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CowperKettle
CowperKettle
1:52 AM
 
Mitch
Mitch
2:03 AM
@CaptainBohemian That makes less sense than Lebanon is the Switzerland of the Middle East, And Beirut is the Paris.
Unless you're from Singapore. That would make about as much sense as my metaphor.
Wait.. what is the metaphor with again?
 
 
2 hours later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
4:32 AM
My cat climed the kitchen table in the nigth and nibbled on tropical flowers in a vase. And puked out bits of green leaves and stems on the floor.
This taught him nothing, because he has just climbed the table again.
I had to ditch the flowers in the bin.
 
 
3 hours later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
7:47 AM
> You can contact the personal data protection officer of the Sponsor at: dpo@company.com
I think it should be via
I'm proofreading this text
 
Xanne
Xanne
@CowperKettle at: is fine.
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
@Xanne Thank you!
> The Medical officer or the Responsible medical specialist (at the demonstration event – only the Medical officer) has provided me with the opportunity to ask questions about the Treatment.
I wonder if the is fine.
0
Q: Contact us via dpo@company.com vs. Contact us at dpo@company.com

CowperKettleI'm proofreading a text and have come across this sentence: You can contact the personal data protection officer of the Sponsor at: dpo@company.com I think it should be via instead of at because at usually implies some "more constant" location like a website. Am I right, or maybe at could be us...

prepositions
0
Q: I was given an opportunity to \ the opportunity to

CowperKettleFrom a document I've been proofreading: The Medical officer or the Responsible medical specialist has provided me with the opportunity to ask questions about the Treatment. Should it not be an opportunity? Or would the use of an indicate only a single chance, whereas the use of the would indica...

articles
 
Xanne
Xanne
8:09 AM
@CowperKettle I think the is good, but it works either way.
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
I am never sure with (the?) articles
Even with (the?) articles before the word articles I am never sure.
 
KannE
KannE
@tchrist Idaho
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
8:45 AM
We're having a hot August, it's +26 now
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
9:02 AM
What do we call pre-made templates of contracts, which we later fill in with the necessary names, contact details etc?
Will standard templates fit the purpose?
 
Xanne
Xanne
9:17 AM
@CowperKettle Standard template is okay; the phrase “legal form” is also used, for example on the web site Legal Zoom, which provides some standard forms for various purposes.
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
9:46 AM
Next week the UK starts the mass introduction of a new covid test that gives results in just 90 minutes.
That will be great
 
 
1 hour later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
10:49 AM
The first Starship hop to take place in 5 hours
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
11:20 AM
> He superimposes an image showing the area under cultivation in 2012. Then, farmers were working 157,000 hectares. By 2018 it had doubled to 317,000 hectares. In 2019 it was 344,000 hectares.
A surge of solar power adoption in Afghanistan. Leads to record heroin crops
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
11:35 AM
> It is quite possible that due to documented reasons (e.g. due to specifics of the topic, requirements of experts or leading field specialists, presence of just a single specialist in a certain field, specific competence possessed by a certain structure, etc.) it will be impossible to make a short list of candidates.
I think I should amend this to "conditions posed by experts". Or "demands made by experts". Meaning, the company wants to hire expects for consulting, but they pose salary demands that the company cannot meet.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
12:11 PM
Occupational demands maybe?
There's probably still a better way to word it
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
12:48 PM
Thank you!
 
Robusto
Robusto
@CowperKettle Perhaps specifications of experts?
 
Captain Bohemian
Captain Bohemian
1:07 PM
Do you want to walk?
I just want a car to ferry me.
What is like to have laundry done, food prepared and house cleaned automatically?
If all drudgeries are mechanicalized, so that we can dedicate to interesting things completely, how nice it is?
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
1:25 PM
@CaptainBohemian I love walking, it's very good for your health and it is pleasant, especially in parks and in the wood
The two cats have crowded in a single chair, a rare sight.
 
Captain Bohemian
Captain Bohemian
2:13 PM
how nice if there are labor servers!
if you are overwhelmed with labor works, how do you still have time to do literal works?
 
 
1 hour later…
Captain Bohemian
Captain Bohemian
3:27 PM
I think machines are more efficient than humans in labor work.
They can solve your hunger anytime - even if you wake up midnight feeling hungry they will serve you food immediately
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Machines now can compose highly readable texts. I'm afraid they will overtake us completely.
 
Robusto
Robusto
@CowperKettle And yet they still can't figure out simple grammar: cf. the grammar checker in Word.
I'm sure machine-generated prose will be full of obtuseness and obvious artifacts.
But I could be wrong.
I've listened to computer-generated music before, and while it is impressive that such a thing can be done, I still find it lacks inspiration—much like a great deal of human-generated music.
Computers may be able to generate oodles of Telemann sonatas, but I don't think they'll ever generate a Messe in H-moll to rival J. S. Bach's.
Again, I could be wrong.
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
3:49 PM
As far as I understand, now they make artificial neural networks, and why not? I'm a neural network. Why another neural network, even in hardware form, cannot do what I can do?
 
Robusto
Robusto
@CowperKettle I think it could do everything you can do except for the inspiration motivated by the connection to your body.
It could provide a simulacrum of that, but not a direct inspiration.
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
> Should doubts arise concerning the proposed consultant(s) and the estimated payments, or in cases where a concerted action may be organized at the Group level, the Global Office manager provides the Applicant with instructions regarding any changes that should be made in the Request for consulting services.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Maybe that can ultimately be faked to the point where it is indistinguishable, I don't know. But would the beauty of Helen of Troy move it to write an epic?
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
I always stumble when chosing articles for at (something) level
 
Robusto
Robusto
It's fine to say "at the Group level" if so inclined.
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
3:53 PM
@Robusto Why not? We could reconstitute in silico the neural anatomy of the deep brain structures responsible for emotions.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Scary thought.
The question then becomes "Why would we want to?" If we go down that road we're going to be replicating fear, hostility, aggression—all things I would hope we would like to see evolve out of the human race.
I think we should aim higher.
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Yes there might be some higher justice in this.
 
Robusto
Robusto
But then the question becomes "Are our base motivations a necessary part of our humanity?"
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
As of now, we consider other people somehow "lacking" in spirit or in "character" if they slide down into depression or drugs. And now we're accumulating enough knowledge about the structure of neural connections, and each week I read in neuroscience news that in reality there's no "character", that each downslide is related to minute changes in brain structure and metabolism.
A Mozart is just a luckier machine than some serial killer. Had he the same genes and ontogenesis, he would go on a killing spree.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Well, Mozart did go on a kind of killing spree. How many other composers' works of that era do we even find listenable now?
But I take your point. If it's all chemistry, then it's all chemistry. But I think it's more than chemistry. I think we are the sum of our chemistry as influenced by the sum of our experiences in this body and this world.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
4:52 PM
@CowperKettle I don't think science has been able to rule out free will yet.
@CowperKettle I think most machines will be as good as most humans.
What has ensured humanity's growth after all the stupid things we've done when the primal instincts kick in is we're diverse in nature and even more diverse in thought.
A species is said to be tolerant of massive changes to the environment if the gene pool is diverse enough. We're weaponized with something further than that: Diversity in choices.
So even if Wall-E happens and most humans turn into disfigured sacks of potatoes, you'd still have athletic nuts and bodybuilders and rock climbers.
If 1984 happens, you'd have Winstons and lots more.
 
tchrist
tchrist
@M.A.R. Today on Colorado Day I have learned that Colorado is not a rectangle, but a hexahectaenneacontakaiheptagon. CC @Cerberus so he can apply tremata where needed in that crazy word.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
All that quasi-inspirational rambling aside, I do think there will soon be a very dogmatic process for approval for different AI, so they don't go crazy red angry on us.
I quit in the middle of pronouncing that
@tchrist Well, hold on a moment while I register that information somewhere for my future world conquering plans
697 sides eye roll
 
Robusto
Robusto
5:10 PM
@tchrist Ah, but that must delight your sesquipedalian senses, ne?
 
Robusto
Robusto
5:32 PM
Also, it sure looks like a rectangle to me. Much more of one than my own quasi-boxlike state is, or, really, any other US state besides Wyoming.
Even the Dakotas have spoiled their symmetry with riparian borders.
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
I wanted to run some more, but it started to rain
 
Robusto
Robusto
@CowperKettle Attaboy.
@CowperKettle That's loser talk. Get back out there and finish the 10k.
 
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
5:49 PM
No, 7 km is allright.
I've run 1220 km since January 1
 
Robusto
Robusto
Good work.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
6:43 PM
10k was . . . five miles? I forgot
I haven't done 10k in a month or month and half :/
 
Robusto
Robusto
6:59 PM
6.2 something miles, IIRC.
This is awesome.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@Robusto Haha whose stride length?
 
Robusto
Robusto
Makes no difference. Miles and kilometers have nothing inherently to do with stride length.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Ah but don't people with longer strides and slower speeds cover more in 10000 steps?
 
Robusto
Robusto
Doesn't matter. The distance doesn't change.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
I don't get it
Hmm, I do misremember though, it'd be closer to six miles for me
 
Robusto
Robusto
7:17 PM
Closer to 6.2, but that is a good one-decimal-place rounding.
But I really don't understand why you think stride length has anything to do with overall distance?
The mile represents 5,280 feet, but it's supposedly 1,000 paces (left heel to left heel, or two one-leg steps) as drilled by Roman soldiers in antiquity.
Obviously that's not a precision measurement, but apparently it could come reasonably close.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@Robusto I dunno how much it'd change but one decimal place is reasonable to expect
 
Robusto
Robusto
Notice that the miles/kilometer conversion roughly forms the Fibonacci series: 5 miles is around 8 kilometers, 8 miles is around 13 kilometers, 13 miles -> 21 km, etc. The farther you go with the series the closer it gets to accurate.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Hah, never noticed that
 
 
1 hour later…
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
8:27 PM
5
Q: What is “a place with a lot of wind“ called in English?

beytarovskiI am looking for a word or a discourse for a place with a lot wind if any exists in English. For instance, “We had a hard time on ______(s)”. Some languages (i.e. Turkish) already have a common word for it.

single-word-requests
We're slowly getting there folks. Ping me when the SWR comes whose answer is "cake"
 
Gigili
Gigili
Haha, I made my third app!
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Congrats
 
Robusto
Robusto
@M.A.R. What kind of cake?
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
OMG the questions are getting more and more complex
 
Robusto
Robusto
You can give this one a try:
2
Q: How and when did "jug" come to be a slang term for "prison"?

RobustoMost of the online dictionaries give this kind of alternate meaning of jug: Slang. jail; prison. When I was in grammar school it's what we called detention: "If you talk back to the teacher, she's going to send you to the Jug." Collins says the origin of the main meaning as a narrow-necked cont...

etymology slang
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
8:31 PM
Sehr tief
 
Gigili
Gigili
@Robusto Interesting.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Those thing are called jougs? TIL
 
Robusto
Robusto
@M.A.R. Nicht so tief als Immanuel Kant.
 
Gigili
Gigili
The only issue is the narrator talks so fast that makes me edgy.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Anytime now Mitch comes in with "who do you think you are, Kant"
 
Mitch
Mitch
8:35 PM
@M.A.R. I love that joke.
Because he says it to a policeman
who then whacks him over the head with a baton.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
So ahead of his time
 
Robusto
Robusto
@M.A.R. I Kant hear you.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@M.A.R. Just for a sanity check... 'blowy' is not an actual word, right? It's right there in the dictionary, and, while much less frequent than 'blustery', it is not infinitesimally small on NGrams. But people don't actually -use- it.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
BTW, my Turkish's word for a place with wind is, translated literally, "windy"
 
Gigili
Gigili
You control the water and you control everything.
 
Mitch
Mitch
8:37 PM
@M.A.R. 'windy' is totally a word.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@Mitch if sleeping has sexual connotations, I'm pretty sure blowy would too
The spellchecker objects as well
 
Gigili
Gigili
Do you know how they make it through each and every day? They believe. They believe it’s going to be better.
People have to believe in something.
 
Robusto
Robusto
And don't forget blowsy
1. (esp of a woman) untidy in appearance; slovenly or sluttish
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
I rest my case
It's all over the floor
 
Mitch
Mitch
'blowsy', while not exactly rolling off the tongue, is more of a word than 'blowy'.
to me.
at least.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
8:39 PM
Hundreds of 100 dollar bills
 
Mitch
Mitch
really 'blowy' is a word?
 
Robusto
Robusto
@Mitch I would never use blowy, and indeed never have.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
I haven't, but I don't count
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Robusto That's not necessarily a reason (but it is my reason also)
 
Gigili
Gigili
Crunchy creamy candy cookie cupcake.
 
Robusto
Robusto
8:41 PM
I really don't know why people think any concept should be able to be reduced into a single word. What's wrong with good, descriptive writing? "It was a place where the wind from the desert bit into your cheeks like a lash."
 
Gigili
Gigili
Oh, where is @RegDwigнt? I think you were right about the Russia discussion.
 
Robusto
Robusto
That's better than a word that means that.
@Gigili Now, now ... let's not get that argument rekindled.
 
Gigili
Gigili
Where do you think I come from? Look into my eyes.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Gigili A candy cookie cupcake? That's kind of a lot for a snack
 
Robusto
Robusto
You had me at cupcake.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
8:43 PM
@Robusto what's the speaker's accent here?
 
Robusto
Robusto
@M.A.R. Irish.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Robusto because the word blustery exists, people think there must be a word for everything
 
Gigili
Gigili
Why, we'd turn on each other like a bunch of animals!
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Yeah, I was mostly only familiar with Scottish, but it didn't sound Scottish
 
Robusto
Robusto
Irish sounds much slouchier than Scottish.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
8:45 PM
The Irish in movies is very hardly Irish
 
Robusto
Robusto
Scottish sounds like the words are blocks being regurgitated.
 
Gigili
Gigili
I'm gonna shift the features on your face if you don't shut up!
 
Mitch
Mitch
Not. enough cupcakes in Ireland
 
Robusto
Robusto
I had Irish oats for breakfast this morning. Quite good with butter and syrup and raisins and walnuts and cinnamon.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
I mean Liam Neeson is Irish, did he sound slouchy?
 
Gigili
Gigili
8:47 PM
I think I just heard a voice in my head. Or not?
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Er, does
 
Robusto
Robusto
@Gigili If we heard it too then it wasn't in your head.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Don't wanna kill another legend during the 2020s
 
Robusto
Robusto
@M.A.R. What legend would that be?
 
Gigili
Gigili
As I continue my efforts to become a better person, my resolutions are: 1. Stop making lists. B. Be more consistent.
 
Robusto
Robusto
8:50 PM
All of my to-do lists have only one item: make list.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@Robusto Neeson. Yeah yeah anything below Bach level is not a legend but most everyone in the world knows him and that's enough in my book
Lists need to be done right, and AFAIK the right way is very intricate and time consuming.
So yeah, it's easier to become a better person if we drop lazy and reckless habits
 
Robusto
Robusto
@M.A.R. Don't forget, there are multiple accents in Ireland.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Of course, but a person exposed to all of this from a really tiny hole outside can only see so much
 
Robusto
Robusto
@M.A.R. Yeah, you have to go to a place to really experience the accents.
The guy in the video has a very good ear, btw, and is a natural mimic.
 
Robusto
Robusto
9:11 PM
I've spent time in Ireland, by the way—Dublin, where I did some work a while back—and it's wonderful to hear them talk. I've come to the conclusion that Ireland is all about drinking and talking. Wonderful conversations all around.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@Robusto and then drop the oats and it's excellent.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Nah, it's all good, man.
 
Robusto
Robusto
9:35 PM
Speaking of translators:
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
@Robusto nah, you're just afraid that the single word for it is kissinger or dzhugashvili or some such monstrosity.
Which to be fair it very well might be.
I haven't asked on ELU so I don't know.
Three interesting pieces I don't think I've heard before.
 
Robusto
Robusto
@RegDwigнt Please don't say "Kissinger" in chat. That's beyond the pale.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
The description says the skill level is intermediate, but there's a ton of very different techniques that I don't even know what to call.
I especially liked the last few measures of the second piece.
But loved them all.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Didja get my email?
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Yes I did. And also, thank you.
BTW, what happened with that strange beaming at the end I can actually explain.
 
Robusto
Robusto
9:44 PM
@RegDwigнt no hay de qué
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
It's not a replacement for ties. It's a reading help if nothing else.
I often do that for myself, usually for Chopin or Liszt.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Logical groupings?
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Yeah.
Like.
You know how they'll often have those ten-octave runs that are neither scales nor arpeggios.
 
Robusto
Robusto
I tried playing each first note of a group with a line over it to give it full value. Also accent it a bit.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
But you look closer and it's the same five or maybe four notes.
But you're in like 6/8 or 9/8 or whatever, so the grouping is obscured.
 
Robusto
Robusto
9:46 PM
tenuto ... I couldn't think of the word for a second. My old brain.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Yeah the trema.
No wait, not the trema.
Haha now I can't think of the word.
Let's call it a line.
I learned to be very careful with that one for strings. They take it to mean "use the whole bow".
 
Robusto
Robusto
Ah.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
I do use it for the flute occasionally.
And other winds.
Where I take it to mean the same thing as on the piano. Full note duration.
 
Robusto
Robusto
I like the music in that video so far.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
I was half expecting you'd say "yeah I had to play it for this and that audition".
You always do that to me.
 
Robusto
Robusto
9:50 PM
Nope, I've never played these.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Oh, and on the subject of the low H. What happened there is that the original piece is in, uh, Db major I believe. Can't be bothered walking over to the piano and checking.
So I just transposed it so something less unwieldy where the melody would be more or less in the sweet spot.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Maybe they weren't around when I was playing.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
And then by complete accident the lowest note turned out to be an H. So I said, shrug, suits me fine.
@Robusto well the description said 1923 I think?
Or maybe the video itself.
I've heard the name before, Ferroud.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Dunno. It wasn't like I didn't scour the music stores for good flute music.
@RegDwigнt Yeah. And like I say, I see a low B (H) I play it. No problem.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Yeah well. 1923 is, like, it's public-domain now, but probably wasn't when you played it so maybe it was out of print or something.
 
Robusto
Robusto
9:53 PM
What's really not fun is trying to slide from, say, a low C# to the low B. That is awkwardness.
@RegDwigнt Who knows. We didn't have the internet to search for this shit back in the '70s.
I would have to go through filing cabinets of sheet music.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
@Robusto right, so yes, I actually can't play it in that context, at that tempo. I need quite a bit of warm slow air. The time that I have for the full note there, I would need just for the attack alone.
 
Robusto
Robusto
@RegDwigнt I presume you know about breath control from singing. Only with the flute you have to do that on steroids.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Also. On the piano the final run is a full octave more. I've actually had to change it from the original piece already. So on the minus side, if I move it a fifth higher, I'd have to shorten it further still. On the plus side, it's been changed from the original already so if you're not liking anything in there it can be changed further still.
 
Robusto
Robusto
And keep your throat wide open—WIDE open—so you don't sound like you're gasping for breath when you do breathe. Which you are.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Yes, exactly. I would need time for that task alone.
 
Robusto
Robusto
9:58 PM
A good flutist can get a double lungful of air in about a quarter of a second.
It's ... a lot of work.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Which is why if I'm below the middle D at all, I usually write full notes. And also pianissimo. Usually at the beginning of a passage where the flute is only just coming in in the background. Just warming up the embouchure.
 
Robusto
Robusto
To build up your embouchure try the Louis Moyse long-tone drills at the beginning of every practice session. Basically you start on the middle B and slur down to B-flat. Then B-flat to A and so on chromatically for two octaves.
Each one should take a full breath.
And before that try your whistle tones. If you don't know what they are, look them up.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
No I mean when orchestrating or arranging a piece. I like my parts to come in gradually. I won't let my horn players start on the high C, vivace and staccato.
 
Robusto
Robusto
With whistle tones you have to try to focus on one of those whispery harmonics if you can.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
You welcome them to your piece like that, you'll need a set of fresh horn players to play the rest of it.
 
Robusto
Robusto
10:02 PM
@RegDwigнt OIC.
@RegDwigнt You're such a gentleman.
If you ever want to piss off a horn player, have them wait for like half an hour and then come in altissimo pianissimo.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
@Robusto Nah, wind players are just not as disposable as violists.
Hell, I could play the viola, and there's at least one of me absolutely everywhere I go.
 
Robusto
Robusto
Careful what you say. You may get dragooned into that one of these days.
Anyway, you came too late to the party. Now I have to go shopping for ramen ingredients. Chow for now.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
Nah, I'm on a schedule. Harp and cello first. Then the horn. Violas can wait.
@Robusto yes thank you, TTYL.
I need to be transcribing a 40-minute piece myself. And I'm only 9 minutes in.
Quite a lot of flute in it, too. And angled horn for some reason.
I'll go type a couple measures.
 

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