English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

I don't know.

He might pretend to be victorious over some small thing.

The daily news will tell the people what he wants.

But his inner circle will perceive him as weak. And Russia does not suffer weak leaders gladly.

Already has he reduced the goals of his war.

And he refuses to declare war.

Which I think is in part because then he can always say, it was just a little military operation, what are you complaining about?

Meanwhile, back in the USA: ‘Dark Day’ as Gunman Kills 18 Children at a Texas Elementary School

Another part is the fear that Russian society will not suffer serious sacrifices for a war in Ukraine.

12:04 AM

Fucking hell. This is NOT a civilized country.

@Robusto Yeah, that could be an issue.

@Robusto That's pretty horrible.

It's beyond horrible.

But Texas just passed a law that anyone can carry a gun without a permit.

They're even relaxed gun laws there?

Well, they're killing children en masse, but at least people with tiny dicks can feel safe now.

I'm glad to be drinking beer at the moment.

12:06 AM

@Cerberus YES! Not that they were stringent in Texas before. But now it's the Wild West all over again.

@Cerberus I'm about ready to hit the scotch. Beer won't be enough.

BTW, if you would be so kind, that headline should read at a Texas Elementary School

Yep, that's The New York Times and that's their headline. You don't see those kinds of error in America's premiere newspaper very often.

Probably they were as upset as I am seeing this news.

> Senator Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, said on Tuesday that he was “horrified and heartbroken” by the elementary school shooting in Texas that killed at least 18 children and a teacher, but the Kentucky Republican, like many others in his party who publicly expressed their dismay, gave no indication that he was dropping his longstanding opposition to gun control measures.

Mr. McConnell, who controlled the Senate for six years until 2021 and has an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association, has been instrumental in blocking Democratic efforts to enact gun safety measures, a rec…

Thanks, Republicans.

Spare us your "thoughts and prayers," you absolute hypocrites.

12:23 AM

@Robusto Done.

Thank you.

I really wish trusted users could just edit their own posts.

At least increase the limit to an hour or something.

@Cerberus Yes.

But SE rarely changes such things, alas.

Yeah. And isn't the chat system a legacy that nobody wants to mess with?

12:26 AM

Right.

> the gunman had been a student at a nearby high school

...

Children shoot each other.

12:38 AM

"Feeling unhappy? Can't get a date? Acne slowing your roll? Just, get yourself a gun! Or two! Make other kids suffer the pain you're feeling right now! It's easy! Gov. Abbott has said it's your right to be able to kill anybody you want!"

12:52 AM

Do such shootings also happen in states with strict gun laws?

Yes. But not with the same frequency, I think.

Here shootings often happen with guns from former Yugoslavia.

Many guns disappeared from government control during the war there.

And you can just drive from there to here in a day or two.

Yeah. Guns are not going away. But we should at least try to keep them out of the hands of the crazies. I mean, can't we put our heads together and try? Can't reasonable people agree that mass murders of children is a bad thing?

@Cerberus So it's just like driving from one state to another in the US?

@Robusto Indeed.

@Robusto Well, there are border controls between Yugoslavia and the E. U.

But those are probably far from hermetic.

Do you have to submit to a luggage inspection coming back from, say, Serbia?

1:06 AM

And I believe the trade in 'disabled' guns is legal in (part?) of the E. U.: those are often easily reënabled at their destination.

@Robusto Probably.

The Serbian and Russian borders are probably similar.

Like the border between Mexico and America.

In practice, I don't know how effective those border controls are.

I think it's like drugs. If there's money in it, someone is going to supply the market with guns.

Yeah.

I think a gun would be €500 here.

If you know where to get it.

I think some journalists tried it, and it wasn't too difficult.

Still, it's definitely much harder to get guns in Europe than in the US.

1:25 AM

Yeah most probably.

OK I looked it up: it took some journalists a couple of days and €2200 to buy a Kalashnikov in Holland.

In 2018.

@Cerberus Fully automatic?

And what is the penalty if you're caught with one of those things in your country?

@Robusto Yes, I believe so?

The favourite weapon of terrorists.

Yes.

The normal street price is supposed to be around €1500, but they said they were journalists, so they paid a premium.

@Robusto I'll look it up.

Much depends on what you have it for.

That's the weapon used to slaughter the Charlie Hebdo staff.

1:29 AM

The journalists were ultimately not prosecuted, because it was for research.

But the public prosecutor did investigate their purchase.

@Cerberus I guess you get a discount if you're only going to use the weapon for terrorism and murder.

The possession of any illegal non-firearm weapons, such as stiletto knives and brass knuckles, could result in a maximum punishment of 9 months in prison, or a fine of €4500.

For firearms, it's 4 years or €45,000.

We only have maximum sentences.

So it's up to the judge.

And that's just for possession: if they believe you were planning to do something with, you will be prosecuted for attempted whatever you are planning.

@Robusto That's what arms dealers are like!

Oh, the maximum punishment for dealing in firearms is 8 years in prison or a fine of €45,000.

@Cerberus Doesn't seem like enough.

Remember our punishment are generally far milder than in your legal system.

I think there are few crimes that could net you 8 years other than manslaughter and murder.

1:49 AM

Gotta install new video driver. Later.

2:07 AM

Good luck...

2:28 AM

@Robusto Trerrible, sad.

That's pretty hot.

How is it where you live?

I think you were somewhat near Pakistan?

But I think the climate was generally less hot where you live?

@Cerberus Yes. Where I live the maximum it reached was 47 degree celsius a few days ago. It might cross that in upcoming days.

@Robusto of course. I don't buy the "why bother because terrorists get their guns anyway" argument for a second

@Cerberus Yes it is tiny bit less hot than hottest places here. But I'm in more or less same region.

@Vikas Yikes!

I think you did have air conditioning?

2:43 AM

But fortunately, weather has become relatively pleasant in last two days because of some rain and cold breeze. Let's see how long that lasts.

@Cerberus Hair air?

More restrictions on guns would most certainly reduce the incidence of violent acts with them. And restricting heavier firearms should be out of the question

@Vikas Oops, *have.

McConnell and the rest of the turds have aided and abetted manslaughter

@Cerberus Yes. It is working more efficiently now. But it struggled in last few weeks.

Because of power interruptions?

2:46 AM

Are hair conditioners any good? Asking as a guy who spends the entirety of a minute every day to look passable

Just . . . Comb sideways and hope for no wind

I've never found out what they're actually supposed to do.

The Internet is full of babbling nonsense by stupid people on this.

They're like Pavlov but for hair

Yeah, me neither

Just as about nutrition and exercise.

@Cerberus Lol that was a separate problem. That resolved because probably we bought electricity from other states. AC struggled because my outdoor unit is in direct sunlight. Also 47 degree C is not very good for AC too.

Very difficult to find good sources on those topics.

@Vikas Ahh I see.

Did you make a roof over the external unit?

2:49 AM

@Cerberus I generally find Verywellfit to be . . . Less unscientific than others

@M.A.R. OK thanks.

Honestly, though, their c.v. don't look terribly impressive.

But the may be using good, academic sources for their publications?

@Cerberus I really gave a thought about this. But now soon monsoon will come so I guess it can be postponed. But it's better to have. I would blame LG technicians who did not tell me about this thing when they first installed it.

Hmm.

Perhaps nobody considered that temperatures should rise so high?

They said it's not needed. Bit that's not entirely true.

But nutritionists themselves share some of the blame. You read up a supposed article on a reputable journal, and it's full of 'This Scandinavian plant has anti-HIV, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cancer, pro-healing, pro-kinetic, antiosychotic, antidepressant properties, which is why Vikings used it for their cattle'

@Cerberus mostly a matter of less is more, as far as I've seen. Most others try to micromanage everything, resulting in passing some controversial stuff as gospel

2:53 AM

@Cerberus They knew it pretty well as they live in same area. Now they said to me that they didn't suggest at that time because it would make your installation even more expensive at that time.

@M.A.R. Ah, yes, nutrition has that problem, to be sure.

It's not as bad as social psychology.

I was just talking to somebody in Tucson today, where they actually do hit 120 from time to time. She said that she doesn't really feel like she needs AC until it's over 90. But these are whole-building central air conditioning units, not window units.

@Vikas That sucks.

Chatting on phone is incredibly, incredibly hard.

I kind of agree with her on that, but we're used to single digit humidity here when it's hot, and that changes everything.

2:55 AM

@Vikas Isn't it?

Maybe try voice input?

@Cerberus Yeah

Where "here" = the dry Four Corners states of the American Southwest.

@Cerberus Good idea. I will try if it works on my phone.

@tchrist Is that a euphemism for square now?

She's worried because the AC is out on her car, and sitting in a commute could be deadly.

2:56 AM

Right now when I type, the keyboard hides the input field. So I cant see what I am typing. Maybe some bug.

@Cerberus No, it's a particular place.

@Cerberus 600-gon

It should scroll the page up when I type.

Four Corners

The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area is named after the quadripoint at the intersection of approximately 37° north latitude with 109° 03' west longitude, where the boundaries of the four states meet, and are marked by the Four Corners Monument. It is the only location in the United States where four states meet. Most of the Four Corners region belongs to semi-autonomous Native American nations, the...

@M.A.R. Oh good, you remembered!

Tucson is in southern Arizona.

It's actually quite a nice place for a huge city.

@tchrist I remember, en route in France, temperatures were so high, and we had been stationary in traffic for so long, that the engine could no longer deal with the excess heat from the A/C system. In fact, it needed extra cooling, which was only possible by turning on the heating in the car...

2:59 AM

@Cerberus Yes, that becomes a problem because the car's AC draws power from the running engine.

If there is anything I hate more than being in a car for more than a few minutes, it is heat.

@tchrist well, sometimes you need safer conversation starters because people tend not to be very interested in cancer types

@tchrist Ahh that makes sense.

Tucson is at only 32 degrees north latitude. I forget what that is in metric, but it's definitely down there. Probably 0.

At 90 degrees with 5% humidity and a light 5 to 10 mph breeze, you don't feel hot unless you're exercising in the sun.

If then.

Best sentences type using voice input.

3:01 AM

But it's harder and harder after that. Somewhere in the low 100s you need to start being careful.

This sentence is typed using voice input.

Ding!

Google voice wants me to put more energy while speaking 😄

Even in a dead calm, you can always just walk at 5 mph and create that breeze that helps so much. Trust me, you won't (appear to) sweat in 5% humidity then. :)

I plan to never go south ever again in summer in my life.

3:03 AM

How was the Sahara?

And I have a mobile air conditioner just in case.

Italy was 43 degrees.

Those don't work. Your phone always gets hot anyway.

Probably Aquitaine almost as hot.

😆

@tchrist Mine works very well, thank you!

3:04 AM

@Cerberus Didn't I just say that in the low 100s you need to start being careful even in low humidity?

And of course a city with black stone that's been sitting in the sun for weeks will be many, many degrees hotter than 43 if that's the official temperature.

They don't cell mobiles with AC here.

Mobile AC has two meanings.

We should have AC inside desktop

You can buy them separately.

Instead of Intel Inside, AC inside.

3:05 AM

43C really is too warm to be gallivanting about without chalance.

@Cerberus lol

@tchrist In Italy, we measured 68 in the sun.

I've done it countless times, but I'm very very careful.

But that was probably not the real temperature.

And I was younger then.

Learn the way of the lizard.

Move from shadow to shadow, and rest.

I've hiked at temperatures over 110 in Texas, Arizona, Utah, and maybe New Mexico I think. But never without great preparation.

Nevada, too.

3:08 AM

You carry a great deal of water with you.

This was where we were in Bordeaux during the worst heat wave in history.

That seems very hot for Italy. Is that normal?

Bordeaux is moist.

Notice the solid black stone of the pavement.

Oh god you were in a stone prison!

I forgot.

3:09 AM

@tchrist It was in Volterra, which they say gets hotter than places around because it is on a volcano, or something.

I can't imagine surviving there. You have to get away from the death concrete.

@tchrist Indeed, that is what cities turn into during heat waves!

@tchrist That is not concrete, but stone.

Cities are heat traps; hence, death traps.

@Cerberus The street is not concrete or asphalt?

I think solid black stone (it looks much less black here in the sun than it really is) is worse than concrete.

@tchrist No, stone.

Perhaps some repaired patches are asphalt.

In any event, you should take refuge in some immense Gothic cathedral. I've been in Sevilla in summer when it's been 47, and you go hide in the cathedral there and it's fine.

3:11 AM

Yeah.

But we had to walk places.

If the official temperature is 43 degrees, what will it be on black stone?

50?

Get away from the damned rocks, gosh.

And what will it feel like when you're not in the shade but standing directly in the sun?

Cities will melt your tires anyway.

@Cerberus No lizard is so reckless.

I'm just never going south again in summer.

I can see that.

3:13 AM

Here, it was only 38 degrees that week...

40 degrees somewhere else in Holland, for the first time.

Back before I unretired, I used to deliberately go camping in high summer along the AZ/UT border. It's really crazy hot there then.

But there are no cities.

At least we have canals, which make a huge difference.

As you approach one, you will feel relief.

Of course parks are also cooler.

It's a given that it will be over 100. You just learn not to plan big hikes in the open during the central part of the day when it's too hot. Or you do so next to a river where you can immerse yourself continuously whenever you risk getting too hot. Like taking the trail down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon starting from the North Rim.

I think stone is the worst, then similar things like asphalt and sand.

@tchrist Yeah that helps.

But why not just go in a different season?

And have more freedom?

Because that's when your holidays are. :)

3:16 AM

You can't choose?

I never understand why people go to even hotter places in summer, and to even colder places in winter.

I'd do the reverse.

It was 40F at the top when I started, 40C at the bottom at 10am when I started back up 5 hours later, and it was snowing lightly at the top by the time I got back at dark, nearly 30 miles later. But this was on the 9th of August.

What was the difference in altitude?

Only because Bright Angel Creek is there next to you so that you can keep immersing is it ok. Also, half the trek there are faucets you can tap into.

I think it was 6500 or 7000 feet down and then that back up again.

So down at the bottom you have incredible energy because it's super saturated with lots of oxygen.

Hmm how many metre is that.

2000+?

I imagine that explains the difference in temperature.

A large part of it.

> You have an elevation gain of 5,781 feet on the North Kaibab trail.

So more than a mile.

> North Kaibab trailhead (8241 ft / 2512 m) to Supai Tunnel (6800 ft / 2073 m):
Supai Tunnel (6800 ft / 2073 m) to Roaring Springs (5220 ft / 1591 m):
Roaring Springs (5220 ft / 1591 m) to Manzanita Rest Area (4600 ft / 1402 m):
Manzanita Rest Area (4600 ft / 1402 m) to Cottonwood Campground (4080 ft / 1244 m):
North Kaibab trailhead (8241 ft / 2512 m) to Cottonwood Campground (4080 ft / 1244 m):
Cottonwood Campground (4080 ft / 1244 m) to Ribbon Falls (3720 ft / 1134 m):
Cottonwood Campground (4080 ft / 1244 m) to Bright Angel Campground (2480 ft / 756 m):

But that 14 miles is just one way.

To round-trip in a single day requires a level of fitness that few achieve.

It's like a "reverse 14er".

About a mile of elevation delta one way, but inverted.

With a 14er, you run out of air going up, but it's easy to come down because gravity is helping you.

With the Grand Canyon, it's strictly opposite that.

Going up somewhere always takes twice as long as coming down. Or at least, that's the rule of thumb.

It took me 5 hours to get down to the bottom then 10 hours to climb back up.

I reached the "day hikers turn back here" point in under an hour. I wasn't worried.

You also have to be very careful to calculate your calorie needs, not just water needs.

3:25 AM

Did you enjoy it?

Very much.

It took something like 6000 calories and 7 liters of water. Something like that.

The problem is you can only assimilate one liter per hour, but you can shed more than that. So you will have a net deficit at the end, just like any other marathon.

Good for you!

I was young. In fact, I was even younger than you are now by two years, since it was in 2000.

I had also "trained" for it all season leading up to that point. Doing 14ers, doing very long hikes, never putting in less than 50 miles per week.

That summer European tourists kept dying in the parks I went to because it was so hot and they didn't bring anything near enough water. Arches, Zion, Grand Canyon.

That was back before I unretired, obviously. I always took the summers completely off for adventuring.

You retired, then unretired?

I do not recommend it to anyone except a complete fitness nut.

Well, I quit my day job 5 years out of grad school.

Then I just did little training gigs here and there. They paid well.

For a long long time.

So it was like being retired, in a way.

3:33 AM

I see.

Why did you reconsider?

Needed money.

But the little gigs paid well?

I made a fortune for a long time, many times a normal programmer's salary. I think it would be like $700k/year in today's money. But I got tired of having to do everything.

And the health insurance thing in this country is awful too.

I worked 15-20% of the time, tops, and made 4-5x a normal salary.

And certainly never worked in the summer.

I don't really have much to show for it these days. Mostly just a fully paid for house in a privileged and beautiful place that has appreciated astronomically, something like $1.5M in today's market.

Plus of course I work as a programmer full time, and 40 years of experience in the field that you yourself were instrumental in creating pays extremely well here.

But your brain dries up. You'll see. Things slow down.

Kids a quarter my age can write bad code 10 times faster than I can, but it's still bad code. :)

They just haven't been hurt enough yet to know better.

For wisdom comes only from experience, experience only from error, and error only from getting hurt by not knowing not to do the wrong thing.

Now if I could only remember to be more careful about securing the bear-proof garbage bin before I put it out for collection. My bear kinda ripped off the lid and strewed garbage everywhere this morning. I'm guessing I only had one half secured, and that half he bent the bar on to get into the container.

So you needed more money for health insurance?

Scary bear.

I couldn't even buy the full health insurance I wanted. And which I now have.

3:45 AM

I see.

It's one of those beyond-platinum plans where it's all 100% covered "in network" after the deductible and the employer pays the deductible.

So finally I don't worry.

Good.

There are tiny little $5 and $10 charges here and there for routine prescriptions and some physician visits, but that's nothing.

I'm pretty sure I didn't even pay more than $20 for post-exposure rabies treatment. That runs uninsured people $40-50k here, even if you're a doctor yourself.

And I know many people who racked up multi-hundred-thousand-dollar medical bills. One at $800k, and several at $300-500k.

That's America for you. I think you see why I felt I needed somebody to pay for that not to happen to me.

And the whole "we pay 60/70/80% after deductible and you pay the rest" is no good when you have a half-million-dollar medical bill. 20% of 500 grand is still $100k you owe. See how that works?

You're screwed and you have to declare bankruptcy. It's a nightmare.

Bed time.

4:01 AM

Yeah.

Sleep well!

6:15 AM

I wrote this story in my college. I was trying to improve my English those days. I got a lot of negative feedback from my friends about this because I used complex words and sentences.

jlliagre

7:04 AM

@Vikas Nice story. Negative feedback maybe because they felt targeted.

7:50 AM

@jlliagre Haha

12:45 PM

aqicn.org/city/tabriz

Bah

@CowperKettle pfft, n00b

@CowperKettle there's a lot of wind. I dunno where it comes from, but it used to be that about this time of the year micropollutants from arid lands in Iraq swept this way

It was stuck at 500 for quite a while, only now it's designed to go below 400

It might be a colossal fuckup at a local refinery or something, maybe even previous times, and Iraq being a scapegoat or some racist's conspiracy theory

Well, Google is only recommending me a 100-dollar Elsevier book about it.

@CowperKettle hey we have very low NO2 levels!

@M.A.R. *deigned

@CowperKettle that'll win many people over

@Vikas students will always whine about this and that.

"How to live a fulfilling life" and just how much money factors into that are difficult questions that most people would prefer not to tackle.

I would probably have given some negative feedback because I'm a student and I like whining.

1:21 PM

#Worldle #124 1/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

Only one country looks like that.

________________
Wordle 340 4/6

🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜
🟨🟩🟩⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Furious NBA coach gives MUST-SEE response to shooting, STORMS OFF

1:37 PM

►

"We can't get numb to this." Damn straight.

@M.A.R. What the heck is going on there?!

@CowperKettle Curious lack of sun and wind in Iran.

How many years’ labor went into the creation of such a lovely thing?

And does the Batman know that this is where the Joker is hiding from him?

@tchrist OMG I totally do the face finding thing on carpets too

@CowperKettle look, if Russia is a failed developed country, Iran is a failed developing country.

It's mostly a bunch of geniuses here and there who are too patriotic for their own good, carrying the whole thing on their shoulders.

It's illuminating to hear this guy talk: scholar.google.com/citations?user=ozaHfhkAAAAJ&hl=en

For people like him, you have "no choice" but to sacrifice your future for this country, but he holds no delusions about the way things really are.

1:57 PM

@M.A.R. Novo-Arkhangelsk is a rather more failed Russian city than St Petersburg is.

Over the past two decades, the rhetoric has shifted from "go nuclear!" to "we'll sell oil to China and there's not a damn thing the US can do about it!"

We're now proud to be milked

I think because the Russians could not defeat the resident Sitka spruce forest.

The only things I know about Alaska I learned from Malcolm in the Middle

@M.A.R. Doesn't that mean you have to sacrifice your young calves to the Russian veal industry?

@tchrist no, no! We're better than that. We store it in freezers until the prices go up

2:01 PM

You don't need to do that. Putin would probably let them enlist in the army in the war against Ukraine.

Because he's already changed the rules to let the old nags sign up. Might as well let the frozen Iranian calves sign up as well.

Well, a stampede might work when tanks fail

Tanks but no tanks.

2:17 PM

> #Worldle #124 3/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨➡️
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜↖️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

@M.A.R. Hah Malcolm.

My brother and I watched him when we were young.

jlliagre

2:34 PM

#Worldle #124 4/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜↖️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨➡️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨↖️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

Mitch

@M.A.R. The only things I know about military school I learned from Malcolm in the Middle

The only things I know about special education classes I learned from Malcolm in the Middle

The only things I know about working at a non-pharmaceutical position at a pharmacy I learned from Malcolm in the Middle.

"The 'L' is for Value"