brb, meeting

I think the world is doing remarkably well.

Maybe we should just nuke everything from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

The banks are a bit of an uncertain factor on the long term; but I don't see any other problems that are really new.

We should congratulate ourselves on our progress and relative well-being.

The rise of China makes it even better for everyone.

Well, perhaps another destabilizing factor I could think of would be if terrorists got their hands on large amounts of nuclear bombs. That would be a problem. But that isn't going to happen within the next few years, at least.

@Martha @JSBangs You guys are hilarious.

@Cerberus I think illiberalism in the USA is something to really regret.

no patting on the back until that is extirpated

oh, and stop people saying it's a "Judeo-Christian country". they couldn't miss the point more if they tried.

@Jez It is regreattable; but it is nothing new, and I see no evidence that it is getting worse on the scale of decades yet, let alone centuries.

no, it's getting worse much faster

@JasperLoy That is very difficult. You need expert knowledge and huge installation where you can work without disturbance.

@Jez Isn't it a ripple on a lake?

Yes, I know everything about nuclear bombs, as a classicist.

@Cerberus a tsunami is a better analogy

Don't let the terrorists get their hands on Homer!

@Cerberus — Pfft. I bet you don't even know the formula for Greek fire!

@Jez Hehe. Well, I see no prohibition, no punishing gays, no forced religion.

@Cerberus you're not looking in the right places.

@Robusto Indeed I do not! But perhaps Vitruvius or the like would have it...

@JasperLoy Yeeees? >_>

@Jez It isn't in the prominent places where it used to be.

prohibition of cannabis isn't prominent?

@Cerberus: Oh, btw, been meaning to ask you. What do the parts of Cleopatra's name mean in Greek?

Hehe

@Jez It isn't exactly the same.

of course it isn't exactly the same, or it would be prohibition of alcohol

@JasperLoy — Wood + friction = ... nah, I'm not gonna go there.

@Robusto Hmm... -patra is no doubt "of a father", and cleo- is probably "fame/famous". Or it could possibly be the Muse of History, Cleio. Probably fame.

@Cerberus — Thank you.

@Robusto there is no language better than English for making innuendo out of any given sequence of words

So I'd say it means "of a famous father", but I'd have to look it up to be absolutely sure.

@Cerberus — When you get a chance and you think of it, if you wouldn't mind ...

@Jez Then it is different. Everbody used to drink alcohol before the P; not everybody used drugs before the WoD.

@Robusto I will do it right now.

And Demosthenes would mean "strength of the people"?

@Cerberus plenty of people didn't drink

but a ton of them did. a ton use soft drugs.

neither harms society much, especially soft drugs

thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Cleopatra

They interpret it as "fame/glory of the father". It doesn't really matter which part to take as the head.

@Cerberus Is this my new nickname? Or maybe Berenice?

thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Jeremy

@Cerberus — Hahaha, and here I thought you were going to quote me a classical source. But thanks, I didn't think of that one. ^_)^

wow, my name was nearly #1 in the US in 1960!

@Robusto Probably, yes, something like that. Or "[descendent] of the strong people".

@Jez Jeremy was on our short list both times.

@Robusto Hehe I would have no idea whether any classical author actually explained it. It is just that the parts are obvious.

@Kit Is your name Cleopatra? Wonderful!

@JasperLoy I love, love, love the name Jasper. And Jasmine, too.

@JasperLoy Indeed!

@Cerberus — Yes, it is that kind of casual assumption that prevented me from discovering it for myself. Everybody assumes everybody knows it. So noobs like me get the bum's rush.

@Jez But many fewer use drugs than drink.

@Cerberus I was thinking Berenice—victory bringer.

@Cerberus what's your argument, anyway?

@Robusto I can look it up in a classical encyclopaedia: that would be the best source. I will VPN into one on my other computer.

what percentage of society has to use something for it to be 'legitimate' to ignore the law on?

@Jez 4%

@Jez Whatever percentage I'm a part of.

@Kit I Googled it (hehe), and, yes, ber(e)- appears to be Macedonian for Greek fer- "bring".

@Jez My argument is that society was more illiberal then than now.

The Prohibition was more illiberal than the War on Drugs.

@Cerberus So Berenice → Ferenice → Ferenc → Fennec.

did they incarcerate hundreds of thousands of people because of Prohibition?

see, the idea of Prohibition was more illiberal. but they didn't really enforce it.

@Kit Ehh I thought Ferenc came from Frank?

But I am not sure.

what makes the WoD so evil is that there are a bunch of old white men who are just fine with locking up other people.

Yes, Germanic ~"frank" = free; (=> France => French) => Francus = French; => Ferenc. Probably.

@Jez I agree that the WoD is also very illiberal. I just mentioned a bunch of illiberal things that they don't have any more.

@Cerberus — In OE France was Francrice (Frank-ritcheh)

@Robusto Right, it still is in German and Dutch!

German is Frankreich ... not quite the same.

@Cerberus It's a joke, you see.

@Robusto The same roots.

@Kit The Fennec part was a bit suspicious looking...

Here is the funniest one. A popular term for America in Japanese is beikoku, meaning "Rice Land" ... written with the characters for rice and country.

But I was seriously wondering about Ferenc.

@Robusto Rice!?

Crazy.

Ayup.

When they speak of relations between the U.S. and Japan, they call them nichi-bei: Sun-rice relations.

Yes, lots. More than Japan, even.

But the Japanese consider the American rice to be inferior.

Of course.

Ah, lunch beckons. TTYL.

@JasperLoy Oh, no, both of my boys are born and named already.

@JasperLoy That's funny. :-) Max was on our short list too.

Well, stuff wasn't found, going to go file police report now. :( Later all.

Boo. Later, @Fallen

There's a Fishing question on Gaming, by the way, if you want to just look up the answer.

@Kit you also have two boys? as do i...

@JSBangs Yes, as I recall ours are about the same age too. Mine are 1 and 3.

@Kit i knew you had one, but i had forgotten about your other. mine are also 1 and 3

Never mind, I thought two girls and two boys.

@FallenAngelEyes Aww that sucks... well, you have my sympathy. And that of everyone here.

My friends... don't have kids yet because it'd raise all sorts of alarms to have kids at 1 and 3 when you married only the previous month

I know a few people who got married after their first or second.

@Kit Were they fresh out of college?

@JasperLoy damn mathematicians. destroying the fabric of society, they are

@JasperLoy When I was on Jury Duty, I heard a similar story, except it wasn't a mathematician and the person sure as hejudas wasn't missing.

@JSBangs And what good comes of it?

Nevertheless, he never married and never claimed to be a parent to the children of the four wives, which was beneficial because if they had a loser dad then they'd have to live off his loser pay, but if the dad was missing and unknown, then they get all sorts of child support.

@GraceNote that's a perverse incentive if ever there was one

but anyway

@JSBangs And yet it is legally invincible

can we get two more close votes on this one?

@JasperLoy needle question?

i think that's off-topic as a list request

yeah, what a crappy question with crappy, crappy answers

@JasperLoy i know, i flagged that one, too

but in the meantime i think that the original question should be closed

@JasperLoy yeah, damn americans. almost as bad as mathematicians!

Where is everyone?

I'm here!

The people bar is near empty! We're going to run out of stamina!

@simchona Yay!

I think chat logged people out. I had to log in again this morning

Ze tschat iz buggy.

Something about the data being old?

Half roomz not their lol

Sorry, all. I unplugged the Internet by accident while I was vacuuming.

So you're broadcasting in stereo now, I see.

@Kit S'ok. I was at the art museum anyway. Needed to get out of the house.