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12:45 AM
@KitZ.Fox I'm using it at this moment too
To be frank I don't see much difference other than it's a smaller font
@Jasper it's still Wednesday here
Woohoo! The 'reply to' now works on mobile. Yay!
@Mitch You can edit too.
And you don't have to scroll to send, you can just arrow, like texting.
user174558
I just had a cold shower.
user174558
It seems nobody in chat is affected by the US winter storm?
1:01 AM
There's a storm?
Looks like we might get some tomorrow.
user174558
50 people have died.
user174558
In late January 2016, a winter storm prompted multiple states across the Mid-Atlantic United States to declare a state of emergency. Evolving from a shortwave trough, the system consolidated into a defined low-pressure area on January 21 over Texas. Regarding it as a "potentially historic blizzard", meteorologists indicated the storm could produce more than 2 ft (61 cm) of snow across a wide swath of the Mid-Atlantic region and could "paralyze the eastern third of the nation". Winter weather expert Paul Kocin described the blizzard as, "a top-10 snowstorm". On January 20–22, the governors of eleven...
Well, thank goodness there's no such thing as climate change, so we don't have to worry about this sort of thing happening more frequently unless we ignore the warnings and continue allowing terrorists to have SNAP benefits.
user174558
I don't read news sites, but I visit Wikipedia every day.
What's a snap benefit? I'm jealous already but I want to make sure I'm not jealous of the wrong thing @KitZ.Fox
1:10 AM
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as foodstamps.
@Jasper for news I just listen to the radio for a few moments in the morning. So if something happens during the day I have no idea
Our senator just proposed a No Benefits for Terrorists bill, ironically just days after he voted down the No Guns for Terrorists bill.
@KitZ.Fox I'm not jealous then. I prefer my food metered
Because terrorists are less dangerous when they are weak from hunger.
No doubt
1:12 AM
And who can think about committing crimes when their children are wailing because their stomachs are empty?
As they say, hate on a full stomach
And if we took their guns away, the deadbeats wouldn't be able to hunt for food.
It all makes perfect sense when you think about it.
We don't want to keep terrorists from having weapons or concealed carry. We want to prevent them from sucking on the teat of the American taxpayer.
sighs
</sarcasm>
I blame the british
They do have nice tea though.
It doesn't grow there very well
1:21 AM
That's true. Now I'm hungry.
I'm watching a food show, so it's almost the same thing
@Jasper what did you have for breakfast?
That's an excellent question.
I often wonder what people have for breakfast.
@Jasper also, the blizzard was last weekend, but only disrupted Washington DC to New York City, which is a smallish area of the US. Kit and I are outside of that area.
We'll probably get our own special blizzards soon enough
@KitZ.Fox I have the exact same breakfast always.
Except when I dont
Coffee?
I used to eat cereal and milk everyday until I was 30
Then somehow I thought that was not the best diet so I changed to toast and cheese
For the past week
rimshot
1:29 AM
haha
no one will get that I'm really not that young !!
I like my coffee like I like my alcohol
I usually skip breakfast, except for coffee.
In the morning?
I cannot skip breakfast.
Or any other meal really
Blood sugar issues?
Or you just like it?
But that's against the Geneva convention for me to not have breakfast
1:31 AM
I've had more breakfast in the last few years than I've had in the whole rest of my life.
It's just morally wrong to skip
We moved to within walking distance of a really good diner.
So I have breakfast there two or three times a week.
Breakfast at home one weekend morning usually.
I like omelets, so I should probably learn to make them. I hear they are really easy.
Mmm omelettes
Yeah they're easy
Like scrambled eggs you just don't mix them up as much (or really at all)
Also diners...mmm
puts nose on @Mitch's elbow
That tickles
pats on head. Discreetly moves elbow away
1:45 AM
I thought you might drop some food if I did that.
Yes that would be what you'd expect me to do and normally I would have but unfortunately for you the last bite had gone in.
Sorry but I wasn't even hungry
:/
licks chops, whines a little
Haha I'm kidding. Here have a bacon-wrapped scallop
Lots of cholesterol....mmmm
om nom nom
Do you do tricks?
I can't think of a good trick. Here have another
We babysat a .. terrier? ... Smallish wiry haired dog? And we bought a hoopla hoop and taught him to jump through to get a dog treat
We got him to jump pretty high.
1:53 AM
Cool.
Tricks are for hookers.
You know, now he's got a skill
Hahaha
Yes. Pet value. That's why kids can volunteer to work with shelter animals, to help socialize and train them, I hear.
Dogs will do anything
1:55 AM
My boys want a dog. Really, really bad.
To be frank (I wouldn't do it otherwise but it bears repeating) dogs are like really stupid kids that can't poop by themselves
They're like an extra person in the house that can't open doors or read.
Or go on trips easily.
Oh right. Or in cars easily
That's why babysitting
And in the summer they put their wet noses on your shins
shivers
Lots of work for the parents, walking the dog everyday in blizzards
Yeah. I like dogs.
But cats are more my speed. You can forget about them for long stretches of time.
I know. Dogs are fun.
But note that they can have very different personalities. Some can be low maintenance, some very needy.
Cats are great too. But I hate litter boxes
2:15 AM
Speaking of, I probably ought to um.
Go to bed.
See you tomorrow!
L8r
 
1 hour later…
3:42 AM
@Mitch 63 today but a foot of snow this weekend.
3:56 AM
has anybody ever heard the expression "getting a visit" i.e. please wear pants underneath your shorts, otherwise we'll be getting a visit especially when you squat
 
2 hours later…
user174558
5:38 AM
@Mitch I had some noodles in the fridge.
user174558
I think I won't go to the math room anymore. It's boring.
11:26 AM
Hi, is there a way to examine the sentence "one plus two is three" in terms of subject, object and verb?
11:41 AM
@Flaw subject = "one plus two", verb = "is", object = "three"
how about if we analyse "one plus two"
I never realised that "plus" isn't a verb
that would be considered a fragment
it is a noun phrase
I probably shouldn't trust google and get a proper dictionary
"plus two" is a prepositional phrase
It's telling me plus is a preposition, and times is a verb
11:44 AM
yeah... that's what I'm seeing
how do I know if it's "(one plus) two", or "one (plus two)"
@Flaw that's because it's not considering "two times four" it's considering "you times the two by the four"
because prepositions usually come first
this is important to me because I'm trying to analyse the Japanese fragment 1足す2. In English we typically have the verb come before the object (SVO). But in Japanese the verb comes after (SOV), and 足す is a verb. Except in this particular fragment, that seems like it doesn't behave like a verb.
oh wait
my bad
I clicked edit instead of reply to
11:50 AM
no worries :D
I guess I forgot about the pre in preposition
Thanks for the help! I'm going to try to form an analogous argument for the Japanese case
no problem!
hello @Jasper
user174558
@MattE.Эллен Hi, I am Superman.
perhaps the answer would be to understand it in terms of postpositions
Hi Superman
@Jasper I couldn't tell with those glasses on
@Flaw ah! could be. I know nothing of Japanese, I'm afraid
user174558
11:55 AM
I know sayonara = goodbye.
user174558
According to some sources, Japanese is one of the hardest languages to learn for an English speaker.
user174558
The subtitle of this room is much better than before. The frequent changes were too silly.
user174558
Talking about formal grammar, maybe there is no need to understand it. It's just a theoretical construction. One could always come up with alternative analyses!
user174558
I have decided what English grammar book to study. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language is too big, so I will read the condensed version, A Student's Introduction to English Grammar.
@Flaw as OED has it a noun in e.g. "4 times 5", if that helps, at all
user174558
12:02 PM
OED > Shorter OED > ODE > Concise OED > OALD > Compact OED
user174558
ODE = oxforddictionaries.com
user174558
OALD = oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com
@Jasper I've decided to learn watch making
user174558
@MattE.Эллен Good thinking! When are you getting married? LOL
1:00 PM
@MattE.Эллен digital or mechanical?
@tchrist a foot is extreme (or is it for you?) but was that from a different storm system than the one that was in the world news (about shutting down the east coast)?
1:32 PM
[ SmokeDetector ] Link at end of answer: What is an action (in one word) that makes you say "goodbye"? by Leni Tombari on english.stackexchange.com
2:28 PM
ELU's perfect today.
The guys in the bio chat are amazed at the high quality of the questions.
 
1 hour later…
3:52 PM
@Mitch mechanical
@MattE.Эллен That is very sexy.
Just wear a grandfather clock on your wrist.
@KitZ.Fox I'm sure it will attract the right sort of woman (i.e. my girlfriend :D)
Excellent.
4:02 PM
@MattE.Эллен are you just desultorily considering it or have you made some initial steps? Do you have any idea about your elemental timing? Weights? quartz? cesium?
Basically I needed a hobby that isn't programming because programming is my job and trying to put the joy back into it is too hard
2
@DeltaEscher that's called a grandson clock.
No
I mean a whole one
@Mitch I've bought two books I haven't read yet. both introductory texts. one or repair one on making
Just duct tape it to your wrist
4:03 PM
@MattE.Эллен nice.
@DeltaEscher OMG you're so insensitive. My grandfather was a grandfather clock
When the apocalypse comes, and we need to schedule meetings by hand (shudder) those will be welcome skills.
Also farming.
@MattE.Эллен politically chronologically incorrect. literally
I like this interpretation of times
4
A: Is "times" really a plural noun?

Harrison PaineThe phrase four times five means five, four times i.e. five, five, five, five. In this context, I think the meaning of it is similar to the meaning of times in "Once, twice, three times a lady". It's basically stating four occurrences of five, which, when totaled, equal twenty. In the arit...

four times as a noun adjunct in "four times five"
I wonder how much could be put in a wrist device that would be comparable to a smartwatch. Like, could one fit a mini barometer in there? Positions of the planets should be (relatively) easy. as lotech as possible.
a four-times five.
4:09 PM
@KitZ.Fox lol yes!
mind = blown.
weird
twenty is a four-times five
other langs do it differently. I like the preposition idea
yes. preposition is the most likely
4:10 PM
Multiplication is called times because you pretty much add the same number each time, until you reach the end of the multiplication (let's say n)
not thinking about it at all, it just translates immediately to a formula, so it's not ... grammatical (?) at all.
20 divided by 6 is more obvious.
(and the analogs of add and multiply is the same)
twenty over six is also more obvious
I want there to be a tribe of people somewhere who all have nine fingers
And count in base-9
also 20 out of 6
@DeltaEscher You monster!
4:12 PM
Imagine the first sentient computer.
Counting in base 2.
stubs for hands
Counting in base-0.5
the lower bases can count to a hundred a lot more quickly, making hide and seek more difficult for the hiders
4:13 PM
one, ten, eleven, a hundred here I come!
1, 2, 11, 12, 21, 22, 31, 32...
Golden ratio base is a non-integer positional numeral system that uses the golden ratio (the irrational number (1+√5)/2 ≈ 1.61803399 symbolized by the Greek letter φ) as its base. It is sometimes referred to as base-φ, golden mean base, phi-base, or, colloquially, phinary. Any non-negative real number can be represented as a base-φ numeral using only the digits 0 and 1, and avoiding the digit sequence "11" – this is called a standard form. A base-φ numeral that includes the digit sequence "11" can always be rewritten in standard form, using the algebraic properties of the base φ — most notably...
1.61803399...
3.3603498...
@Mitch Is phinary pronounced like binary?
That's how I would pronounce it. But I also consider 'data' a mass noun, so draw your own conclusions.
4:18 PM
/finəri/
shocked!
What is fancy writing of symbol letters?
I forget the term
well, that's (modern) Greek. φ is pronounced /fi/
@DeltaEscher 'callligraphy'?
4:21 PM
de nada
I thought it begin with script- for a sec.
IPA?
Indian Pale Ale
Intrinsic Pacific Admiral
4:23 PM
Indian Pale Ale? International Phonetic Alphabet? Iatrogenic Prophylactic Accounting
What's 'you're welcome' in Irish? Some long string of fifty letters pronounced in one syllable of mostly air?
Oh
The IPA of script-
scrip(sch)
I saw that
how rude
Δ   Δ
|θ θ|
| Δ |
| λ |
Γάτα
@Mitch there's no evidence of anything!
4:45 PM
@MattE.Эллен exactly what someone would say if they're trying to hide something.
But that was exactly something someone would say to someone who is trying to hide something but that something has nothing to do with whatever is being hidden. Or something.
@Mitch that's exactly what someone would say if they're trying to expose something.
You. Me. This moment.
Oh you guys.
Referencing outdated XKCDs
This is probably one of my recent favorites.
You want is to reference -future- xkcd's? Fine. scribble scribble ... tappity tappity tap ok compiling
6:25 PM
Reference alternate dimension XKCDs
 
2 hours later…
7:57 PM
@DeltaEscher Everything I say is a quotation from XKCD in some dimension, according to the many-worlds interpretation.
8:26 PM
And in infinitely many dimensions, I am Randall Munroe. And of course in infinitely many of those I don't draw XKCD.
I'd say that this is not a very good ELL question, because a) this is very basic (and it's perhaps one of the first few things most grammar books would tell you about English), and even though a very basic question is not necessarily off-topic, b) it's recommend that learners should add more details (what you think should be the answers of your exercises based on your coursebook, and such). For more details, see Details, Please. — Damkerng T. 1 min ago
I didn't vote to close it because, iirc, a migrated question will be in a weird state if it gets closed.
user174558
Does infinity exist? That is a philosophical question. In mathematics, it certainly does.
@Jasper If you think it exists, it must exist, philosophically. :-)
user174558
@DamkerngT. It seems that MARS is always pinging the other Jasper in the other room.
user174558
8:45 PM
It is quite hard to leave a room. Even after clicking leave, one is still technically in the room.
9:20 PM
The ghost of departed quantities.
If by "technically" you mean through the use of technology, then yes.
But realistically, you are not "in" the room.
 
2 hours later…
11:01 PM
8
Q: Chat notification is repeated for every edit, drives me bonkers

SQBThe chat notification, especially the *BONK*, is repeated when a message is edited. Repeatedly. This can get really annoying. I propose the BONK is only repeated after the editing time limit. That way, even if multiple edits are made, only a single *BONK* will be emitted.

user174558
@terdon I tell you the truth, I have no idea why people get so upset by pings. If they are in a chat room, they should be happy to get pings. If not, just leave the room or use silent mode.
That's about multiple pings caused by edits.
user174558
@terdon Reading such posts confirms my worst fears, that many people in this world are easily irritated by the smallest things, and that World War 3 is on its way.
Well, it is annoying to get multiple pings in the space of a minute or so just because someone is fixing a typo.
user174558
It annoys me that it annoys others, in some sense.
11:05 PM
Such is life.
user174558
When I was a clerk in the army, it annoyed me that they turned on the radio in the office for some music.
user174558
I told them I could not concentrate with the music on, and they told me they could not work without it.
user174558
I forgot how the matter was resolved in the end.
user174558
But it is silly working in an office with a bunch of eighteen year olds.

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