English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

5:03 PM

Why haven’t the Ebola health-care workers watched The Andromeda Strain? Didn’t anybody tell them they needed to wear spacesuits?

Matt Эллен

I guess it's difficult to help people if you're in a space suit

tchrist

One is supposed to handle it at BSL-4.

The visuals I’ve seen have people barely at BSL-2.

The UK has like four BSL-4 containment facilities, the US maybe fifteen.

Matt Эллен

hmmm

tchrist

In all of the African continent, only Johannesburg alone has a suit-containment facility.

Biosafety level

A biosafety level is the level of the biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the highest at level 4 (BSL-4). In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have specified these levels. In the European Union, the same biosafety levels are defined in a directive. == History == The first prototype Class III (maximum containment) biosafety cabinet was fashioned in 1943 by Hubert Kaempf Jr., then a U.S. Army soldier, under the direction...

So that’s why they aren’t doing BSL-4.

Matt Эллен

indeed

tchrist

5:10 PM

But health-care workers are going to keep dying until they fix this. And they have no money to fix this.

kwak

Hazardous level

Matt Эллен

make do and mend. Although not much chance of mending

kwak

./make do

tchrist

It looks like the US has fewer facilities than fifteen. Some are not BSL-4 equipped and others are only in the making, or are for non-humans only.

The one at the CDC in Atlanta where they’re sending the two infected US doctors does look like a real BSL-4.

> CDC is one of only a handful of facilities in the United States with Biosafety level (BSL)–4 laboratory space capable of handling contagions for which there is no treatment or vaccine.

> The CDC building′s high–tech security features feel like something from a James Bond movie. For example, there are biometric security devices, including iris scans and fingerprinting in the high–containment laboratories. The walls in the BSL–4 labs are thick, solid concrete, designed to maintain pressure differentials between the BSL–4 labs and the rest of the building.

cdc.gov/24-7/cdcfastfacts/laboratories.html

They have to wear positive-pressure suits and get washed down with a chemical shower with the suits still on.

Matt Эллен

5:25 PM

The fact that the outbreak is about to hit (has hit?) a capital city is bad news. Especially one with so much shanty town.

tchrist

> There are regular showers for all workers who leave the area and chemical showers for those exiting the BSL–4 laboratories before removing the positive–pressure suits. There are a series of pressurized interlocks staff pass through to get from one room to another. A computer lets them know when they are cleared to proceed. HEPA filters (high efficiency particulate air filters) constantly help filter and clean the air.

Ok, now this bothers me. A computer lets them know?

@MattЭллен Which one?

Matt Эллен

best hope noone gets a usb stick near it

@tchrist ... one sec, I'm terrible with cities

tchrist

Andromeda Strain had the whole spacesuit thing.

I think it’s a good day to call my uncle, make sure he’s in the States. He goes abroad so much I never know. We always worry about him.

Neal Halsey

Neal A. Halsey, MD (born 1945), is a pediatrician, with subspecialty training in infectious diseases, international health and epidemiology. Currently, Dr. Halsey is a Professor of International Health and Director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in Baltimore, Maryland. He also has a joint appointment in the Department of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and serves as Co-Director of the Center for Disease Studies and Control in Guatemala. As part of a career largely dedicated to promoting vaccinations, in 1999 he ...

Matt Эллен

@tchrist Lagos

tchrist

@MattЭллен Wait, I thought it was only Liberia and Sierra Leone and Guinea, not Nigeria yet.

Oh, I see it is in Nigeria now.

That’s awful.

Matt Эллен

5:31 PM

aye

tchrist

> In Nigeria, IHR focal person report confirms that the probable case notified was symptomatic at the time of arrival in Nigeria and that 59 contacts (15 from among the airport staff and 44 from the hospital) have been identified so far. The report also confirms that the patient travelled by air and arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, on 20th July via Lomé, Togo and Accra, Ghana.

afro.who.int/en/clusters-a-programmes/dpc/…

> Though only one probable case has been detected so far in Nigeria, Ebola virus infection in this country represents a significant development in the course of this outbreak.

Not spreading in Nigeria. Yet.

Matt Эллен

Hopefully it won't

kwak

only WHO resource I know is who.int/tobacco/surveillance/policy/country_profile/en

tchrist

@MattЭллен WS2 is fuming at the tense closure.

Matt Эллен

Thanks. I'll comment in a mo

tchrist

5:39 PM

He’s a bit off in his terminology.

Were staying is not “an imperfect tense” in English. But languages that do have true imperfects often get those forms translated into English past progressives.

kwak

@tchrist not at all, "les joueurs courent" /kour/, "le courant est fort" /kouran/

tchrist

@kwak Duh.

kwak

"un" and "vin" are similar for me, slightly different maybe, very

tchrist

I am so dumb right now. I knew that. Sorry.

@kwak You mean “similar for me”?

ok

kwak

yep, typing and eating a tomato

tchrist

5:45 PM

Biosafety Level 4 Laboratory Tour

kwak

I don't know if "verdun", "daim", "anodin" sound slighly different at the end or not

second one is a bit louder, accentuated

tchrist

I guess with verdun there might be rounding that would be absent from anodin.

kwak

What do you mean with rounding?

1.8 -> 2 :p

verdun sounds like verdin

like dindon

like daimdaim

in French [un] or [in] is different than English, it's one weird sound

translate.google.com/#fr/en/dindon%20tintin

translate.google.com/#fr/en/…

such an ugly language when you think about it

I understand why people say HON HON HON .. :)

tchrist

It’s that French u is /y/, which is like /i/ with rounding.

I would not think verdin and dindon had the same vowel at the end.

@MattЭллен Who awarded this bounty? Is there something funny going on here a moderator might should look at?

-2

A: A critical situation in which no trick works?

Resigned or taken-aback. I am going to prefer either of both.

He is both the asker and the answerer.

Matt Эллен

6:11 PM

Noted. Thanks :)

George Pompidou

6:32 PM

What does "I'll do it mean"?

does it mean he'll go to the store?

does it mean he'll go biking?

what does it mean?

tchrist

6:46 PM

It means a taboo word.

kwak

@tchrist oh rounding the mouth

tchrist

7:09 PM

2

When questions get popular, they often get a whole bunch of duplicate answers. See this English.se question: What is newspaper paper called? Answer A: It is often referred to as "stock", "pulp" or just plain "newsprint" at different stages of the business, anywhere from the mill to press a...

tchrist

7:31 PM

It is no more possible to insult God in a user profile than it is to insult the Moon. Only people can be insulted, whether singly or on occasion collectively. Sure, people can say “The Moon is an ugly white dead thing” all they want, but I promise you that the Moon will not be insulted by these petty words. Plus remember what happened to Nietzsche when he famously said “God is dead”: God later said “Nietzsche is dead”, which pretty much put an end to that business once and for all. — tchrist 9 mins ago

I suppose I should have smileyconned that, but I get so tired of including laugh tracks with my typing.

Robusto

8:06 PM

@tchrist Bravo for that. And for resisting the emojeezis.

kwak

tgod

kwak

8:23 PM

austinchronicle.com/music/2005-09-02/287883

kwak

8:37 PM

Is Austin smoke-free? If yes, I want to go there

Weather's likely ~~hot~~ desertic, but doesn't matter

tchrist

@kwak Why doesn’t hot matter?

kwak

@tchrist Because I don't mind hotness

until 100°C

until my blood boils

@tchrist Colorado is fresher than Texas I guess

damn I'm drooling, slurp

tchrist

It’s difficult to compare those.

You have to pick particular places, not entire states.

But Austin is quite warm.

And pretty humid as these things go.

kwak

Denver

tchrist

Well, Denver is not in the mountains.

It is drier than Austin.

And plenty hot but not as hot as Austin.

However, Austin is the northernmost point where palm trees can survive.

There really is no place in Colorado where that is true.

Colorado and Texas are only an hour’s drive apart at the closest though.

kwak

8:43 PM

probably cactuses also

tchrist

Both have cacti.

Colorado is only semi-arid in the lowlands, whereas in Texas you do have the Chihuahuan Desert, which is the largest desert in North America and the smallest desert in America.

Austin is fairly liberal for Texas, but that isn’t saying much.

It has a very nice music scene, and there are a lot of young people because of the university.

It is also the state capital, just as Denver is.

kwak

yes

tchrist

However, the University of Colorado's main campus is here in Boulder; there are two campora :) in Denver, but they are smaller.

kwak

80F -> 27 °C pretty good

tchrist

@kwak Sure. That’s a winter temp though, like in April or October.

It is right now only 86 in Denver, but feels like 82 due to the 16% humidity.

Austin is also 86 right now, but feels like 88 due to the 52% humidity.

Those are both a bit below average for this time of the year.

Austin breaks 100 quite often, whereas Denver does not do so every year. Maybe every three years.

The Austin record high is 112, back in 2000.

kwak

8:54 PM

38°C = 100°F is still ok, we have that here

tchrist

Not at 52% humidity it isn’t!

At 5% though, it is not so bad.

kwak

@tchrist oh

tchrist

Denver gets 18" of moisture a year, while Austin gets over 30".

Austin does not see snow very often. Denver does, but it doesn’t stick around much.

kwak

I live near the sea, so high humidity as well, and it goes sometimes at 100°F, nothing dramatic when it does, at leadt for me

@tchrist ok

tchrist

That’s for Austin.

kwak

8:58 PM

I was hesitating beteen Austin and Iceland (quite different), two places where I can breathe air without worrying too much

Iceland has no sun, and not much sun, for 6 months/year

tchrist

That’s Denver.

kwak

wow the lowest temperature!

tchrist

Not very cold.

kwak

The lowest I've known is -17°C 0°F, in Nancy, France

tchrist

That’s Boulder, just a little different.

Now look at Madison where I went to college:

kwak

9:02 PM

similar, bit colder

tchrist

So I find that Colorado is a lot warmer than Wisconsin.

Wisconsin’s lows are a lot worse.

The difference is that the average high in Boulder is always above freezing, but in Madison, it is not.

The big difference is the one that you cannot see: days of sun per year.

Or rather, days of clouds.

kwak

well weather is not so important in my life

I just need a place with cool guys, not smoking

Hence girls too

thanks @tchrist

I was looking at Indeed's job offer

Job offer's of a job seeker

Next year, I'll move, now I'll prepare it and finish a medication, possibly work a bit

George Pompidou

9:22 PM

buys hedgehog supplies on amazon

:3

tchrist

10:10 PM

@kwak You really have a smoking thing, eh? Most civilized places don’t allow it where it would offend someone else.

@kwak I think you should look at each location’s percentage of the populace that smokes.

Well, not just where it would offend someone else, but more like where it would affect someone else.

Jez

hey

so, i just had a pizza hut delivery guy deliver me a pizza. he said some weird shit in another language and then said "it means something in... never mind..." and walked off

wtf

George Pompidou

maybe it was a foreign pizza hut delivery guy.

an alien

tchrist

10:33 PM

Where does Evil Santa live, that mean old elf?

Think somewhere warm. :)

Jez

damn unprofessional

tchrist

11:31 PM

@GeorgePompidou Make it all go away.

0

Q: "Go a long way to" + gerund vs infinitive

Which one is correct? If they all are correct, which construction is the most preferable? Why? The fund will go a long way to solving their problem. The fund will go a long way to solve their problem. The fund will go a long way toward(s) solving their problem. The fund will go a long way in so...

phrases idioms prepositions infinitive-vs-gerund

George Pompidou

11:57 PM

sometimes I feel like this site is a standardized test for English written by non English speakers.

why do they so frequently use the a. b. c. d. format to ask absurd questions nobody understands?!

tchrist

@GeorgePompidou Drowning in helpless pineapples begging for us to split their hairs.

@GeorgePompidou Because for them, English is about getting tested on with, not for talking.

George Pompidou

I like talking in English :<

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…