« first day (4892 days earlier)      last day (325 days later) » 

00:00
They're like... This thing where you...
Naw I'm not getting it
Google for it
Google for it
Is it on TikTok?
Again I repeat myself once more
@Robusto I don't have tiktoks so I wouldn't know.
Books are like the British Empire. People still think it's a thing but it hasn't for quite a while.
That may be why they're so snotty about "their" language.
00:46
So accurate.
I memorized them all tho.
I once tried to name them in non-Sino Korean and miserably failed.
I mean, if I were to name them in Sino-Korean, would helium be 日素? Who knows...
@Robusto Did you know that Udagawa Yōan was who made Japanese names for hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen? Korean borrowed those names, so
@DannyuNDos Nah, science is one area of Japanese I sadly neglected.
01:38
@XanderHenderson Oh, it's just in case, in order not to swap street names too often. What if Russia turns back to being USSR?
First saffron, now lavender.
01:49
@CowperKettle If you had the chance to come to NYC and live in that "green" area of Russian-speakers, would you take it?
@Robusto Yes
I wish you could do that.
02:09
Amen.
02:21
@Mitch You've got it backwards: we do certainly have a past, a preterite, but that's it. The other one is not actually a present; it's a non-past.
Be not afraid. A paucity of analytic forms via morphological inflection of single-lexeme verbs in no way delineates the boundaries of our thought or of our expression. There are many temporal relationships to be observed in one or more events, and we can do that without those. Which is good, because there are far more possible relationships than any language has inflexions for.
It's just like with participles. Just because as reflexes go we have only two participles, a past passive participle and a present active participle, doesn't mean that those are the only kinds of aspect we can ever think of or talk about.
02:55
@alphabet It does.
03:45
what sense of the word "aspect" are you referring to @Cerberus
@user85795 The linguistic/grammatical one.
In linguistics, aspect is a grammatical category that expresses how an action, event, or state, as denoted by a verb, extends over time. Perfective aspect is used in referring to an event conceived as bounded and unitary, without reference to any flow of time during the event ("I helped him"). Imperfective aspect is used for situations conceived as existing continuously or repetitively as time flows ("I was helping him"; "I used to help people"). Further distinctions can be made, for example, to distinguish states and ongoing actions (continuous and progressive aspects) from repetitive actions...
Thanks pal.
04:25
@Cerberus What does?
5 hours ago, by alphabet
So, if you maintain that the past participle itself carries an aspect, then this makes it quite different from a present participle.
> the past participle "itself" carries an aspect
_______________________it^
Yeah, the two participles are quite different.
One is active and contemporaneous, the other passive and perfective.
The trouble is that present participles are sometimes interpreted as having progressive aspect, but sometimes not.
Moreover, if you reject the distinction between present participles and gerunds, you have to concede that gerund-participles are sometimes passive, as in sentences like "That fence needs painting."
05:32
@Robusto My friend says I could move to Kazakhstan. He invited me over to visit this year, since he is moving for good, to Aktau, a small city on the shore of the Caspian Sea
Word of the day: coal scuttle -- Old English scutel (“dish, platter”), from Latin scutella, diminutive form of Latin scutra (“flat tray, dish”), perhaps related to Latin scutum (“shield”)
Politics of the day: to bork -- In 1987, conservative judge Robert Bork endured such virulent criticism … that to this day, a nominee sidelined by activists is said to have been "borked"
 
4 hours later…
09:05
I've just finished installing and setting it up. It's tiny but surprisingly loud
A dedicated thief will not balk at this, but better safe than sorry
*will not be balked by this, probably
*will not be deterred by this
09:26
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in body, potentially bad asn for hostname in body, potentially bad ns for domain in body (96): The Unseen Catalyst: PMK Glycidate's Role in Synthetic Drug Manufacturing‭ by anturov‭ on english.SE
09:44
Kreisstadt = district town. Nice.
Ein Landkreis (abgekürzt: Lk, Lkr, Lkrs oder Landkrs.) oder Kreis (abgekürzt: Kr) ist nach deutschem Kommunalrecht ein Gemeindeverband und eine Gebietskörperschaft. Er verwaltet sein Gebiet nach den Grundsätzen der kommunalen Selbstverwaltung. Die meisten Länder verwenden (aktuell) die Bezeichnung Landkreis. In Nordrhein-Westfalen und Schleswig-Holstein lautet die Bezeichnung jedoch Kreis. Das Grundgesetz für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland kennt nur die Bezeichnung Kreis, z. B. in Art. 28 Abs. 1 Satz 2. In Deutschland gibt es 294 Landkreise. Zusammen mit den 106 kreisfreien Städten bilden sie die…
> Each neuron has, on average, about 7,000 synaptic connections with other neurons, putting the synapse count in the neighborhood of 600 trillion. In young children, before microglia promote synaptic pruning, the estimated number reaches as high as 1 quadrillion.
@CowperKettle AI, take that!
I think that outdoor non-flushing toilets are just fine. Less water is squandered, and maybe the refuse could be somehow reused, like it was back in the 16th-19th centuries for gunpowder manufacture
10:10
En plein air now exists in Russian as пленэр
@CowperKettle but more about 🎨 than 💩 :-)
 
1 hour later…
11:20
@tchrist yeah I blorped. I meant to say 'no future'. But a charitable reading is that I was making fun of it all and intentionally inserted, in the 'subjunctive quotes, a solecism making fun several layers deep. Inception of sarcasm.
 
1 hour later…
12:23
@CowperKettle Then why is it Yekaterinburg, and not Sverdlosk?
13:04
#WhenTaken #36 (03.04.2024)

I scored 827/1000 🎉

1️⃣ 📍 469 km - 🗓️ 1 yrs - ⚡ 171 / 200
2️⃣ 📍 505 km - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 167 / 200
3️⃣ 📍 71 km - 🗓️ 1 yrs - ⚡ 192 / 200
4️⃣ 📍 8 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 197 / 200
5️⃣ 📍 13612 km - 🗓️ 0 yrs - ⚡ 100 / 200

https://whentaken.com
The last one is not Salt Lake City. :/
Looks like they scammed you to keep your score below 90%
In round 3, I kind of figured it was one of two very different places. I took a guess at the general area of one of them, and got lucky. Round 1 was also a bit of a stab in the dark (the photo could be anywhere in a big geographic region; I stuck a pin in the middle of that area, and wasn't too far off). Same with round 2.
Round 4 was very easy. Round 5 was impossible.
Making questions impossible is how the Putnam exam was created.
13:12
@user85795 Sure.
#WhenTaken #36 (03.04.2024)

I scored 668/1000 🎉

1️⃣ 📍 2439 km - 🗓️ 4 yrs - ⚡ 133 / 200
2️⃣ 📍 1575 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 145 / 200
3️⃣ 📍 5715 km - 🗓️ 14 yrs - ⚡ 90 / 200
4️⃣ 📍 16.5 metres - 🗓️ 20 yrs - ⚡ 155 / 200
5️⃣ 📍 1351 km - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 145 / 200

https://whentaken.com
👏🏻🗺️👀👍🏻
I immediately recognized #3 for having being there but was fooled by a clue. I should have trusted my first impression.
13:28
"For having been there" even.
13:39
@XanderHenderson I really liked geoguessr where you could use Google street view on the side to get within 1 meter of the goal. That felt awesome.
When you could do it.
Sometimes geoguessr would give you a picture out in the literal middle of nowhere.
And it would take fifteen minutes of traveling down a long country road to find a street sign in some script and language that narrowed it down to maybe a continent.
(sure there's the vegetation and sun direction that helps but really
14:02
@CowperKettle Your original instinct was correct: "will [or would] not balk at this" is the normal way to say that.
[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Email in answer, link at end of answer (141): I've got my work cut out for me. Origin, meaning, negation by sarcasm?‭ by Carl‭ on english.SE
14:16
> A more sociological view of the resistance of the public against spelling reform is that the current system promotes social stratification by making full written proficiency impossible for a subset of speakers and limiting full access to the administrative and juridical system, as well as a lot of more lucrative employment opportunities, to those who have acquired that proficiency. This is true as well of the very large difference between registers that exists in French. Reforming the spelling system inevitably involves eroding the social capital language users have accumulated through sc
@Robusto Careful about that. You really don't want the runners to advance.
@XanderHenderson I wouldn't balk at that letting them advance.
@Robusto You should. When the runners advance, you increase your chances of giving up runs, and thereby losing the game.
@XanderHenderson I understand that. I was making a joke that is a conundrum: "wouldn't balk at letting them advance." ;-)
@Robusto I was attempting to play the straight man. :(
14:27
@XanderHenderson You already did. You gave me the setup line.
That's the hallmark of a genuine straight man.
 
1 hour later…
15:29
#WhenTaken #36 (03.04.2024)

I scored 769/1000 🎉

1️⃣ 📍 466 km - 🗓️ 6 yrs - ⚡ 165 / 200
2️⃣ 📍 8 km - 🗓️ 9 yrs - ⚡ 186 / 200
3️⃣ 📍 8824 km - 🗓️ 15 yrs - ⚡ 75 / 200
4️⃣ 📍 307.9 metres - 🗓️ 19 yrs - ⚡ 158 / 200
5️⃣ 📍 138 km - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 185 / 200

https://whentaken.com
@XanderHenderson Thanks for the tip. You're still pretty good at this.
@Robusto Well, number 5 didn't trick you.
:P
Like I said, thanks for the tip. ^_^
I really flunked #3 hard, though.
It was the flags that threw me off.
@Robusto What flags?
@XanderHenderson The American flags. Didn't you see them?
@Robusto No, I did not notice them.
Oh, sh*t! I'm glad I didn't notice those!
Ha!
15:35
I guess my sharp eyes did fuck-all that time.
That cost me 95 points right there.
I see what happened---I couldn't see the whole picture.
@Robusto Same here
2 hours ago, by jlliagre
I immediately recognized #3 for having being there but was fooled by a clue. I should have trusted my first impression.
@jlliagre Yeah. I'm starting to hate these people. How dare they feed us false clues?
My thought was "oh, white people with yachts (redundant)---only two places in the world where that was a thing; pick one at random".
Those are sailboats, not yachts. Or if they are yachts, they're just above boogie boards.
15:41
@Robusto They are yachts. For yacht racing.
The title of the photo agrees with me. :P
OK. When I think of a yacht, I think of something expensive. You know, for billionaires.
@Robusto Yachts are "pleasure" craft. They are for recreation.
They are often larger, and often owned by rich a-holes, but they needn't be.
The ones in the picture are also sailboats, but yachts can have sails.
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. == Types == Although sailboat terminology has varied across history, many terms have specific meanings in the context of modern yachting. A great number of sailboat-types may be distinguished by size, hull configuration, keel type, purpose, number and configuration of masts, and sail plan. Popular monohull designs include: === Cutter === The cutter is similar to a sloop with a single mast and...
> A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture.
> Although sailboat terminology has varied across history, many terms have specific meanings in the context of modern yachting. A great number of sailboat-types may be distinguished by size, hull configuration, keel type, purpose, number and configuration of masts, and sail plan.
So really, we're both right.
A yacht is a type of sailboat.
Wait, except for the larger motor yachts!
Holy shit, this is getting way too complicated.
Yeah, "sailboat" is about size and what powers it (a boat is smaller than a ship; a sailboat is powered by the wind).
A "yacht" is more about what it is used for (pleasure, i.e. recreation, rather than war or cargo).
Though yachts are usually a bit larger.
So the boats in the photo are likely too small to be considered yachts by modern standards.
But they are pleasure craft, so...
Wordle 1,019 5/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩
🟨⬛⬛🟩⬛
⬛🟨⬛🟩🟩
🟨⬛⬛🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
That took way too much work.
16:03
Ok, so who is interested in a discovery I made using various domain names like .fr for France or .ar for Argentina. I use many that refer to French, Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries and have done so ever since the internet began. But recently, I have noticed something scandalous. Guess what it is?
@Lambie The 90s kid in me wants to say "Your mom".
So, you don't want to know?
It's so baaaad. hint: cultural _____
 
1 hour later…
17:27
@Lambie Bias? Appropriation?
17:41
Daily Octordle #800
7️⃣5️⃣
6️⃣🔟
🕛🕐
🕚8️⃣
Score: 72
Weak.
Daily Sequence Octordle #800
5️⃣6️⃣
9️⃣🔟
🕚🕛
🕐⓮
Score: 80
Ultra-weak.
18:11
@Robusto Very close. Now, unlike FOR AGES BEFORE, if I used .fr for France and search a term IN FRENCH, the answers are coming up in ENGLISH for say the first 8 or 9. [NO, I do not have that thing ticked for show answers in English.)
Sorry, before they came up in French, now in English, even with terms IN FRENCH.
 
1 hour later…
19:37
Wordle 1,019 4/6

🟩⬛🟨⬛🟩
🟩⬛⬛🟩🟩
🟩🟨⬛🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Daily Octordle #800
🕐🔟
7️⃣🕛
5️⃣4️⃣
🕚9️⃣
Score: 71
Daily Sequence Octordle #800
5️⃣6️⃣
7️⃣8️⃣
9️⃣🔟
🕚🕛
Score: 68
19:59
La palabra del día #818 5/6

⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
⬛⬛⬛🟩🟩
🟨⬛⬛🟩🟩
⬛🟩⬛🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

https://lapalabradeldia.com/
Le Mot (@WordleFR) #815 4/6

⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟩⬛🟨⬛
⬛🟩🟨🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

https://wordle.louan.me
20:45
"Things are more like they used to be than they are now."
I had a very awkward dream last night. Namely, I murdered some chess pieces and got arrested for that.
Rootl game #307

⬛🟩🟩⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

⬛🟩🟩🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
@DannyuNDos Sounds like something out of Lewis Carroll.
@DannyuNDos Regicide is the goal of chess.
21:05
Rootl game #307

🟩⬛🟩⬛⬛⬛
🟩⬛🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟩⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩⬛🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

🟩⬛⬛🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Wordle 1,019 3/6

⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬛🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
21:56
-82
Q: Revisiting the voting requirements test

SpencerGIt's been a while since we last talked about the one-reputation voting change. We are still pursuing this because stagnating participation on the network is a concern for all of us, and we want to think about ways to grow the active community on the network. We have, by design, utilized rep as a ...

22:33
@jlliagre the goal is to capture the king, not kill him!
@XanderHenderson Matar el shah! :-)
> Others maintain that it means "the King is dead", as chess reached Europe via the Arab world, and Arabic māta (مَاتَ) means "died" or "is dead".
Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with capture) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is never actually captured—the player loses as soon as the player's king is checkmated. In formal games, it is usually considered good etiquette to resign an inevitably lost game before being checkmated.If a player is not in check but has no legal moves, then it is stalemate, and the game immediately ends in a draw. A checkmating move is recorded ...
The king will resuscitate anyway for the next game.
There's also a great rabbit-hole there, "check", "chess", "checkers"
Matar etymology is interesting:
22:55
Etymology is not destiny.
@XanderHenderson Etymology looks in the other direction.
Nov 22, 2022 at 14:28, by jlliagre
كتوب, made it to French
23:23
@jlliagre No, but he's speaking from the origin point of view. In other words, what a word meant before, or originally, doesn't necessarily mean it will stay that way.
@XanderHenderson Then why is it customary for the defeated player to topple his king when resigning?
Looks like dead king to me.
@Robusto I agree. That doesn't mean I don't want to "kill" my opponent's king when I play chess. Symbolically of course.
@jlliagre Yup. Dead king.
23:33
Debemos matar el rey.
al rey, no?
Quizas ambos se dicen.
@jlliagre Eso es mejor.
Yeah, I don't go around killing kings very often, not even in chess, so that never came up for me in Spanish.
In French, we would say tuer le roi, never tuer au roi. We don't kill kings that often here but when it's done, it grabs people's attention for a while.
@jlliagre And all hell follows after.
مَكْتُوب

« first day (4892 days earlier)      last day (325 days later) »