English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

user19161

00:01

@Mahnax Boo! I am proud you got 100 for math.

Mahnax

@JasperLoy Thank you.

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 Do owls taste nice grilled?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I don't know.

user19161

@Mahnax But I don't know how true it is that not many like you.

Mahnax

@JasperLoy Quite true.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

00:02

Food and Cooking – cooking.stackexchange.com

Launched Q&A site for cooks, chefs, anyone who can make a dish that can objectively be described as "mean"

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 You know nothing, not even the origin of HB.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I do know that I'm going to bed.

user19161

@Mahnax And it's not just your own imagination?

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 Good!

Mahnax

@JasperLoy Nope.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

00:03

As to the origin of HB,

►

Night.

user19161

@Mahnax But why? You don't seem evil.

Mahnax

@JasperLoy No idea.

user19161

@Mahnax Maybe I'll find out in a few years if I visit you then.

Mahnax

@JasperLoy Hm. gtg work

user19161

@Mahnax OK have fun.

Kitḫ

00:35

@RegDwightѬſ道 gasp You closed that question? But my precious medals, my rep...oh yeah, right. The whole reason I even clicked on the question in the first place was that I was going to vote to close it.

user19161

00:55

@Kitḫ Rep is kept unless the question is deleted.

Kitḫ

Yeah but no one is going to keep voting on a closed question.

user19161

@Kitḫ Some people do that. There are many nutcases on SE.

user19161

I know one who upvoted 300 answers of another.

user19161

But in a cryptic spirit, neither shall be named.

user19161

Of course the giver will know, and the receiver can only speculate.

aedia λ

01:04

hungry

sulks

user19161

@Mahnax I just did my tenth post. It's an ad for SE actually.

user19161

@aediaλ A hungry unicorn is an angry unicorn.

aedia λ

*gry

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 Sweet dreams.

aedia λ

It's shorter.

user19161

01:05

@aediaλ Very creative!

aedia λ

Shh don't wake the owly!

user19161

@jsb You have been vegetating in this room for days!

user19161

@cerb Are you asleep yet?

Cerberus

Nope.

Just leave poor JSB be.

user19161

@Cerberus Just remember to shut down first and then go to bed.

Cerberus

01:08

I should make this script.

user19161

Don't waste electricity OK?

user19161

I recently discovered one can restart without shutting down the computer on Linux. I wonder if you can do that on Windows.

user19161

Meaning you don't pass through the BIOS.

aedia λ

I don't really understand. Isn't it not really a restart then?

Cerberus

I usually leave my computer on 24/7...

user19161

01:11

@aediaλ When you restart, normally it "shuts down", then you see the BIOS, then the OS loads.

user19161

What I am referring to bypasses the "shut down" and BIOS.

user19161

It just restarts without these two steps like magic!

aedia λ

I was excited when hibernation finally worked right on Windows 7. That's the first one. They've had the option for a long time, but it was never reliable in my experience.

But but does it do any good then?

I guess it clears out some stuff...

user19161

@aediaλ For one it's faster if you just wanna restart to complete some updates.

aedia λ

Ahh.

user19161

01:13

But ... some updates are not done properly if you do it that way, as I discovered.

aedia λ

Half the time when I'm restarting I am actually doing a full shutdown and power off first to get my poor work computer happy again after some particularly nasty patch it's swallowed.

user19161

I know cerb does not update his Windows.

aedia λ

I guess at home it would be nice, but now I usually hibernate my main Windows box at night.

user19161

I shut down every time.

user19161

I have not read the pros and cons of each way though.

aedia λ

01:16

@Cerb I would leave mine on constantly too but with the one room apt I find I sleep better if I can cut down on the fan noise and lights.

OH MY FOOD almost home.

user19161

@aediaλ Your husband buying back?

aedia λ

Hmm?

user19161

@aediaλ I mean the food!

aedia λ

I'm on the bus. Well, disembarking.

user19161

Or maybe your hmm? was meant to be mhm.

aedia λ

01:21

Food. Apartment. In my tummy.

user19161

OIC.

aedia λ

Must run so I can walk home! :)

user19161

@aediaλ Enjoy dinner!

Cerberus

01:40

@aediaλ Understandable.

user20683

02:24

was the "th" in saveth, pronounced as a soft or a hard one?

user20683

save-eth or save-the?

Mahnax

05:36

@WorldEngineer First option. Save-eth.

Yay! Flag weight of 400! Halfway to marshal.

Matt Эллен

09:29

bicycling keeps one warm.

@Mahnax Aye, but only numerically - the amount of effort you need to put in increases exponentially once you reach a weight 500

Ed Guiness

10:09

I have gone through what no other mortal on earth has gone through; I put my lips to the hands of the man who has eaten my pudding.

Matt Эллен

11:01

I think I've found a good single-word-request!

1

Q: What is the inverse term for a proxy?

I'm in a similar situation to crodjer, in that I am struggling with a word to describe a concept. In his case, he had a job, for which some people are responsible, say: a, b, c, d and e. In my case, 'a' can elect one or more proxies to act on his behalf, say: f and g; similarly, 'b' could elect ...

user19161

11:39

@Mahnax Congrats. Just use a mirror and you get the other half.

user19161

@MattЭллен But cycling in the cold wind can make one cold.

user19161

@MattЭллен Indeed, it's a logarithmic scale.

user19161

@EdGuiness This seems to be a double entendre!

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy not today!

cycling kept me warm against the cold. Luckily it wasn't too windy

user19161

@MattЭллен I have capped today. The gf/bf question has given me much rep though it did not give me a gf. My blog now has at least 83 non-self views though there are no comments.

user19161

11:47

And I just learnt there are browsers called ns8 and granparadiso.

user19161

@MattЭллен Then you should answer it!

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy I've not been able to think or find an answer I think is good enough

user19161

@MattЭллен Is it lunch soon? I am going for dinner now.

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy In about half an hour. What are you having for dinner?

user19161

@MattЭллен KFC!

Matt Эллен

11:55

Of course! Hope it's a good one.

Ed Guiness

12:56

@JasperLoy I'm not that sophisticated. My entendres run to the single.

Kitḫ

13:08

@Cerberus Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

13:27

Good morning Kit

Kitḫ

Good Morning, @MrShiny.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

We finally have snow today.

AND it was nice enough to accumulate on the grass, but melt on the driveway!

Kitḫ

I hate this time of year. I hate it so much.

And it is cloudy today, so it will be like twilight all effing day.

I hate the reign of the Holly King. I don't know how people who live farther north can stand it. No wonder they are so weird.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

holly king?

Kitḫ

You know, when the God dies on Samhain, the Holly King rules until he is reborn on the Solstice.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

13:37

@Kitḫ Well, the solstice is coming up soon, so, I guess you don't have long to wait. But I like the lead-up to the solstice because I feel festive. We finished decorating the Christmas tree yesterday. I think the time of year when the tree is up is maybe my favourite.

The Christmas lights are what make it good.

Kitḫ

I am sorry. I'm feeling really grumpy because I have gone to work in the dark and come home in the dark for way too many days now.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah, it's a bit depressing. That's why I love the coloured lights.

In fact I'm at home right now and my tree is off, but I think I'm going to turn it on, just so I know it's lighting up the world a bit.

Kitḫ

That makes me feel happy.

Maybe we should get our trees this weekend...

Kitḫ

13:59

guffaw I just spent ten minutes trying to figure out why my test root login wasn't working...I was trying on the production site instead of the test site. Oops!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ heheh

Good thing you were testing out "login" and not "drop table users"

Kitḫ

Har har. No shit, right?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Been there

Kitḫ

Oh, that feeling, that sharp intake of breath coupled with the frack I can't undo that thought...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I'm trying to recall the specifics of my worst "oh shit it was PROD" moment... it wasn't that serious. like, deleting a file or something.

Kitḫ

14:04

Also usually, an ohgodohgodohgod when did I back it up last?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

heheh

one time I was trying to delete all the files in the current directory on my computer at home.

So I typed "del ."

Kitḫ

Oh!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

and it said "Are you sure?" And I was like "Fuck STOP ASKING ME"

Then it said

C:\Windows>

And I was like "uhoh"

dir

file not found

um... undelete *?

Kitḫ

Nonononono, I meant—oh, crap.

I hate that feeling.

Also, I think it is funny.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Even after undeleting everything (in those days I knew the name of EVERY Windows 3.1 file) it wasn't quite the same afterwards.

Oh... one time I accidentally zero'ed out the first 1k of the wrong partition on my hdd, while trying to format a different one. That was fun. It was my data partition too.

And I had no backups

But I was able to restore it.

Kitḫ

14:08

I'm impressed. Did you use the power of your mind?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Kitḫ I used the power of re-creating the partition right where the old one was, then doing chkdsk (or maybe scandisk, in those days)

Luckily not a single file was lost. but BOY was I worried for a second

ever since then I always double-check my destructive commands.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Oh, thanks!

I'm sure you would love it.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 A wise lesson!

By the way, do you guys you automated text replacement for your e-mail address?

If yes, why? If not, why not?

Kitḫ

What? Huh?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

do you mean, on my personal website, do I obscure my email address?

Cerberus

14:24

No, I mean, whenever you type your e-mail address, do you use an abbreviation that is automatically expanded?

Just as I type oedqq, which immediately expands to Oxford English Dictionary.

And dateqq expands into 3:25 PM 12/6/2011.

Kitḫ

Oh. No, I don't do that.

Cerberus

Why not?

Kitḫ

Why?

Cerberus

Well, the obvious reason pro is that it saves time?

Kitḫ

I mean, why would I? How often do I type my email address?

Cerberus

14:27

I type it a lot.

Kitḫ

And I have four or five of them too.

Well, I don't, so I guess that's the reason.

Cerberus

I have two abbreviations for my primary and secondary addresses.

Then how about the xcdk cartoon above?

I thought that was you.

I often need to type my e-mail address when I register or log in with websites.

Even with a password manager.

aedia λ

Good morning!

Kitḫ

I don't register for sites that much.

Cerberus

Morning!

Kitḫ

14:30

@aediaλ smooch

Cerberus

OK.

Kitḫ

stands there looking coy

Cerberus

Hey Aed, are you still using Easy Drag To Go, or whatever it's called?

aedia λ

Doesn't your browser help you autocomplete some of those things, Cerb?

Yes!

Cerberus

Yeah I use Lastpass.

But there's still plenty of times I need to fill it in by hand.

aedia λ

14:31

tickles @Kit

Cerberus

@aediaλ Good!

aedia λ

I can't remember what I did without it.

Cerberus

You are a happy target for whatever creed the mood strikes me to evangelize.

Kitḫ

giggles

Cerberus

Which is very rational.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

14:33

@Cerb, what do you use to do those macros?

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Autohotkey.

:R*:oedqq::Oxford English Dictionary

This is what that looks like.

You just need a text file with this line.

aedia λ

I've never found a real need for such a thing. I would never remember my macros.

Cerberus

That's why you would need a simple scheme that would be easy to remember for you.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

hm, interesting. I don't find myself typing the same stuff over and over

but if I were writing a lot of text, as opposed to code...

Cerberus

For me, oed is easy to remember for Oxford English Dictionary. And I simply add qq after all my keywords, because one would never type qq naturally.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 :*:codeqq::[code]

aedia λ

14:37

I might find-replace in a Word document if I decided to change how something was written, or put it in my autocorrect list...

Cerberus

I use this one too.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

heheh

Cerberus

Oh, you use an auto-correct list? That is the same thing.

Except that AHK works everywhere, not just in Word.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

But can it do this: List<Map<Integer,Pair<Integer,String>>> list = new ArrayList<Map<Integer,Pair<Integer,String>>>();

Cerberus

[/code] I get by typing //code.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

14:38

I want a tool that figures out the left half

Cerberus

"Figures out"?

It can do anything.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah so that all I have to do is type the declaration and it figures out the instantiation

aedia λ

I don't autocorrect anything except, say, spellings we have standardized at work, like e-mail or a project name that isn't a word.

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I'm afraid I don't know what that means, but AHK really can do practically anything.

@aediaλ But all only in Word?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I mean if I type List<Map<Integer,Pair<Integer,String>>> list it infers the rest

the problem is that the stuff in the angle brackets changes

so the next time I do that it will be different

Java is annoying that way

but Java 7 fixes this, however, we're not using it yet.

Cerberus

14:41

I'm pretty sure it can do that. But could you give me an example with real numbers that you might actually use?

aedia λ

I think the Office spellcheck is shared, or I set up much of my dictionary the same, so really all of Office including Outlook. That covers work.

Cerberus

No Firefox, text editors, etc.?

aedia λ

And my phone autocompletes on its own... And then for the rest I've got spellcheck.

Cerberus

OK. I use AHK's text replacement mainly for autocorrect, commonly typed phrases/words, and accents.

And I want all of that to be the same everywhere in every program, and automatically synched to all computers.

aedia λ

I use plain text editors a lot but either for looking at some code or for drafting text where I don't want to stop for any formatting, spelling, etc.

Cerberus

14:44

Aren't there any bits of code that you find annoying to type again and again?

For example, I hate typing shift-8 for * every time on this site.

So I have xx set to give *.

aedia λ

I copy and paste those so I can be sure they're right... Oh, I'm thinking of, say, CSS property declarations.

Cerberus

Double x is far easier to type than holding down shift and reaching for the distant areas of my keyboard.

@aediaλ Are those always the same?

aedia λ

I think ctrl-I works if the text is selected.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus That was a literal example of what I might type

aedia λ

For the *.

Cerberus

14:46

Text replacement is basically automated copy-paste.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Okay, let me study it again.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus nah, don't spend too much time on it.

Cerberus

No, now I want to understand.

aedia λ

(Some of the CSS properties are similar, like if I'm setting up link colors, I need all the :hover, :active, :visited states, etc.)

Cerberus

So you want to have the entire line like this:

List<Map<Integer,Pair<Integer,String>>> list = new ArrayList<Map<Integer,Pair<Integer,String>>>();

But you only want to type the bit up to and including the first >>>?

Matt Эллен

@MrShinyandNew安宇 but surely your IDE has intelisense/autocomplete functionality?

aedia λ

14:50

Ohh I miss that.

Cerberus

And whatever comes between List< and >>> is different every time, but the bit between ArrayList< and >>> is always the same as the first part between List< and >>>?

aedia λ

I don't have nice IDEs everywhere.

Matt Эллен

@aediaλ that's why gnu invented emacs :D

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 So it would be like you want to expand List<X> into List<X> list = new ArrayList<X>(); , where X can be anything?

That should be possible with AHK.

Matt Эллен

@aediaλ and resharper for visual studio .net means I barely type any C# any more!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

14:52

@Cerberus yeah

@MattЭллен it does but it doesn't seem to do Generics very well, or at least I don't know how that works

aedia λ

I actually kind of miss Visual Studio sometimes.

Matt Эллен

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I see. I've not done any work with Java, so I don't know what the options are wrt IDE.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus But actually List<X> could be any Y<X>

@MattЭллен there's eclipse and netbeans, basically

I use eclipse. It's really good. I find it easier to use than VS.

But I've never used VS's C#/.Net features, so... maybe those are better? dunno.

Matt Эллен

dunno. I've not used eclipse. visual studio's only worth it because of resharper.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Based on a 30s reading of the resharper home page, it looks like some of those features are native to Eclipse. Things like refactoring, etc, I use those LOTS. I love being able to do things like extract methods, change method signatures, convert expressions into parameters, etc.

I wish there was a way to find duplicate methods though. (i.e. methods that appear to be copypasta)

Matt Эллен

14:58

Off topic:

2

Q: Is there a consensus usage to refer to the contents of linked text?

Everyone is familiar with what I am talking about though it's easiest to show by example: Three versions that differ only in how they refer to the linked-to document: The performance of each of the leading web servers was compared in this careful study. The performance of each of the leading ...

idioms internet

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Okay, so what should happen to Y exactly?

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…