English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

jlliagre

00:13

I essentially want to told you that Putin is actually a VERY GOOD person. Calm voice, gentle manners. Unfortunately, the latter doesn't imply the former. Someone just added to my ignore list.

Cerberus

Oops, turns out it is a different cupola, 7 km away.

Hmm I didn't notice anything on the shirts?

alphabet

@jlliagre I don't think it's good manners to spill nerve agent on someone's underwear. That seems like poor etiquette.

jlliagre

@alphabet Right, and that's just a drop in the ocean.

Alexander

@jlliagre dear jillagre I think I still did not offend you in person. I am so sorry, I feel terrible pain if I did. I do hate Putin for his war in Ukraine... but it's a necessity. You can think of him anything you want, I won't blame you at all. I had met a VERY, VERY good female participant in our little heaven (she has disappeared into nothing). SHE loves him. So I love him, too. But you can hate him.)

One must understand the war isn't against Ukrainians. It's against those who kills Slavs.

jlliagre

@Cerberus You are playing Friday's game, Robusto's spoiler was about yesterday's one to our European clocks.

CowperKettle

00:26

Inside China's Driverless RoboTaxi in Wuhan! AI Future ..

►

Cerberus

@jlliagre No, I am playing Wednesday's game.

I began playing it long before midnight.

jlliagre

Ah, okay.

Cerberus

I accidentally cheated on the third one.

I put the name of the hotel into Google Images.

I don't think I'm allowed to use Google Images.

I didn't put any image into Images.

CowperKettle

Inhibition of IL-11 signalling extends mammalian healthspan and lifespan

Poor cytokines, getting all this bad rap

Alexander

@CowperKettle, can I ask what city are you from?

jlliagre

00:36

@Cerberus I don't see no cupola on Wednesday's game but there is at least one on Thursday's. On which image do you see one?

alphabet

@Alexander Propaganda's one hell of a drug.

CowperKettle

@Alexander Yekaterinburg

Alexander

@CowperKettle nice. Thanks. But it's too far from us.

Cerberus

@jlliagre The one where people are dressed in blue, waving blue flags.

Alexander

@alphabet you can read this, it's a nightmare: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

Cerberus

00:41

#WhenTaken #141 (17.07.2024)

I scored 773/1000 🎉

1️⃣ 📍 1156 km - 🗓️ 19 yrs - ⚡ 125 / 200
2️⃣ 📍 7 km - 🗓️ 12 yrs - ⚡ 179 / 200
3️⃣ 📍 12.0 metres - 🗓️ 10 yrs - ⚡ 185 / 200
4️⃣ 📍 886.7 metres - 🗓️ 34 yrs - ⚡ 100 / 200
5️⃣ 📍 409 km - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 184 / 200

https://whentaken.com

alphabet

@Alexander Did you read that article? It sounds like, if anything, the pro-Russian protesters were the ones who started it:

> While defending the building, militants on the roof tossed rocks and petrol bombs at the protesters below. A report by the Ukrainian Independent Information Agency (UNIAN) said that the pro-Maidan crowd began to throw petrol bombs into the building after having been fired upon by the pro-Russian group. BBC News said that the situation was unclear, with multiple sources indicating that both sides had been throwing petrol bombs at each other.

jlliagre

@Cerberus Ah right, there is a small one. I was confused because I was playing today's game where there is a big one and was wondering which other cupola could be 7 km away from it.

Cerberus

@jlliagre Ah, funny.

Alexander

@alphabet it's not my concern... I told you I am like the biblical character Job (Book of Job). [biblical—capital B? I don't know, sorry.] So I don't know who actually started the fire. Each nation has good and bad people.

В 2014 году толпа болел решила прошвырнуться по улицам Одессы и покричать что-то ура-патриотическое: «Москаляку на гiлляку!!!» Навстречу им СОВЕРШЕННО СЛУЧАЙНО (!!!) попались любители ваты. Хотели было сначала поговорить друг с другом по-доброму, но только разговор что-то не заладился.

alphabet

@Alexander Surely you should be concerned with whether you believe truths or falsehoods.

Alexander

00:52

@alphabet Well, how do you distinguish good from bad? Albert Einstein would say everything is relative.

alphabet

@Alexander Generally I think that people who poison their political opponents, invade neighboring countries without cause, and embark on a campaign against "gay propaganda" are bad.

That seems like a reasonable principle.

Alexander

Oh, I think I should translate my previous post so you can understand it.

In 2014, a crowd of fans decided to rush through the streets of Odessa and shout something jingoically patriotic: “Hang all Russians!!!” They came across cotton wool lovers COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT (!!!). At first they simply wanted to talk to each other kindly, but the conversation didn’t work out.

@alphabet I have an IQ of 130, I got your idea. Well, I'll try to explain it. In 1945, we didn't invade Germany. We didn't capture or colonize it. We did no harm to German women or children. We simply killed one man. Or, rather, we made him committing suicide. That's all!

alphabet

@Alexander Likewise, Ukraine didn't invade Russia. Ukraine didn't capture or colonize Russia. Ukraine did no harm to Russian women and children.

Alexander

01:09

@alphabet diaspora, diaspora. You totally forgot the diaspora, my dear interlocutor. Ukraine didn't indeed invade Russia at all, but 20 % of its population are Russians. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora

alphabet

@Alexander That doesn't give the Russian government any say in the affairs of the Ukrainian government. The pro-Russian protestors--who don't look particularly good in that incident--were Ukrainian citizens on Ukrainian territory engaged in a dispute over who should govern Ukraine.

Cerberus

@M.A.R. Ah, your explanation is a lot clearer!

alphabet

Incidentally: the excuse Nazi Germany gave for invading Czechoslovakia was that its territory contained a large number of ethnic Germans.

Cerberus

@M.A.R. Voilà.

Alexander

@alphabet Well I think you are a clever and reasonable person. In fact I like you. Russia hasn't the right to invade Ukraine at all. Maybe. But. Imagine yourself and your little daughter being on opposite sides of a road. Suddenly, a mad gorilla approaches her and begins to rape her. You have a knife. Wouldn't you cross the street immediately in order to slice that abomination's throat?

Cerberus

01:17

@Alexander A better analogy: you see a man being a bit unfair to his daughter, and in response you throw bombs at father and daughter and a thousand people near them.

alphabet

@Alexander That analogy bears absolutely no relationship to the situation in Russia and Ukraine. But it's good to know you see Ukrainians as subhuman.

Alexander

Politics is not quite my favorite topic to discuss by any means. Cai I ask if here are people who love Russian songs? Maybe let's talk about music...

Or I can tell you about my personal life if you prefer. In fact I ALWAYS listen to Russian music. They have absolutely nothing with Putin... @alphabet @Cerberus

alphabet

@Alexander Well, with one exception:

A man like Putin (Такого как путин | Takogo kak Putin) Enhanced Edition

►

I still refuse to believe that that isn't satire.

Alexander

@alphabet, yes, we do have a few songs about him. Nice song (let's discuss the music, not the words).

Cerberus

@Alexander I used to listen to Russian music before the invasion.

2

Now I can't any more.

Alexander

01:27

youtube.com/watch?v=GjOvzWJbFdA That's the song that's currently playing in my earphones. It contains an orthoepical error however. They sing: нас не разлУчат (nas ne razlUchat). The correct stress is on the third syllable rather than on the second (nas ne razluchAt). The translation is: "They won't separate us from each other".

Sorry, I just want to share some incredibly beautiful music. Sorry to @Cerberus, I didn't want to harm you.

Cerberus

I'm not planning to listen to anything Russian any more.

Alexander

@Cerberus Very sorry to hear that. Still, we have songs about sex, about love (majority) or adultery, we have songs about cars, buses, trams, people, friendship, about Moscow, about nature phenomena ("Fresh wind, take me beyond the clouds!—it's Ovsiyenko).

Cerberus

We know all about that.

Alexander

And I am not against Americans or Europeans at all.

Cerberus

I just don't want to have anything to do with bringers of extreme destruction, mutilation, and death.

Alexander

01:34

Can I ask if here are people who love FPS-games? Like Half-Life.

Cerberus

I'm not into reflex / time-based games.

Alexander

@Cerberus, I am so sorry, I've understood you don't like Russians. Really sorry. Well, I am a trilingual person who in fact is Western Ukrainian. So we can still be friends. I won't offend you or your country.

Cerberus

We have Russians in this chat room, and I like them very much.

Alexander

I am glad to hear that!

Cerberus

I do not like bringers of extreme destruction, mutilation, and death.

Alexander

01:40

I don't bring death, I told it to everyone. I do not drown kittens or puppies.

Cerberus

But you support it, don't you?

Alexander

I don't support it. How can I support it? :-\

Cerberus

You said you did...

Alexander

where?

where or when did I say I support it?

Cerberus

> I do hate Putin for his war in Ukraine... but it's a necessity. You can think of him anything you want, I won't blame you at all. I had met a VERY, VERY good female participant in our little heaven (she has disappeared into nothing). SHE loves him. So I love him, too. But you can hate him.) — chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/65973058#65973058

You say mutilating people on a large scale is "a necessity". And you say you love Putin.

Alexander

01:49

@Cerberus judge me as you wish. It's my opinion but I am not even sure. So it was kind of a temporary opinion. I am a man. I am weak but I AM A MAN. I adore this goddess: bolshoyvopros.ru/profile91226 (and here am I: bolshoyvopros.ru/profile59611) She loves him. I can't betray her. It would be a crime.

Cerberus

In the formation of your opinion, maybe you should think about all the people who grow up without an arm, without eyes, with life-long psychological trauma, without their parents, without their best friend, without their little girl?

alphabet

@Alexander I believe that that's what the kids call "simping."

CowperKettle

Curious use of the day: booth - an enclosed table with seats, as in a diner or café. I previously only imagined booth as a closed cabin or cabiner for a single person

alphabet

You could, of course, have made the opposite inference, that because of her support for Putin she is not a goddess worthy of your admiration.

Alexander

@alphabet again, judge me by your measure, I won't blame you. Can you solve Rubik's cube? She was the person who helped me memorize it forever: bolshoyvopros.ru/questions/… Notice the mnemonics: "Every good boy does fine" and "Good boys do fine always". Treble clef and bass clef respectively. If I could award a hundred Nobel Prizes to my dear Yelena, I would do it!

alphabet

01:58

@Alexander So: she taught you how to solve a Rubik's cube, and therefore you're so in love with her that holding different political beliefs feels like a betrayal of her? I suspect the feelings aren't mutual.

Dannyu NDos

It's raining too much. Help.

Green: Wind, Cyan: Wave, Blue: Rain, Purple: Heat.

Alexander

@alphabet Theoretically I could have betrayed my adorable Yelena, a precious diamond of my soul. But do you have some respect towards Bible? (I'm sorry for my poor grammar...). Well, you can be an atheist. But you should respect Christians. Do you know the fifth commandment? [Oh, I meant: you must respect your father and mother.] Can I betray my father who saved my life a million times?

alphabet

@CowperKettle Yes. Hence restaurant hosts asking if you "want a table or a booth," assuming both are available. (Though strictly speaking a booth has a table within it, so this question doesn't really make much sense.)

@Alexander Does Yelena share your feelings at all, or is this a purely one-sided relationship? Either way, it doesn't sound psychologically healthy.

Cerberus

@alphabet He should be spanked.

alphabet

@Cerberus Who should?

Cerberus

02:05

The only person in the message I replied to.

alphabet

@Cerberus You were responding to my comment about restaurant hosts--did you mean them?

Alexander

By the way, why are just men here? I'm sorry for such a rude question, men can be good, but do you have any women?

alphabet

@Alexander I think the main factor is that Stack Exchange as a whole is popular in the tech industry, which unfortunately has a massive gender bias.

Alexander

And I know what is "spanked". No worries, I got it, I am not mad.)))))

bolshoyvopros.ru/profile709582 she is also a goddess

Notice Evgenia is a moderator. There are just twelve of them on our site. Elite person!

Cerberus

@alphabet Ohh I read host, not hosts, apologies.

Alexander

02:12

Evgenia (Evgeniya?) is forty years old, she is from Volgograd. She always helps me. I solve some math and chemistry problems for her. How can I betray her?

alphabet

@Cerberus Ah, the number mismatch is what confused me. Granted, there isn't really a good term for "table not enclosed in a booth."

Cerberus

Yes, understandable.

Open table?

Regular table?

alphabet

@Cerberus I guess. I'll try patiently explaining that the next time I'm asked /s

Granted, most communication with restaurant staff seems to consist of odd formulae used nowhere else.

Cerberus

Such as?

Some, yes.

alphabet

Things like "We're a party of three" (from customers) or "How would you like your burger?" (from waiters).

Or the use of "check" to mean "bill" (though I think that that usage is limited to the US).

Alexander

02:24

Imagine a situation when a Romanian approaches you. He asked me: "Унде с-а дус омул чела ын халатул алб?" — "Скузаць, еу ну штиу!" — "Да че ту штий!!! Ту н-ай дрепт! Морь, торомакуле!" I'll translate for you if you permit. "Where did that man in white overalls go?" - (me): "I don't know, I am very sorry!" - "You piece of hell! Your nation doesn't have the right to think! Die already!" But I still did not hurt him or his country.

alphabet

Also such strangely complex/obsequious/polite expressions like "Can I interest you in some dessert?" or "If you wouldn't mind getting us the check?"

Mitch

@Alexander I don't get it. What does that have to do with why Tatarstan and Chuvash are still autonomous republics instead of just plain old Russian territory?

@M.A.R. Oh OK GOt it, I mixed up A and V, which side they were on.

alphabet

@Mitch The topic changed to Putin.

Alexander

@Mitch, it's hard to explain but I am a good teacher and a quite good philosopher. Is politics still permitted here? I promise I won't offend USA, I love it. So I think you'll forgive me. The essence lies in that we, Russians, aren't either good or bad. We are the golden mean! Medio de oro in Spanish. Arabs = kill immediately, Romanians = steal and then kill. Russians = neither. We didn't kill Tatars, but we didn't let them go either.

alphabet

Incidentally: I learned recently that, in much of Europe, restaurants charge you money for water.

The American custom of some restaurants automatically giving everyone a glass of water without them asking for it is, apparently, considered quite unusual.

Mitch

02:41

@alphabet Accidents happen. It's how you deal with the clean up that shows a true lady (a gentleman would immediately defer to a lady, or staff, but I repeat myself.

Cerberus

@alphabet Yeah, it's horrific.

alphabet

A while back I was talking to someone visiting from India who expressed shock at the fact that people here just drink water from the tap.

Which of course makes perfect sense, but isn't something you think of as surprising.

Cerberus

Even in parts of Europe, tap water tastes of chlorine.

Alexander

We used to live in Zaleshchyky. It was a true nightmare. Nearly no tap water at all. It's worse than death. Not even cold water.

alphabet

@Cerberus You do find places in rural areas here with well water that has that odd mineral taste. It's still tested to make sure it's safe to drink, though; I think most people just put up with it.

Though we all know that one weirdo with a Brita filter who insists that it makes water "taste better."

Cerberus

02:51

@alphabet That is very rare here.

Hmm, actually, wells are rare, but mineral taste is possible in some regions, perhaps.

alphabet

Well water is rare here too; you only find it in places where the population density is so low that a municipal water supply wouldn't make economic sense.

Mitch

@alphabet For once American Exceptionalism in America's favor.

Cerberus

My family's country house has well water.

Mitch

All these places where you shouldn't drink the tap water... why have tap water at all then?

Cerberus

Not entirely sure why: perhaps just because that's the way it's always been.

@Mitch For washing.

alphabet

02:55

It (well water) often has a metallic taste; I've heard that that's because of dissolved iron, which isn't dangerous.

Mitch

Maybe they should just turn the dial up on the chlorine at their water treatment plants.

Which they do have, don't they?

Cerberus

@alphabet Oh, I suppose that is the case in our house, too.

Mitch

@Cerberus Dishes? But then you eat off them.

Cerberus

@Mitch Dishes, body, hands.

It's fine to wash in the water.

alphabet

It's still a lot easier to get water by turning on a tap and filtering it yourself for drinking than by having to carry jugs of water from the store.

Alexander

02:57

I'm sorry if I'm interrupting but I think I am in your topic. There are three creeks: red water, blue water and black water. You are a tourist. Which creek would you choose and why? (No politics. Let's just relax.)

Mitch

@alphabet All the 'kids these days' don't want to have ot buy water from the store because it's not recyclable plastic.

And if it -is- reusable plastic there's all the concern about microplastics getting into your system.

So I've stopped drinking water at all.

alphabet

The real issue with well water is that, when there's a power outage, you can no longer get water unless your pump has some sort of backup generator.

Mitch

Vodka, morning noon and night.

Cerberus

@Mitch Aren't the microplastics removed when you rinse the jug/bottle?

alphabet

If you leave a plastic bottle of water in the sun for too long, the water starts tasting like plastic, so presumably you are ingesting some of it.

Cerberus

03:01

So you rinse it.

Mitch

@alphabet In Illinois, we had a 'softener' mechanism for the water that went to the shower and clothes washer, you basically put a big block of salt into a container that the water went through, to 'soften' it (because too many minerals in the water). But drinking the unsoftened water? Just a slight metallic aftertaste.

alphabet

Well, yeah, but presumably, when you haven't left it in the sun, you're still ingesting plastic, just not enough that you can taste it. But it's probably too inert to do anything in most cases.

Mitch

@Cerberus I don't know. Maybe? What if you use it as a constant water bottle? then tiny bit by tiny bit the little plastic molecules leach into the drink and then into your digestive system.

Alexander

@alphabet It's ethylene glycol, by the way. HO—CH2—CH2—OH bolshoyvopros.ru/questions/…

alphabet

@Mitch Yeah, the real issue is that soap doesn't work well in hard water, so it's difficult to clean anything.

Cerberus

03:03

@alphabet What I meant is: when bottles are recycled, then surely they are cleaned properly.

So no microplastics other than what you'd expect in a new bottle.

Mitch

@alphabet Microplastics don't seem so scary because it is essentially inert.

but maybe I'll rinse my bottles more often anyway.

Cerberus

Unless there is some kind of weakening of the material after long exposure to water and light, causing it to always give off microplastics at a much increased rate ever after?

alphabet

@Alexander Ethylene glycol is antifreeze and very much a poison.

Cerberus

@Mitch If you rinse the bottle every day, there shouldn't be a problem?

Mitch

@Cerberus maybe a metal bottle is worth investing in?

Cerberus

03:05

Micrometals?

Mitch

but cleaning something everyday? That seems like a lot of work.

alphabet

@Cerberus Plastic bottles are almost never recycled to make other plastic bottles. Recycled plastic still has pigment in it so you can't use it to make something that's see-through.

Alexander

@alphabet hmmm, well then... I was wrong? It was a question by Yevgeniya, she asked it, I answered. She gave me the best answer,

Mitch

@Cerberus Now we're back to water softeners (which are not good for drinking)

Cerberus

@alphabet No, the bottle is reused whole, is what we we talking about, isn't it?

Alexander

03:07

Plastic drinking water bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which has good strength and durability, but PET cannot withstand the scorching summer sun. Under direct sunlight, the polymer slowly degrades to form two monomers, one of which is very toxic to humans and causes a variety of symptoms; moreover, it is highly soluble in water, so drinking water from a bottle that is constantly exposed to the sun is not recommended. Water from such a bottle may taste slightly sweet. What toxic substance is formed when PET breaks down?

Mitch

@Cerberus Recycling recycling is taking the empty plastic bottle and transmogrifying it with physics into some new plastic shape. Just reusing the bottle (a sort of reycling) is doing nothing to the bottle at all except using it again to hold a liquid other then the one it was purchased for.

alphabet

@Cerberus Are we talking about disposable bottled water, or reusable water bottles?

Cerberus

@Mitch Yes, the latter.

Mitch

@Alexander if you copy paste you should probably also give a link to the source. otherwise we have no idea where it came from.

Cerberus

@Mitch I assumed this was about reusing the bottle whole, because that's what's normally done with PET bottles.

Alexander

03:10

Sorry, I made something wrong to the edition of my post.(((( bolshoyvopros.ru/questions/…

alphabet

Can you even recycle reusable water bottles? Usually they're a mix of different materials including some metal components. Maybe if you recycle the body but throw away the lid?

Mitch

@Cerberus That's what I do, reuse one bottle that I got at an airport but don't want to throw away. But if you -buy- water, like a case of Evian every week, you're not going to keep reusing those bottles, you'll throw them away in recycling.

Cerberus

@Mitch Umm you hand in the bottles, and they they are being cleaned and reused?

Mitch

@alphabet I'll reuse the one plastic water bottle I got while travelling months ago.

alphabet

@Mitch I've heard that reusing those disposable bottles actually is bad for you; since they aren't made to be reused they do tend to deteriorate and leach chemicals into your water.

Also you can't wash them.

Mitch

03:12

@Cerberus No, I keep the one bottle and every so often clean it and refill it with water.... from the tap.

@alphabet exactly... those microplastics.

alphabet

@Cerberus Hand them in where?

Cerberus

@Mitch I meant the bottle you 'throw away'.

Mitch

hmm... maybe I should get a metal waterbottle then

Cerberus

@alphabet Don't your supermarkets have machines where you hand in empty bottles?

Mitch

or one of those Davy Crockett leather water pouches.

alphabet

03:13

@Cerberus I've never seen or heard of those.

M.A.R.

To say microplastics are inert is a pretty big leap of faith.

Cerberus

@alphabet If you just don't let water sit in their, it's fine. And why couldn't you wash them?

M.A.R.

My mind is autocorrecting me.

Cerberus

@Mitch You specifically said throw away.

M.A.R.

The problem isn't the PE, PP, PET etc.

Mitch

03:14

@Cerberus That sounds familiar to me, but now that I think of it, I don't think they're around here. Weekly garbase service takes those kinds of things.

Cerberus

@alphabet Maybe you have less recycling infrastructure.

Mitch

@M.A.R. Oh?

Cerberus

I almost never buy plastic bottles anyway, so I'm not 100% sure how and which bottles are recycled.

M.A.R.

The plasticizers are usually more problematic

alphabet

@Cerberus He's talking about these kinds of bottles. They're flimsy and the design makes them hard to wash even if you tried.

Which is why you're supposed to recycle them instead of trying to reuse them.

M.A.R.

03:15

Water tasting weird isn't just plastics either

It's so complicated

Mitch

@Cerberus I keep the one I -don't- throw away.

Cerberus

@alphabet Those are easy to wash?

You can even put them in the dishwasher.

@M.A.R. What is that?

Mitch

@alphabet Yes, those kinds of bottles.

Cerberus

@Mitch Yeah but you mentioned people who do.

alphabet

@Cerberus Those aren't dishwasher safe. I'm pretty sure the dishwasher would melt them.

Mitch

03:16

Are you telling me I'm going to die?

@Cerberus For the context of this conversation, I couldn't give a rats ass about those other people.

Cerberus

@alphabet You can pick the temperature, no?

M.A.R.

BTW, for what it's worth, plastic containers are always tested. A large volume parenteral (e.g. sodium chloride 0.9% infusion) PP bottle doesn't leak plastics into the water. Food-grade should also be safe for a long time.

Cerberus

Don't do 70 degrees.

Mitch

@Cerberus you can't scrub inside them, but you can put a dot of soap inside with water and shake it up.

@M.A.R. Whew.

alphabet

@Cerberus On my dishwasher there's no temperature setting for some reason.

Mitch

03:18

So not dying of that oone particular modern convenience.

Cerberus

@Mitch Exactly. No need to scrub inside them if you've just filled them with water.

@alphabet Does it have several settings?

Then normally one would be hotter than others.

M.A.R.

@Cerberus well, you connect all these little molecules of ethylene or propylene or whatever, the resulting polymer is not ideal: It might need to be more flexible, or harder, or shinier etc.

alphabet

Of course reusable water bottles--this kind-- are dishwasher safe.

Cerberus

@M.A.R. Is this about recycled plastic?

M.A.R.

It's these extra additives that would likely cause health problems

@Cerberus both recycled and uh, novel? plastic uses additives in processing, and plasticizers are the most common additive.

alphabet

03:20

@Cerberus Mine has three settings: "Quick Wash," "Regular Wash," and "Sanitize." You can also turn off the heating element used to dry dishes, but even without that I think you can still melt sufficiently cheap plastic.

M.A.R.

They plasticize: Make the polymer bend more easily.

alphabet

I think my dishwasher actually only connects to the hot water line, so you couldn't get it to produce water of any temperature other than the hottest possible.

M.A.R.

If water tastes funny I think one should look for other sources of 'contamination' first.

alphabet

I have no clue what the "Sanitize" button does. I think it just washes them for longer?

M.A.R.

Hard water tastes funny.

Cerberus

03:23

8 mins ago, by M.A.R.

The problem isn't the PE, PP, PET etc.

You mean a PET bottle doesn't contain only PET, but also 'plasticiser'?

@alphabet A heating element to dry dishes??

M.A.R.

Yeah, and a cross-linker, and maybe other additives too.

Cerberus

@alphabet The regular setting should be a lower temperature.

alphabet

All those endocrine disruptors the government uses to feminize us.

Cerberus

But I don't know what machines they sell there.

M.A.R.

It's tested and the results would demonstrate that it doesn't release these into the water stored in certain conditions for a certain amount of time.

Cerberus

03:24

My machine has various programmes between 40 and 70 degrees.

70 will probably warp the plastic.

40 will not.

alphabet

@Cerberus Yes? After the wash cycle runs, there's a heating element that turns on--it can get very hot--to essentially boil the remaining water off the dishes.

Cerberus

That sounds incredibly wasteful!

M.A.R.

When drugs are tested, you see an expiry date as a proof. For a bottle you reuse, I have no idea how you'll find out.

Cerberus

I think that is probably not legal here.

alphabet

Yes, they are horribly energy inefficient. But everyone uses them anyway for the convenience.

Cerberus

03:26

My machine dries just fine without directly heating the dishes.

Which I imagine is also bad for other materials.

alphabet

Also they will absolutely destroy certain materials given the level of heat involved.

M.A.R.

We have a dishwasher and almost never use it

Cerberus

Crazy!

x2

alphabet

Wait, do your dishwashers dry some other way? I think there are some that recirculate air somehow instead.

Cerberus

Yeah, just by leaving the dishes in the hottish cabin for a bit.

No air circulation, that is also considered wasteful.

Alexander

03:28

Such intelligent people here... I think your IQ is about 150. Our washing machine was so bad, so rusty... We have so much trouble even in throwing it away (nobody wished to accept it)... We don't have any dishwasher.

Cerberus

Now I'm going to do my push-ups.

alphabet

@Cerberus Ah. That's what happens if you turn off the "heated dry" switch on a dishwasher here. It does basically nothing to dry anything; you still need to wipe everything with a towel before putting it away.

Cerberus

@alphabet Nooo.

You do not need to wipe anything.

Mitch

Now I'm worried about dying again.

Cerberus

Except plastic if you didn't use the 'extra dry' setting (which I think just leaves it to dry for a longer time in the hot cabin).

M.A.R.

03:30

@alphabet that's actually probably why we never use it

alphabet

Whenever I've turned that switch off my dishes don't actually dry properly.

Cerberus

Weird machine, then.

Or maybe very old?

M.A.R.

@Mitch don't drive cars, only use airplanes

Cerberus

My previous one was ancient, and it probably didn't have any drying method.

alphabet

@Cerberus I think pretty much all dishwashers work that way here, no?

I've always assumed that they only let you turn the heating element off so that they can claim it's more energy efficient than it is.

Cerberus

03:32

@alphabet Sorry man, but that is really weird.

Mitch

@M.A.R. good advice. better stats with airplanes.

M.A.R.

@Mitch I think the loud worrywarts that insist this or that thing is full of carcinogens, plastic bottles or tap water or whatever, are full of shit, BTW

Cerberus

The drying method they use here works perfectly fine.

No heating elements.

Mitch

now I'm worried about warts.

You knew I was going to say that.

Cerberus

The metal cabin or whatever it is called contains enough heat to let the dishes dry.

alphabet

03:33

From Wikipedia:

M.A.R.

Very unscientific, worrying like that. Even if it's Doctor Mary Sue on NY Times front page

alphabet

> North American dishwashers tend to use heat-assisted drying via an exposed element which tends to be less efficient than other methods

> European machines and some high end North American machines use passive methods for drying – a stainless steel interior helps this process and some models use heat exchange technology between the inner and outer skin of the machine to cool the walls of the interior and speed up drying

Cerberus

Yeah, that.

M.A.R.

Exposed elements always feel like technology from the industrial revolution era.

alphabet

So that explains it. Your dishwashers are better designed, so they can dry dishes properly even without a heating element. But, with our dishwashers, turning that element off means that nothing actually gets dried.

M.A.R.

03:34

Had a heater like that. It did warm a 10-cm radius pretty well.

Cerberus

@alphabet OK then I wonder, why not use the normal method for drying?

Is there a reason your machines are built in that way?

M.A.R.

So many pings. Why am I so popular all of a sudden?

Cerberus

@M.A.R. Hi! We love you!

M.A.R.

@Cerberus squints

Mitch

@M.A.R. Like those electric water boilers that are just a thick rod of copper with electricity running through it so it heats up red hot?

Cerberus

03:36

OMG I got a ping from uncle MAR.

alphabet

@Cerberus It says "higher end" American models work that way, so maybe the heating-element approach is cheaper? But I haven't seen one of those higher-end models. Maybe people are just used to it and assume that any dishwasher without heat won't be able to dry dishes well.

Mitch

@Cerberus everybody gets a ping @alphabet @M.A.R.

Cerberus

@alphabet I think people here have no idea! They just buy whatever is in the shop.

Mitch

OK you get a ping too @Xanne and @Alexander

M.A.R.

@Mitch probably very few Jews hidden here and there. I mean, you can't say a whole country is totally devoid of followers of a certain religion. It all feels very underground though. They would feel open hostility towards them no doubt.

Mitch

03:38

@M.A.R. And Bahai?

Xanne

shivers up and down my spine

Mitch

Here, have a sweater.

alphabet

@Cerberus Trump went on a rant once about how energy efficient dishwashers don't work as well, which I think is a fairly widespread but unjustified opinion.

Cerberus

@alphabet Odd.

Alexander

@Xanne, hello. Can I ask if you are a male or a female? (If you permit.)

M.A.R.

03:39

A lot of closet Baha'is too. But in a country that doesn't feel responsible towards minorities, the 'official' stance is accepted without much thought. If someone told the kids in junior high that Baha'is are a bunch of cultists, they'll remember that for the rest of their lives.

alphabet

@M.A.R. I mean, the Bahai faith is...not a cult, but definitely a pretty fringe movement in the US.

M.A.R.

@Xanne well, I mean. It's definitely not 20th century Europe. People aren't inflamed towards Jews. Just that religious texts are full of "well, Mohamed was doing this great thing in Medina, and the Jews, being the meanies that they are, kept trying to ruin things".

Like the villain of the first season of the show, who has recurring appearances.

@alphabet I've never delved into the whole thing myself, never decided on who to believe. The official stance I mentioned is Baha'ism is a fake sect fabricated by the UK to sow discord among Muslims.

It would have been a shrewd political move by a colonial power back then, but again conspiracy theories tend to be too insane for easy rebuttal.

Alexander

@M.A.R. So can I please ask you if you are a Baha'i? Or a Shi'a like most Iranians? Or... a Zoroastrian?

alphabet

@M.A.R. There is that hadith about how the Muslims are going to kill the Jews, but I don't know how seriously people take it outside of Hamas.

M.A.R.

@Alexander when I fill out forms, I don't write anything out of the ordinary. But I have grown out of my childhood indoctrination, and no longer believe in believing in anything. My moral and civic duties remain clear, with or without extra appendages about who to attribute to my fortunes and misfortunes.

alphabet

03:47

See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gharqad

Alexander

@M.A.R. You are amazing! And so am I... I want to say I'm also an atheist.

The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: "Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah!, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!" – But the tree Gharqad will not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

M.A.R.

@alphabet let me tell you a little secret. The Shia believe that Ali was the rightful successor of Mohamed, but as soon as he passed away there was this little council of bigwigs who decided they want one of their own to lead the Muslims.

alphabet

@M.A.R. Ah right, that Wiki page says it's only a Sunni thing.

M.A.R.

So Abu Bakr, Omar, and Osman ruled for 3, 10, and I think 3? years before Osman screwed up so badly people begged Ali to rule.

Alexander

@M.A.R. And can I please ask who was the guy who burned down Alexandria library?

M.A.R.

03:52

His rule was fraught with one battle after another. Finally a bunch of cultists killed him and Mu'awiya won.

This Mu'awiya was the son of the sworn enemy of Mohamed who led the final resistance in Mecca before surrendering

Until the end of his rule, for almost 50 years, no one was allowed to write any books on what Mohamed said or did.

He himself fabricated many hadiths and attributed them to Mohamed. He even had his own hadith-faking crew, not unlike the online troll armies today.

So all in all, nobody ever wrote down what Mohamed said for half a century.

I can't remember the things I said yesterday. So I can't imagine how the documentaton then must have fared.

@Alexander Julius Cesar?

alphabet

Ah yes. Whereas Sunni Muslims put more trust in hadiths and spend a great deal of time debating which ones can be considered credible.

M.A.R.

@alphabet so do Shia, to a lesser extent.

Alexander

@M.A.R. Well, I have heard it could be Omar (among many rulers, so maybe Caesar as well)... But it's more like a legend.

M.A.R.

So you see, in the centuries that followed, Muslim scholars basically just decided the things that made sense to them were the things Mohamed must have said.

alphabet

Incidentally, that Salafi Q&A site I mentioned a while back has, predictably, a take on the matter that seems almost too insane to be offensive: islamqa.info/en/answers/223275

M.A.R.

03:59

If at one time it made sense to them that trees would point at Jews to incite a pogrom, then Mohamed must have said it.

Alexander

Any book that contradicts to Quran is harmful. Any book that repeats it is simply useless. So let us burn the library! (sorry for my grammar but I think you'll understand me)

M.A.R.

@Alexander religious fanatics have been ruining things for millennia. Nothing surprising there. There have also been men and women of faith who have done great things. It's hard to judge based on anecdotss one way or another.

Vikas

> Joe Biden says he'd step down as presidential candidate if a 'medical condition emerged'

M.A.R.

The biggest damage to libraries has been done during Mongol invasions, no doubt.

@Vikas thank goodness it hasn't emerged yet.

Cerberus

@M.A.R. And also Christianity.

alphabet

04:02

@M.A.R. Whereas Shia generally don't assume that those determinations were particularly reliable?

CowperKettle

> Global surface temperatures from @BerkeleyEarth are now out for June. It was the warmest June on record for land, oceans, and the globe as a whole by a sizable margin (~0.14C), and came in at 1.6C above preindustrial levels x.com/hausfath/status/1813672228141322736

M.A.R.

@alphabet oh yeah that. They find it perplexing that Mohamed, being a newcomer to Medina after doing the hijrat thing from Mecca, didn't call for the slaughter of Jews and Christians. So we sheltered the Jews first, then teir Jewness got the better of them and betrayed us, so now we're justified to kill them.

CowperKettle

@M.A.R. Because the Mongols constantly traveled far and wide and totally forgot to return borrowed books, and kept losing library cards

Alexander

@M.A.R. thanks a lot, you are very intelligent. I'm thinking of translating a piece of information about Mongols. It's interesting. Can I post a long message here please?

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle and drew mustaches on portraits in biographies.

alphabet

04:05

@M.A.R. Well now that you explain it it makes perfect sense /s

M.A.R.

@alphabet both Sunnis and Shia put a lot of faith in hadith, since apparently the Muslim scholars have found all the fake ones and eliminated them from history. But Shia also believe that 12 generations of Imams descended from Ali's bloodline, so they have extra premium guidance.

Petəíŕd the Wizard

@jlliagre well, it doesn't quite switch to fixed font, just allows you to send very long messages. For fixed font, anyone can press CTRL+K while editing their message. :)

M.A.R.

Of course, each of these Imams has many hadiths of their own.

@PetəíŕdtheWizard AAAAA you scared me

Petəíŕd the Wizard

@M.A.R. runs away hehe, Tom!

Alexander

- Form up! - the Prince of Kyiv commanded.

The warriors began to line up. This greatly hurt Prince Galitsky.

- Why was he the first to take command? - he got angry. And to spite the Prince of Kyiv, he commanded:

- Guns at ease!

- On the shoulder! - Prince Chernigov commanded to spite the Kyiv and Galician princes.

At this time the Tatars lined up and began to prepare for the attack.

- Forward! - ordered the Prince of Kyiv.

- To the left! - Prince of Chernigov ordered out of spite.

- Right!!! - out of spite, Prince Galitsky gave an order to both of them at the top of his voice. The o…

M.A.R.

04:14

@Mitch sometimes the frequency of action potentials, i.e. a change from firing twice per second to hundreds of times per second. Sometimes it's which circuits in the brain the neuron activates. Depending on location and function, neurons may have many nerve terminals to multiple circuits. Purkinje cells in the cerebellum have up to 200,000 nerve terminals!

I'm sure there are other mechanisms that elude me right now.

What exactly does your brain process to create the complex visual image your eyes have received? It's how fast neurons being activated (or inhibited) by rods and cones fire, and the super complex (inhibitory or excitatory) circuitry downstream to these neurons.

@Alexander now I'm hungry

Alexander

@M.A.R. I just wanted to bring you some joy. )

CowperKettle

@Cerberus You probably listened to this one non-stop youtube.com/watch?v=YfZmCAZwhyY

Alexander

@M.A.R. also, in fact there were NO either guns or bayonets in the 13th century. Still, the basic story is true!

CowperKettle

Russian Army Barbie Girl HD

►

Or this one

M.A.R.

@Alexander nice! I can't remember all the twelve months myself

Alexander

04:27

Also, the book is "General history processed by Satyricon". An incredibly funny book! It's extraordinarily sparkling. If you permit, I'll continue translating and posting it from time to time. GT works well, and in the end I will correct the remaining mistakes on my own. @M.A.R.

M.A.R.

Why not, could be fun

Alexander

Oh, I wonder which calendar you use now. I'm a noob. Lunar? Solar? Lunisolar? @M.A.R.

alphabet

From the comments:
> Mom : Why do you wanna join the army ?
> Son : It's complicated.

Alexander

Here's a very good one. Sample legacy questions and writing problems for Ancient History review.
1. Indicate the difference between the statue of Memnon and the Pythia.

2. Monitor the influence of agriculture on Persian women.

3. Indicate the difference between False Smerdiz and simple Smerdiz.

4. Draw a parallel between Penelope’s suitors and the first Punic War.

5. Point out the difference between the depraved Messalina and the deeply corrupt Agrippina.

6. List how many times the Roman legions faltered and how many times they were confused.

Vikas

07:40

Wordle 1,125 5/6

⬜🟨⬜⬜🟨
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟨🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Xanne

08:07

Wordle 1,125 5/6

⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

jlliagre

08:50

@PetəíŕdtheWizard To my defense, I didn't write that it switched to fixed font, I wrote that it switched to 'fixed-font behavior', the one that removes the 'This message is too long' limitation. Okay, that was ambiguous. When you enter a newline in your posting, the editor adds a third button to the right of the 'upload...' one, and this button is labelled 'Fixed font'. That's what I call the 'Fixed font' mode and what was referred to by Mitch when he wrote *I think sometimes it is possible to use the 'fixed font' button*.

jlliagre

09:04

@alphabet In France, (tap) water is provided for free in all restaurants, and bread too except in fast foods. French people use to eat bread along the meal (from starters to cheese, not with desserts). When I first ate in a US restaurant, I asked for bread and they brought bread and butter. I wondered why they added butter by whynot. I tasted their bread with butter. When the main dish was served, the took back the remaining bread to my surprise. That was rude :-)

but whynot

CowperKettle

Gharqad

The gharqad (Arabic: غرقد) tree is mentioned in several hadiths that describe Islamic eschatology. It is considered likely that the gharqad tree is genus Nitraria or genus Lycium. An excerpt from a hadith attributed to Abu Huraira (one of Muhammad's companions) is famously quoted in the 1988 founding charter of Hamas, Article 17, stating that every stone and tree—except for the gharqad tree—will speak aloud to reveal if a Jew is taking cover, so that the Muslim army can find and kill the Jew. Members of the genera Nitraria and Lycium do not have any significance in Judaism. == In Sunni Islam... ==

> An excerpt from a hadith attributed to Abu Huraira (one of Muhammad's companions) is famously quoted in the 1988 founding charter of Hamas, Article 17, stating that every stone and tree—except for the gharqad tree—will speak aloud to reveal if a Jew is taking cover, so that the Muslim army can find and kill the Jew.

Alexander

@CowperKettle nice to see you. Maybe we can talk a little bit if you don't mind.

CowperKettle

@Alexander Probably later! I'm too tired and preparing for work, so I won't be responsive much :)

jlliagre

Wordle 1,125 4/6

⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
⬛🟨🟨⬛🟨
⬛🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Vikas

09:30

@jlliagre What was the name of puzzle where you keep guessing the word until it matches fully?

You keep typing new words and tells you how close you are to the target word.

jlliagre

09:42

@Vikas What difference exists between that game and Wordle?

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…