English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Robusto

00:23

Supreme Court finds that the Civil War was wrongly decided, reinstates the Confederacy.

CowperKettle

00:49

ЛОЛ

When I click on a link, say, to a Wikipedia article, and it opens in mobile form, is there an easy and quick way to switch to normal (PC browser) form without manually editing out the .m. letter?

CowperKettle

01:31

Ilya Yashin, one of Russia's last oppositional politicians who have not fled Russia, was detained by a police squad while walking in the park late night. Nobody knows where he is now.

SmokeDetector

02:52

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Email in answer, messaging number in answer, pattern-matching website in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (249): A diploma and a degree cetificate: the difference in use in the USA and GB‭ by Mian Gan‭ on english.SE

Cerberus

03:11

@CowperKettle For Wikipaedia, the easiest way would be to write a quick userscript.

CowperKettle

04:40

@Cerberus nods

CowperKettle

07:42

@Cerberus What are "not-quite-U suits"? Suits so expensive that they seem to tell to onlookers "I'm not a poor person like you"?

ConGovDeIn

How many triangles are there in the following figure?

Solve it in a way so that you can explain it to others lucidly.

(In this chat room puzzles have been discussed, so, I thought mine will not be considered odd too)

Vikas

@ConGovDeIn Not worth it. Can't mess my brain XD

CowperKettle

There are 20 triangles of the "minimal" size (half-square).

Vikas

I will solve this instead:

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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

CowperKettle

07:59

In addition to the 20 minimal triangles, one could calculate the number of two-cell triangles, by noting all the "two-square" combinations.

There seem to be 12 two-cell triangles.

Thus far, 32 triangles.

And there are 2 distinct "four-cell cubes" combinations, giving an additional 4 "four-cell" triangles. Total thus far: 36

And I can see one additional triangle in a 3-by-3 cell combination, the one whose hypothenuse is parallel to the rugged edge. Thus far, a total of 37.

I'm not good with math problems.

I was wrong, the two distinct four-cell cubes give not 4, but 8 additional triangles, thus a total of not 36, but 40.

Therefore the 3-by-3 triangle will bring the total to 41.

Of course there might well be some thing I overlooked.

Percentage of Electricity Consumed from Renewable Sources in OECD Countries

Xanne

08:19

@CowperKettle I’m surprised by France, or doesn’t nuclear count as renewable? It’s non-carbon, once built. But then it takes fossil fuel energy to build windmills and solar oanels, install them, etc.

@CowperKettle Have you heard of Mueller-Weiss syndrome, with which Rafael Nadal has been (long ago) diagnosed? He is playing (second seed) at the Wimbledon tennis tournament right now.

Mueller-Weiss syndrome is adult-onset of deterioration of the navicular bone in the foot.

Nadal has used local anesthetic to control the pain, but has used more radical treatment recently, getting at the nerve with more permanent radiation, I think. He wants to win Wimbledon and the U..S. Open.

Meanwhile Wimbledon is not permitting Russians or Belorussians to play. As a consequence no ranking points will be awarded for this tournament. Daniil Medvedev, ranked #1 in the world, can’t play, nor can Russian Andrei Rublev, ranked in the top ten also. Alexander (Sascha, of course) Zverev is not playing—he’s German but his parents immigrated from Russia in 1990 or so. He’s ranked second in the world, but he turned his ankle and tore the three lateral ligaments. He is recovering from surgery.

CowperKettle

08:41

@Xanne No, I never heard of it. I've added navicular bone to my Anki dictionary for memorizing.

Looks like the Spanish got tired of traveling.

Xanne

Novak Djokovic (Serbian) is playing, and has been ranked #1 for a long time, but has slipped in the rankings because he refused to get a Covid shot. So Australia invited him, then decided he had to be deported. He may not be able to enter the U.S. for the U.S. Open without Covid vaccinations.

CowperKettle

I used to play tennis from ages 8 to 15, but I never was interested in tracking championships or watching matches ))

Xanne

Djokovic, who heads the group that speaks for players, disapproves of the Winbledon decision on Russian/Belorussian players. Rublev said on Feb. 24 or 25 “No war please!”

All this also affects the women—Vika Azarenka, playing for Belorus, can’t play at Wimbledon. She and Medvedev and Rublev are all nice people insofar as one can tell from their interviews.

CowperKettle

08:56

Well, there are a lot of other championships to play in.

Wimbledon is just a small championship on a small island. ))

Xanne

I like following it—where they come from, why they play, etc. This Winbledon situation seems to

CowperKettle

My dad used to have several dozen video cassettes with tennis matches.

And a dozen of books describing the proper technique of hitting the ball, tactical behavior on the court, etc.

And special gear for putting strings on a racket.

Xanne

….seems to be all mixed up in the current events in the world—which are influencing who plays whom, etc., just when the three who have dominated for so long are being challenged by a new generation. So I like it and I like the players, finding them more engaging than the football and soccer teams. ajust thought you’d like to hear about Mueller-Weiss syndrome.-:j

CowperKettle

Yes, that was handy! A new word in my dictionary ))

I knew about the scaphoid bone, and this bone is its counterpart, but in the foot.

The scaphoid bone is in the hand.

Xanne

09:14

The navicular problem is more common in women than in men, but no one ventures an explanation. I think it’s because women wear high heels that eventually activate the decay. Surgery is possible but not a cure. Meanwhile Nadal is playing against time. Zverev speaks German, Russian, and English fluently, the first two natively. Medvedev learned French to talk to his French coach and gets along in English.

Mueller–Weiss syndrome

Mueller–Weiss syndrome, also known as Mueller–Weiss disease, is a rare idiopathic degenerative disease of the adult navicular bone characterized by progressive collapse and fragmentation, leading to mid- and hindfoot pain and deformity. It is most commonly seen in females, ages 40–60. Characteristic imaging shows lateral navicular collapse. This disease had been historically considered to be a form of adult onset osteonecrosis, with blood flow cutoff to the navicular. == Navicular == The navicular, deriving its name from its boat–like shape, is a small but critical bone. It connects the ankle...

CowperKettle

> president of a bar association, court lawyer Dmitrii Talantov arrested, taken away in handcuffs

Dmitriy Talantov was one of the laywers working for Ivan Safronov, an investigative journalist ceized last year and accused of state treason.

Over a year of investigation, the prosecution found nothing on Ivan Safronov, but he is still in jail.

One of the witnesses for prosecution on 18 May 2022 suddenly gave statements during a hearing that practically disassembled the whole premise of the case.

After this, the court banned the hearing of witnesses in court.

It's a horrible case in which the state just punished an investigative journalist for discovering corruption.

Xanne

I am hoping that when Putin gives up, Russia will free the dissidents and hold free elections, in return for lifting sanctions.

CowperKettle

By January 2022, there were more than 400 innocent people jailed for their political or religious activity.

Just today an Jehova's Witness, a 50+ yo guy, got several years in jail for practicing his faith.

Putin will never give up, he has run himself into a corner from which there's no escape.

His parents lived to nearly 90 years, so we can have some 20 years of Putin's rule before us, all the way to 2040 A.D.

Xanne

He can’t be there forever, though.

CowperKettle

He eats healthy food and takes time to exercise. He can be there for decades, with good medical help. He is not a Brezhnev or Yeltsin who boozed.

Xanne

09:30

And EU and NATO are determined to hang on and contain him. There are also the folks who have left, who may return. At least some of them.

CowperKettle

12th of June was the Day of Russia, and two artists in Moscow hang a Russian flag with the sign saying "Today Is Not My Day" on an embankment.

The two artists were immediately arrested for 15 days.

Today they were freed, and after walking several meters, immediately arrested again.

This has become a torturous tactics, to arrest people several times in a row.

To psychologically oppress them, and show everybody else that the state doesn't care about the law.

Xanne

Meanwhile Russia collects oil and gas revenues. But not forever. Gold—not forever either. Or provinces break away, the ones that have the oil and gas and gold and timber.

And may even the ones that make the weapons.

Time for me to sleep. Thanks for listening. And talking.

CowperKettle

09:55

Sleep tight!

ConGovDeIn

10:39

@CowperKettle That matches with the given answer

@Robusto Consider this para

> That afternoon of the inquest. The relabelled bottle on the table. The room in the hotel with hunting pictures. Stuffy it was. Sunlight through the slats of the Venetian blind. The coroner's sunlit ears, big and hairy. Boots giving evidence. Thought he was asleep first. Then saw like yellow streaks on his face. Had slipped down to the foot of the bed. Verdict: overdose. Death by misadventure. The letter. For my son Leopold.

The context is: Mr. Bloom is remembering the suicide of his father when Mr. Power mentioned that taking one's life is the worst form of death.

Well, I would judge that description of suicide, I mean to convey to readers that Mr. Bloom's father died of suicide, as not very charming and lucid.Had it to be described by Shelley or Zola, we would have got a very deep and complex sense of temperament of Mr. Bloom. This is what I call an under-description.

CowperKettle

11:55

Aditya (boat)

Aditya is a solar-powered ferry operating between Vaikkom and Thavanakkadavu in the Indian state of Kerala. The boat was inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan and Central Cabinet Minister for Power, Renewable Energy, Sri. Piyush Goyal on 12 January 2017.It is India's first solar-powered ferry and the largest solar-powered boat in India. The vessel was designed and built by NavAlt Solar and Electric Boats in Kochi, India. NavAlt is a joint venture firm between Navgathi Marine Design and Constructions, Alternative Energies (France) and EVE Systems (France). In August 2020...

Well done, Indians

Vikas

12:06

Thanks.

Cerberus

@CowperKettle Could be. Mainly just suits that aren't cheap but don't conform to traditional norms.

Mitch

12:46

@Xanne That's pretty wild... there's this very rare syndrome..but just about that one little ankle bone... and -not- any of the others.

@CowperKettle There are probably lots of anki files out there for med students listing the names of all the weird bones, like in the face or the wrist (the latter of which I think are mostly the same as the ankle)

@CowperKettle I find it astounding that so -many- are living outside their birth country. 5% is 1 out of 20... that's a big exodus.

CowperKettle

13:02

Yes, the metatarsus and the metacarpus are alike

Robusto

13:42

@ConGovDeIn OK. Is there a specific point you'd like me to respond to?

#Worldle #158 1/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

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Wordle 374 3/6

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Maybe that's what happened to @MattEllen.

Myths & Claims of the Russia-Ukraine War - Claims, Feints, and Bioweapons

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ConGovDeIn

14:06

@Robusto Do you concur that Shelley or Zola could put it better? And do you concur that that passage was really an under-description?

S.M.T

14:17

Hii guys

From my research , I can say what I have been experiencing is ‘ EXISTENTIAL CRISIS’

Robusto

@ConGovDeIn They could certainly put it better for Shelley or Zola. But for what Joyce wanted to express I think he was the master of that.

Vikas

15:00

Why is it said 40% humidity is ideal? Here, humidity is above 30% and everyone is feeling the heat. Not to mention lot of sweat.

tchrist

Ideal humidity is not to have humidity. :)

Robusto

16:20

@tchrist It's getting to be a sauna down here. Well, I guess you can't have it both ways. Moisture is better than no moisture when you live in a desert.

tchrist

@Robusto What the heck? Where did your 63% wet come from?

And oh look your UV exposure cranked pass 10 to 11!

Robusto

It came from the Gulf of Mexico. We call it the monsoon.

tchrist

I dunno, my humidity is at a perplexing 29% myself.

Robusto

@jillagre might call it Monsieur Monsoon.

tchrist

And it sprinkled several hundredths of an inch yesterday afternoon.

So yeah, monsoon is in.

Robusto

16:24

It's very early this year. We are pleased immensely.

tchrist

Yeah, it's not usually here before Independence Day.

The end of June is always the very hottest for want of monsoon.

Robusto

All of our wildfires but one are 100% contained or else getting there rapidly.

Only the Black Fire remains a threat, and that is 70% contained.

ConGovDeIn

@Robusto What Joyce wanted to express?

The sudden but not very deep thought that came, in Bloom's mind by references made by Mr. Power, and went away?

tchrist

I have these weird white things in the sky here and there. They don't look like smoke clumps though.

ConGovDeIn

@S.M.T ummm.... please, my friend, don't continue your research. Internet is a bad place for investigating your life

Robusto

16:28

@ConGovDeIn This is from Ulysses, is it not? I don't have the book memorized.

ConGovDeIn

Just remember Whitman's words "If you consider death lucky, believe me birth is even luckier"

@Robusto Yes

Robusto

Well, it's an example of interior monologue.

Stream of consciousness

In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in First Lines of Physiology: Designed for the Use of Students of Medicine, when he wrote, If we separate from this mingled and moving stream of consciousness, our sensations and volitions, which are constantly giving it a new direction, and suffer it to pursue its own spontaneous course, it will appear, upon examination, that this, instead of being wholly fortuitous...

ConGovDeIn

I know that, quite well.

Robusto

So what point are you trying to make?

ConGovDeIn

I wanted to discuss, if someone talks of suicide in front of a man whose father committed suicide, will a strong feeling come in him or just a momentary thought?

Robusto

16:32

@ConGovDeIn Ask yourself what it says about the character who is thinking those thoughts.

ConGovDeIn

If a strong feeling, then Zola or Shelley would do the job better, if momentary then we have Joyce. But why did Joyce conclude that the thought would be momentary in Bloom's mind? The simple answer: It was his novel.

@Robusto You're something

Well, I would conclude: Mr. Bloom is not a very philosophical or deep-thinking man.

Robusto

@ConGovDeIn And what is wrong with that?

Joyce's aim was not to ennoble with impassioned rhetoric, but to paint with all the warts and baldness and frailty that he saw.

But I think there is more poetry in Molly Bloom's soliloquy than there is in nearly all of Shelley. Call me a barbarian if you will.

Mar 24, 2011 at 13:32, by Robusto

@RegDwight — As my AP English teacher in high school used to say, "Approach any piece of literature with the assumption that the author is at least as smart as you are."

@tchrist: Our skies are clear once again. No smoke, at long last.

ConGovDeIn

@Robusto I really didn't get that. Molly's soliloquy was not beautiful, at least to me.

It was ordinary

Robusto

Heh. Well, it is your privilege so to imagine.

What is wrong with portraying people in all their ordinariness? Was Courbet's painting of peasants not art, though it outraged the art establishment of the time?

>
O and the sea the sea crimson sometimes like fire and the glorious sunsets and the figtrees in the Alameda gardens yes and all the queer little streets and pink and blue and yellow houses and the rosegardens and the jessamine and geraniums and cactuses and Gibraltar as a girl where I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mount…

Do you not feel something for Molly Bloom, living her drab little life yet dreaming a poem of liberation and apotheosis?

Vikas

16:51

@tchrist Yeah but I today read that 40-45% is considered ideal. So it's confusing. onehourheatandair.com/southeast-pa/about-us/blog/2019/december/…

tchrist

@Vikas I've read that too. It's only talking about inside humidities when your inside temperature is 68 or 70.

It has nothing to do with how to survive outside in actual heat.

Because you can't.

Not at that humidity.

Vikas

@tchrist Ah. 70 F is far better.

tchrist

If it's 90 out, then if you have 45% humidity, you'll be tortured. And if it's 110, you'll probably be killed. Wet bulb matters!!!

See the issue?

Vikas

@tchrist That's what is happening. Today was around 107°F and humidity 30-35%. We had even more higher temperature at summer peak but at that time humidity was low so it didn't irritated that much.

@tchrist Yup. So it is VERY HOT right now.

tchrist

Exactly.

Vikas

16:57

@tchrist It also means if humidity is too much hotness will decrease? That means it would rain?

tchrist

In the desert's 4% humidity it won't be Very Hot until 115 or so.

Robusto

Normally when our temps get over 100 the humidity is in the 10-20% range. So if you're in the shade you don't notice that it is hot.

tchrist

Yes, that.

Robusto

You still have evaporative cooling.

tchrist

100 in the shade with no humidity is "very warm" but doesn't hit "hot" until you add humidity.

Robusto

16:59

And the hotter it gets, the lower the humidity gets. Here, at least.

Vikas

@tchrist That is why 110 wouldn't feel too uncomfortable to me in Thar desert. We could easily sit under a tree when wind is blowing. That was cool! Because low humidity.

BTW I go for walk right after sunset. It's little uncomfortable in humidity but I have tight schedules.

ConGovDeIn

@Robusto One last doubt: Why did I say that Joyce didn't describe the situation well instead of asserting "Joyce couldn't make it better"? Why do I consider Joyce, within myself, as very great?

Robusto

@Vikas Better to walk before dawn.

Vikas

@Robusto Too lazy in the morning!

tchrist

@Vikas Indeed. But I know that your part of the world is becoming unlivable due to the wet-bulb temps at times.

Robusto

17:03

@ConGovDeIn I can't answer for why you said or considered something.

This is tantamount to asking me to determine why you like the things you do.

ConGovDeIn

No, it is not tantamount to that.

You know what I'm asking.

Robusto

No, I don't. It is incumbent on you to communicate that to me, not to ask me to fathom it from a few clues.

Faheem Mitha

@Robusto Drabness is a matter of perception.

Robusto

@FaheemMitha Yes. So what?

Faheem Mitha

@Robusto So nothing. I was just in the mood for an aphorism.

Or what I considered to be an aphorism. Sorry for interrupting.

ConGovDeIn

17:08

It seems to me that I respect Joyce only because others do it, but deep in my bowels something stirs and tells me to wait for the correct revelation.

Robusto

@ConGovDeIn As I said, that is your privilege. You and I will simply have to disagree about him and his writing.

ConGovDeIn

I really don't get what's my privelege

Vikas

@tchrist Uhm it's too technical term (WBT). Tried to understand from Wikipedia. Hard to understand. What does it indicate basically?

Faheem Mitha

@Robusto I like Shelley.

> Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

ConGovDeIn

wow!

How about something cloacal?

Spring, winters, and urine.

Robusto

17:13

@FaheemMitha Me too. I also like Joyce. And Zola. And Keats. And Wallace Stevens. And Faulkner. And Shakespeare. And Swift. And Eco. And Dickinson. Whitman. And any number of composers and artists.

Faheem Mitha

@Robusto That's a lot of people.

Robusto

If Shelley moves you while you despise Joyce, that says more about you than it does about Joyce.

@FaheemMitha I haven't even scratched the surface.

Faheem Mitha

I don't know Wallace Stevens, but I think he's American.

Robusto

Is there something wrong with being well read?

Faheem Mitha

@Robusto If you're addressing me, I didn't say anything about Joyce.

@Robusto I didn't say that either.

Robusto

17:15

@FaheemMitha Yes. And I left out Frost, sorry.

ConGovDeIn

@Robusto Idealism vs Materialism

"Anything more than the truth would have seem too weak"

Robusto

@ConGovDeIn You can apply all the labels you want, but I know when something moves me without reference to categorization. To me, every true artist is unique.

@FaheemMitha You came in in the middle of that particular argument, so pardon me if I tarred you with the same brush I was wielding at the time.

Faheem Mitha

@Robusto For the record, I literally said nothing about Joyce whatsoever. Perhaps you confused me with someone else. And sorry again for interrupting. I guess I'm procrastinating.

Anyway, I like (or used to like) the Romantic poets. Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats. And probably others I've forgotten. When I was younger, anyway.

Robusto

@FaheemMitha I acknowledged that implicitly, but if you need me to state that explicitly "for the record" I certainly can.

Faheem Mitha

Though I don't really know their stuff.

@Robusto No, it's fine. Just trying to clear up any confusion. People are constantly reading things to stuff I said which I didn't mean. For some reason.

"reading things into stuff I said". Sorry.

Vikas

18:39

> Turkey has agreed to support the Nato membership applications of Finland and Sweden, the Finnish president has said.

Finland's President Niinisto said the breakthrough came after the three countries signed a joint memorandum "to extend their full support against threats to each other’s security" after meeting at the Nato summit in Madrid.

Robusto

20:31

@ConGovDeIn It is your privilege to like what you like, and dislike what you dislike. You do you. I do me.

Cerberus

@Vikas Excellent!

Robusto

Do they eat turkey in Turkey?

Hahahaha, have you ever seen a more disingenuous rendering of statistics?

> I solved today's Redactle (#83) in 64 guesses with an accuracy of 32.81%. Played at redactle.com

Cerberus

20:50

I think I've seen that one before, I wonder whether it's real.

Robusto

Wow, I had no idea up until the time a sheer stab in the dark filled in the page. Talk about luck.

@Cerberus Good question.

Possibly it's just humor aimed at criticism of some aspect of the system.

Cerberus

Quite possibly.

Robusto

I was well behind the curve on today's Redactle.

> Globally, 10831 players have solved today's Redactle so far
Global Median: 33.00 Guesses; 48.57% Accuracy
Global Average: 45.46 Guesses; 52.87% Accuracy

Xanne

I did it in 21 guesses with 74% accuracy. For me the easiest yet.

jlliagre

21:31

I gave up with the previous redactle after 353 attempts. I got "ram" ("bélier") at guess 244 but there was no way for me to guess "battering".

I just did better with today's Redactle:

Congratulations, you solved Redactle #83!
The answer was: *****
You solved it in 38 guesses
Your accuracy was 47.37%

Not the easiest for me, I found #69 (go) in 5 guesses with 100% accuracy. I'm afraid I'll never improve that score. It followed, my "worst" success, #68 (sitcom) found after 506 (!) guesses with 26.88% accuracy. I was close to exhaust my English vocabulary ;-)

Robusto

21:43

@jlliagre Once I got ram the rest was easy.

Sometimes ya win, sometimes ya lose. And sometimes the blues gets a hold on you.

jlliagre

#Worldle #158 1/6 (100%)
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https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

Robusto

Yeah, that one was obvious.

jlliagre

Wordle 374 3/6

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…