, the region with the largest vaccine production capacity in the world, has simply put in place a system for controlling the export of doses produced in the EU. Our objective: to prevent companies from which we have ordered and pre-financed doses from exporting them to other advanced countries when they …

This is from the President of the European Council (I think).

So take it with a grain of salt.

@Robusto Yes, the EU also blocks some exports.

But, if I am to believe the papers, much less so than do America and England.

As to the Australian example, the entire country has only a handful of infections, I believe. And the Australian government agreed that it didn't need those vaccines right now.

Robusto

12:27 AM

@Cerberus Yeah. There is no such thing as a "national" pharmaceutical company anymore. They're all multi-national.

@Cerberus Well, of course your news will have that slant.

Cerberus

Somehow, I don't have a huge deal of trust in the reputation of English newspapers...

Robusto

I don't either. That's where Rupert Murdoch started off in the mendacity business, isn't it?

Cerberus

@Robusto I'm not sure anyone has a full picture of what's going on.

Yes, Murdoch is a problem in the Anglo-Saxon countries. Or at least in Australia, England, America.

I do know that the assertions by A-Z and the British government, about the A-Z contracts and exports, have been debunked.

Robusto

Then he came to America and brought us Faux News and all their mind control of the (not necessarily) working class.

Cerberus

And I believe his more extreme son ousted his less extreme son.

From leading the company.

Robusto

12:31 AM

Yeah. They are pure evil.

Aug 4 '20 at 18:40, by Robusto

Cerberus

Exactly.

Is that Murdoch?

Elections were today.

The far right has regained a few seats.

They are now at 28 seats again, just as in 2002.

But at least they are now divided, they are three parties now.

Robusto

@Cerberus Yes.

Cerberus

And the cordon sanitaire seems to be functioning now, i.e. nobody wants to form a coalition with them any more.

The cordon sanitaire always worked well in Belgium.

Robusto

@Cerberus In your country?

Cerberus

Yes.

The far right are now at 18.7%.

Which seems stable, manageable enough.

But it was hoped they would lose seats.

And predicted.

Robusto

12:35 AM

They are a cancer everywhere.

Cerberus

Well, the difference is only a few seats anyway.

Yeah.

Mitch

1:34 AM

@Xanne So basket: 10k years ago. child's skeleton: 6k. Scrolls: 2k.

Didn't the scrolll people notice holy shit a dead kid is in here?

Cerberus

@Mitch I believe it is a very large cave.

Mitch

or better... hey let's put our scrolls in the big basket with the dead kid

Cerberus

Sure, they could have done that.

Mitch

@M.A.R. Does everyone know that 'Isle of Dogs' is homophonic with 'I love dogs'?

Cerberus

After the bones had dried.

Mitch

1:39 AM

@Cerberus big missed opportunity

Cerberus

How long does that take?

Mitch

a couple hours

Cerberus

I don't think even the desert is that dry.

Mitch

The atacama is pretty dry

Cerberus

But the entire body needs to rot away first.

And be eaten.

Then the bones dry.

Then the cleaners need to come to put them in the basket.

Mitch

1:41 AM

it's why the Inca followed the Andes which normally such high mountains are avoided for empires

Cerberus

Because they liked dry?

Mitch

they avoided the desert

Cerberus

Ah.

Mitch

and stayed up in the moist livable mountains

Cerberus

And there was nothing else except mountains?

Mitch

1:43 AM

I don't think they went down the other side into the amazon. Not sure.

Cerberus

You could have a very loooong empire along the edge of the mountains.

Does English have a word for gebergte?

Mitch

montagne?

Cerberus

All I can think of is mountain range.

Is that English?

Mitch

yeah mountain range

Cerberus

A gebergte in Dutch is the mass noun for bergen.

Mitch

1:45 AM

mountains is the mass noun for mountain in English

Cerberus

Gedierte is a mass of animals, usually ongedierte, a mass of bad animals (vermin).

Geboefte is a mass of criminals.

Mitch

I'm gonna gebarf

Conrado

@Cerberus The Inca did have a long empire.

Cerberus

@Mitch It's a fun word even in Dutch.

@Conrado Mmm but not extremely so.

Mitch

@Cerberus huh

Cerberus

1:47 AM

This is not just the edge of a gebergte.

Mitch

that looks like they were totally in the Atacama

Cerberus

I only know the Atacama is in Chile.

I don't remember where.

Conrado

Well, at the southern end we're the Mapuches and Huilliches, who were tough cookies even for the Inca.

Mitch

Southern Peru too

Cerberus

The South and Central American Empires looked cool.

And they played football matches.

Conrado

1:49 AM

But the mountains are not very moist on the side toward the Pacífico.

Cerberus

I'm sure the dude appreciates it.

Mitch

Even down towards you?

Cerberus

Heh.

Mitch

Isn't the argentinian side the drier side as you go south?

Cerberus

Don't look at me!

Conrado

1:51 AM

@Mitch Well here it's the other way: the wind brings water from the Pacific, and drops it as it rises over the Andes.

Mitch

right, and then the wind is all dry as it continues on to Argentina?

Conrado

But in the Atacama area, it takes a great many acres to sustain a single llama. The Inca made survival an art there. I admire their persistence.

@Mitch exactamente.

Cerberus

I hear both of you use Inca as a plural.

Mitch

Also, empires don't spring up out of nothing, they conquered all sorts of smaller kingdoms or groups all along the Andes

@Cerberus I don't hear anything at all except the clickety clack of typing

Cerberus

@Mitch Of course.

@Mitch But I type so silently.

Mitch

1:58 AM

maps make it look like it just all pops into existence all over

Cerberus

The Incas has indentured slavery, I think. As did many states small and large.

Conrado

@Mitch And that is the Patagonia

Cerberus

I.e. if you went bankrupt, you were forced to sell yourself into slavery.

I don't remember the details.

Conrado

@Cerberus States (or More exactly, people within states) have often found it convenient to have slaves. This is a world where the big fish eat the little fish. How else would they build Machu Picchu? Or the White House? Or the Buckingham Palace? Or you name it? Not defending the practice, you know. Just admitting that it happens.

Cerberus

Yes.

Slavery was quite common.

And there are similar ways to exploit people that still exist.

And which are hardly better, or even worse.

Conrado

2:07 AM

Wal-Mart?

Cerberus

Hah.

Conrado

Quechua word of the day: "Diospagaraski".

It means roughly "Thank you"

Borrowed from the Spanish for "God will pay".

I don't know if they said "thank you" at all before colonization.

Mitch

@Cerberus What?

Screw those guys

Cancel them

uh...

Cerberus

@Conrado Funny.

Mitch

already taken care of

@Conrado Supposedly...

the jews who built (some of) the pyramids..

were not necessarily slaves...

but possibly employees?

I heard that somewhere.

Conrado

2:14 AM

@Mitch Ah, Yes.

But in Chile, for example, many undocumented Peruvian labourers are similarly employed in construction work. They are cheaper than us, you know, and they work hard!

@Cerberus I don't know why that is.

britannica.com/topic/Inca

Also, the Inuit.

But, the Aztecs.

Much of the modern world is built on oppression of this sort.

Cerberus

2:52 AM

@Conrado Hmm I think I would have says Incas.

Which is correct?

CowperKettle

4:39 AM

[FSD Beta 8.2] Oakland - Close Calls, Pedestrians, Bicycles!

►

CowperKettle

6:15 AM

Boeing 737 landing on a snow runway | 360 degrees cockpit view | VR view

►

Landing in Yekaterinburg in a Boeing, full-degree view

CowperKettle

7:17 AM

Open intimidation

SmokeDetector

9:19 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in body, mostly punctuation marks in body, mostly punctuation marks in title, repeating characters in body, repeating characters in title, +1 more (373): //////////////////////////////////////////////////////// ✏️ by Learning English on english.SE

CowperKettle

1:07 PM

Robusto

@CowperKettle Russia erupts in fury over Biden calling Putin a "killer"

Well, if the shoe fits ... and it would certainly seem this one does.

CowperKettle

@Robusto The authorities have no option but to "erupt in fury".

But really they are more worried about the upcoming election into Parliament this fall.

Robusto

> Pyotr O. Tolstoy, the deputy chairman of the lower house of Parliament, thundered that “the only language” that Americans understand “is, unfortunately, the language of force.” Another senior lawmaker, Andrei A. Turchak, described Mr. Biden’s utterance as “a challenge to our entire nation.”

@CowperKettle They are losing their ability to fix elections?

CowperKettle

Haha, Pyotr Tolstoy is a semi-clown. There are several personages who produce stifled laughter even among Putin's followers. They exist to air the most radical thoughts and thus to plumb the public's reaction.

@Robusto No, but they are afraid of public demonstrations that may follow.

Biden can do nothing about Putin, so Putin can just laugh this away.

Robusto

1:23 PM

@CowperKettle I hope those happen.

@CowperKettle Yeah. One wonders what the "language of force" will look like.

CowperKettle

Maybe even from the politics standpoint it was better not to call him killer outright, because it's better to keep the better cards hidden.

@Robusto I think the US authorities are more worried about China.

Russia is a kind of slowly dying empire.

China gets powerful.

Robusto

@CowperKettle Except what was the win here? Leaving the truth unspoken? Like if Biden kept things quiet Russia wouldn't try to sway elections here again?

CowperKettle

Russia's GDP is less than that of California.

Robusto

I know.

CowperKettle

@Robusto I doubt that Russia really can seriously affect US elections. It can meddle, but it will spend more money than it will gain through this.

Robusto

1:27 PM

Russia could be a giant again. Lots of very smart people there. But not with a corrupt government.

CowperKettle

Maybe if Russia closes its border completely, to stop the brain drain, then smart people will have no recourse but to work inside Russia, and not flee abroad.

M.A.R.

2:16 PM

@CowperKettle And the west would seize every opportunity to call it the human rights violation it is

You know, I think the reason they don't do that is systems like Russia's and Iran's award incompetence. If you're an incompetent moron in power, why would you want people that can do the job to replace you?

M.A.R.

2:43 PM

@CowperKettle Isn't it always going to be helpless to compare one's nation with the richest nation in the world?

It's not like California only has 50000 people.

The bar for economic prosperity is probably much lower than that. I'd be happy with my situation if my money didn't lose 30 % of its value by the end of each year

@Robusto Is it surprising?

Everyone has their part to play in the masquerade

Conrado

I just discovered that Russia is even more sparsely populated (at 8.29/km2) than Bolivia (at 10.6/km2).

indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?v=21000

M.A.R.

@Conrado I mean, it's a little . . . big

@Mitch Wait . . . "Isle of Man" . . . nice

Conrado

Yes, but I'm trying to imagine the wide open spaces.

I don't think I would like to live in Siberia in the winter.

M.A.R.

How do you think @Cowp finds all the open space to run?

Mitch

3:05 PM

@Cerberus maps like that make me think that empire building is entirely based on one strange human desire to walk a thousand miles with weapons.

@Robusto I feel like every news item in the West makes Putin smirk.

"Putin is a killer" Putin smirks 'they ain't wrong' haha

"Trump loses election" Putin smirks 'we lost our inside man' haha

M.A.R.

frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/…

Mitch

"Chinese workcamps for Uighurs condemned" Putin smirks 'Oh China' haha

M.A.R.

"Florida man arrested for marrying a female shark" Putin smirks 'Oh Florida men' haha

Mitch

haha. Florida

M.A.R.

v.redd.it/xbx755a45sn61

Mitch

3:16 PM

@M.A.R. Not enough smirking references in the body of that article. Putin only smirked once.

@M.A.R. haha truth.

plus farting

M.A.R.

@Mitch Yeah I just googled "putin smirk" and that came up. Stupid clickbait shit

Mitch

@M.A.R. Which is awful because I only get my news from article headlines.

to be truthful

reading is hard

M.A.R.

I don't get my news.

Only way to be sure

Everything sounds the same after a while anyway

Mitch

right

M.A.R.

I wonder why you folks still check out the news. You should be darn tired of the same thing over and over again

Mitch

3:20 PM

it's "defense minister" this and "productivity blah blah unemployment rate" that

boring

M.A.R.

Like, I can turn on the 7 p.m. news here in 10 minutes and predict everything they're going to say

Mitch

@M.A.R. "Israel blah blah did something mean to the Palestinians"

60 years of that

M.A.R.

"Iran doesn't allow women to men's bathrooms"

Mitch

@M.A.R. What? That's messed up man

M.A.R.

"Russia is being Russia to Eastern Europe"

Mitch

3:22 PM

Why aren't men cleaning their bathrooms?

Pigs

M.A.R.

"NATO doesn't like that it can't surround Russia with missile bases"

Mitch

"China doesn't give a crap about you"

M.A.R.

"China cuts off the internet cable, says people should use wire phones instead"

Mitch

Wait...really?

"Japan blah blah something really really weird that has no consequences to anything whatsoever"

M.A.R.

"The Thai king quarantines everyone after sneezing incident"

@Mitch "Japan is STILL not apologizing for WWII"

Mitch

3:25 PM

@M.A.R. I didn't want to go there but yes. It's kind of messed up.

M.A.R.

And unchanging

Mitch

But also "The British Royal family blah blah something really really weird that has no consequences to anything whatsoever"

M.A.R.

"Venezuela and Iran sign trade agreement; 'That'll show the Americans!'"

Mitch

And likewise "the UK is STILL not apologizing for pretty much everything because tea and scones should be enough"

America is so uptight. Just give up man.

M.A.R.

@Mitch "Look at prince Harry, prince Gary, prince Larry show off their new watch"

"Really nice guy, everyone's favorite drummer, philanthropist, noble peace prize winner, commits suicide"

Seriously what's up with that

Mitch

3:28 PM

When I have my royal family, I'm gonna have grandchildren and great-grandchildren, in or out of the line of succession be named Dweezil and Moonunit just like Zappa's kids. Screw you history books!

@M.A.R. Bill Gates?

M.A.R.

Well no, for Bill Gates it's often "Look at how many books Bill Gates read this summer"

But musicians, artists, actors

It's like art does something to the mind

"50-meter sausage fried in Bavaria"

Mitch

I don't know how people do it. Don't they have jobs? Where do they find time to read all those books. And let's say they somehow do. How can they possibly remember anything they read more than a week ago? All the new books will push put the memory of the older ones.

@M.A.R. mmm

M.A.R.

Seriously. Especially especially non-fiction

I take a month to read an average non-fiction book

Mitch

it takes discipline.

M.A.R.

I mean, I also study textbooks, lots of stuff

Mitch

3:32 PM

It's so easy to read down a feed on twitter rather than flip pages of a book

M.A.R.

But if you're not studying, you must have some sort of job

Mitch

@M.A.R. math is tough because you can't just have your eyes scan along the text. You have to do a visualization for every manipulation, for every step.

M.A.R.

Novels I can read twice as fast as non-fiction

Mitch

I can watch youtube videos faster than I can read.

all those words... somebody should just draw a picture. maybe an animation.

M.A.R.

Non-fiction is full of double-takes, googling random questions that come up, disagreeing with the author

Footnotes, references

CowperKettle

6:52 PM

Robusto

7:16 PM

@M.A.R. Not at all. But that doesn't mean it isn't worth noting.

@CowperKettle Not a very comfy bike to ride, I'll bet.

Nor very fast.

CowperKettle

7:27 PM

> Tegel met chirurgijn die amputatie uitvoert bij een kind

circa 1700

Cerberus

Yeah, that's not fun, is it?

M.A.R.

8:14 PM

@Robusto I just wanna imagine all the friction on that butt skin

CowperKettle

@Cerberus I thougth they used saws, but this one shows a kind of cutting tool with probably a wooden hammer.

Must be quick.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle Not saws, but . . . axes? Cleavers?

CowperKettle

Darwin famously felt unwell witnessing an operation on a child, and decided not to pursue a medical career.

M.A.R.

> During an amputation, a scalpel was used to cut through the skin and a Caitlin knife to cut through the muscle. The surgeon then picked up a bone saw (the tool which helped create the Civil War slang for surgeons known as "Sawbones") and sawed through the bone until it was severed.

Cerberus

It could be an axe?

CowperKettle

8:21 PM

The lack of anasthesia turned lucky for Darwin.

M.A.R.

This was during the American civil war

@CowperKettle he was naturally selected to propose natural selection

2

CowperKettle

> 6 o'clock in the morning, and police came to me.

Artem Mozgov, Chairman of the Khabarovsk branch of the Libertarian Party of Russia

It's already early morning in the Far East of Russia.

Putin's political police starts their raids early.

M.A.R.

They want to promote rising early from the bed

CowperKettle

Yes, probably

The funny thing is, the Libertarian party anyway stands a tiny chance of getting any kind of seats, but they crush it just to be sure.

M.A.R.

They might reproduce

You need to destroy the natural habitat, use mosquito nets, and destroy the larvae with a special type of bacteria called . . . wait, that's instructions for malaria

Cerberus

8:53 PM

And Putin is really upset because Biden called him a "killer".

Mitch

9:07 PM

Who is expected to replace Merkel?

Cerberus

9:23 PM

Not certain yet.

Probably Laschet or Söder.

Mark Giraffe

Shchiekcemn?