« first day (154 days earlier)      last day (4767 days later) » 

3:00 PM
Is there no way to delete a tag?
 
Unused tags get removed automatically.
But not unused synonyms.
 
oh... well maybe it could be unsynonymized?
 
1
A: Some actor's lines from film 'Insomnia'

MalvolioYes, "cutting a deal" means "making a deal" (usually in a disparaging sense, that the person arranged a shameful bargain with the enemy, betraying his allies). For speculation on the origin of the phrase (first found in print in 1979!), see here.

 
@Eldros Doesn't look good.
3
Q: I accidentally created a tag. How do I delete it?

Andrew ShepherdI attempted to ask a question regarding "object-role-modeling" (it's a design methodology that doesn't get nearly enough attention as it should). Unfortunately, when I wrote the question, I made a spelling error and assigned it to a non-existent tag "object-role-modelling". I realised my mistake...

 
That answer should be merged with the other one given by the same user.
 
3:06 PM
Now that is funny. Thanks for reporting.
 
@RegDwight What is funny?
 
The answer split in two.
 
.
 
?
 
3:12 PM
@RegDwight Oh, you meant "now that is fun." ;-)
 
My 100th bronze badge almost became "Disciplined".
 
"!": ...
 
Is there a "I took my shower" badge?
 
Now that is something to strive for!
 
So far my attempt at communicating intuitively through punctuation marks.
 
3:14 PM
ಠ_ಠ
 
Alas, my browser can't see those...
 
No way!
Are you using Mosaic?
I didn't realize this chat was that backwards-compatible!
 
What is an easy way to have my browser recognize all characters once and for all? FF.
I don't think it is the chat.
 
Nope.
But I can see these hieroglyphs:
Egyptian hieroglyphs () were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that contained a combination of logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood. Less formal variations of the script, called hieratic and demotic, are technically not hieroglyphs. Scholars generally believe that Egyptian hieroglyphs came into existence a little after Sumerian script, and were possibly invented under the influence of the latter. Etymology The word hieroglyphic comes from the Greek adjective (hieroglyphikos),[http://www....
 
3:18 PM
Okay, no TV I can accept, but no Unicode?
 
It is weird.
 
Write a complaint to your Queen.
 
Hah!
I will write to Hape but I doubt whether His Highness will have time.
 
Lekker mittagessen!
 
Lekker!
His parody of Willeke Alberti's song is also quite good.
 
3:19 PM
Anyhow, click on image search in them Googles.
 
When he is singing, I can barely hear his accent.
 
Which one is that?
Not that I have sound here, but still.
 
Ehmm I don't remember what it was called. It was supposedly a Dutch entry in some Eurovision Song Contest.
 
When I sing, you can barely hear me: all the dogs in the neighborhood start to bark.
 
Same here.
 
3:21 PM
Oh! Shalali-shalala?
 
Nope.
Something about the sun.
 
Hrmph.
 
Wasn't that "Oh! Shalilala, I love you babe"?
 
3:21 PM
I don't know.
@Reg: Yeah I'd already said "nope can't see them", alas.
 
Err, that's images. You can't see images in Holland?
What a backwards country! Seriously, Queen, complaint, you, write! Now!
 
@RegDwight Are you using a single character?
 
Oh! My apologies. My superficial scanning identified it as the same link, which it wasn't.
 
@kiamlaluno I am using a single character for each character, yes.
 
Hape, hear my pleas!
 
3:23 PM
I know, they are three characters; I was referring to the "eye" character.
Semi-quasi-jinx!
 
I can never remember how Unicode works, whether it is dependent on browser or OS: I remember installing some Chinese fonts once enabled me to view them in my browser...
 
That's one.
 
(I don't understand this jinx-fever, though.)
 
Funny block.
 
You are a funny block.
 
3:25 PM
So do any of you guys have an idea how I could enable all unicode characters in my browser in a simple way? Or isn't there any?
 
It must the funny day.
 
@Cerberus Sorry, Super User is over -----> there
 
Oh, is THAT where that is!
 
0
Q: How to display an arbitrary Unicode character?

maaartinusI'm looking for a free font containing ideally all Unicode characters. I'm reading some text concerning Unicode and many of the interesting examples shows like a bunch of empty squares.

 
Oh, wow, thanks!
 
3:27 PM
That was the first question that popped up. I have no idea if it's the best.
Okay, you funny blocks and drupals. I gotta go in a minute.
 
@RegDwight Does that mean between 30 minutes?
Einstein always said the time is relative.
 
I don't like the look of disapproval, it can't be reversed.
 
Well, yesterday my minute was 37 minutes long.
 
@Reg: Thanks! I actually never use the SE sites for information.
 
Not to say it, but I have something in common with Einstein.
 
3:30 PM
Restarting browser, hoping to see your blocks vanish...
 
20 hours ago, by RegDwight
37 mins ago, by RegDwight
Okay people, I gotta go in a minute. Now that I've managed to reach the point where tomorrow's sockpuppet recalc won't hurt my preciousss reps...
Yup, 37 mins.
But that was at home.
Now I'm at work. Where one minute is exactly one minute.
And my bus won't wait.
 
@RegDwight Then it will be 60 minutes.
My bus waits: I am the driver.
 
Nah, I'm not in some Italian village!
I'd have to wait 15 minutes at most for the next bus.
 
Arg I still see the block!
 
Hey! Our villages don't have a bus; they have a corriera. :-)
 
3:33 PM
sad
 
I'm here to help!
Seriously though, have a look around Super User.
Or just ask a question yourself.
 
@Cerberus Did you change the encoding the browser uses?
 
It's free!
 
@Kiam: No? Do I do that in fonts options or something?
 
@Cerberus That depends on which browser you are using.
On Firefox, it's on "View > Character encoding."
 
3:35 PM
I have changed my character set to some Unicode thing in my FF options.
No change. Or do I need to restart? I have refreshed.
 
I'm out, folks! TTYL.
 
In mine, it is set to UTF-8, but then I am using a Mac, which natively supports Unicode.
@RegDwight See you; have a good one.
 
It is at UTF-8, but still the block.
Bye @Reg!
 
@Cerberus Try resetting the computer.
 
OK will do. BRB.
 
3:36 PM
By the way, which OS are you using?
I have to go to a (hopefully) short meeting.
 
XP
Alas, still the block.
 
@Cerberus XP? there's your problem right there
 
Hi!
 
i'm on 7 on all my boxen and i haven't seen a unicode problem in ages
however, presumably that's not an option for the short term
 
@JSBangs But I think all unicode used to work fine on XP on an earlier install?
Indeed, I find that several of my programs do not work properly on 7, alas.
Mainly StrokeIt.
And the User Account Protection thing, or whatever it's called, bugs me. Frankly I don't have a good reason (except unicode, then, perhaps) to make the switch, while I have plenty of reasons not to, for now.
The same applies to FF 4.
I am generally not an early adopter, as you might have guessed.
My phone is from 2006 I think (it can still do anything modern phones can, but it is kind of slow and its screen isn't terribly large).
Windows Mobile 6.0 FTW!
 
4:00 PM
@Cerberus I'm using XP (for much the same reasons as you), and by and large unicode works just fine for me.
 
do you have problems outside of FF?
 
@JSB: Yes, I can't see them in Chrome either.
@PSM: Right, it used to work on a previous install of XP too for me!
I think I can see most unicode characters, but not all; and the ones I can't see are system-wide I think.
I have to go for a bit, be back later!
 
4:48 PM
As I recall, to see Unicode characters on XP, I had to install a Unicode font.
I don't remember which one I had installed.
 
nothing new to answer, or even look at on el&u
bored now
 
@JSBangs You can ask something on DA. ;-)
 
@kiamlaluno i know nothing about drupal. my question would be "what is this drupal, please?"
2
 
@JSBangs I can suggest you some questions. ;-)
 
"is it please to be making site better in drupal?"
"plez senm me teh codez kthx"
 
4:59 PM
The local version is "pleaz send meh de module." :-)
Somebody already asked us to write a full module in an answer. :-)
"Meh love drupal, but drupal is not does love meh!"
Somebody once told me I was not direct in my answer; I replied that to be more direct, I should upload the module on his site, and enable it myself. :-)
I answered saying what module should be used; if that is not to be direct, I don't know with what should I answer.
@JSBangs Is it common to most Americans to ask to the person who is speaking with them to be direct?
 
hard to say without more context
link to the question?
 
@JSBangs I was referring to my conversations with an American, in real time. :-)
She sometimes tells me I am not direct, when I am speaking, and that I should be.
Well, I am not speaking of a random person. (If I would say that, I would be in trouble!)
 
americans do tend to be more direct than many others
so i'm not surprised to hear you say that
 
@JSBangs — On a no-caps diet these days?
 
@JSBangs I am then surprised that she doesn't tell me my English pronunciation is not good. :-)
"Take a break, eat kit-kat."
(It was something like that.)
Off to eat I go!
 
6:07 PM
I thought that "phrases with as many letters as possible" question was a dupe, but it's not.
I wonder why Thursdays are so slow ...
 
Yeah, I just clicked on it, itching to close, but noes!
 
@Robusto Yeah, I was all eager to vote. Instead I took the cheap rep shot. :)
 
Well, it is a different question.
 
also, if you haven't weighed in yet:
3
Q: Are interpretations of song lyrics, poems or other creative works on-topic?

MrHenExamples (feel free to edit in more): What/who are “toy soldiers”? What do these confusing lyrics mean? What's the deep meaning in the lyrics of “Heavy Traffic” by Elton John? Some questions about the lyric of “so feel autumn rain”. See lyrics tag for more. Meaning of “grabbed a spoon” — ...

 
I have edited that one. How's that for weighing in.
 
6:13 PM
@RegDwight Crappy. I don't see no opinions.
 
BTW, MrHen, how about you edit your pangram comment into your pangram answer?
Keep your country tidy.
 
@RegDwight Mmk. I put the comment there to help others looking for dupes
 
@RegDwight — MrHen's still wearing that same pangram gravatar shmatte?
 
Yeah, for real. I mean, cummon.
@MrHen My opinion has been stated a zillion times.
Mar 23 at 22:18, by RegDwight
Not in this particular context, mind you.
 
@Robusto I am no graphic designer. It looks better than anything I can create.
 
6:15 PM
I'll wait for answers from within the community first.
Ah, crap, I gotta go. My wife will kill me. CU.
 
@RegDwight Fair enough. I was mostly just poking the chat; not you personally.
 
@MrHen — "The young poet mimics; the mature poet plagiarizes." — T. S. Eliot ... So go out and steal something already!
@RegDwight — [Makes whipping sound.]
 
@Robusto But... I already know what I want.
 
@MrHen — Yeah, but seriously, how much street cred can you get with an off-the-shelf, government-issued gravatar? This much. [Holds thumb and forefinger about .02 mm apart]
 
@Robusto Yeah, let me know what you get with your massive street cred. :eyeroll:
 
6:19 PM
There, I upticked your pangram answer. Now you should have enough to go out and buy a real gravatar.
 
Fine, I think I can find something that will work in the meantime.
 
@MrHen — Gonzo street cred, that's how much. I mean, I couldn't stretch my arms out far enough to give you even an approximation.
 
@Robusto The straightjacket probably isn't helping.
 
A straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to themselves or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest. The end of the sleeves are then tied to the back of the wearer, ensuring that the arms are kept close to the chest with as little movement as possible. Although straitjacket is the most common spelling, strait-jacket is also frequently used, and in Scotland strait-waistcoat, which is generally deemed archaic. Straitjacke...
It's not straight. Not gay, either, but definitely not straight.
 
Hm.
My spellchecker fails me?
Nope: "variant spelling of straitjacket"
But "strait" does make more sense. I was wondering.
 
6:22 PM
There's a straight jacket.
 
@Robusto -.-
@Robusto Ugh, new problem: Now I found too many good choices.
 
Is Alex a female name?
 
Sometimes.
It can be either. Like Chris or Sandy.
 
Isn't there Alexia?
 
Lots of variations. Alexandra, etc.
 
6:30 PM
Andrea comes to my mind.
 
Alexa is not historically a nickname for Alexandra.
 
Live and learn.
In Italian, Alex would be a short for Alessandro.
 
@Kosmonaut — No, but Alex is.
 
I have heard somebody whose name was Alessandra be called Ale.
 
"Alexa" means protector
"Alexandra" means protector of men
 
6:33 PM
Now I know why she found a boyfriend.
 
Alexia makes me think of a condition in which a person can read but doesn't.
 
"Alexoctopoda" means protector of octopuses.
@Robusto Maybe it's the condition where you can't quite think of the name of learning disorders.
 
So is Alexicographer a protector of icographers?
 
@Kosmonaut — Good one.
 
6:35 PM
The Italian name is actually Alessia, but they write Alexia to make it sound more... English.
 
Quick: can you name a poor, socialist puzzle island in the Caribbean?
5
4
3
2
1
Give up? Rubik's Cuba!
 
wa wa
 
Hey, I'm workin' here.
 
Wait, I will scratch my armpit.
 
You expect a banana for that? Dream on.
 
6:39 PM
There, happy everyone?
Not what I wanted but at least it is different.
 
@MrHen What is it?
 
@kiamlaluno That's part of the fun. :)
It is a slightly obscure reference to something I like.
 
It seems an eye looking at the side.
Now I see the new gravatar in both the places.
 
@kiamlaluno Where?
 
@MrHen Here, in the post list.
 
6:43 PM
Ah, yes. I changed my gravatar, so it should appear over all .SE stuffs
 
@MrHen: Not bad. At least it's distinctive.
 
I was still seeing the old gravatar, on this side of the window.
 
People here have to reload the page to see it.
 
@kiamlaluno Ah. There is a delay in various places.
 
I had to reload the page.
 
6:44 PM
@Robusto Thank you. It is blatantly copied as you suggested but not from a particularly obviously place.
 
What is it?
 
It's a slightly obscure reference to something he likes.
 
@MrHen — "You've got guts. And guts is enough." R. Lee Ermey, Full Metal Jacket
 
@kiamlaluno Ah, well that clears it up perfectly!
 
@Kosmonaut ;)
 
6:45 PM
Is Google able to look for pictures?
 
@kiamlaluno Like, can you give an image and it finds it elsewhere?
 
@Kosmonaut Hey! That is the explanation we all got.
 
Not that I know of.
but tineye.com does
 
@MrHen That is a shame.
 
(Or, at least it tries to.)
 
6:50 PM
It's a nice plugin. :-)
Uh! We have also an haiku poet.
 
TinEye found my gravatar in only 1.9 billion tries.
 
@Robusto Haha. It wouldn't even mess with mine; something about me being simple.
 
Yep. It only finds images for smart people.
 
0
Q: Drive a Motorcycle or drive a motorcycle?

Prometheus87When you are the one steering the motorbike/motorcycle, are you driving the motorcycle or riding the motorcycle. I am asking because someone tried to correct my status update. Here's my stauts and the comment Today, after 6 years, I drove a motorcycle on a long route. Great Feeling. Loved it...

 
I wonder how it knows ...
 
6:56 PM
I guess the title is not correct.
 
Haha, @RegDwight claims he isn't here but I just saw him close something.
 
40 mins ago, by Robusto
@RegDwight — [Makes whipping sound.]
 
@Robusto Thwack!
It's Werbepause hier.
 
@RegDwight — The Thwack is Back.
 
Which is schon vorbei.
 
7:04 PM
Mach mal Pause.
“You would not seek me if you had not found me”: this is
true of all that is supremely desired and admired…
 
@kiamlaluno Oh, haha, I just noticed that. :P I thought you were referring to the 'M'
 
@MrHen The title was "Driving a Motorcycle or driving a motorcycle." For a moment I thought he was asking if he should write motorcycle in capital case. :-)
 
@kiamlaluno — Same here.
 
I was ready to close the question as "not a question." ;-)
 
0
Q: Usage of "whose" not referring to a person.

luquiI noticed the use of "whose" in the following sentence I wrote does not refer to a person: A recent post on Less Wrong, Levels of Action, reminded me of a game I created whose dynamics I wanted to explore. I use "whose" in this way fairly often. I'm just wondering, is it correct Standard E...

Dupety dupe dupe.
Someone must have the link to the dupe.
 
7:10 PM
I guess he didn't listen to "Riders on the storm." :-)
There are some questions about "whose."
2
Q: Referring to some attribute of an inanimate object — use "who's"?

Aaron H.This came up in describing an input to a function: A handle to the daemon who's name is desired. (Daemon is a type of process on a system.) Somehow, "who's" just doesn't seem right because it's not a who, but a what. Could one say "... the daemon what's name is desired"?

 
 
1 hour later…
8:17 PM
Geeeh! How could I possibly write the wrong song title?
"Riders on the storm... ♬"
 
8:31 PM
Mar 9 at 15:30, by RegDwight
Writers on the Storm.
 
@RegDwight That could be good if the user were asking what is correct to say, between "I write a motorcycle" and "I read a motorcycle."
That reminds me of who is write-only. Does he really write a motorcycle?
I guess my starred joke doesn't render well, in English.
 
8:47 PM
@kiamlaluno Does it have a special meaning in Italian?
 
@psmears It's a way to say that you didn't hear anything funny.
You scratch your armpit as if you were tickling yourself, and you pretend to laugh.
That would mean you laugh because you are tickling yourself, and not for what you heard.
@psmears The pun is that I was pretending I didn't hear anything funny.
Anyway, you normally would do that, instead of saying you do that. It is not possible to do so in a chat, though. :-)
 
:-)
I wonder if there's a unicode character for that :-)
Thanks for the explanation by the way!
 
@psmears A Unicode character for what?
@psmears You are very welcome!
 
I wonder what we should do with totally awesome, highly-upvoted answers that are... just wrong.
28
A: Why is there a distinction between "its" and "it's"?

Stan RogersIt's not about a contraction "winning" over a possessive. "Its" is the possessive form of "it", like "his" is of "he", "hers" is of "she" or "their" is of "they". There is no missing apostrophe; the forms go back to a time when English was a highly inflected language. It predates modern, or even ...

 
@kiamlaluno A symbol to indicate scratching/tickling one's armpit, for use in chatrooms :)
 
9:02 PM
@psmears There isn't, but I found the FISH character.
It's the character with Unicode U+1F41F (U+D83D U+DC1F).
There is also the Unicode TROPICAL FISH.
 
@kiamlaluno Wow.
I need to update the software I use for playing with Unicode
It only does the BMP (i.e. can't cope with fancy characters like that)
All I could find were some fisheyes: ◉ ◉
 
What I like better is 🍥 ("FISH CAKE WITH SWIRL DESIGN").
🎣
 
@kiamlaluno I do have to wonder... just why do we need such a character?
 
The last one is the "FISHING POLE AND FISH" character. :-)
 
I'm guessing there is a reason, or else they wouldn't have gone to the effort of standardising it
I'd just like to know what that reason is...
@kiamlaluno Unfortunately it comes out as a little box with "01F383" in it, for me
Bad @psmears, no fish for you :-(
 
9:07 PM
I don't know, but there is an Emoji category.
At least, that is what Mac OS X Lion tells me.
@psmears I guess that means you don't have a font with that character.
At least the Unicode code is correct: U+1F3A3.
The font is the "Apple Color Emoji."
@psmears You can download the font from here: cl.ly/2L2A0a1v472N0u3h2p0U.
 
Thanks! Do you know if it will work well on XP? I'm not sure if XP can handle multi-coloured fonts, and while it can handle getting unicode characters that aren't in the current font by looking in another, sometimes persuading it to do so is difficult :-/
 
@psmears I guess that it should not show the unsupported characters.
It seems that including Emoji in Unicode was asked by Google.
is the Japanese term for the picture characters or emoticons used in Japanese wireless messages and webpages. Originally meaning pictograph, the word literally means "picture" + "letter". The characters are used much like emoticons elsewhere, but a wider range is provided, and the icons are standardized and built into the handsets. Some emoji are very specific to Japanese culture, such as a bowing (apologizing) businessman, a face wearing a face mask or a group of emoji representing popular foods (ramen noodles, dango, onigiri, Japanese curry, sushi). The three main Japanese operators,...
Well, it was Google and Apple Inc.
@psmears It seems that the support depends from the application too; I tried to drop the fish character on Firefox, and it was not shown.
Ahah: "snowman without snow."
 
9:28 PM
@kiamlaluno Thanks for the info - that is indeed very interesting!
 
@psmears You are very welcome. :-)
 
@RegDwight You claimed it was wrong but didn't bother to downvote it?
 
@MrHen Some people consider it polite to leave a comment first, and then only downvote after a while if the wrongness isn't addressed...
 
@psmears Ah.
I see.
 
(of course, others just downvote straight away and then remove the downvote if the question is suitably edited...)
Of course, it's also possible that @RegDwight just forgot ;-)
 
9:39 PM
:)
 
Of course, I should stop saying "of course" so much
 
@psmears Natch.
 
It is also true that moderators, where there is an stable community, first comment on something they think wrong to let the others decide.
 
@kiamlaluno Sure. My question was mostly to ping to find out more about @RegDwight's thought process.
 
In this case, users should start to downvote.
 
9:42 PM
Also, I didn't realize he wasn't here in chat at the time. :P
Well, I'm out.
Cheers.
 
@MrHen He was off before you arrived; maybe he was expecting your arrival. ;-)
@MrHen Buh bye.
 

« first day (154 days earlier)      last day (4767 days later) »