Damn mathmaticians.

When I look at the picture and then the name, they seem to correlate somehow.

The picture is of my first name "skullpatrol"

@tchrist What is more, even the Greeks couldn't decide which declension it was.

The consonantal declension, or the -i- declension?

@Noah what about Afghanistan?

@Cerberus Hi

How are you>

Hi.

@badass Anything. I actually have to write a short paper on it.

Most of the sources I have been through seem to contradict one another.

So gaining a little knowledge from those who have actually experienced the country might be of help.

Can you narrow down "anything"?

How people live? Their culture?

Hi

@Noah Why don't you start by reading the Wikipaedia article?

They live while enjoying outdoor activities like rock climbing and surfing

How do you know that @EnglishMaster

@Cerberus Okay. Sounds like a start.

What is "CCIE"?

Something Cisco.

I think it's a certification.

Yeah, CCIE is basically a set of next level certifications of CCNP

CCNP?

Cisco Certfied Network Professional, I guess.

Yeah P stands for "Professional" and E stands for "Expert"

So if you want to live in a Cisco shop, then do these certifications.

I'm interested in Cisco certs because I like networking. I think I'll achieve them one by one

And you want to compare that to the admission requirements of the Harvard School of Law?

Yeah

LoL

That's a bit funny.

hehe, sorry

It's like comparing Apples with Oranges.

Where only one thing matches and that's that they are both fruit.

Going to HSL requires a little bit of hard work and good grades.

In addition to that, you have to be good at writing. Your essays play an important role in the selection process.

Plus, some good recommendation letters, maybe from your current or previous professors.

And if English is not your first language, good TOEFL scores will be an asset.

Don't forget money.

Exactly.

Ask your dad to sell all his property.

lol

There is a big controversy going on right now about the number of A grades given out at Harvard and Stanford.

Oh, really?

Too many?

Yes way too many.

In which circumstances?

Not sure

Hmm.

The Harvard library is actually ten times bigger than the average US university library

That's nice.

But not very surprising...

What is the best school in NL?

Most universities are good. There are no real overall rankings.

10 books for every 1, I found that excessive

It depends on what you're studying.

@badass What if there's a "long tail" of small, poor universities?

What if I said, "the population of Germany is ten times as large as that of the average country"?

True

I think the average country is a bit larger than 8 million people, but it would probably work at "4 times as large".

Hmm apparently not, it's closer to 2.5 times.

@Cerberus How are they ranked internationally?

Wow that would put China....

Top 100?

Probably.

But those rankings don't tell you very much...

They are not mainly based on the actual quality of research or the intelligence of the people working there, but rather on quantifiable data, and they favour Anglo-Saxon universities.

I'm not saying the universities that top those rankings are bad, but it is a bit of a biased simplification.

I don't know. Myabe you are right

He's right

Money makes the world go round

Mandela dies at the age of 95.

Money, money. <Oney

Honey, money.

iooieioeioeie

This school is great

It seems like they have almost 100% students going to college

and they name their classrooms like "Harvard class" "Standford class"

Naturrutan

Lots of stuff to be found on the internet

@Cerberus Substantiating Fears of Grade Inflation, Dean Says Median Grade at Harvard College Is A-, Most Common Grade Is A ...Yes, @JohanLarsson indeed there is.

Good luck to students applying to law or medical schools from "lesser" colleges.

That's what standardized tests are for.

Even Bill Gates can be tutored to a near perfect standardized test score.

Harvard is a pretty good school. Their marine biology program isn't so great.

Why is Harvard so famous?

Age.

Endowments.

@JohanLarsson Yeah, but are any of those Swedish? If so, I may have to revise my statement.

did not find any, you statement still stands

I'm fine with relegating ABBA to third- or fourth-best band out of Sweden whose name is a palindrome.

ABBA are not very good imo, woman can sing though.

If you start a garage band whose name is Kroner Renork I will put you first and demote them.

lol

@JohanLarsson My statement was a way of saying I think ABBA are an abomination.

but I can't sing. I think

@Robusto I got that :)

Thinking is enough, sometimes.

I could probably come up with some really angry punk lyrics.

They wouldn't be punk if they weren't angry. Really angry.

i'm a punk who isn't really angry

Let it Bleed is a sick album btw, had not listened to Stones album by album before

@badass pun(k)

Chosen completely at random, here are The Dead Kennedys endearing themselves to us in the only way they now how.

Ah, whatever happened to Jello Biafra?

They don't seem frightened by taboos

They never met a line they didn't leap across.

they will

The ass is twice as big as it needs to be -badass now

God, have you read any of Barrie's blogs? I will have to remember to do so next time I run out of sleeping pills.

Do you use sleeping pills?

:D I never read any but liked the expression

ZZZzzz..

@JohanLarsson From time to time.

I have never tried pills but have trouble sleeping at times, watching this helps. Not because it is bad, the opposite in fact. Just that it is also good for falling asleep.

If you want to sleep to more advanced stuff you can use this

Usually I watch a movie I've seen before or read a book I've read before if I have trouble falling asleep. It has to be good enough not to irritate me with boredom, but not so compelling that it keeps me awake.

@JohanLarsson Ah, where would we be without those pulsing 1980s academic beats? Stanford Engineering sounds like a happening place. Only one that happened three decades ago.

The material is still relevant i think

Indeed.

lol Netherlands highschool textbook changed photo of Korea, which was "Group of women chopping fish heads off" to "People working on semiconductors"

What’s a more gentile, respectable, literate, prosaic, or poetic way of saying that somebody’s going to really kick some ass when he shows up?

He might not be pleased with what he will see?

@Reg, @Kit: This answer used to have a comment chain that was relevant and inoffensive. I referred to it in my meta post about NGrams, and Feral Oink references it in his answer to same. What happened to the comments?

@tchrist Prosaic or poetic? You can't have both.

I did say or.

Also, I thought gentiles were respectable.

I just want it to be high language, not low.

genteel

I would use understatement, such as @Johan suggested. That's what Twain would do.

or genital "He's gonna fuck you up"

"Let's just say I wouldn't want to be a breakable object in the room when he shows up there."

@JohanLarsson genital => tagline

don't understand

anagram

@tchrist Do you mean kick some ass in a physical way, or handily win some kind of game or contest?

Physically.

Then I would go with the oblique reference, as above.

It's more powerful when you leave the action to be imagined.

is this for fiction or work?

Does it matter?

Yes, I just defended MS, so suck it.

You have lost all credibility in this chat.

@cerberus - Made that Chana Masala again last night for dinner, but used chopped tomatoes instead of spinach, and a can of tomato sauce. Let it all summer like chili. Awesome!

I also left out a paren, so there's that.

@NeilFein So you're basically saying you have a dish nothing like Channa Masala, but you call it the same thing? Tomatoes instead of spinach is not a subtle difference.

I'm gonna make me some beef chili but use spinach instead of tomato sauce. And call it Beef Chili.

@Mitch - This is a continuation of a discussion from a day or two ago, we were talking about variations on the dish. If this version has a proper name, I'd love to hear it.

It's Tomato and chick peas. Done.

Have had a dish much like this in Indian restaurants, and I'm sure they had a proper name for it.

I mean like what I described above.

@Robusto I've never seen a green squiggly from MS word that I've had to change (oh except for a misplaced comma maybe). For language learners I bet it is great.

@Mitch Then perhaps you are not as free in your writing as you might be.

@NeilFein Oh. I'm mistaken...all the recipes say use tomatoes. Spinach is nowhere involved.

So now it is the spinach and chickpea dish that is definitely not chana masala

@Robusto This is like complaining about Strunk and White. It's really good advice for those beginning their writing career. It is not Particularly good for late comers. But it might help with stupid mistakes. (OK the later just for MSWord).

@Mitch I started with this recipe which has no tomatoes. So maybe different folks call it different things?

@Qǝuoɯᴉs Yes. It can refer to heterosexual relationships as well. In fact, that is its origin, to refer to someone who was a likely candidate for spousehood but who didn't meet the legal or social qualifications for actual spouse or fiancee/fiance.

@Mitch Shoe refers to this interesting article.

But I think "chana" is chickpeas and "masala" is for the spice mix?

Deviated?

@Qǝuoɯᴉs "I thought it applied mainly to sexually deviated people." Care to clarify? That can be seen as more than a little insulting. Although I may be seeing this out of context.

> If you want an amusing way to whiling away a rainy afternoon, take a piece of literary prose you consider sublimely masterful and run the Microsoft Word™ grammar checker on it, accepting all the suggested changes.

@NeilFein palak chole or Channa sag are names for chickpeas with spinach. But as to names that people give to recipes on the internet...anything goes. The thing you made chickpeas with tomatoes sounds like what is traditionally called channa masala. Whatever things are called, if it tastes good, that's great.

@Qǝuoɯᴉs [ˈdiːvɪeɪt]

@Qǝuoɯᴉs Thank you, I know what the word means. You're calling homosexuals "sexually deviated".

Calling someone a "sexual deviate" (or "deviant") is, as Neil Fein says, insulting. It conjures up images of pedophilia or S&M or bestiality. It is not how people today refer to differing gender orientations or affinities.

@Mitch Cool. Just had some of the leftovers for breakfast, so I'm happy.

Deviate? Desviar? Not via? Off the road? Recordare, Jesu pie, quod sum causa tuae viae: ne me perdas illa die.

Sexually deviated people are those who’ve been subjected to coïtus interruptus.

@tchrist All my eye and Betty Martin

This is not going to be pretty.

@tchrist I was trying to make a joke out of people snoring or sneezing funny.

@tchrist IKR? I just learned that one.

@Qǝuoɯᴉs Use whatever words you like. Just be aware that you run the risk of being thought ill-mannered, backward, or intolerant.

@Qǝuoɯᴉs You may be using the word in a technically correct way, but the purpose of language is to communicate. And you're communicating that you feel that alternate sexuality is wrong.

@Mitch Dwarf-jokes are not appropriate.

@tchrist Dwarf jokes were the worst thing about the filmed version of TLotR.

@tchrist Hey yeah, why isn't there one called 'Funny'? They need some levity what with the girl dying and stuff.

There were so many worsts.

@Robusto There weren't dwarf jokes aplenty in the writed version?

@Qǝuoɯᴉs that's the dictionary definition but it is almost always used with a stigma attached. (like the similarly pronounced 'deviant').

@NeilFein sounds right.

> In 1934, the names first selected were Wheezy, Jumpy, Baldy, Grumpy, Doc, Happy, and Sleepy. Four of those names were retained. Dozens of other names were suggested, with a few being Hickey, Sniffy, Stuffy, Burpy, Tubby, Shorty, and Dizzy.

@Robusto freer. I get all sorts of squigglies... in MS Word.

Thunderella!

I think Snorri was working off a different list than Walt was.

@tchrist There wasn't an original Grimm's tale? Or are those names for Schnee wittchen correct? -Nosewhite-?

Thunderella, Thunderella, booming little thing, Thunderella dance, Thunderella sing!

That confection has legs: Thunderella, Dunderella, Blunderella, Funderella, and so on.

@Mitch Snorri antedates the Grimms.

By nearly a millennium.

Although both were working from sources older than they themselves were.

That's true of everybody in every era, just about.

@Mitch I don’t believe the dwarves from the 1854 version were named.

Dwarves should have short names.

ouches

Sorry. Let me rephrase: Dwarves should have length-challenged names.

That way it holds down printing costs for the Dvergatal.

Which always reminded me of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer song, somehow.

I think Ikke would be a perfectly suitable name for a dwarf. That way it would be short, and have the additional benefit of confusing the Danes.

ikke, ne

Also Jeg.

@Mitch Here's what I did last night for my American "chana masala". :) docs.google.com/document/d/…

@Cerberus - See above. Any changes to this?

@tchrist I'm surprised that one made it past HUAC.

@tchrist "My sources say no" - I can't find anything other than that 7 is a magic number, not 3.

> Nýi, Niði, Norðri, Suðri, Austri, Vestri, Alþjófr, Dvalinn, Nár ok Náinn, Nípingr, Dáinn, Bifurr, Bafurr, Bömburr, Nori, Ánn ok Ánarr, Óinn, Mjöðvitnir. Veggr ok Gandálfr, Vindálfr, Þorinn, Þrár ok Þráinn, Þekkr, Litr ok Vitr, Nýr ok Nýráðr, nú hefi ek dverga, Reginn ok Ráðsviðr, rétt um talða. Fili, Kili, Fundinn, Nali, Hepti, Vili, Hanarr, Svíurr, Billingr, Brúni, Bildr ok Buri, Frár, Hornbori, Frægr ok Lóni, Aurvangr, Jari, Eikinskjaldi.

@Mitch Three is decidedly a magic number.

Those are all of the folk of Durinn.

Tell that to Die Deutche.

Those who wrote the snow white article.

But I guess there's room for more magic. 4 is definitely not magic.

I’m still waiting for Vindalf.

In an airy-fairy kind of way.

It’s weird that almost all the names are short but for Eikinskjaldi last. Perhaps the skald ran out of breath there.

@tchrist That's it? I expected a couple more like Oin and Gloin

@Robusto the two comments were deleted in May 2012 after getting flagged as obsolete. I can't see who the flagger was, but it might well have been the answerer himself (slim), as the second comment was him saying "I have updated the answer to include all four. FWIW, it surprised me too. I would probably say "go for a swim" myself."

But I must be off again, to a friend's BD.

CU

@Mitch Well, no. Those were Durin’s folk, not Dwalin’s.

@RegDwigнt They're extremely not obsolete. There are dependencies that should have precluded them from garbage collection.

@Mitch Þar var Draupnir ok Dolgþrasir, Hár, Haugspori, Hlévangr, Glóinn, Dóri, Óri Dúfr, Andvari Skirfir, Virfir, Skáfiðr, Ái. Alfr ok Yngvi, Eikinskjaldi, Fjalarr ok Frosti, Finnr ok Ginnarr; þat mun æ uppi meðan öld lifir, langniðja tal Lofars hafat.

Plus Móðsognir was accounted the greatest of all the Dwarves, followed by Durinn.

@Robusto I was anticipating Lee Pace in the role of Thranduil in the last Hobbit movie. The actor said his entrance into the battle was a game-changer. In other words, he’s going to kick some ass.

In the end I settled for merely:

> Pretty sure that means that in the Battle of the Five Armies we’ll at last see what it means for a Lord of the Eldar, one reared in Doriath itself and well acquainted with war, to rage against the Ancient Foe on the field of battle, his coming scattering them like a mighty wind.

It works.

Of all the people to call a Nazi, I imagine calling @RegDwigнt one like that is one of the least appropriate possible choices.

Yeah.

I wonder what kind of name Janus is. His surname is French, I suppose. If Janus is Slavic, I wonder how the French pronounce it.

Just the way it’s spelled, of course.

Why didn't I think of that?

Lack of familiarity with French phonology, perhaps? I predict /ʒany/.

@tchrist You know the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, don’t you?

@TimTimmy Not thirsty, thank you.

@tchrist That's the obvious answer. But they might make an effort to pronounce it in a more Slavic manner if he insisted on it.

I think he’s American-reared.

I may be wrong.

The English mouth is not used to saying /ʒany/ anyway.

@tchrist What do you mean “I’m not thirsty”??? ಠ_ಠ

He probably meets with plenty of Janices.

@TimTimmy Read the poem.

That is, sounding the the girl’s name, Janice.

I haven’t seen double digit temps for days now. Well not positive at least.

@tchrist Oh come on, just a teeny question :)

@tchrist I don’t get this: The dice game between Death and Life-and-Death is an appropriate part of the Mariner's punishment because, when he killed the albatross, he expressed a belief that the world is guided by luck and chaos.

I cannot find the belief that the world is guided by luck and chaos. Can you? Many thanks :)

Google found it.

@tchrist ??

Damn it, Tim, I’m a programmer, not an eschatologist!

@tchrist Oh I know you like poems :P

@TimTimmy I always did my own homework. Go thou and do likewise.

@tchrist First issue, I know that – the issue is that they did not provide a quotation to support it. Secondly, in any way am I making you do my homework? I am inquiring you, not annoying you. This is not a chat and annoyment room.

oh? just an annoyment room?

Hey, where did that come from?

@tchrist Sorry if I got a bit tempered.

@Mitch Feel free to close my comment as a dupe then.

@RegDwigнt "i what to know th mean of this would Assim tambem so quero amizade gosto de ter novos amigos" If that's not spam it is excellent straddling the line between meaning and not.

Calling a Russian a Nazi is just asking to get goose-stepped out the door.

@Robusto Well, I thought that Grammar Nazi was OK, but you instance makes it seem questionable now (to me). I wondered why all the fuss.

@Mitch Surely you can translate that yourself.

@tchrist Wait a second – are you a web developer?

@TimTimmy No, I’m a programmer.

@Tim And please stop all the pinging.

@Tim It really is annoying.

@tchrist without google translate all I get from the voices in my head are "so much I want to like from thirty nine friends." Which as I noted, sorta almost makes sense.

@Mitch Thus also do I only desire friendship; I enjoy having new friends.

@Mitch Stop pupsocketing!

@tchrist Oh...then I was right, it doesn't make any sense.

@tchrist Ha ha. OK. stopped.

"Harry glumly considered the Dartmouth Conference on Artificial Intelligence in 1956"

I think that rhetorical pattern is called "Abrupt Awkward subject change"

> Thursday evening, December 5th, Santa had arrived in Dillon, Colorado with one of his reindeer for Dillon’s annual lighting celebration. Amidst all the excitement for the season, and while Santa was inside the La Riva building visiting all the children, the reindeer jumped the enclosure, leading everyone on a healthy jog and sight-seeing trip through town.

> Wanting to make sure he got in all the sights of Dillon, and the most fun, swimming across Dillon Reservoir to the Roberts Tunnel, the reindeer wandered throughout the night and most of the next day taking in the beauty of the area.

> Finally seeing enough in this trip and after Santa brought some of his other reindeer to see the area, the sight-seer decided to return to his friends assisted by Dillon Police Officer Bryan Wagner and Summit County Animal Control Officer JJ Swirka. The reindeer are now in preparation for the upcoming flight around the world on Christmas Eve.

@Robusto did reg talk to you about this?

@tchrist "decided to return to his friends assisted by ... Animal Control Officer JJ Swirka" = "Venison for Christmas!"

@KitFox Yes.