English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Epitorial

18:00

@Cerberus, the picture. (LOL)

Cerberus

?

Robusto

@Cerberus Visibility is all in the mind.

Cerberus

@Robusto Like UFOs?

Robusto

I dunno. Do you have UFOs in your mind?

livresque

Lakoff would ask you all not to think of pink elephants.

Cerberus

18:11

@Robusto I don't think so? I they they removed the nano-UFOs last time I was abducted.

@livresque Dammit.

Robusto

"I they they ..."? Pick a pronoun, please.

livresque

@Robusto, Janet.

Cerberus

Arg. "I think they".

Typing is so hard.

Robusto

At least something of yours is hard.

2

Cerberus

...

livresque

18:15

@Cerberus You're not kidding. Despite the many benefits of electronic keyboards, typing will kill you. I have been battling the repetitive motion pains for months.

I'd rather use my Olivetti, but I have little desire to attach a computer to it. Have been tempted by DIY kits, though.

MετάEd

@Cerberus My virtual XP Pro 32 with FF will render that character properly. My physical Win7 Pro 64 with FF won't. Dammit.

Cerberus

18:29

@livresque Oh, that really sucks!

@MετάEd How odd! Maybe try a Win7 64 VM?

@Mrshiny will not be happy to know that XP beats 7!

@livresque Is that caused by typing, or by mousing?

MετάEd

@Cerberus I wouldn't make that generalization. I assume something I loaded on Win7 broke font selection.

I might try unloading all Type 1 fonts for example.

So let me see what it entails to put together a Win7 VM.

Cerberus

Ugh.

Just an image of a Win 7 install disc.

Or the disc itself.

MετάEd

@Cerberus I should need less than that with Windows VPC.

livresque

@Cerberus The rodent poses most of the problems. I have to use a program with very few shortcuts/hotkeys for my day job, so I have to rely on the mouse pretty heavily.

Cerberus

I've never had any problems with installing VMs in Virtual Box.

MετάEd

18:32

VPC only supports Windows installs, but it supports them well.

Cerberus

@MετάEd Oh, OK. That never worked for me, so I wouldn't know how VPC works.

MετάEd

I'll try the Create Virtual Machine Wizard.

Cerberus

@livresque You could program Autohotkey to carry out mouse actions on hotkeys...

livresque

@Cerberus Keep talking...I have done my damnedest, but I think the 2.0 desktop I have to log in to is wrapped up too tightly. What would you recommend?

Other than getting a new job, which is a very close solution, thank God.

Cerberus

Yay!

You mean you can't install Autohotkey on that desktop?

tchrist

18:40

Whoa, ELU hoisted the bat-signal with a value of six. First time I ever saw that here.

MετάEd

@Cerberus Well, I'm going to need a Win7 disc or an ISO image. Which I have. Somewhere.

So I give up on a virtual Win7 for now.

At least now I know it should have worked all along and that I might even be able to repair something about my Win7 install.

Epitorial

@MετάEd, Win 7 ISO, in case you haven't found it: downdl.com/2012/07/….

MετάEd

@Epitorial I wonder how licensing works.

I assume I'm unlicensed to run the second copy.

Cerberus

Download it through a VPN, then.

bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21449890

livresque

18:59

@Cerberus The best I can do is enable MouseKeys, which has the worst acceleration in the history of speed.

Cerberus

> Brazilian regulators have ruled that Apple does not have exclusive rights to use the "iPhone" trademark in the country.

> ... Gradiente has an option of suing for exclusivity.

@livresque Ugh...

If you can't really install any programs, I don't know what you could do.

Negotiate with the IT department?

livresque

@Cerberus But with Windows Server 2003 SE x64, I don't know what would even apply.

@MετάEd It was for a licensing issue that the Tramp was so hunted by the pound.

Cerberus

Hmm what do you mean?

I have no idea how WAS 2003 even works...

livresque

19:18

I'm not a doctor, but my understand it that it is a 2.0 desktop or "virtual" desktop that my company uses for enhanced security. I have to log in to my computer and go through three soft token passcodes, two firewalls, and a partridge in a pear tree.

(my understand**ing**)

:D It takes at least five minutes to "clock in" as a result of all this nonsense, and I won't rant much longer, but the information I then gain access to is in a system that does not house personal information. Pointless with a capital point.

Cerberus

Yikes.

Do you access this desktop through another computer, one that you can install software on?

@livresque If you press the up key, you can edit previous lines.

livresque

@Cerberus, good tip, gratias tibi ago.

Yes and no, but I *think* I just finagled my way through a custom installation of AutoHotKey...testing....

Cerberus

19:36

Yay!

There is also a portable version of AHK.

As to emulating the mouse, there are two approaches that you could take: 1. simply having the mouse click at coördinates; 2. searching for pixels and/or images and having it click on those. The latter works better than you might expect, but takes a bit longer to implement.

AHK comes with a "recorder" so that you can automatically create a script that uses method 1.

livresque

Merde, it looks like I don't have enough access to create a .ahf file. I'm tempted to fish around a little more, but corporate has a habit of resetting these desktops at any time (lovely for my bookmarks that evaporate), so I think I'm sunk.

Cerberus

.ahk

Can you open a .ahk file that you have e-mailed to yourself?

If you were able to install AHK, I should think there was some way to run .ahk files as well?

Can you run autohotkey.exe from the installation directory?

If you were able to install Autohotkey, I presume yes?

MετάEd

What the world needs is an AutoTchotchke.exe. Think how much easier birthdays and Christmas would be.

Cerberus

Whadda?

@livresque You can also drag a .txt file onto Autohotkey.exe in the program/install dir and run it that way.

If you have AHK code inside the .txt file.

MετάEd

Tchotchke

Tchotchke () is a small bauble, curio, dingus, doodad, doohickey, gewgaw, gimcrack, gizmo, kitsch, knickknack, lagniappe, miscellaneous item, plaything, swag, thingamabob, thingamajig, thingie, toy, trinket, whatchamacallit, whosit, whatsit, widget, etc. Depending on context, the term has a connotation of worthlessness or disposability as well as tackiness, and has long been used by Jewish-Americans and in the regional speech of New York City and elsewhere. The word may also refer to swag, in the sense of the logo pens, key rings, and other promotional freebies dispensed at trade shows, c...

Cerberus

19:51

I see.

My parents had a cupboard with pass-on presents.

livresque

@MετάEd That is hysterical, and I think you should patent it.

MετάEd

@Cerberus The box has a Win7 Pro license which means it is also licensed to run a virtualized XP Pro, but I am not licensed to run anything else. So from a licensing perspective also I am going to give up on testing that way.

@Cerberus I'll try retiring all my Type 1 fonts and see if that helps.

Cerberus

20:06

Is that a lot of work?

Or is it just removing the files from the Fonts folder?

I personally wouldn't care about licensing, but OK.

user19161

Hey guys, Happy Valentine's Day.

MετάEd

20:31

@JacobBlack Happy VD to you also.

@Cerberus I think it's just moving files out of the Fonts folder.

Cerberus

OK.

aedia λ

@JacobBlack Is it your tomorrow already? I'm still in today, where we have a few hours left before the reign of the paper-hearted.

Matt Эллен

lol Carlo has nominated one of my questions to go to ELL

@JacobBlack I got a reply from the Oxford University Press

Gigili

Helliot.

Matt Эллен

3

A: Archaic vs Historical in dictionaries

I've had an email from the Oxford University Press, and this is what they say: Archaic: very old-fashioned language, not in ordinary use at all today, but sometimes used to give a deliberately old-fashioned effect or found in works of the past that are still widely read. Historical: stil...

Gigili

20:42

Do you find this site reliable?

Matt Эллен

@Gigili I don't know. I've not heard of it before

Gigili

@MattЭллен Umm, Amazon's prices are surprisingly high! Do you know of any other online shopping website?

Matt Эллен

@Gigili this site says n1wireless is OK. This site seems to suggest otherwise

Gigili

@MattЭллен That's what I needed to know, thanks.

Matt Эллен

for electronics I've shopped at dabs, scan and ebuyer

Gigili

20:48

Great, thanks again.

Matt Эллен

no probs

user19161

21:10

@MattЭллен Therefore, I was right, as always. QED!

user19161

@MετάEd I see you are back to the parrot!

MετάEd

@JacobBlack Yes. Apparently the Eye of God was a bit off-putting.

user19161

@aediaλ Yes, but one is supposed to say it a day before anyway!

Matt Эллен

@JacobBlack yep :)

Cerberus

21:32

> 'Scientific theory,' an inferred explanation of incompletely understood phenomena about the physical universe based on limited knowledge, whose components are data, logic, and faith-based philosophy.

arstechnica.com/science/2013/02/…

MετάEd

22:11

@JacobBlack Is one?

user19161

@MετάEd At least I always do it like that.

aedia λ

I think I'd be thought odd here for wishing people a happy anything a day ahead, save through postal mail or when the occasion falls over some absence.

user19161

@aediaλ OK, I guess I am just odd.

Matt Эллен

22:28

I just capped on ELL! For a 2 line answer! Money for jam

aedia λ

licks jam

Matt Эллен

lick away! apparently I have jam to spare :D

good night y'all!

aedia λ

I never had "money for jam" in my vocabulary before SO, and it still sounds weird in my head. Always tries to turn into Dire Straits.

Night!

Grr, I wish I could be less prescriptivist about the hypercorrection in "Please give Jane Doe and I access." It threatens to give me hypertension.

user19161

@MattЭллен You will get 100k soon there I guess.

Cerberus

@aediaλ Just accept your failings and scream at that horrible mistake.

livresque

22:58

@aediaλ I concur.

aedia λ

23:13

@Cerb Just between you and I, I think that is the strategy that will be employed going forward.

Cerberus

Noooooooo.....

Szabolcs

I am proofreading a paper and I have the feeling that "similarly with" is incorrect and should be "similarly to". Am I right?

Cerberus

Not "going forward". That is just too much.

@Szabolcs Probably yes.

Szabolcs

@Cerberus Thanks for the reassurance.

Cerberus

But I'm not sure "similarly to" will sound good.

Hard to say without context...

aedia λ

23:19

@Cerb Or, well, instead of screaming I could try to drag us all down into Room 101.

Cerberus

Hmm what's happening down there?

Is it the bioptic lab?

aedia λ

Don't tell me you don't get the reference?

Are you not a fan of dystopia?

Cerberus

Ehh.

I am of course a fan of dystopian scenarios.

But that's probably not what you mean.

aedia λ

Read the line a few more times and guess the author. Don't commit any thoughtcrimes while doing it, though.

Cerberus

Ohh wait. Was it the interrogation room in 1984?

You know I suck at references...

aedia λ

23:25

Rats, I am found out.

Cerberus

Otherwise, @Rob or @Reg can tell you.

Found out? Was I not supposed to get it?

livresque

@aediaλ rats hehe

aedia λ

No, it's... In 1984 101 has the rat nightmares, I think.

Yeah.

See, someone knows.

livresque

It's a room that has your worst nightmare.

And the poor protagonist was terrified of rats, so they built a plexiglass chamber full of rats and placed it on his head.

aedia λ

Like weird hypercorrection and business doublespeak. Sorry, that's my nightmare.

tchrist

23:30

@aediaλ It’s everyone’s.

aedia λ

On this cheery note, dinnertime!

livresque

@aediaλ I definitely prefer the good old fashioned hypercorrection.

tchrist

Is that good-old fashioned hypercorrection — or is it good, old-fashioned hypercorrection?

Cerberus

Ah OK.

@livresque You prefer "between you and I"?

bulging eyes

tchrist

@Cerberus Even French says entre toi et moi — never any hypercorrection there. But you know something weird? The Spanish entre takes nominative pronouns only. It must be entre tú y yo not *entre ti y mí. I have no idea why; no other preposition works that way.

Cerberus

23:41

I wouldn't say "even" French.

As to Spanish, I don't know.

Languages have weird exceptions.

Robusto

@Cerberus Tell who what?

Cerberus

That I suck at references.

Robusto

Well, we're certainly not going to hire you without references. Good day, sir!

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…