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Robusto
Robusto
00:05
@Cerberus If you're not fussy. The elements you want to disappear aren't always nested in things you're clicking.
Cerberus
Cerberus
It depends.
But Ublock has a good picker.
@Robusto You can pick which level you want to block.
user image
You can pick any of the options give at the bottom.
Or edit by hand in the area at the top.
Robusto
Robusto
@Cerberus Yeah, it's just easier for me to go through the DOM and find things.
Cerberus
Cerberus
But that is not permanent.
Ublock is.
If you want it to be permanent—but you can also hide elements temporarily.
Robusto
Robusto
00:31
@Cerberus Mostly I have that issue on sites I'm never coming back to. Hardly any are habitual.
Cerberus
Cerberus
00:46
@Robusto But that is not what Mitch asked about.
Robusto
Robusto
I don't care about that. I was just telling him general principles about how this stuff works.
Cerberus
Cerberus
You replied to me.
When I was explaining this to Mitch.
user 726941
user 726941
01:03
Shouldn't that be one sentence?
Robusto
Robusto
@Cerberus And I was explaining to you my own feeling on the matter. It's a group discussion.
user 726941
user 726941
It sounds so defensive when you write it as two.
alphabet
alphabet
Why does it require so much effort to take care of one's appearance?
Cerberus
Cerberus
@Robusto Okay, well, that wasn't clear to me, then.
@user726941 Yes, that was very informal of me.
Spank me.
@alphabet Hmm what kind of effort?
alphabet
alphabet
It seems to require (a) time management skills, (b) an ability to remember everyday tasks, and (c) an ability to prioritize things.
Robusto
Robusto
01:07
@Cerberus No hay problema. Alles in Ordnung.
Cerberus
Cerberus
@alphabet What things are bothering you?
user 726941
user 726941
@Cerberus so formal sentences are generally longer, right?
Allowing for more tone interpretations.
Cerberus
Cerberus
@user726941 They have a higher chance of being longer, yes.
user 726941
user 726941
Thanks.
Cerberus
Cerberus
In this case, because a formal sentence must be a full sentence. Which these are not.
As these are just subordinate clauses.
alphabet
alphabet
01:13
@Cerberus People seem to do crazy things, like getting exercise and choosing clothing non-randomly and doing skincare.
Cerberus
Cerberus
gasp
How is skincare done?
What does it entail?
alphabet
alphabet
Idk man some sort of weird teen trend
Cerberus
Cerberus
I just buy some clothes once a year, and I wear everything until it breaks, usually. Or until the holes get too big. But I make sure I buy things that look good on me. Then on a random day I just grab whatever is on top. For a dinner party, I might pick the pair of trousers that looks best on me and the better shirt.
@alphabet I wouldn't really know. I rub my face in the shower, or I will look all scaly.
And I put on some cream after showering or my skin feels like a taut, dry balloon.
What else should I be doing?
Ok I shave my face.
user 726941
user 726941
That^ is important
Btw, why was Shakespeare not consistent with the use of periods on his sentences?
alphabet
alphabet
When I look in a mirror, I mostly feel a vague sense of anger, usually about things I can't (easily) change
Perhaps that is a me problem
Cerberus
Cerberus
01:21
I suppose deep inside not accepting oneself as one is—that is a problem.
Work on it, OK?
There, fixed it for you.
alphabet
alphabet
Recently it's that my hair is thinning. I feel I am too young for this. Of course, this is something one can do something about, but sitting around feeling bad takes less effort.
user 726941
user 726941
> The first is that modern punctuation is logical, whereas Elizabethan was rhetorical.
alphabet
alphabet
I wish I was a raccoon. They have no need for such things.
Are there gay raccoons? Do they also have body image issues?
user 726941
user 726941
That explains some people saying "full stop" rhetorically
alphabet
alphabet
Somehow my all-milk diet experiment has not thoroughly resolved my mental health issues. Perhaps I should stay on it for longer.
user 726941
user 726941
01:34
Perhaps you should consult a therapist.
Cerberus
Cerberus
How old are you?
@user726941 Right, partly true.
@alphabet I think most/many mammals can at least display homosexual behaviour.
Issues about their body image, probably not.
@user726941 Good idea.
alphabet
alphabet
@user726941 My eating is not "disordered." It is "creative."
user 726941
user 726941
Are you gaining weight?
alphabet
alphabet
Nah
I'm good
The all-milk diet cured all my problems
Obviously
Cerberus
Cerberus
Hmm.
alphabet
alphabet
01:39
So here's a question:
1a. It needs to be said that we've run out of money.
1b. That we've run out of money needs to be said.
2a. It needs saying that we've run out of money.
2b. That we've run out of money needs saying.
Which of these are grammatical? I'm pretty sure (1a) is fine. (2a) seems okay-ish. I'm uncertain about (1b). (2b) is awful.
Cerberus
Cerberus
I would say all are grammatical?
Laurel
Laurel
@alphabet This u?
Cerberus
Cerberus
The needs -ing construction sounds informal to me.
Putting the that subject first makes the sentences a bit less fluent, but it may be appropriate in context.
I would say it adds topicality/focality.
alphabet
alphabet
@Laurel They let the raccoon keep the flag. I bet the homeowners though some homophobe had taken it down. But no, it was serving a far more important purpose.
Another one:

3a. If our campaign is to succeed, it needs to be rumored that our opponent is cheating on his wife.
3b. If our campaign is to succeed, it needs rumoring that our opponent is cheating on his wife.
I'm pretty confident (3b) is wrong. But it makes my head hurt.
Robusto
Robusto
@alphabet 3b is the kind of thing @tchrist might say in jest. I don't think it would be wrong to say that, just a flexing of grammar for felicitous effect.
Cerberus
Cerberus
01:54
@alphabet Both ugly.
And, again, the needs -ing construction is quite informal.
alphabet
alphabet
4a. What they are is dead.
4b. What they are is feared dead.
4c. What they are feared is dead.
Robusto
Robusto
@Cerberus I don't know. It hardly needs mentioning that ... is unobjectionable.
Cerberus
Cerberus
02:10
@alphabet I would say b and c are just too ugly.
@Robusto Right, that one is so common that it feels less informal to me.
Xanne
Xanne
02:22
That window needs washing. The boy needs mentoring. It needs rumoring is an odd use of rumor.
Cerberus
Cerberus
That is because it is a variation on it is rumoured that; but the expression is rather fixed, it doesn't need varying.
alphabet
alphabet
The issue is: rumor as a verb can only occur in the passive. Strictly speaking, in It needs rumoring that..., rumor is still passive, but it isn't in the usual form that passives take.
Xanne
Xanne
02:38
So what other examples exist of “it needs rumoring”?
None in NGram.
alphabet
alphabet
Indeed. Pretty sure it's just wrong.
Xanne
Xanne
“We need to rumor that” . . .vs. needing to start a rumor”
”We need rumoring on the divorce years . . .”. A few tries and it will seem normal.
alphabet
alphabet
We need that level of rumoring.
Xanne
Xanne
I got a positive Covid test yesterday -:(
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
@Xanne I'm very sorry to hear that!
Xanne
Xanne
02:51
My first. I’ve been lucky.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
@Xanne Are there severe symptoms, or is it okay?
Xanne
Xanne
It’s okay, and getting better. Becoming like a mild cold after a mild flu.
alphabet
alphabet
@Xanne You see, the solution is to not take tests.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
Word of the morning: whitewash ( the first player since 1989 to secure a whitewash win a two-session ranking final )
@Xanne This is great!
I suspect that I had a bout of Covid, but I did not take the test, because there was a huge queue to the doctor in the clinic.
I waited for 2 hours, and understood that it would last till midnight, and left.
Xanne
Xanne
@alphabet Actually I agree, but I had a mild fever and got curious.
alphabet
alphabet
02:58
@Xanne You need to learn to be less curious.
If you give someone else Covid, but you didn't know you had Covid, then it's not your fault, since you didn't know. So the solution is to just never get tested.
Same thing as with STDs.
Xanne
Xanne
Well. I flew to Boston from SFO and went to a 350-person conference in Bretton Woods. So I guess I had it coming.
There were people there from all over. Like France and Panama.
alphabet
alphabet
(My preceding comment was sarcasm, before someone admonishes me.)
Xanne
Xanne
03:15
Anyway, I wanted some Paxlovid.
Good to have around.
Mitch
Mitch
03:28
@Robusto Oh.
Oh yeah?
OH YEAH CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
Are sparks supposed to fly?
I just want to know if that's expected.
Ok...underspecified exactly where to put it but I guessed and the -contents- disappeared but it's taking up the same space.
Is that what you expected for me to happen?
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
@Xanne This is cool.
Mitch
Mitch
So functionally, if you want it to go away, you have to do this (fairly simple but nontrivial) edit -every- time you load the page with the problem?
@alphabet That reasoning is not uncommon. I heard it more than once during covid. It's not an issue if the tests are free. When they're $25 a pop, and you feel compelled to do it for any meeting with others, you then feel compelled to stay at home and to hell with other people.
@Cerberus I didn't know ublock was so versatile...I'll have to play with it.
Some sites don't 'like' adblockers (don't work well with)
alphabet
alphabet
03:45
@Mitch What I meant was: by not getting tested, you avoid the potential of needing to mask and isolate for days.
Cerberus
Cerberus
03:59
@Mitch Install it, then right-click on something and choose "Block element...".
Then you get the picker window in the lower-right corner of the web page, but it will be very transparent unless you hover over it. You can also temporarily remove elements, by using the Ublock extension menu and picking the lightning bolt (element zapper).
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
04:42
Interesting French etymology of the day: balade (walk without purpose, stroll) -- formed from ballade (“lyric poem”), referring to the constant movement of troubadours, jugglers, etc.
user image
Robusto
Robusto
@Mitch Then click the space and do the same thing.
Sometimes you have to get to the enclosing element, which you should look to the DOM outline on the left of the panel for. Find the topmost element that highlights the entire space of the thing you want to delete.
Anyway, it's probably simpler for you to follow @Cerb's advice with UBlock Origin.
Apropos of which:
The Great Bob Einstein in Modern Romance
►
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
05:15
How AI could lead to a better understanding of the brain - Nature, 7 Nov 2023
Xanne
Xanne
05:53
Maybe AI can lead to a better understanding of AI.
 
3 hours later…
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
09:02
@Mitch Exactly. So a part of the brain shrinks. What does that mean? If a follow-up study shows that contraceptives push people on the edge towards a seizure, then that's actionable. The physician will be hesitant towards prescribing contraceptives to people that might end up with a seizure, pharmaceutical companies will try to come up with drugs that are less likely to cause seizures, and students will have another side effect to memorize.
Until then, this is a WIP. Nobody is going to change their mind about oral contraceptives
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
09:56
An alternative to watching obnoxious ads is living here so you won't see or pay for any.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
@M.A.R. Work In Progress?
user 726941
user 726941
10:21
That would be my guess also.
Life is a WIP.
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
10:46
> Toxoplasma gondii, a common, cat-borne parasite already associated with risk-taking behavior and mental illness in humans may also contribute to exhaustion, loss of muscle mass, and other signs of “frailty” in older adults, finds a new study. colorado.edu/today/2023/11/06/…
"Madam Life's a piece in bloom
Death goes dogging everywhere:
She's the tenant of the room,
He's the ruffian on the stair."
@alphabet Did you try a ketogenic diet?
I'm thinking of trying it.
user image
> Prompt "Create a meme that makes absolutely no sense at all".
CowperKettle
CowperKettle
11:51
Russian anti-Putin activist went missing in Tbilisi, Georgia, on 12 October. He went out for a walk, and did not return. On the next day, he was arrested in Vladikavkaz, Russia. He has been living in Georgia since 2021 and did not plan to return to Russia. t.me/tvrain/72153
He was kidnapped right off the street in the capital of a foreign country.
Mitch
Mitch
12:04
@alphabet got it and therefore the dark joke about STDs
@Cerberus I'll try that
@Robusto yeah I've played with that to find problems with which element but never knew the tags well enough to manipulate, also didn't know you could edit in place
@M.A.R. so is the difference causality, or actionability (with only correlation shown)?
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
12:50
@Mitch it's all correlation. We hardly ever get to causation, and even then we're usually wrong and have to modify our hypothesis with various appendages. But sort of, yes. The size of the brain or the number of neurons doesn't matter. What matters is what bad (or good) things it will lead to. Clinical outcomes are important (seizures, strokes, mood disorders, dementia), not what leads to them.
Of course, since good studies take time, this reveal will cause some doctors to be more cautious about oral contraceptives, and be more likely to recommend IUDs and condoms, for example. We are already quite cautious about oral contraceptives though, because of the adverse effects already documented.
It's helpful for prescribers to think of most drugs as tempered poisons than cures. It's helpful for patients to think of them as cures rather than tempered poisons.
@CowperKettle when it's prompted to make something nonsensical, it usually thinks of fruit for some reason.
There's an Asimov story somewhere in there.
@CowperKettle trying to make Hollywood spy movies as authentic as possible
Mitch
Mitch
13:50
@M.A.R. OK. I think @CowperKettle's and my misunderstanding was that "reduced volumes of the ventromedical prefrontal cortex in women" seems like a pretty serious 'outcome', but you're saying it's not and an 'outcome' would be more like 'does poorly on mental shape rotation tests' or 'increased murder rates'? It's all about what exactly an 'outcome' is?
Robusto
Robusto
How to catch a scientific fraud
Wordle 872 4/6

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Robusto
Robusto
14:20
youtube.com/shorts/ynEGm54OAvU
2
user 726941
user 726941
14:35
🎯👍🏻
Mandela: The Prison Years | Mandela Prison | Timeline
►
Mitch
Mitch
@alphabet Or maybe you have a mirror problem.
@Robusto TLOLBRCH
"Typing 'LOL' But Really Crying Hysterically"
Robusto
Robusto
15:10
@Mitch Thank you for that.
Mitch
Mitch
15:30
@Robusto S'il vous plaît, faites
Si c'est, voire, le cas de le dire.
 
1 hour later…
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
16:52
@Mitch cognitive impairment is a lot more than just not being to rotate things. Murder rate increase is an outcome, just not a clinical one. Clinical outcomes are usually (always?) diagnoses by doctors. Schizophrenia is a clinical outcome, which can lead to increased homicide rates.
If you ignore the implications, "shrunken brain" is not much different than "enlarged fingers".
Mitch
Mitch
17:18
@M.A.R. Got it. an outcome is an official diagnosis. there are many correlative features of a patient, some actionable some not, some diagnosable some not (the latter only correlated but presumably most diagnosable things have -some- action available however small)
I was joking about homicide rates. Women tend not to kill people, whether at full brain capacity or not (needs an RCT though).
Also I think that people are freaked out by schizophrenia but there's no increase in murders by them. Maybe some extra unintended violence.
Tangentially, in the US they're trying to get rid of the diagnosis "Excited delirium" because it is not an actual diagnosis and happens to be overused for minorities.
Do you guys use ICD10 or are you already on ICD11?
@M.A.R. Where in the brain does spatio-visual representation/manipulation occur? (ie Broca area... or is that too old fashioned?)
You know who might know? @CowperKettle might know.
MetaEd
MetaEd
17:38
@Robusto Everybody quotes Ronald Reagan. It always makes me a bit queazy.
And then of course Reagan was quoting the Soviets.
MetaEd
MetaEd
17:57
Wordle 872 4/6

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2 hours later…
Robusto
Robusto
20:01
@MetaEd Funny, I thought it might make you queasy.
Mitch
Mitch
@Robusto Your reply to him is making me uneazy.
Robusto
Robusto
@Mitch Pleaze stop.
Mitch
Mitch
This exchange as a lot like allochezia
This is what I come here for.
Also
1
Q: "Out of sight" to refer to something that is very good — could it be based on German?

releseabeReading Jack London's The Road and in it he seems to be using the phrase in a very modern (at least 1970s when I believe this phrase was popular) manner to mean something that is very good. And I see in another post here that it predated the 1890s (or 1907 when Jack published The Road). I did not...

etymology phrases idioms etymological-fallacy
Though this sounds plausible (that the US word come from the German one), can you reconcile your answer with the answer in the duplicate that says 'no'? Which makes me wonder, how likely do foreign words/phrases get -naturally- mondegreened into English? ie there are lots of borrowings that become new things in English, but are there common examples of where they become existing English words? — Mitch 5 mins ago
Which is to say there are all sorts of foreign language loans that magically slightly distort themselves slightly into English phonology to make entirely new words, eg juggernaut < jaganata (HI)
but are there any that get reanalysed as existibng words?
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
20:16
@Mitch the 'end organ' for processing visual information is famously right at the back of the head, at the occipital lobe. Google says Brodmann area 17.
Mitch
Mitch
Gesundheit is still Gesundheit, not 'gesund height'
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
user image
Mitch
Mitch
@M.A.R. The striate cortex for vision is very much 'topometric' (like there's almost one to one map of the retinal image field to Broca 17 (except in stripes, I think alternating slices of... the right and left eye)
I'm not sure about 'topometric'...looking that up.
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
As for how we understand where we stand, spatial processing requires input from several places, and I don't know or have forgotten the physiology. The cerebellum processes and sends some input, and the vestibular semicircular canals in the ear play an important role too. I think they mostly send their info to cerebellum only. Auditory input also no doubt plays some role.
Mitch
Mitch
But internal 3D like representations of external objects (as one might do in mentally rotating an object) is probably not in there (V1) or even in the successive visual processing layers V2-V7 (which are in Brodmann 18-19)
Oops-Freudian slip, I said Broca above and meant Brodmann)
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
20:22
Aren't Brocas banned in France?
Mitch
Mitch
`tonometric' obviously wrong, should be retinotopic (and tonotopic for auditory processing, like a piano)
@M.A.R. well, yeah, everything is multimodal but for the sake of oversimplifying, just one sense at a time.
eg facial recognition is in Brodmann... cripes... 1 n or 2?
whew, 2 n's
anyway facial recognition, kind of a weird very specific function, is in Brodmann 37
Robusto
Robusto
@Mitch So this is why I wear glasses? Interesting.
@Mitch What part stores voice recognition? Because I may not remember faces, but I always remember voices.
Mitch
Mitch
@Robusto uh... yeah. Yes. Yes, that is exactly why.
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@Mitch why the sudden interest in neuroanatomy?
Laurel
Laurel
Folk etymology
Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, generative popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more familiar one through popular usage. The form or the meaning of an archaic, foreign, or otherwise unfamiliar word is reinterpreted as resembling more familiar words or morphemes. The term folk etymology is a loan translation from German Volksetymologie, coined by Ernst Förstemann in 1852. Folk etymology is a productive process in...
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
20:27
It's giving me a rash
@Robusto changes in the neurons seem to store information. More specifically, changes that involve connections to other neurons.
Mitch
Mitch
@Robusto Can't remember exactly... temporal lobe most likely, Wernicke's area is in Br 22 (for semantic understanding of written and spoken language, but that is likely very distinct (the brain is weird) from recognizing the owner of a voice).
@M.A.R. OK that took me awhile to get.
So then also are kippers
Robusto
Robusto
@Laurel Fuck etymology. Words go through phases, and today's word is tomorrow's etymological gene mutation.
Mitch
Mitch
@M.A.R. when nothing is on topi, -everything- is on topic
or the other way round
I forget
because what I do here is take an offhand remark (oh it seems to have been a remark -I- made) and blow it all out of proportion to anything.
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Short-lived mRNAs and their products (proteins) (with hour-long half-lives) go through cycles of production and localization to a 'hub' where they change how the synapses work in a matter of days. The science behind spaced repetition seems to be that it reinforces these cycles.
Laurel
Laurel
@Robusto Copulation is a pretty big source of gene mutation :p
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
20:34
Neural plasticity is the ability of neurons to make these changes, and it decreases with age
Cripes
Mitch
Mitch
@Laurel OK, it seems obvious now that you point at it.
But looking through those examples, the only one that feels 'right' is 'cockroach'. Unless, 'roach' comes from that word 'cockroach', and then it's the snake biting its own cockroach.
@Robusto You missed the chance to say 'Folk etymology? Fuck etymology!'.
Just be ready for it next time.
@M.A.R. Hey Cowperkettle, how did you steal MAR's account?
@M.A.R. spaced repetition as in operant conditioning schedules?
Do you think something at the molecular level would expose itself at such a large scale as animal behavior?
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@Mitch creates a protective ward against psychology with a cross
@Mitch is it that obvious that it's nice-sounding junk that hasn't amounted to anything much yet?
Mitch
Mitch
@M.A.R. sick burn
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
All I know is spaced repetition is how Anki and other flashcard apps work
Mitch
Mitch
look man every advance in basic science something somethety something progress.
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
20:44
Learn a word, repeat it tomorrow, then a couple of weeks later
Mitch
Mitch
@M.A.R. Oh OK that makes sense (re operant conditioning), and now it is more plausible it's relation to mRNA half lives.
Robusto
Robusto
@Mitch makes notes
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
It does seem to work although I have no idea how the intervals have been determined
Mitch
Mitch
In tangential news, Neuralink has been approved to go ahead with clinicl trials (on humans) of a direct visual field to computer interface.
(ie direct to the occipital lobe)
Robusto
Robusto
@Laurel Copulation is a grammar term meaning how to be. You can't be anything without it.
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
20:47
@Mitch wake me up in a few years
Mitch
Mitch
@M.A.R. Looking at the second hand on the clock on the wall?
@Robusto In Russian, that sentence would be spelled entirely differently.
Robusto
Robusto
@Mitch Russian can't express that idea, except circumloquaciously.
Mitch
Mitch
@M.A.R. Oh of course. But for once it doesn't sound idiotic (like the 'telepathy' thing they're working on, which from a tweet from EM sounds like is more of a priority than blindness.
Robusto
Robusto
@Mitch Is nothing sacred?
Mitch
Mitch
@Robusto I'm sure Russian has formed 5 unimaginable thoughts before English has grunted 'g'morning'
Robusto
Robusto
20:51
@Mitch I can't express that idea, except circumloquaciously.
MetaEd
MetaEd
@Robusto this is too maize-y for me
Robusto
Robusto
@MetaEd I managed to amaize you? Cool!
Mitch
Mitch
@M.A.R. Neuralink plans to solve blindness very soon
MetaEd
MetaEd
@Robusto I just like to call a cob a cob
Mitch
Mitch
The wording of that news release and source makes me want to add a decade to the timeline.
Robusto
Robusto
20:54
@MetaEd That's another term for word salad: cob salad.
MetaEd
MetaEd
@Robusto I'm acorned you knew that
Mitch
Mitch
@MetaEd Walnut call it a day then.
Robusto
Robusto
Gotta go to play music. Laterz.
Mitch
Mitch
@M.A.R. Phrasing it as 'Solving' blindness seems kinda... jejune.
MetaEd
MetaEd
@Mitch nuts to you
but preshelled
Mitch
Mitch
20:59
scrambles to find a phrase that fits both filbert -and- hazel nut
it's now on my todo list
which means it'll get done by... never
I just took a look at my todo list... so many plans I had... OMG I used to have a -job-
MetaEd
MetaEd
adds "get Mitch a job" to my to-do list
Mitch
Mitch
reminder to curse MetaEd for filling up all of free time
2
@M.A.R. Brodmann areas represent an important step in the history of neuroscience, but do not reflect the state of the art of cortical parcellation
Hives all over

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