« first day (4008 days earlier)      last day (1209 days later) » 

CowperKettle
CowperKettle
00:19
user image
SmokeDetector
SmokeDetector
01:12
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at beginning of body, potentially bad asn for hostname in body (42): When were the Turkish residence and citizenship laws adopted? by VOLGHAN Hosseini on english.SE
 
5 hours later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
06:28
Rusia: Un Estado mafioso - El Pais
 
4 hours later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
10:28
user image
Henningsvær is a fishing village located on several small islands off the southern coast of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago in Norway.
 
4 hours later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
14:03
Experimental depression treatment is nearly 80% effective in controlled study - cool
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
14:19
Australian word of the day: fair dinkum
> Perhaps related to Gloucestershire dialect ding (“to work hard”).
Michael Ventris
Michael George Francis Ventris, (; 12 July 1922 – 6 September 1956) was an English architect, classicist and philologist who deciphered Linear B, the ancient Mycenaean Greek script. A student of languages, Ventris had pursued decipherment as a personal vocation since his adolescence. After creating a new field of study, Ventris died in a car crash a few weeks before the publication of Documents in Mycenaean Greek, written with John Chadwick. == Early life and education == Ventris was born into a traditional army family. His grandfather, Francis Ventris, was a major-general and Commander of British...
Deciphered Mycaenean Greek and instantly died in a car crash, aged just 33 yo.
 
1 hour later…
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
15:41
He had a very eventful life. Even studied Russian
user image
A fox in the Elbrus mountains used a ropeway to travel.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
16:01
user image
Do you agree with the statement that covid is not a natural disease but a new form of biological weapon?
Yes, strongly
Yes, rather
No, rather not
No, strongly
Not sure
61% of Russians believe that covid is a bioweapon
Cerberus
Cerberus
16:19
I believe Bulgaria is about as bad as Russia with respect to vaccinations and conspiracies and such.
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
a lot of scepticism in Greece, too
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Probably yes, because it's also a former Soviet Bloc country
Former Soviet people sometimes have a strong disbelief to some government messaging.
When Putin's television started trumpeting Sputnik as the first and the most efficient in the world just weeks after a tiny study on some soldiers, people grew suspicious about this vaccine.
And Putin himself was never shown undergoing vaccination. And his spokesman Mr. Peskov still has not vaccinated, and carried a pseudoscientific amulet to "protect" himself from covid.
Come on. I believe that a president must show himself vaccinating, to induce others.
It still puzzles me, provided that Putin has been very careful to maintain his macho image. What's so bad about getting a shot in the arm.
It's a great image of a president who cares and tries to induce others by example.
Why did he never get vaccinated under TV cameras, it's just incomprehensible.
Cerberus
Cerberus
@CowperKettle Thanks for the link, this is pretty cool indeed.
Let's hope it can be applied world wide soon.
@CowperKettle Or he could just do a fake vaccination on camera.
It's very easy to fake.
So...perhaps people wouldn't believe it anyway?
Mitch
Mitch
17:14
@CowperKettle seems legit...
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive form of brain stimulation in which a changing magnetic field is used to cause electric current at a specific area of the brain through electromagnetic induction. An electric pulse generator, or stimulator, is connected to a magnetic coil, which in turn is connected to the scalp. The stimulator generates a changing electric current within the coil which induces a magnetic field; this field then causes a second inductance of inverted electric charge within the brain itself.: 3 TMS has shown diagnostic and therapeutic potential in the central...
the mechanism of depression reduction still seems unknown. It's sort of just like ECT but much more precisely directable.
 
3 hours later…
reith
reith
20:21
Hi
does the expression "the moments when I've been through" make sense? I think "that" works fine, but I tend to use "which" more often, which Grammarly complains. I think "when" sounds weird but it seems all right to Grammarly.
Cerberus
Cerberus
@reith Grammarly is just a computer programme, it has no idea about grammar!
Robusto
Robusto
@reith It would make sense with a complement, but not as it stands.
Cerberus
Cerberus
When is absolutely wrong here.
reith
reith
Yeah, but it's most accessible thing I can reach without feeling too bothering :)
Robusto
Robusto
"The moments when I've been through a mystifying experience ..." would work.
Cerberus
Cerberus
20:26
That or which are possible, though I still think having been through moments does not sound quite right.
Robusto
Robusto
But simply "The moments when I've been through" is a barbarism.
Cerberus
Cerberus
@reith That is fine: just don't trust it.
Robusto
Robusto
Drop the when and it makes sense: "The moments I've been through ..." followed by explanatory info.
reith
reith
"but the agonizing moment that I've been through is still fresh in my mind" this is my whole sentence. does which work too?
Cerberus
Cerberus
I would never say I go through a moment except perhaps with some qualifier of...
@reith It makes sense.
Robusto
Robusto
20:27
@reith Better would be "The agonizing moment I went through is still fresh in my mind."
Cerberus
Cerberus
But I wouldn't say it sounds nice.
Robusto
Robusto
What is your native tongue?
reith
reith
Persian
I guess the reason that when is wrong, is that we don't use it as an adverb really there.. am I right?
Cerberus
Cerberus
Yes: in I go through x, x the object of a preposition.
Robusto
Robusto
No. It's simply wrong unless it is setting up a time context.
"The moments when I've been through hell have been most educational for me." That is a perfectly fine sentence.
Cerberus
Cerberus
20:29
And you would normally use that or which if you wanted to replace x with a relative pronoun.
@Robusto Right, because there you introduce an object, hell, to the preposition through.
Robusto
Robusto
It needs to set up a complement.
Cerberus
Cerberus
Then the preposition no longer requires the relative pronoun to function as its object.
> I passed through the door → the door through which I passed → the door (that/which) I passed through
> we met at that time → the time at which we met → the time (that/which) we met at / the time when we met ( the time when we met at )
2
reith
reith
So I had an incorrect mixed tense too. Thanks a bunch!
Cerberus
Cerberus
So it is best to treat Grammarly as a very stupid assistant: much of what she says is wrong, but it can be useful if she draws your attention to things that might possibly be incorrect (even though they often aren't). Vice versa, if she says something is right, never trust her, but trust your own skill.
reith
reith
Yes, of course. I've already learned a lot about articles thanks to Grammarly but it sometimes makes weird suggestion especially in more complex sentences. I often try consulting Ngrams too, but for situations like this, it isn't much of help either.
Cerberus
Cerberus
20:44
Are you sure you can trust her advice on articles?
Google Books is good for checking things: contrary to Ngrams, you see things in context.
reith
reith
I take it with a grain of salt. But it often goes like that, it catches my problem and then I just realize/recall why I was wrong.
Robusto
Robusto
You can even drop the when (or that) entirely. "The day we met was glorious," etc.
Cerberus
Cerberus
@reith As long as you use it like that, OK!
Robusto
Robusto
It's a lot like suggestions in Microsoft Word, etc. They purport to be grammar checkers, but they're mainly just nuisances offering idiot objections to perfectly natural, idiomatic language.

« first day (4008 days earlier)      last day (1209 days later) »