English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

19:01

My parents' new kitchen:

user19161

@Cerberus Lovely!

Robusto

Aww, I missed it.

Cerberus

Arg!

I deleted my mother, but she keeps showing up!

user19161

Hahaha

Robusto

You can see her reflection in the window.

user19161

19:03

I don't think anyone can identify her.

Cerberus

user19161

HAHAHAHA

Cerberus

There.

KitFox

Robusto

I certainly wouldn't recognize her.

user19161

19:04

I see two huge eggs, LOL

KitFox

That's ours. I just put up the kitty key holder today.

Cerberus

Yeah, just in case. She likes her privacy.

user19161

@KitFox Very white.

KitFox

The walls will be yellow.

Robusto

There will be blood.

Cerberus

19:06

@KitFox Wooden floor?

KitFox

Yes.

Cerberus

Yay!

My parents have a wooden countertop.

So stupid. For a counter top. Nice for a floor.

@KitFox What's the thing next to the paper roll? A music player perchance?

KitFox

What?

The coffeemaker?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

That's a sexy microwave.

user19161

As sexy as cornbread, LOL.

KitFox

19:10

It was a Christmas gift the year my husband and I moved in together.

Carlo_R.

Hi!

KitFox

Hi @Carlo.

user19161

@carlo Do you like purple?

Carlo_R.

@kit :)

user19161

Purple is the ugliest colour to me. =)

Carlo_R.

19:11

@Jasper, yes, too much.

@Jasper, I love the purple I use in my gravatar.

But I agree some tone of purple can be bad.

user19161

@Carlo_R. Hmm, I would never wear a purple shirt.

Carlo_R.

@Jasper, I too, but I apreciate other people wearing purple shirt.

Cerberus

@KitFox Ahh that must be it.

Carlo_R.

Especially if they are women.

KitFox

We've got neither the time nor the money to replace the cabinets, which were wornout old varnished pine.

So I painted them. We've got kind of a black and white motif going on, as you can see.

user19161

19:14

Ah! Painting solves all problems!

KitFox

The fixtures are brushed nickel because my original plan was to replace the hardware, but that turned out to be impossible.

It's made the kitchen look much better. The center island and light weren't there when we moved in, and the floors were darker from wear and age.

I like Girl Genius, but just once, I'd like a heroine who isn't ridiculously proportioned.

Carlo_R.

@kit, do you have a picture showing Girl Genius.

user19161

Girl Genius

Girl Genius is an ongoing comic book series turned webcomic, written and drawn by Phil and Kaja Foglio and published by their company, Studio Foglio LLC under the imprint Airship Entertainment. The comic has won five WCCA awards including 2008 Outstanding Comic, and been nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist, an Eagle Award and twice for an Eisner Award; in 2009, 2010, and 2011 it won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story. Girl Genius has the tagline of "Adventure, Romance, MAD SCIENCE!". It features a female lead character in an alternate-history Victorian-style "ste...

KitFox

@Carlo_R. girlgeniusonline.com

Carlo_R.

@kit :)

@Cerberus, do you have thought of creating an account on History.SE?

I'm sure you have well studied history.

@Cerberus, I observed you have an excellent classical culture.

"Classical culture" I mean "cultura classica", but I don't know if English expression is the same.

For example, I asked:

8

Q: Was the State of Indiana's legislation changed to fix the value of Pi?

Is the following an anecdote? Mathematicians describe Pi as an irrational number, that is, a number that cannot be expressed as the ratio of any two integers. This was an irksome fact to the State of Indiana in 1897; so much so that legislation was drafted setting Pi alternative values of 3.2...

But on History there are more interesting questions and answers, also regarding Roman Empire.

@kit, I'm thinking to ask to Robert Cartaino to reduce the number of user (200) who need to go over the commit phase. Do you have an opinion regarding this fact?

I'd like to know your opinion.

People, is it now dinnertime in US?

KitFox

19:37

It is 3:30pm where I am. I am going out to the deck to read.

@Carlo_R. I don't have an opinion on it.

I think you'd have to have some pretty strong numbers in order to convince them to change it.

And I don't see how you would have any numbers at all.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

In Arizona, if you turn in a gun in a gun buy-back program, the city that collects the gun is required to re-sell it to a gun dealer. Link

Yes, that's the same state where Gabrielle Giffords was shot.

KitFox

It's really just unbelievable.

Carlo_R.

@Wendi! What are you doing here? We have ELL chat abandoned, but people are totally disinterested. Why?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

(._.)
<) )/
/ \ all teh single ladies

(._.)
\( (>
/ \ all teh single ladies

@KitFox that sounds nice. It's less than 40 degrees here.

Carlo_R.

@corn, are you referring to temperature (40 degrees)?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

19:45

@Carlo_R. yes

Carlo_R.

If so, we have 20 degrees here!

But perhaps you are expressing it in Celsius scale?

WendiKidd

@Carlo_R. yeah, ELL chat is pretty much dead. I've temporarily given up on it; I think in a couple months when we're more popular I'll try to jump-start it again. I keep five different chat windows open whenever I'm on the computer, so just because it says I'm in the room doesn't actually mean I'm always paying attention ;)

aedia λ

20:01

What? Huh? I was paying attention I swear!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

me too!

Cerberus

@Carlo_R. Thanks! Yes, I have an account on History.SE. And that law is pretty funny. I still don't understand why anyone would want to have a law about mathematics. What behaviour does it forbid or encourage?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus it makes learning easier if Pi = 3.

you don't have to remember all those pesky decimals

Cerberus

So what behaviour?

Was the law supposed to force schools to teach something?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yes. the law was going to establish a mathematical truth.

and they teach math in schools.

Carlo_R.

20:16

@Cerb, no that law was supposed to be a crazy law. In fact it was never approved by the State. But, I'm sure who proposed the law had the pourpose of solving some economic problem.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

> The day after New Zealand legalised same-sex marriage, a Catholic priest appeared on a television news show and drew parallels between legalising same-sex marriage and the 1897 attempt to regulate pi, saying pi – and heterosexual marriage – were both "pre-existing" realities that couldn't be changed.

@Carlo_R. no, it was a math problem

Indiana Pi Bill

The Indiana Pi Bill is the popular name for bill #246 of the 1897 sitting of the Indiana General Assembly, one of the most famous attempts to establish mathematical truth by legislative fiat. Despite that name, the main result claimed by the bill is a method to square the circle, rather than to establish a certain value for the mathematical constant π (pi), the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. However, the bill does contain text that appears to dictate various incorrect values of π, such as 3.2 (π = 3.14159265...). The bill never became law, due to the int...

Cerberus

I read all that.

Carlo_R.

@Mr.Sh, yes, I konw that fact and yesterday I was being talk with David Wallace of it.

Cerberus

The law doesn't seem to say that schools should teach it, so that's weird. But apparently that's what it was meant to say.

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Can a transcendental number really be called a constant?

Cerberus

20:19

But I have to go.

Good night, gents!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto why not?

its value never changes

Robusto

I dunno. Kinda hard to pin down its value though.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto just because you don't know its value doesn't mean it's variable.

Robusto

I suppose.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

anyway you only need its value to a certain number of significant digits.

Carlo_R.

20:20

@Cerb, bye!

Robusto

I think there ought to be an i bill as well. Let's get the imaginary numbers in there!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto most numbers in most bills are imaginary anyway. as are most facts.

Robusto

Tru dat.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

> 2 Chronicles 4:2 Also he made a molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and five cubits the height thereof; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about.

Carlo_R.

@Wendi, I observed that you, probably because you are from Texas, use the prepositions the way Italians do. For example, we say precisely "I'm on the computer" to say that we are at the computer.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

20:26

So in the Bible, Pi = 3

Carlo_R.

@Mr.Sh, there is no Pi in Bible; and Robus is wrong in his arguments on constants.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Carlo_R. No, just do the math on the quote I posted

It clearly discusses a round object whose circumference is 3x its diameter.

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Close enough for Creation Science.

Anyway, it's in the Bible, so suck on that, Pythagoras and all you pantheists!

See, the beauty of the whole pi=3 thing is that bible aficionados can chase their tails and never catch them! It's perfect in its own way.

Meanwhile, out.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

The best part about that math error in the bible is seeing all the handwringing and post-hoc rationalizations on how it's actually correct.

eg, the diameter mentioned is the external diameter of a cauldron, and the circumference is the inner circumference, and suggestions of the thickness of the cauldron allow interpretations that let the math work.

> Consequently, while this appears to be a straightforward error, a careful examination of the Biblical wording along with some common sense confirms that the Word of God is, in fact, infallible.

Andrew Leach

Surely the simplest explanation should not be discounted?

A cubit is a notoriously imprecise unit.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

20:41

@AndrewLeach imprecise in that my cubit is different than yours? or imprecise in that it varies even when used in one single measurement?

anyway, didn't you read? it's the word of god! it has to be completely accurate and true!

Andrew Leach

Imprecise in that everyone's is different. And it's not easy to make into fractional parts.

And truth is not the same as accuracy.

Or something.

I think.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@AndrewLeach yes but then it should at least be encircled by a line of 31 or 32 cubits.

anyway, time for me to go.

Andrew Leach

If it's 30 cubits round it's 9.55 cubits across. Let's call that 10.

Anyway, bye!

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

21:11

@Mahnax I took your vanilla-bean-with-espresso suggestion, but I don't think they put the espresso in there.

I used the drive-through and there's no mention on the sticker.

Mitch

21:40

@AndrewLeach Mine's not. Also, I use fractions like from my elbow to my wrist, or from my elbow to myknuckle or my elbow to my middle finger minus a joint...totally repeatable and consistent. especially with every body else who has the same lengths.

tchrist

22:00

Even for China’s scandal-numbed diners, inured to endless outrages about food hazards, news that the lamb simmering in the pot may actually be rat tested new depths of disgust.

Hurray for mystery meat!

Or hurrah.

Or hurrat.

Hm, lamb != mutton.

> Residents of Shanghai recently endured the sight of thousands of dead hogs floating down a nearby river, apparently the dumped victims of disease in piggeries upstream.

Piggeries?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Was reading that one.

tchrist

From the Times???

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Hoggeries?

tchrist

What ever happened to just plain old pig farms?

Well, or pig ranches, perhaps.

> Preparations of pig parts into specialties include: sausage, bacon, gammon, ham, skin into pork scratchings, feet into trotters, head into a meat jelly called head cheese (brawn), and consumption of the liver, chitterlings, blood (blood pudding or black pudding) are common.

Pig farming

There are various methods of pig farming depending on the method of management adopted. Variables include: * Money or capital available * The type of animals kept * Local requirements and market conditions * The level of management skills __TOC__ Pigs (hogs in the United States) can be farmed as free range, being allowed to wander around a village, kept in fields, or tethered in a simple house. In developed countries, farming has moved away from traditional pig farming and pigs are now typically intensively farmed. Today, pig farms are significantly larger than in the past, with most la...

> Intensive piggeries (or hog lots) are a type of animal husbandry specialized in the raising of domestic pigs up to slaughter weight.

Intensive pig farming

Intensive piggeries (or hog lots) are a type of animal husbandry specialized in the raising of domestic pigs up to slaughter weight. They are also known as an AFO or CAFO in the U.S. In this system of pig production, grower pigs are housed indoors in group-housing or straw-lined sheds, whilst pregnant sows are housed in sow stalls (gestation crates) or pens and give birth in farrowing crates. The use of sow stalls for pregnant sows has resulted in lower birth production costs; however, this practice has led to more significant animal welfare concerns. Many of the world’s largest produce...

Sad.

Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_pig redirects.

> The police arrested 904 people suspected of selling fake, diseased, toxic or adulterated meat, and broke up 1,721 illicit factories, workshops and shops.

And now they’re committing adultery, too.

I think that article has to be a cryptoposter for vegetarianism.

Johan Larsson

22:17

Pig an poultry draw a really short straw in the meat industry

Probably most beef that McD buys also but at least I hope it is possible to buy decent beef

tchrist

The flesh trade is always messy.

Organ thefts and all.

New York school goes all-vegetarian

These are probably not cause and effect. :)

RegDwighт

22:35

Just answer my question and then deslike it if you want — Aimad Majdou 5 mins ago

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