English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

04:21

Can you blame him?

We are warned not to accept candy from strangers, and never to go anywhere with a stranger.

But vans I have not heard of.

alphabet

I have heard it argued that this sort of training does more harm than good. Even the NCMEC doesn't like it: abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/…

(I should say: they disapprove of the version most commonly taught in schools.)

> He said that the group wants to put an end to using the phrase ["stranger danger"] for three reasons, including the fact that a child is much more likely to be harmed by someone the child knows, and that many children do not fully understand the concept of a "stranger."

> Lastly, Walsh added, "Oftentimes kids are in a situation where they will need to reach out to a stranger for help, whether they're just being lost, or if there's an actual abduction."

> [...]

> Walsh asked the children what they would do if they were in a store shopping with their parents and then suddenly could not find their mother or father.

> "You couldn't find them," Walsh told the elementary school students. "And you saw some of these people [e.g. a clerk and a security guard] in the store with you. Are these some of the people you might reach out to for help?"

> One 9-year-old boy named Zac said, "They're all strangers and you would never talk to a stranger unless you know them."

Not great.

Cerberus

Yeah it's kind of silly.

Children are not abducted except by their parents or except in negligibly rare circumstances.

alphabet

Well, sometimes they are. But the real problem is the much larger percentage of kids being abused by someone they know and trust.

Cerberus

05:10

Almost never.

Check the statistics.

Vikas

05:29

youtube.com/shorts/gDd25c_eJc8

A popular Indian singer kisses a fan's lips when she kissed him first. What's your opinion on this?

He is being trolled.

Cerberus

What's the problem?

alphabet

Huh. I'm not sure how I feel about that interaction.

Both of them behaved...questionably. I don't think either of them was ultimately harmed by the interaction.

You shouldn't suddenly cheek-kiss someone when they're just hugging you for a selfie. You also shouldn't escalate someone's cheek-kiss into a lip-kiss.

But it doesn't seem--unless it's been reported elsewhere--that either of them actually objected to the other's behavior.

Cerberus

05:59

And it doesn't seem to be of any consequence.

alphabet

06:13

How to fight fascism with the Raccoons of the Resistance

Vikas

@Cerberus The big problem pointed out is, he is much older than that girl and kissed on the lips instead of on cheeks. One can easily counter it by saying who started it.

@alphabet Unless she files a complaint maybe three decades later that she was harassed.

alphabet

@Vikas There's no way in hell such a complaint would be taken seriously.

Vikas

Not only this, I've heard he kissed a few more girls 🤣

@alphabet Actually yeah, it was recorded so the case is dead.

alphabet

@Vikas And it's not like there's an epidemic of false harassment claims. There is, however, an epidemic of harassment itself.

That said, kissing girls is utterly disgusting and as a society we should not tolerate it under any circumstances.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Blacklisted user (76): The use of 'that' in this sentence‭ by Bike‭ on english.SE

Vikas

06:27

He was singing a romantic song so probably the whole mood was chill and romantic so they didn't mind.

alphabet

Strictly speaking, they still shouldn't've behaved that way, since neither could have really known that the other wouldn't mind until it happened.

Cerberus

@Vikas And it is just really unimportant. Someone kissed someone who might not have liked it.

@alphabet Oh, please.

alphabet

@Cerberus I mean, I definitely wouldn't've wanted to be the guy in that interaction. (Regardless of the person's gender.)

It's not like assault or anything, but it is kinda invasive and disrespectful

Vikas

@alphabet I wouldn't behave like that girl also. It seems like she kissed only for Instagram.

alphabet

I think her behavior was worse than the guy's, on balance.

But really this isn't a particularly big deal.

Vikas

06:49

I forgot to mention. One lyrics in that song says, "my mind is not in my control anymore".

alphabet

if that explains the situation, I would like to once again express my annoyance at people who claim they can't control their own actions when they obviously can

SmokeDetector

07:15

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Blacklisted user (76): Why is the "a" in "cocoa" silent?‭ by Bike‭ on english.SE

Michael Rybkin

07:31

@tchrist Thank you very much. Yeah, it's supposed to be "wanna". I intended it to be a sentence representing colloquial speech.

@Mitch Well, I thought that as something that you might say in speech it could be fine. Something that one might say impromptu.

Vikas

@alphabet People here on social media think it was the other way around.

SmokeDetector

07:58

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Blacklisted user (76): Difference between "infinite" and "indefinite"‭ by Bike‭ on english.SE

SmokeDetector

09:47

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive body detected (47): Bad word or not? ✏️‭ by Sprishya‭ on english.SE

M.A.R.

12:04

@Mitch an expert on chocolate? Well, I'm an expert at eating it

Vikas

12:22

@M.A.R. When people say chocolate is good for health, what chocolate do they mean?

And I wonder if this is included in that or not.

M.A.R.

13:50

@Vikas as with everything else, the versions that are not made with copious amounts of sugar. Same goes for yogurt, fruit juice, you name it. If it has a lot of sugar to taste appealing, well, it tastes appealing but the health risk outweighs the benefits.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Manually reported answer (94): Indefinite articles and chemical elements ("an Mg salt"?) ✏️‭ by IEB Pharmacy‭ on english.SE

M.A.R.

Most herbal extracts in one way or another contain a lot of antioxidants, and Theobroma cacao is no exception. The only thing is chocolate is way more appealing than if you extracted nutrients from the bark.

So you have to be masochistic or snobby to want dark chocolate just for its antioxidants

Fruit tastes way better, and unless you've messed up your metabolism so bad that fructose is also bad enough for you, if you want antioxidants, just have some fruit. Pomegranate, most citrus fruits really, that's the stuff

@Vikas will it matter in a week?

@Mitch it stings your throat and numbs it to the itches that make you cough. Here we have a cough syrup, "diphenhydramine compound", meaning it has some ammonium chloride.

Yeah, not that delicious. But if I'm stranded on an island and I only brought cough syrups with me

@tchrist glycyrrhizin is also a natural fucks-up-your-metabolism. It's a mineralocorticoid. Maybe a bit of glucocorticoid activity too, can't recall. So like corticosteroids.

Vikas

14:05

@M.A.R. No, but my feed is full of memes about that topic 🤣

It would stay there for some time.

This isn't first time a singer has been in controversy here.

Xanne

@Cerberus @jlliagre You made “connections” puzzles of your own—where did you make them? Or is the site no longer working?

CowperKettle

February usually is sunny and very cold, but this year it's cloudy and weirdly warm

Xanne

14:28

@tchrist I filled out Lindsey’s survey and provided email, but I guess one doesn’t get feedback?

tchrist

@Xanne Not instantaneously, no. They might in theory contact you later. But I suspect the email address is mostly for tying a response to a uniquifying credential. Sometimes Google Forms provide you with a way to see/recall or even modify your own response based on that credential via a custom link, sometimes provided by mail, but not this time.

Robusto

14:57

Wordle 1,324 3/6

🟨⬛⬛🟨⬛
⬛🟨🟨⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

#WhenTaken #341 (02.02.2025)

I scored 685/1000🎗️

1️⃣📍1.8 km - 🗓️9 yrs - 🥇187/200
2️⃣📍12.1K km - 🗓️5 yrs - 🥉95/200
3️⃣📍2.0K km - 🗓️18 yrs - 🥉111/200
4️⃣📍74.7 km - 🗓️2 yrs - 🥇194/200
5️⃣📍14.8K km - 🗓️2 yrs - 🥉98/200

https://whentaken.com

Robusto

15:09

Connections
Puzzle #602
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦

Luckily blue was at the end.

Strands #336
“Album of the year”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵🔵

Daily Octordle #1105
6️⃣7️⃣
8️⃣🕛
5️⃣9️⃣
4️⃣🕚
Score: 62

Daily Sequence Octordle #1105
5️⃣6️⃣
7️⃣8️⃣
9️⃣🔟
🕚🕛
Score: 68

tchrist

We don't as cool win when we don't ask who'll win.

...in a school win.

Damned rebs always bracketing.

> In a school win we don't as cool win when we don't ask who'll win.

There's also room for a task rebracketing in that.

CowperKettle

15:28

> One study found that people who used mouthwash at least twice daily were 49% more likely to develop diabetes than those who never used mouthwash

tchrist

But I'm having trouble find a monosyllabic word from the front of donor, donate, donation like *doan.

Robusto

Daily Extreme Octordle #1105
6️⃣9️⃣
3️⃣5️⃣
7️⃣8️⃣
🕚4️⃣
Score: 53

tchrist

Donor kidney kebabs.

Robusto

@tchrist For what purpose?

tchrist

For finding one more rebracketing in that sequence.

> ... when we doan task ...

> ... when we don' task ...

Rebracketing doublets are common and rebracketing triplets rare, but I know of no rebracketing quadruplets.

So I was poking around at finding one.

Tass is only a noun, but there might be something there anyway.

Unlike task which can be a verb.

tchrist

15:44

> “In a school win we don't as cool win when we don't ask who'll win as when we don't task who'll win.” ―quoth Tom Swifty to Major Wince

The PIN-PEN merger people tend to retain historic WH- however.

So their minimal pair for WIN–WHEN is based on the consonant not the vowel.

Choral conductors can struggle to get /hwɛn/ not /wɪn/ out of some choirs singing When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.

Yeah, I think my final school-win rebracketing will do for what I was looking for.

It's a tongue teaser, too.

By Major Wince. :)

And Tom Swifty.

Done and done.

Let all the unborn quadruplets of the world rejoice.

I managed to avoid using ass, although I wasn't sure at first that I'd be able to.

Lest down that road lie ass-cool wincing.

> "Oh coo, lass, when singing!"

Mad poets and Englishmen.

Xanne

16:25

Wordle 1,324 4/6

⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜🟩🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

GratefulDisciple

16:39

@Mitch Maybe you call it candy or not depending on how much added sugar there is, compare Hershey dark vs. 72% Dark. The added sugar (which is the culprit) in Hershey is obscenely unhealthy.

@Cerberus Mentos is one of my favorite; chewy (gummy) peppermint.

Xanne

17:14

When we have no donations we know da nation’s out of money. But that’s not even a triplet. :) @tchrist

Cerberus

@GratefulDisciple I guess that's candy.

Mitch

17:29

@tchrist A female deer?

@GratefulDisciple 100% is mouth torture.

@tchrist Yeah keeping WH- sounds pretty far southern to me. Or rather, it doesn't remind me of a southern accent but it makes my ears prick up when someone says 'hwat' andonly then do I notice they have a southern accent.

for me, the whole part of the questionnaire where he asks about ih vs eh, I didn't think he had my real answer which was 'neither 'neither' or 'both' but they're kinda closer to each other and real hard to differentiate maybe sometimes. Which is to say I couldn't land on a consistent answer.

Of -course- pen and pin are pronounced differently...except am I just reading how they're different because when I pronounce them in my head sometimes they're different, sometimes the same.

alphabet

The pin/pen thing has been slowly spreading outside the South. I've been surprised to hear some people with no other trace of a Southern accent talking about the stringth of their intintions

Of course, some of them may be Southerners who've lost all other features of that accent, but I'm pretty sure you can hear it from people from other regions

Mitch

@M.A.R. I had heard that, though free radicals/oxidants are an actual thing, are and so are anti-oxidants for removing/depowering those radicals, that eating foods with those anti-oxidant substances hardly has any effect on the quantity of oxidants in the body.

In other words, anti-oxidant food supplements is sort of a scam.

alphabet

I read something recently about how antioxidants are actually bad for you, though the article seemed kinda crackpot

Mitch

@alphabet If you listen to the news after a hurricane or tornado in the south, you expect to hear a lot of drawlin and g-dropping, and "ah cain't" but they sound so ~~normal~~, ~~like everyone else~~, GenAmE.

But then they say some crap like 'thank the lord it wudn worse' and then you know you're in the south.

alphabet

OTOH, a while back I heard someone with a fairly strong Southern accent claim that nobody in the South, including him, actually has a Southern accent anymore

Mitch

17:44

There are so many southern accents...the backwoods one in South Carolina does the triphthongization of pin/pen to 'peeyun'.

alphabet

Yes, I think the pin/pen merger in the South sometimes turns it into [iə ~ ɪə], but the version that's spreading just results in [ɪ]

Mitch

@alphabet oh... 👀

@alphabet I don't think it's necessary. nobody thinks you're gonna stick a ballpoint pin in it.

alphabet

On some definitions of "General American," I don't speak General American. But I don't think anyone assumes I have any specific regional accent. Dunno.

tchrist

@Xanne Doncha know when we have no dough nations we have no donations doncha know?

We have no donations when we have no dough nations doncha know when?

@Mitch Not a triphthong because that's not tautosyllabic.

Just like feel as /ˈfɪjəɫ/ has no triphthong. Rather, it has hiatus, resulting in bisyllabification perceived in any Yankee ear.

Because /fɪj/ is in the first syllable while /jəɫ/ is in the second syllable. The consonantal glide is ambisyllabic.

To be a triphthong you'd need a vowel not a consonant there.

GratefulDisciple

@Cerberus Yes, I think it's from Italy but available worldwide for decades already (even when I was little). Here's the product info in Dutch. Very sugary though, hence it's definitely candy.

tchrist

18:00

Perhaps something akin to /ˈfɪi̯ə̯ɫ/ or /ˈfɪ͡i̯ɫ/. I can't draw an arrow over three sounds in IPA. And while tautosyllabic consonant clusters comprising three sequentially articulated phones certainly exist, I'm not convinced that this can happen with three vowels in a row without the middle of the three transforming into a (semi-)consonant and splitting the sequence between two syllables.

Or this may be why yankees never understand southerners. We don't perceive syllables the same way.

John Wells has commented the even non-rhotic SSBE doesn't truly have triphthongs because they aren't in the same syllable.

Non-specialists sometimes imagine that any three vowels in a row make a triphthong, but this is not so.

Spanish, however, does have triphthongs. You can find these in words like buey (ox) and in second-person plural verbs like cambiéis, averiguáis in regions that retain the vosotros inflection.

Mitch

@tchrist I fel like they put even more syllables/vowels/whatever there

tchrist

And these are perceived by native speakers to be sequences of three vowels in a single syllable. That does not happen in English in words like wise, wows, yays because the leading glide isn't thought of as a vowel for us. Furthermore, our phonemic falling diphthongs are not as long as Spanish ones; its the glide element is much shorter for us than for them or they're stretching out the nucleus more. Not sure.

@Mitch How many syllables in See ya!?

Now what about non-rhotic seer? See the problem?

Mitch

@tchrist For me... none. I always slip out unannounced.

alphabet

IIRC many Brits think of idea as having only two syllables

tchrist

This is the fire problem.

Mitch

18:13

Or desire

I feel a hit song comin on

tchrist

Which might have one or two syllables depending on whom you ask, just as fiery might have two or three.

Tolkien would sometimes write Faërie when he wanted to get across that he wanted three syllables there.

I can certainly say fiery both ways: figh-ree vs fah-yuh-ree.

For the sake of the meter.

Mitch

@tchrist I had a conversation on alt.lang many decades ago where I was trying to convince people that 'irony' was pronounced /a jer nij/.

I still don't know what the truth is.

I've stayed away from irony since.

Cerberus

@GratefulDisciple I know what it is, low-quality supermarket stuff.

tchrist

Metathesis of eye-Ronny.

Mitch

@Cerberus like Aldi?

or Lidl?

Cerberus

18:16

Any supermarket.

I didn't say low-quality-supermarket stuff

tchrist

@Mitch I don't even have any of those so I see no reason he would.

Mitch

@Cerberus we need parentheses in speech

@tchrist YOu get your chocolate anywhere you can, no questions.

Cerberus

Parenthesis is parenthesis, whether in speech or text.

Mitch

Not when i say it

tchrist

@Mitch Be that at a confiserie or at a magasin de bonbons, makes no never mind.

But do not expect to find a confessor at the first one even on Sundays.

And the second might have firemen in it.

Or at least their ammo.

Just go to the sweet shop.

Not to the sweat shop.

Damn it now I'm hungry.

Mitch

18:23

That's for savory bonbons

tchrist

Like what, Rocky Mountain oysters?

Mitch

If they're sweaty

tchrist

I think people go to IKEA for that.

Mitch

Their herring is pretty good

tchrist

Provided you're into kipling.

Mitch

18:26

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing meatballs and blaming it on you

I don't think I've ever had swedish meatballs.

They're like... regular old meatballs right?

tchrist

@Mitch Nope.

Compare them to Italian meatballs, for example.

Different.

> While Italian meatballs can be made from a blend of meats, Swedish meatballs are usually made with ground pork or an equal amount of blended pork and beef and are mixed together with breadcrumbs and bound with eggs.

And Swedish meatballs use weirdo spices like allspice and nutmeg instead of traditional Italian herbs.

Mitch

@tchrist I read those words but still can't tell the difference.

@tchrist OK, yes, that's weird.

Cerberus

@Mitch Yeah, that is poorly written.

@Xanne I used this site, but I think others work, too: connectionsplus.io/create

Will you make us a puzzle?

Pro tip: it is very, very easy to make it too hard.

Too hard is the commonest issue.

And each category needs to be super cohesive.

Xanne

18:54

connectionsplus.io/game/ASaQ56

Cerberus

That was quick!

@Xanne I got green!

I do feel that ~~SPOILER~~.

Xanne

I made the game first, just had to fill out the form. I don’t know how hard it is. Purple is American.

Cerberus

Oh.

The same applies to blue ~~SPOILER~~

Purple I didn't understand.

Live and Play
🟩🟩🟩🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟪
🟨🟨🟪🟨
🟦🟪🟦🟦
🟦🟪🟦🟦
🟦🟪🟦🟦
🟪🟦🟦🟦
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨

alphabet

@Mitch Remember the IKEA meatball horse meat scandal?

Cerberus

OK so I get what you did, nicely done!

@Xanne Green and blue and yellow are all overflowing categories, but on purpose, and purple is probably the 'key' that you need to remove all the overflowing terms from the other categories?

I basically couldn't get any of the categories but purple is something commercial American that I wouldn't know about.

Xanne

19:04

Yes, purple is NBA basketball teams. But it should fall out if you get the others. ot a perfect puzzle—too many good options, right?

not, that is. There must be some overlaps or there’s no puzzle.

Cerberus

@Xanne The thing is, you can't get any of the other categories because they are all overflowing.

I don't know what the puzzle would be like if you knew purple enough to find it before all the others.

Xanne

I can’t read spoilers on my device, and I don’t know how to make them.

Cerberus

Ah, oK.

Never mind the spoilers.

Those don't matter any more.

@Xanne Usually, the overlap is different: you see things that seem to go together, but you can only get 3. So you force yourself to abandon that. And then it turns out the real category was a different sense of the word.

But five words all fitting a category perfectly: she doesn't normally do that.

Xanne

I don’t get most purples except as residuals, because they’re based on popular culture, usually. Some are a general category with a letter added or removed, though. I should try one of those.

Oh, okay. Interesting.

Cerberus

@Xanne Right, and is that a fun experience?

I think you did well on getting the other categories together.

Xanne

19:15

Yes, that’s the fun of it.

I started with the purple and then did the others.

Cerberus

Well, I think most people don't like categories that they know nothing about.

Xanne

I agree.

Cerberus

Ah, OK.

Xanne

But one of the markets they’re working on is young people. Gen Z or eeven A, and all that.

Cerberus

I think it has more to do with educated or not.

And some of the purples, those letter games, just aren't really fun for most people regardless of education.

alphabet

19:23

Live and Play
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦

Xanne

Oh, smarty!

Too easy? But you had my hint on purple.

alphabet

@M.A.R. That 90%-cocoa ultra-bitter dark chocolate can taste good, in the same way espresso does. Just not too much.

jlliagre

Live and Play
🟦🟦🟦🟪
🟦🟦🟪🟦
🟪🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟨🟨🟨
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪

alphabet

You know it's good because it makes your mouth hurt.

Xanne

@jlliagre @alphabet So what did you think? Not as good as NYT?

jlliagre

19:32

@Xanne Not bad. I fell into each and every trap. I believe there is a typo though.

alphabet

@Xanne I found it too easy, but it seems like I may be in the minority. Odd, since usually I think I'm worse at this game than anyone else. Maybe easier for 'Muricans.

Cerberus

@alphabet So there are five words which fit into yellow: how did you decide which ones to pick?

jlliagre

That too.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive body detected (47): Explain this joke:‭ by Maj. Knut 3rd Baron Cockwomble‭ on english.SE

jlliagre

One of the blue set doesn't belong to that category while one of the purple set should be the missing blue.

Xanne

19:41

The purple all fit, though.

jlliagre

I know none of these so that didn't help me.

Xanne

And yes, one could be in blue also. But I think all the blues are part of the category.

jlliagre

Look closer.

With a dictionary at hand.

Xanne

@jlliagre You’re right, I spelled it wrong. Extra e. But the category is okay.

jlliagre

I had a different view. It's a different word with a different meaning.

So there was only four words that fit in that category. Prepare to meet my lawyers.

Xanne

19:52

Sorry, bad mistake.

jlliagre

Too late, too little.

;-)

Xanne

Thank you all for the critiques.

Cerberus

Making puzzles is hard!

And it really depend on whether the puzzle suits the audience.

GratefulDisciple

20:05

@Mitch Really? I tried Lindt 100% Cacao Dark Chocolate it's not hurting, nor too bitter, although surprisingly hardly any sugar. Maybe it's not what it appears to be?

Cerberus

Why is it surprising that 100% chocolate contains no sugar?

GratefulDisciple

@Cerberus I meant it's not too bitter although there is no added sugar.

Cerberus

Ah, OK.

GratefulDisciple

Although, the rest of the percentage may refer to sugar, I'm not that sure what it really means.

This article may clear it up. About an example (75%), it says:

> "The other 25% of the recipe is anything that isn't chocolate. Typically, this is mostly sugar, but depending on the chocolate, it can also be powdered milk or a bit of vanilla."

@Cerberus I notice that too, but it's fair game in Connections.

M.A.R.

20:26

@Mitch its effect, taken chronically, probably makes considerable difference regarding whether or not your diet can be called healthy. But yeah, all the goddamn supplements that claim to prevent cancer, treat cancer, prevent Alzheimer's disease, "improve" liver health, prevent "skin aging", prevent aging, help memory loss, help "treat" rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, polyarthritis, multiple sclerosis, help wound healing, and on and on and on and on . . .

CowperKettle

I'm taking L-arginine

M.A.R.

They're all herbal extracts that have antioxidants, and just attribute all of these miracles to an anti-inflammatory effect.

Their claims are almost always very weak. Just because in arthrises MMPs release a crapton of oxidants, doesn't mean a bunch of -OH groups in a compound will definitely help that.

CowperKettle

I like to read research into inflammation etc.

M.A.R.

Ditto dementia, cirrhosis, and whatever ailment they can attribute to inflammation.

CowperKettle

MMP? Mad Members of Parliament? Metalloproteinases?

M.A.R.

20:30

@CowperKettle thing is, saying something is 'because of inflammation' is like saying it's because of the immune system. It's not helpful at all.

CowperKettle

Yes.

GratefulDisciple

It's quite easy but the trick is that there are 6 for blue and 5 for yellow and 5 for green, which makes it a good Connections puzzle.
Live and Play
🟦🟦🟦🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟪
🟩🟨🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟦🟦🟦
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟨🟪🟪
🟪🟨🟪🟨
🟨🟨🟨🟪
🟨🟨🟪🟪
🟨🟪🟨🟨
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪

M.A.R.

Sometimes it's the immune system acting up, sometimes it's trying to clean up the mess, sometimes a mix of both.

CowperKettle

There's interesting research into autoantibodies in mental diseases, like anti-NMDA and others

jlliagre

@GratefulDisciple It is not.

M.A.R.

20:35

@CowperKettle sure, about everything, and that's exactly it. The immune system is everywhere, affecting everything. And the sure mark of its work is inflammation. Inflammation could be the problem, like when a diabetic foot ulcer isn't healing. And it could be the solution. Like every other time the body patches up wounds. It's a delicate balance, and just introducing some reducing agents into the body won't affect it appropriately.

Mitch

@GratefulDisciple I think once you get past 80% you're able to levitate and dodge bullets

@jlliagre once you eat that you can control the matrix.

GratefulDisciple

@Mitch I wish!

M.A.R.

As I said, if you keep having pomegranates for a decade, you have been living healthier for that long. Doesn't mean you become immune to cancer, hepatotoxicity or dementia. You would get laser vision though

jlliagre

Translation left as an exercise for the reader.

M.A.R.

I hate exercise

I'd rather take a supplement

GratefulDisciple

20:38

@jlliagre Or maybe not all cacao are equally bitter? Like there are 4 types of coffee beans: Arabica, Robusta, Excelsa, and Liberica?

Mitch

@M.A.R. nice.

jlliagre

@GratefulDisciple No, read what I posted.

Mitch

@jlliagre that seems like they're using ng the concept % in a different way than I'm used to

Ie I think it is bullshit

GratefulDisciple

@jlliagre Thanks. Here's DeepL translation (I did my homework, yay):

alphabet

@M.A.R. When will they make exercise in pill form? Or is that just what steroids are?

GratefulDisciple

20:41

> Recently, chocolate producers pulled off a new tour de force. To create a bar with 100% cocoa, but sweetened... To achieve this, they used the sugar contained in the cocoa juice. The final product contains 75% cocoa in the traditional sense and the rest is cocoa sugar. As a result, the 100% claim is perfectly legitimate, while producing a sweeter product. Note that these are often blends, with the cocoa juice often coming from Africa and the cocoa liqueur from South America.

> These experiments are interesting and allow us to discover the gustatory variety of the fruit of the cocoa tree. However, they should not obscure the fact that the quality of the products and the experience of the producer make all the difference in a product with a high cocoa content. Personally, I prefer either the classic 100% or a dark chocolate with a lower cocoa content to this alternative with a very (too?) calibrated taste.

> Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

alphabet

Huh. Weird. Frankencocoa.

Mitch

It's ultraprocessed food. It'll kill ya

alphabet

Someday they'll invent a pill that just generally makes you look better.

Robusto

@alphabet Yeah, but they'll have to give it to everyone around you.

You know, the whole Eye of the Beholder thing?

alphabet

@Robusto Love-in-idleness.

GratefulDisciple

20:47

@jlliagre New word for me "gustatory" . Is that the best translation from French? Why not use a more common "flavor variety" rather than "gustatory variety"?

jlliagre

@GratefulDisciple These kids today. You give them homework and they just use AI.

Robusto

Eye of the Beholder (The Twilight Zone, 1959)

"Eye of the Beholder" (also titled "The Private World of Darkness" when initially rebroadcast in the summer of 1962) is episode 42 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It originally aired on November 11, 1960, on CBS. == Opening narration == Suspended in time and space for a moment, your introduction to Miss Janet Tyler, who lives in a very private world of darkness. A universe whose dimensions are the size, thickness, length of the swath of bandages that cover her face. In a moment we will go back into this room, and also in a moment we will look under those bandages...

GratefulDisciple

@jlliagre (sheepish smile)

jlliagre

Flavor variety is fine.

GratefulDisciple

@Mitch Guess it's up to the better manufacturer to disclose their choice of cacao or their process for making that essential ingredient in their dark chocolate. Meaning, if they don't say anything about it, we assume the worst.

jlliagre

20:50

But DeepL translation wasn't bad too because variété gustative is odd too.

GratefulDisciple

@jlliagre DeepL tries to be fancy :-) Or faithful.

alphabet

@Robusto Ok, a pill that makes you more attractive to the people you find attractive. That should be straightforward, right?

Robusto

@alphabet What if they don't find themselves attractive?

alphabet

@Robusto Well, it won't make you less attractive to yourself.

Mitch

@alphabet botox? As a pill, not recommended.

CowperKettle

20:55

@M.A.R. Yes. And nitric oxide can be toxic and beneficial at the same time. Lots of amazing research

Robusto

@alphabet If that's your only criterion for success, no.

alphabet

@Mitch Does botox really make you look better, though?

Cerberus

@GratefulDisciple That normally isn't five terms that tightly fit together: when you have five that loosely fit together, that usually means you're still not seeing the exact connection.

alphabet

The pill will not save you from the mental trap of comparing yourself to the people you think are hot.

GratefulDisciple

@jlliagre I have yet to try this Lindt cocoa pure which is 82% but no refined sugar, but include the cocoa fruit pulp for the 18%.

@Cerberus Yes, when reflecting on past NYT puzzles, you're right.

Cerberus

21:03

@GratefulDisciple Yeah.

Mitch

@alphabet removing wrinkles makes you look younger, younger people look hotter. Therefore younger people are sweatier. So younger people need to keep hydrated.

CowperKettle

Cerberus

@CowperKettle That would mean war!!

CowperKettle

Yes

Robusto

@CowperKettle Careful Trump doesn't rename Europe as East America.

GratefulDisciple

21:19

@Robusto He might rename the Atlantic ocean as "East American Ocean" and the Pacific ocean as "West American Ocean".

alphabet

@Mitch I dunno, everyone's hotness seems to peak at a different age.

Maybe I'll be one of those guys who spends his thirties getting progressively sexier, but I doubt it.

GratefulDisciple

Did anyone mention what percentage of the Gulf of Mexico belongs to USA, and what percentage belongs to Mexico? IF if turns out that US percentage is greater, maybe there's some basis, although of course I don't support it.

Cerberus

Mare Librum.

Mitch

21:43

@GratefulDisciple depends on how far out territorial waters for each country go.

jlliagre

Pacific Ocean → Bellicose Ocean

Mitch

200 miles for US (except for that pesky Cuba thing)

Mexico should just declare 201 and win by 'The Price Is Right' rules

Which, I hear, has been decided in favor by the Supreme court 6-3

Guess who the '3' are.

The one woman who voted with the dudes?

She's one of the 'good' ones.

jlliagre

Will Trump rename New Mexico to New America too ?

Mitch

Is it cold in here? doubles up blanket

jlliagre

#WhenTaken #341 (02.02.2025)

I scored 733/1000🎗️

1️⃣📍301 m - 🗓️9 yrs - 🥇187/200
2️⃣📍9.2K km - 🗓️10 yrs - 🥉88/200
3️⃣📍219 km - 🗓️12 yrs - 🥈171/200
4️⃣📍16.9 m - 🗓️0 yrs - 🥇200/200
5️⃣📍15.9K km - 🗓️9 yrs - 🥉87/200

https://whentaken.com

Robusto

22:12

@jlliagre He can't do that. I mean, he can try, but states have the right to name themselves whatever they want.

tchrist

@jlliagre Because you were expecting Nuevo Méjico? :)

jlliagre

@tchrist Nouveau Mexique is fine :-)

tchrist

@Robusto You mean you don't miss "and Providence Plantations"? :)

16

Q: Has a US state ever changed its name?

In 1989 there was an initiative in North Dakota to change the state's name to simply "Dakota". Is this the first time an initiative was taken for a state to change its name after becoming a state within the Union ? Did a state ever actually change its name after admission? Is there a federal proc...

Robusto

@tchrist Haha. I guess you know the answer to that one.

tchrist

> "The Indians all want the American State of Indiana to change its name — either that, or else add some federally recognized Indian Reservations to the State."

Robusto

22:21

You'll never get a state plebiscite to rename New Mexico to anything Trump may order, least of all New America.

alphabet

22:42

@Robusto Odd to assume we'll keep having free elections.

tchrist

Spacely Sprockets makes the best galactic gaskets money can buy.

Distributors pay Spacely a buck a pop, the distributors sell them for two bucks each to retailers, and customers are plenty happy to shell out five bucks plus sales tax every time they bought one. They're so out of this world that the main distributor scored a sweet contract for fifty million units at that price which Spacely duly produced and shipped off to the distributor.

How much did Spacely end up making off all this once all was said and done?

Robusto

@alphabet Call it whistling past the cemetery.

alphabet

@tchrist 'Pends on the amount of surplus value that the owners of the means of production extract by alienating workers from the product of their labor, donnit?

tchrist

23:12

It costs Spacely only 70 cents to make a gasket. Unfortunately these need to be packaged up safe from cosmic rays, so that runs them another dime each. Still, they'd expected to score ten million bucks off this contract once executed.

Alas this was not to be. The gaskets were impounded on the Texas border at El Paso en route from the maquiladoras to Musk's rocket factory for duties owed.

Spacely had to shell out 12.5M in sudden tariffs that hadn't existed when the contract was signed a year ago. They lost $2.5M in the "deal".

I sure hope you weren't expecting Musk to pay a penny for any of this.

Stiffers who write their own rules never get stift.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…