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12:00 PM
But it isn't just wettened, it is cooked while wettened. I think you don't want to hear about starch gelation and gluten development at this point. But if you do, you are welcome to SA.
user19161
@Kit Yes, I'll try to give you the link.
Kit
Kit
I thought I had made puff pastry before, but apparently not.
I used to bake like crazy in my mid-twenties.
user19161
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus Moench, pronounced , , known in many English-speaking countries as lady's fingers or gumbo) is a flowering plant in the mallow family. It is valued for its edible green seed pods. Originating in Africa, the plant is cultivated in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions around the world. Vernacular names The name "okra" is most often used in the United States, with a variation of the pronunciation–english Caribbean ("okro")– used primarily around the Philippines. "Okra" is of West African origin and is cognate with "" in Igbo and Yoruba, languages s...
@Kit Eclaires, profiteroles, beignets, gnocchi parisienne are all made from puff pastry.
Kit
Kit
My friends gave me a pro cookbook; I liked it so much, I almost quit and went to cooking school.
@JasperLoy Oh! Okra. I know that. Never knew it was called ladyfingers. Weird looking lady if you ask me. ;-)
@rumtscho So what's croissant and turnover? Flaky?
user19161
12:02 PM
@Kit Maybe my mistake. Lady's finger to be precise. That's what we call it where I live.
@Kit No, they aren't "flaky pastry".
A croissant is laminated pastry.
Is "turnover" a synonym for "popover"?
Kit
Kit
@rumtscho Well, that makes me feel better. That's what I spent three days making, once or twice a month.
@rumtscho Ahh, I don't think so. Lemme see.
A turnover is a kind of pastry made by placing a filling on a piece of dough, folding the dough over, and sealing it. Turnovers can be sweet or savory and are often made as a sort of portable meal or dessert, similar to a sandwich. It is common for sweet turnovers to have a fruit filling and be made with a shortcrust pastry or puff pastry dough; savory turnovers generally contain meat and/or vegetables and can be made with any sort of dough, though a kneaded yeast dough seems to be the most common in Western cuisines. They are usually baked, but may be fried. Savory turnovers are oft...
A popover is a light, hollow roll made from an egg batter similar to that of Yorkshire pudding, typically baked in muffin tins. Popovers may be served either as a sweet, topped with fruit and whipped cream for breakfast or with afternoon tea, or with meats at lunch and dinner. Name The name "popover" comes from the fact that the batter swells or "pops" over the top of the muffin tin while baking. Another name for them is Laplander, of unknown origin. History The popover is an American version of Yorkshire pudding and similar batter puddings made in England since the 17th century, thou...
Pirogi!
Kit
Kit
See, Wiki says puff pastry is used for turnovers, but given your examples of puff pastry, I have never seen one like that.
@Kit, I don't know all English food terms yet. Hadn't heard of turnovers at all. I have eaten similar food, but from laminated dough.
12:06 PM
I am so hungry.
Kit
Kit
@rumtscho Yes, exactly. That's what I mean. Wiki must have gotten it wrong.
@Kit Now don't tell me that I have mixed my words.
Kit
Kit
Either that or puff pastry means laminated dough here.
When I say "puff pastry", I mean something different.
Anyone in English get their swag yet?
12:07 PM
Oh, a false friend again. Grr.
Kit
Kit
@rumtscho But "laminated dough" makes sense for croissants.
@GraceNote Nope.
@GraceNote Not me... and @Martha mentioned yesterday that she hadn't received hers
OK, all of the above I said about "puff pastry" was actually true for "choux pastry".
...I turn away from the screen for a minute, and suddenly it's all about food... did this happen?
Mar 14 at 19:06, by psmears
Cat just walked across the keyboard
Mmkay. My Gaming swag arrived yesterday. I live in the same state as the distribution company, however, so that may figure into me getting stuff earlier than anyone. That said, that's just saying Gaming's swag is on its way. However, English was pointed out shortly after Gaming, so I think it's not unreasonable to assume that yours should possibly be arriving in the next few weeks. Hopefully.
12:09 PM
@psmears I made an example about food words, and everybody wanted to know what they mean.
Kit
Kit
@rumtscho I have never heard of choux pastry. Is that choux like "cabbages"?
I'm here to get everyone's hopes up, basically ♪
Kit
Kit
@rumtscho Everybody = Kit.
@GraceNote Hopes up = good for morale.
@Kit Aye to that.
@Kit I think that's where it comes from, because profiteroles look a bit that way. Could be unfounded kitchen lore though.
12:10 PM
@GraceNote الحمد لله... إن شاء الله
If you've had an eclaire, you've had choux pastry, even if you don't know the word.
Kit
Kit
So then puff pastry is laminated dough?
@RegDwight This reminds me of something.
Kit
Kit
@rumtscho Mmm...éclaire. drool
12:11 PM
@RegDwight I'm pretty sure that wasn't the cause
Kit
Kit
Reminds me of a woman I used to know named Clare.
@psmears To wit, I haven't actually gotten used to expecting English in this room because for some reason I expect it to be largely dominated by French, German, and Russian.
@Kit Clair just reminds me of gnocchi.
The reason why I came to your chat yesterday was that I had a terribly offtopic question and thought that you can answer it.
@RegDwight, what is a correct transliteration of вареники?
@GraceNote Hungarian, Japanese...
Kit
Kit
@GraceNote Gnocchi reminds me of another woman I know...
12:13 PM
@RegDwight I don't much even know what Hungarian looks like.
@Kit I'm not sure it is the same. I will have to look into a recipe. But possibly.
@rumtscho Which standard? I would just go with vareniki, but even such a simple word allows lots of variation.
The Germans would go with Wareniki.
The French probably with something else entirely.
And none of that actually reflects the Russian pronunciation.
Feb 24 at 2:26, by Martha
Jó éjszakát kívánok, nyugodalmas álmot, erdők mezők elpihennek, madár is az ágon, jó éjszakát.
@RegDwight The standard Russians are likely to use when they don't have a specific readership in mind, I guess.
@rumtscho Vareniki.
@RegDwight Thank you.
12:14 PM
@RegDwight Accénts... my one weakness
Oooh, but they have tildes over words. Are those still called tildes when they're over a word? Or do they have a special term for it like acutes and umlauts do?
@RegDwight I ask this because somebody happened to transliterate it as varenyky, and I though it was very strange. But then, I have always been puzzled by Russian transliteration rules.
@rumtscho Then he's probably Ukrainian. In Ukrainian, an и is pronounced like a Russian ы.
Ы as in Чернобыль. Chernobyl.
Turkish has a similar sound, those I's without the dot.
@RegDwight I'm actually not sure how that's pronounced, but I blame that for approaching it with a bit of a Finnish lean.
12:18 PM
Yıldız.
(Star.)
@RegDwight I think he is American. At least he gives his location as Philadelphia.
@rumtscho Gastronomist. That's amusing as a title.
The close central unrounded vowel, or high central unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . The IPA symbol is the letter i with a horizontal bar. Both the symbol and the sound are commonly referred to as "barred-i". The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low", and these are the only terms found in introductory textbooks on phonetics such as th...
@rumtscho Sultanik is a distinctly Ukrainian name.
@RegDwight So, the y in Chernobyl is pronounced like the e in "roses"?
No.
That's a schwa.
In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa (sometimes spelled shwa) can mean the following: *An unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound in some languages, often but not necessarily a mid-central vowel. Such vowels are often transcribed with the symbol ə>, regardless of their actual phonetic value. *The mid-central vowel sound (rounded or unrounded) in the middle of the vowel chart, stressed or unstressed. In IPA phonetic transcription, it is written as . In this case the term mid-central vowel may be used instead of schwa to avoid ambiguity. Etymology The word schwa ...
12:20 PM
I feel proud that I've actually heard the term "schwa" before so it's not entirely alien to me.
@RegDwight I have an idea how it is pronounced. Not too good, because I am bad at pronunciation anyway. But I've heard ы and Yıldız pronounced.
@RegDwight Then, is it pronounced... kinda like... a shorter i sound than a short i?
@GraceNote It's hard to explain, especially in writing. Doesn't wiki have a sound file?
@RegDwight It only had one in Polish, but that was looking at the table.
Hm. It is kinda like a shorter i.
Like, if you really stretched it.
Thanks
@GraceNote I pronounce it in an entirely different place in my mouth.
12:22 PM
@GraceNote To me, it has always sounded like a short i followed by a schwa, if that makes any sense.
I suppose Kosmo could explain it in two sentences à five words.
@RegDwight I could always ask my vocal coach.
@rumtscho This approach just gives me nightmares as I try and remember how to say a very common "vowel" in Mandarin Chinese.
When you've mastered ы, work on your home assignment:
Apr 21 at 23:51, by RegDwight
Авпваойцехрварждоы.
@RegDwight Oh come on, at least have one letter in there that I can read!
Some help here.
12:26 PM
@RegDwight — I have no ability with tvyordiznak, yerih, or myakiznak. To me those are like sprinkles on a donut.
@RegDwight this almost sounds like a word.
I should give you The Mushroom Test prematurely just so you have the greatest chance of failure!
I get й though.
That one is trivial.
When I was a kid studying chess openings, I learned Alekhine's Defense as AL-uh-kine's ... when I started getting around Russians who played the game I wondered who this Ahl-YOH-kin guy was.
12:29 PM
Déjà vu all over again.
Déjà lu, even.
One more day till Da Raptchah. Possibly.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU
So this is the real plan behind all this.
@RegDwight — Déjà lui even.
Keep us busy so we forget about da raptchah.
And you thought only Commies were devious.
12:30 PM
@Robusto Lui Vuitton?
@RegDwight — Oh, is Vuitton here?
@Robusto I now realize my mistake. Now that it's too late.
@Robusto Wait, again? Or is this something else I'm missing again?
@GraceNote — All will be revealed. "Nothing lasts ... but nothing is lost."
Kosmo was the only one to see through it, and he will be the only one of us to survive and build a better world.
12:32 PM
@RegDwight — I dunno. He would have been one of the elect. I hope he shows up with his ticket.
BRB ... gotta get a bugle and cream cheese.
I am still hungary.
@RegDwight Thanks, I was starting to get all flustered.
Kit
Kit
@RegDwight thwack
I thought the Rapture was today.
12:34 PM
I thought the Rapture was two months ago!
Feb 2 at 14:40, by RegDwight
That is not a thwack.
I don't remember there being so many doomsdays in a row for the past 23 years. What's with this year?
@GraceNote that's only the beginning.
It's special. D'oh.
I had a talk with somebody I recognize as an intelligent human being.
12:36 PM
@GraceNote We don't have enough time left for the remaining raptures before the Maya kill us all off.
@RegDwight I'm not exactly fond of things being cut off at only a quarter of estimated life cycles.
After seing 2012, he was absolutely convinced that every word of the movie was true.
So we have to schedule them like thrice a day.
@GraceNote Show me a single Maya who came along and asked your opinion.
@rumtscho Doesn't 2012 involve the ground collapsing into itself for no physical reason?
@RegDwight There was one in one of my Arts classes, actually.
@GraceNote I don't know, I naven't seen it. I have some kind of aversion agains a movie which has nothing but effects.
12:38 PM
@rumtscho That's all I could grasp from the trailers. It seems like everything's imploding as if on some kind of cosmic blackhole timebomb.
The part he believed was that the world will end because a primitive culture had scheduled itself a Y2K problem for a date well after its own extinction.
We all know how badly Y2K hit us...
Well, I like sleeping late. And my cousins, who didn't have a computer in their home, would play on mine whenever they visited for the holidays. They would get up early just to have more time for playing.
@GraceNote I am still waiting for you to show him to me, though.
@RegDwight I don't know where she is these days. We only had one class together.
12:41 PM
See, she has stuff to prepare.
@rumtscho I remember getting up early to have more time to play. This morning.
Kit
Kit
@RegDwight Blond Southern woman. Well, there you have it.
On 1.1.2000, I emerged sleepy into the kitchen to see two very agitated faces eagerly awaiting me. My grandmother (!) knew about Y2K and had forbidden them to turn the computer on their own out of fear it would explode in their faces.
6
@RegDwight It's not a schwa where I come from...
12:43 PM
@psmears Fair enough, but not an ы, either, innit?
@rumtscho This is only additional proof that you don't teach grandma how to explode computers.
No, not as far as I know :)
@RegDwight My grandmother is an electrotechnician (or whatever the correct word for people tinkering with circuits for a living is). She surely knows more ways to kill a computer than I do. And probably more permanent ones.
Kit
Kit
@rumtscho Electrician if it's wiring, Electrical Engineer if it's circuitry.
@rumtscho Electrician/Electrical Engineer/Awesomatic
4
Q: Is "many fewer combinations" correct?

EOLIs the expression "many fewer combinations" correct? It only gets about 600 hits on Google, against 1,200 for "a lot fewer combinations". What would be a correct way of expressing the idea contained in "many fewer combinations"? would it be best rephrased using something like "a large reductio...

12:47 PM
Depending on what degree you work on circuits.
This is definitely a dupe.
BTW, Da Raptchah will not be televised.
@Robusto As far as fewer vs. less is concerned, unquestionably so. But what about the many vs. a lot part?
Kit
Kit
@Robusto Not a dupe.
@Kit I thought electircians are the people who work at the power company. She is the one who builds stuff by soldering chips to PCBs. But she doesn't have an engineer's degree, it is more like a bachelor.
Wevs.
12:49 PM
@Robusto I'm trying to figure out what exactly the phrase "many fewer" is supposed to mean. Does it mean a smaller magnitude? Or a larger quantity of smaller magnitudes?
@GraceNote I think Awesomatic is a good fit.
@rumtscho You can still call that an electrician.
Kit
Kit
The question is about "many fewer" not should it be "less"
or "fewer"
@GraceNote basically much less but for countable.
@RegDwight Smaller magnitude, then, so I'd think "far fewer" works?
Kit
Kit
12:51 PM
@rumtscho No, not here in the US anyway. Electricians are linesmen and wiremen (including women in that term), and work on power lines, receptacles, fixtures, and motors.
@GraceNote Certainly sounds much more natural to me.
Kit
Kit
It's a licensed trade.
@GraceNote BTW, you're welcome to, how should I put it, answer questions on our site. From time to time. Not too often. And not during the raptchah. But yeah.
Kit
Kit
Electrical engineering involves building electronic/electrical devices and usually have a bachelor's degree or higher in electrical engineering or electrical engineering technology.
@RegDwight "Far fewer" is already in an answer. I'm also the last person you want answering questions on the English language.
12:53 PM
@Kit I didn't understand exactly. By my logic, my grandma isn't a linesman or a wireman (that's what I meant by "work for the power company"), so she isn't an electrician.
I'll be glad to answer questions on your Meta site, though ♪
Kit
Kit
@rumtscho Ha ha. I see. My husband is an electrician, but he doesn't work for the power company, so I got muddled.
@GraceNote The last person I want answering questions on the English language is banned.
@rumtscho I think I know where I can ask if there's a better term, then. I'll be back ♪
@RegDwight Okay, well, I should ideally be on the bottom of that list anyway, as it were.
@GraceNote Brb posting "What is Grace's gender? Also, what is their sex?"
Jul 1 at 12:57, by RegDwight
Stoopid Friday, boring meeting.
Laterz.
12:57 PM
Later
@GraceNote — IDK. People here like the question, and I don't really care that much. Who am I to get between another man and his meat?
Or beer.
Well just dropped the question over at the E-R/D/E site, and they deal with circuitry as one of their main focuses, so we should be able to figure an answer. ♪
@GraceNote Erm, which one is the E-R/D/E site?
@rumtscho Electronics & Robotics → Electronics → Electronics Design → Electrical Engineering. They've... gone through a couple names...
Kit
Kit
@GraceNote Makes me think of BDSM. Squashed community groups.
1:05 PM
@GraceNote Now you say it, I wonder why electronitian is not a word.
"We don't do robotics!" → "People keep asking consumer electronics and we're not about that!" → "Actually, we're getting some legal heat for this name..." → "This isn't exactly engineering, though" (so, yes, it seems they may be in for yet another name change)
@rumtscho As it were, since electronics does usually refer specifically to the circuitry level, that would be the most convenient term, wouldn't it?
Kit
Kit
@GraceNote What about "circuit technician" instead?
@RegDwight
where are you? Mr.
@Kit This sounds well. It doesn't have the niceties of a dedicated word, but as a descriptive term, it is pretty acurate and understandable.
Kit
Kit
@RobinHood He's in a meeting. Can we help?
1:10 PM
"'Electronics Design Technician'"
Kit
Kit
@GraceNote Hmpf. Sounds a bit peculiar to me.
Which, I guess, is just a wordier version of "Circuit Technician" or "Circuitry Technician". But the key point was to use "Technician".
Gotta vanish a bit.
@GraceNote Yes, the literal translation of her job title is probably "Electric technician".
Kit
Kit
Well, there. A half hour later, and we get the extra joke. :-)
@kit did I made a joke about my grandmother being a technician? I already forgot it :p (or did you mean something else)
1:15 PM
@RobinHood What gives?
Kit
Kit
@rumtscho Well, it was the after-joke.
30 mins ago, by rumtscho
@RegDwight My grandmother is an electrotechnician (or whatever the correct word for people tinkering with circuits for a living is). She surely knows more ways to kill a computer than I do. And probably more permanent ones.
@Kit: You had a question?
Kit
Kit
Oh, hi, @MrHen.
I think I figured out why I was having trouble with your answer.
Ah. What was it?
Kit
Kit
You don't explicitly state that quartermaster came before quarters. It's in the dates, but unstated.
So once I got my head there, I got the pieces together.
1:17 PM
Ah. I can help that. :P One sec
Holy crap... I'm already capped for today...
Kit
Kit
And congrats on your 10K.
Wait what?
Someone get that old dirty basket.
user19161
@MrHen It's OK, you already have 10k.
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/6656//11620#11620, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/10260//10264#10264, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/2035//9898#9898, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7469//7473#7473, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7468//7471#7471, http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4241//7359#7359
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/5831//7138#7138.
user19161
@RegDwight Today I noticed another question got deleted. Do closed or -5 questions get autodeleted?
1:20 PM
@RegDwight Uh... hm.
Kit
Kit
3
Q: Is it correct to say "The reason is because ..." ?

paviumIn a statement like The weeds have grown overnight. The reason is because it rained yesterday Is "the reason is because" good grammar? Isn't it better to say The weeds have grown overnight because it rained yesterday The second form seems simpler and the words the reason is seem to ad...

This is a clusterf*ck.
Hahaha...
Kit
Kit
Well, maybe that's excessively dramatic to say.
Reg, some of those are great...
@JasperLoy -5 questions disappear from (some) question lists, but deletion is something different entirely, they don't even get closed automatically or anything. It's just harder to find them by accident.
Which question do you mean specifically?
You remember the title or other details?
user19161
1:22 PM
@RegDwight Yesterday to help the 15 year old from czech, genesis, I answered the eight times eight question.
Deleted indeed. 10k users can check.
It did get closed prior to that, though. By four users including myself.
user19161
@RegDwight And why was that deleted, and by who? Isn't it enough to close it?
@RegDwight Oh, hey, I voted that one closed too
Kit
Kit
@MrHen That's better, thanks. So I guess the idea is that a "quartermaster" had charge of his "quarter" or district, and was responsible for apportioning all the resources therein. Then eventually all the resources came to be called "quarters" because that was what the quartermaster had charge of. Right?
Well, we do delete closed off-topic stuff from time to time. So this is not entirely unheard of.
And in the current situation people are even more sensitive.
They don't want to leave broken windows.
Kit
Kit
1:25 PM
@RegDwight Or chipped paint.
user19161
@RegDwight Oh OK I didn't know it was deleted from time to time, that's OK then. I thought Jeff is taking it upon himself to delete x questions everyday.
@Kit Something like that. I think the inclusion of master in the term led people to assume that they were masters of something; it was logical to call that something a quarter
But that is just a hunch
Kit
Kit
@MrHen Would you mind putting that in your answer too? I find you answer the most satisfying. I don't buy the "houses divided into quarters" thing. Doesn't feel right.
@JasperLoy Nope, that was ELU working as intended. Closes and deletes will probably happen a little faster than normal right now because everyone is still feeling the effects of the recent drama
@JasperLoy Nah, wasn't Jeff this time. And yes, questions did get deleted in the past, notably some by vgv8 et al.
1:26 PM
(Which, appears to be over?)
@Kit Sure.
Kit
Kit
@MrHen Thanks.
@MrHen I am skeptical. It's still not business as usual for me.
See psmears' starred message to the right.
Or remember what I said about apologies.
user19161
@RegDwight I always see you moderating sites. You should have more personal time and not work so hard here. :)
That's what my wife keeps telling me, yes.
@RegDwight Eh. I really don't care about Jeff. I see Jeff as a wildish animal that just happens some times. It's like living with a cat that suddenly decides it wants to puke on your shoe. Maybe it's your roommate's cat; maybe you can't get ride of it. Oh well. I'm not throwing out the shoe because of the cat -- instead I'll just clean it up, yell at the cat, then wear my fancy shoes.
1:33 PM
@MrHen But these are not my fancy shoes. It's the cat's shoes.
I am merely holding them for him.
Kit
Kit
@MrHen "So... the lesson is to put the cat in a bag before dropping it from a high-rise. Got it. – MrHen May 20 at 14:59" on Skeptics.
I need that little widget.
Like a hole in the head.
@RegDwight I really don't see it that way. I mean, sure, the cat could evict us but that isn't going to happen.
Kit
Kit
Although apparently a hole in the head can be quite good for you.
But that is just how I see it.
The cat doesn't have to evict us directly. Cats are subtle.
1:34 PM
I am not trying to say you are wrong or anything.
I fully get your perspective; I just felt like offering another one :)
@Kit I haven't been over there in a bit. Don't really miss it, honestly.
Kit
Kit
@MrHen Not the point of the quotation, my friend.
user19161
@Kit There are kids here, no violence. :)
Kit
Kit
@JasperLoy You're a kid?
Another way to look at it: I have to deal with people on EL&U that are crazier and less-rational than Jeff all the time. I just don't take stuff like that personally.
user19161
@Kit No, just a casual remark.
1:39 PM
Every time I read that talk about "the site can't rest on the shoulders of one", I can't help but ask myself if behind the scenes they are adding ", because he has proved himself incapable". Every time they say "this site has serious issues because of non-native speakers", I hear certain people murmuring to themselves ", including that mod".
user19161
I actually looked through all my questions and answers on SE recently and did one round of mass editing over several days to bring them into better form. I'm more or less done now.
"If you leave a language site to a non-native speaker, this is what you get", I hear them think.
@RegDwight :( It took me awhile to even realize what you were saying.
@RegDwight I think that they know that you speak better English than them.
And when people tell me "you need a break", I can't help but ask myself: do they really have my health in mind, or do they just want to take over control from someone who has failed?
user19161
1:41 PM
@RegDwight They actually said that, or it's just what you think.
@JasperLoy No, if they actually said that, I wouldn't be here.
@RegDwight If they actually said that, even I would have trouble sticking around
So this is where I am now.
Kit
Kit
Um, I can't figure out how to install the awesome little script from yesterday. Where are the instructions?
Let me quote some stuff explicitly once again because I think it's important.
1:43 PM
@RegDwight I still feel much the same. I have dropped to essentially zero effort on the main site. I am here in chat, and on meta, almost 24 hours - because I want to see stuff resolved - but it is not resolved yet :-(
@RegDwight Well, for what it's worth, you are an excellent mod. As far as I am concerned, this site better because of your work.
And I really appreciate everybody's support, in case I haven't made that clear.
@RegDwight I think you have. But I still feel like saying thanks from time to time. :)
yesterday, by RegDwight
No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try to improve, no matter how wow-awesome this oh-so-awful site turns out one day — those people will never look back and say, "this site used to be awesomely moderated by RegDwight". Instead, they will look back and say, "this site used to be totally neglected by RegDwight, until Jeff said 'jump!' and RegDwight jumped".
yesterday, by RegDwight
They will not say, "the core ELU community is really great, and ready to address problems". They will say, "the core ELU community is not capable of running a site and is completely blind to problems until someone from the 99th percentile on the English GMAT comes along; and now we have proof for that".
@RegDwight I honestly don't think anyone has thought that. Because the people who have been saying bad stuff are not paying enough attention to even know you're a NNS. I think if they actually realised that it might realign their attitude somewhat...
1:45 PM
yesterday, by RegDwight
So, as far as Jeff's (and probably other team members') opinion about this site is concerned, it's a lose-lose situation. A catch-22.
yesterday, by RegDwight
I don't see how I could possibly resolve this without losing face. Worse still, I have lost face already and I don't see a way to gain it back again. Worse still, even if there is a way to gain back my face, gaining back is never the same as not having lost to begin with. What's been said, has been said. A word is not a sparrow — once it's out, you can't catch it.
yesterday, by RegDwight
As Kosmonaut put it in his farewell email, which he generously allowed me to quote, "If we make what they think they want, we should actually start the site over from scratch (or just close it and set up linguistics.SE)."
user19161
@RegDwight Considering the fact that you have made over a thousand edits, your contributions are invaluable.
yesterday, by RegDwight
Those who haven't left demand an apology. I don't think I ever did. No amount of apologies will cut it for me. I need a guarantee that that won't happen again. Jeff is a smart guy. He knows he has screwed this up big time. But I am not here to tell him that, let alone demand that he admits it. I merely want stuff not to happen again. Ever.
yesterday, by psmears
And indeed this is one of the things that makes me very hesitant to get involved (yet) in any sort of cleanup or improvement effort - part of me feels that if we do, Jeff will take that as justification that he was right to do what he did. And if that's how he feels, then I don't want to be on his site - these last few days have been the opposite of enjoyable, and if it's liable to happen again at any moment then... once bitten, twice shy.
So this is the gist of it.
@RegDwight these are just the tricks our minds keep playing on us. There are a few people who are always certain of themselves. They think they are perfect, and everybody hates them for being arrogant assholes. The rest of us are not arrogant assholes exactly because we stop to wonder if we didn't make a mistake.
@RegDwight Thanks, I hadn't read those yet
sigh Well... shit.
user19161
@RegDwight Actually I don't think he's that smart. :)
1:48 PM
yesterday, by RegDwight
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which unskilled people make poor decisions and reach erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to appreciate their mistakes. The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their ability as above average, much higher than it actually is, while the highly skilled underrate their own abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. Actual competence may weaken self-confidence, as competent individuals may falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. As Kruger and Dunning...
@RegDwight I may have hinted that you might need a break, but this is only because I would rather see the site become less awesome for a while, than you have a nervous breakdown!
@Reg I hope you understand that when I've said "you need a break", I am thinking about your health.
@psmears Obviously I am not accusing anyone in this room.
yesterday, by RegDwight
The thing is, behind the scenes community coorinators tell me that yes, they know they have screwed this up. At the same time, on our meta, those same people are either remarkably silent or openly compare us to the Urban Dictionary.
user19161
Just to confirm here, moderators don't get paid at all, right?
@JasperLoy No, they do not.
1:50 PM
Oh, even people who self-evaluate fall for this (in places they don't even notice exist - this is exactly the insideousness of the effect). But just because you have some self doubt, it doesn't mean that your suspicions are real. It is just your brain trying to save you from being a jerk and succeeding a bit too well.
@RegDwight I didn't think you were (and I didn't take it as an accusation). Just wanted to reassure you that at least one person who might have suggested a break is not out to get you, quite the reverse :)
We are all volunteers at this, we choose to be nominated, we use our own free time to visit here and take care of this place.
@rumtscho I know, I know. That's why they are suspicions. If they were facts we wouldn't be talking right now.
user19161
Well since there is zero pay, I really think you should spend more time with your wife, job, etc. Just thinking for you. :)
Kit
Kit
0
Q: Scrabble help sites

timontiI currently play scrabble on the site wordsquared and you bet the site is very addictive. For help to finding words, I use the site morewords, which accepts wildcard like * and ? to help find words. Any recommendations for other such word finding sites? The character search on morewords does ha...

1:52 PM
But anyway. How did I ever get to all this whining? I have stuff to do. And possibly another boring meeting, too. Must check.
Kit
Kit
@RegDwight Can you kill this please?
@Grace: Board and Card Games?
To wit, I think you need a break not because of some "everything's on your shoulders" (which, may yet, you may need it, but that's not my primary concern), but more because just the recent events alone are taking more than its toll on you, and that's what I think you need a break from.
@RegDwight Pardon?
@GraceNote Whether you agree that it would be on-topic there.
The Scrabble question.
Oh. The Scrabble question. I can't say I know.
1:55 PM
Neither can I. But I don't need a Yes. An absence of a No will do.
It strikes me as the kind of repository that's just... not the network's cup of tea.
I'd just close it as off-topic. Not migrate junk.
Oops. Too late.
Well, heat's on you if there's a conflagration ♪
I can live with heat.
(Though, as it were, I think B&CG is a bit on the pacifist side as far as our sites go)
1:57 PM
Red heat, even.
Jun 15 at 12:56, by RegDwight
user image
Oh, great. Now I'm down that one road again.
Well, it's an amusing pastime. But... hm...
@GraceNote I figured they could use some help. Or perhaps "help" in this case. What's with their 164360936 days in beta.
Wait. Is he wearing ...pectoral implants?
@RegDwight Yeah, I don't think a "list of websites" question is really going to provide all that much aid to an ailing beta site.
Kit
Kit
I flagged this because I think the whole thing should be moved to chat.
And I linked it here because I was trying out the new script.
1:59 PM
I see the question title, and I see a user's display name, and my first thought is "Tragonomic" as an answer.
@Kit I have no idea how to move stuff to chat manually, but if they go on like that, it will get moved automatically. Or I'll just delete it.
But right now I have to go do some work.
@RegDwight We don't have the capability on our own
user19161
@GraceNote I thought you were referring to the user tragicomic who seems quite an expert.
(Just to sate curiosity. Not the desirable curiosity but curiosity nonetheless)
@JasperLoy That would have been step 2 in that train.
@Kit New script?
Kit
Kit
@RegDwight Oh. Weird. I thought you could do that.
@GraceNote The super awesome widgety script.
Lemme see...
2:04 PM
@Kit There's only an automated process that is triggered when there's... around 6-8 message back-and-forth between exactly two users, one of the two users can opt the transition. There's requests for moderators to have the YAZZAM on it, though.
Kit
Kit
17
Q: SE Modifications -- Username autocomplete in comments, inline revision source, and utility links

Tim Stone Screenshot About This userscript adds four main features: Various utility links on posts and in the top bar Inline viewing of post revision source Markdown on the post history page Links on comment timestamps for linking to specific comments (with enhanced "link-ability" for people wit...

This one.
Ahha, that one
Tim strikes again. Oh those hair streaks...
Kit
Kit
@GraceNote Well, then I should have flagged it for deletion. The whole series is off-topic.
Whoa... I am very late. Adios!
@Kit Sounds like a good idea
Kit
Kit
2:09 PM
Maybe I'll comment it to them instead.
Kit
Kit
2:54 PM
Hey any Brits or Europeans? What's the "pommie side"?
Oh "pommie" seems like it's pretty offensive.
Check out what I did to this one:
12
A: Why do we use the phrase 'Across the pond'?

Joe BlowI feel that the aspect "the world is smaller now" is really not that relevant, and indeed the phrase is too old for that to be the case. Rather, it's an example of typical understated, dry English humour. I'm afraid I don't know about earliest usage although PHenry mentioned it could have been u...

Great, I recognize the gravatar now

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