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12:00 AM
You can't go to uni unless you follow the 6-year high-school trajectory here.
Which ends at 18.
 
user19161
@Mahnax So you are entering earlier or is that the norm?
 
But you could pass the 6 year trajectory in a shorter timeframe.
 
@JasperLoy I am younger than many in my grade.
 
user19161
@Mahnax Oh now I realize.
 
It doesn't make much of a difference, though.
 
12:01 AM
@Mahnax Okay, but are you an exception, or are many people at the same university still 17?
 
@Cerberus No, most are 18 or 19.
Anyways, I'm off to work soon. Bye.
 
OK.
Bye!
My "meringue", which is more like a slab of goo, is really bad.
 
Slab of goo
Sounds like my pille of clothes!
 
Haha.
We should put them in a cage together and see who wins.
3
 
Humms This is the ultimate battle of ultimate destiny
A epic rap battle between "The meringue" and "that slob of goo that looks alive"
 
user19161
12:10 AM
@reg Someone wants account merging on meta.
 
"that slob of goo that looks alive"

You call yourself a good dessert?
you are more like a litte squirt!
you are like a failed version of flubber
not even white , and tough as rubber.
You have one purpose in life, as venom
the human race decided on that in plenum?
 
12:55 AM
Excellent.
 
user19161
0
Q: Different post count on summary and accounts tabs

Jasper LoyMy user profile currently shows 222 answers and 15 questions on the summary tab but 220 answers and 15 questions on the accounts tab. This cannot be due to delay in updating as the discrepancy persists for quite a while. I noticed this phenomenon for some other users too, and this has been happen...

 
user19161
See if this affects you.
 
user19161
@N3buchadnezzar pile
 
user19161
@N3buchadnezzar You make your user name very hard to type.
 
1:20 AM
I did all the dishes!
am 02:20
 
user19161
1:52 AM
@N3buchadnezzar Good!
 
user19161
You are back @daniel!
 
user19161
I don't understand the downvote on the meet question for your answer, but I've cancelled it out @dan.
 
user19161
Hello @mrs. You are here at a weird time again.
 
it's 9pm here. the kids are sleeping. I needed to use the computer... so....? :)
I just remembered that I need to download Fedora 16, since my Fedora 14 install is now unsupported.
 
user19161
@MrShinyandNew安宇 Now I know your time zone. 2 hours ahead of Mahnax.
 
user19161
2:07 AM
@MrShinyandNew安宇 Ah I tried it a few weeks ago. Get ready to experience GNOME shell. If you are using Brasero to burn try varying the burning speed if the image gives you installation problems.
 
@JasperLoy Well, I've said lots of times that I'm in Toronto.... so it's Canadian Eastern Standard Time, basically
@JasperLoy I might try Gnome shell but I'm a KDE user
actually I think I am going to try "upgrading" from F14 to F16 on my desktop, because I really don't want to deal with downtime. But first I'm going to blow away my media pc.
AAAAAAAAAND I need to get my hard-drives sorted out, because I have various mixed up drives with various filesystems and I need to ensure that my data has a canonical home and a working backup.
Life was so much easier when I had a single file-server that held all my data.
 
user19161
@MrShinyandNew安宇 Yes you can do that, but I always use clean install myself. Somehow upgrades are a bit risky.
 
also easier when Windows 7 didn't require TWO active partitions out of 4 possible.
@JasperLoy yeah I'm more of a clean install guy too. Although I keep my home directory intact, usually
 
user19161
@MrShinyandNew安宇 And upgrade might not be faster than clean install, in fact maybe slower for some people.
 
my hope is that I can perform the upgrade and have the working system installed over-top of the existing working system, so that I don't have to mess around with stuff. But we'll see just how much messing I need to do on my HTPC, if it's really serious then I might have to reconsider.
 
user19161
2:11 AM
@dan I like how you always ask where the downvote comes from.
 
I expect my HTPC install will go much more smoothly now that it is connected to an HDTV. In the past the gradual decay of the Fedora text installer made installing on that machine a nightmare.
 
 
6 hours later…
user19161
8:13 AM
@MrShinyandNew安宇 So how did the install go?
 
user19161
@daniel Are you still here?
 
challenge unlocked
CLEANING ALL THE CLOTHES
 
9:19 AM
deffo a duplicate as specified in the comment
1
Q: Is "a software" really never correct?

Nicolas RaoulIn France I have always been told that saying "a software" is not correct English (as a nominal compound), and that "a piece of software" or "a software program/package/product/system" must be used instead. Recently I have doubts... is there any case where it is actually correct? Examples found...

 
user19161
@MattЭллен Your dictionary is getting larger by the day with things like defo.
 
definitely
Aug 5 at 16:14, by Matt Ellen Д
then you'll deffo need the hat
 
user19161
0
Q: Different post count on summary and accounts tabs

Jasper LoyMy user profile currently shows 223 answers and 15 questions on the summary tab but 221 answers and 15 questions on the accounts tab. This cannot be due to delay in updating as the discrepancy persists for quite a while. I noticed this phenomenon for some other users too. For example, simchona h...

 
user19161
Check out my meta question, weird.
 
@JasperLoy aye - I don't answer enough for it to be an issue. mine says 112/112
 
user19161
9:27 AM
@MattЭллен I thought TPTB should have answered it by now but they are probably sleeping on the continent.
 
probably
 
user19161
@MattЭллен I did not bother searching if someone has asked this but I think if someone did it would have been settled.
 
yes, I would think it would have been
 
user19161
They should give me an award for this. I think I found the biggest SE bug of all time! Whoo!
 
perhaps :D for certain values of biggest
 
user19161
9:38 AM
13.3 k now. I will aim for 25k by the end of next year. Whoo!
 
user19161
Chinese is still in private beta, one more day.
 
will you be answering a lot of questions there?
 
user19161
@MattЭллен No, my Chinese sucks. I may just join for fun.
 
I'm done for the year: I've got my 800 rep for the month. I'll start dancing for rep in the new year, unless something in particular takes my fancy.
@JasperLoy I think I'll join Spanish L&U for the same reason
 
user19161
@MattЭллен You are aiming for 10k by June right?
 
user19161
9:46 AM
Hi @brilliant!
 
@JasperLoy I think that's my target
yeah, 800 per month for 6 months will get me to 10K by June
 
user19161
@MattЭллен Good. I have 15 blog posts now, also done for the year I guess.
 
@JasperLoy you're really motoring along with your posts. I should try and get another one done this year.
 
user19161
Why is nobody upvoting my meta question?
 
user19161
@MattЭллен You mean for ELU or your own?
 
9:50 AM
there you go. +1 for you :D
 
user19161
@MattЭллен I like all my posts to be at least plus one, it looks nice that way!
 
@JasperLoy both. I'm trying to finish reading a book so I can review it for EL&U and I'm transferring a paper I'm in the middle of writing about OOP to my blog
I don't know if I'll manage either
 
user19161
@MattЭллен It's OK, it's more important to find a gf. :-)
 
In Communist Russia gf finds you!
alas, I'm not in Communist Russia
 
user19161
@MattЭллен You know I don't understand this Russia transposition joke that is all over, what is it?
 
10:01 AM
@JasperLoy As far as I understand it's a (probably incorrect) stereotype that in Communist Russia people don't do things, things happen to people
due to the communist nature of the place
or something
 
user19161
@MattЭллен I see, I thought it might have been due to Russian syntax which may have a different word order.
 
user19161
@MattЭллен Which does not say very much.
 
@JasperLoy essentially - it's just a joke
 
user19161
@MattЭллен Yeah, and I like the snowman.
 
10:05 AM
> Ukrainian-born American comedian Yakov Smirnoff was popular in the 1980’s for his act that used wordplay to satirize the differences between his new life in the US and his old life in what was then part of the Soviet Union.
that's all there is to it
 
user19161
Indeed.
 
user19161
We try to find the meaning behind this, but in Soviet Russia meaning finds us!
 
user19161
1
Q: Word that means window or door

splattneThere's the Italian word serramento which means "a window or a door", used in this way for example: Our company produces [serramenti] in aluminium. Is there a equivalent word or expression in English?

 
user19161
Interesting question by the GLU top user.
 
10:14 AM
what an odd concept. windows and doors have very opposite functions. doors are for keeping things out, windows are for letting things in
portal, I suppose, covers both
 
user19161
@MattЭллен You can answer if you want.
 
@JasperLoy nah, I don't like the question. Saying "We make doors and windows" doesn't seem to be a problem, so why complicate things with an ambiguous word?
@JasperLoy feel free to use portal in your own answer, though!
 
user19161
@MattЭллен I was quite surprised you could even come up with it!
 
@JasperLoy thanks :D my vocabulary keeps growing!
or maybe the extent of my vocabulary is showing?
 
user19161
10:30 AM
@MattЭллен Though portals seem to refer to entrances only and we don't enter via windows.
 
@JasperLoy you should meet my friend Dave. Also another friend's cat, Pi
 
user19161
@MattЭллен OMG.
 
I've entered via a window on occasion, but yes, it's not normal behaviour
@JasperLoy yeah, one day he was drunk and walked through a window.
 
user19161
@MattЭллен It's alright if they are french windows.
 
@JasperLoy Hi, Jasper!
 
10:34 AM
@JasperLoy nah, this was a tall window, but not designed to be gone through
 
user19161
@brilliant I doubt you will get an answer for the possession question.
 
user19161
@brilliant We could say "owned" but this just means "possessed by anyone", not necessarily someone else.
 
10:51 AM
off topic
-1
Q: How do i write efffectiv eassy?

Kshetri HorrorgoogleI want to write to be a effective essay? would you please write some necessary tips which is most important during writing an essay??

 
user19161
@MattЭллен I saw it. I was horrified.
 
user19161
Terrified. Petrified. Stupefied.
 
it's not good enough to send to Writers, so I've not voted to migrate
 
user19161
@MattЭллен Same.
 
user19161
@MattЭллен I think he should work on his spelling first.
 
10:54 AM
@JasperLoy indeed
 
user19161
11:05 AM
-1
Q: Is "Through difficult to defeat" a correct and reasonable saying?

MattiI have a one question about one saying. It goes: "Through difficult to defeat". Is it correct and reasonable saying because this saying is a straight translation from my language to English? I know that the correct saying is "To stars through difficulties". I want to know because I have this a...

 
user19161
I have no idea what this is about.
 
... yeah I want to help him so he doesn't get a bad tattoo, but I don't know what to say
 
user19161
@MattЭллен I commented.
 
me too
voted to close like you too
 
 
1 hour later…
12:14 PM
I was right. "door or window" is a terrible question.
A category word for doors and windows? What nonsense.
covering for a hole
 
12:59 PM
@JasperLoy I didn't have time to install it yet.
 
1:20 PM
@MattЭллен Openings.
> Thank you! I was looking for a good name in English I could use as object/database table name.
Ergh.
Should be closed just for that.
And ha! I answered openings without reading the answers. It's just what carpenters would use.
 
@Kitḫ as are manholes and archways and my mouth and my earholes, etc.
 
@MattЭллен Yes, but if you are talking to a contractor, he'd call them openings.
 
besides doors are not openings. doorways are openings. Doors prevent passage.
 
I'm just saying.
 
Fair enough. My opinion is not wavering.
 
1:25 PM
smooch Don't be fussy. Happy Solstice!
 
Awww blush thanks!
Happy solstice to you too
 
It's actually tomorrow, for the record. Thanks!
 
oh yes. Yuletide, as my friend calls it. She's celebrating tomorrow too
 
@MattЭллен now now, people use the word door as a synonym for doorway all the time.
 
@MrShinyandNew安宇 And they shall be first against the wall! ;-)
 
1:28 PM
@MrShiny I think Matt put some pedantry in his coffee this morning.
Speaking of, one of the things I enjoyed most about signing my last will and testament is that I was listed as the "testatrix."
Love it!
 
I don't know. I just object to a category that excludes all but windows and doors, since there isn't a category that I would put them in that excludes all else.
 
Do they need to exclude all else?
I didn't think that was a requirement.
 
except to say "this is the category windows and doors. it is arbitrary, and not based on any overlap in form or function"
 
That's patently false!
They do so overlap in form and function!
 
@Kitḫ the way he defined the word from Italian excludes all else
@Kitḫ but not to the exclusion of everything else
 
1:32 PM
Lemme see...
He says the word "serramento" means window or door, but he doesn't say it excludes all other things.
Anybody know Italian? I bet we could pull apart that word and find out it means...
Openings.
 
But what else do you have in a building that's like a window or a door but isn't a window or a door?
 
he does say it does include anything else. the whole question is about windows and doors, not windows, doors, etc,
 
And anyway, why doesn't he just use "serramento" as his stupid table name?
 
@MrShinyandNew安宇 archways - holes in walls for passage that do not contain doors
@Kitḫ quite!
 
@MattЭллен still a door
oh.. sorry... doorway
 
1:35 PM
@MrShinyandNew安宇 No
@MrShinyandNew安宇 no, a doorway is not a doorway without a door
 
@MattЭллен No, he doesn't.
 
@Kitḫ I think I meant doesn't
@MrShinyandNew安宇 tunnels
gates
 
Serrare seems to mean "to close." So they are "closings" in Italian.
 
@Kitḫ interesting
 
If I am interpreting Italian correctly. -ment = ing and -i or -o = noun form.
"Things that close" might be closer.
 
1:39 PM
@MrShinyandNew安宇 or at least a place where a door used to be
 
So probably the closest English word would actually be closure.
 
@MattЭллен Do you know how a tunnel or arch or hole differs from a door/window? It's just an opening and doesn't require anything in it. I.e. a window or door requires some kind of frame, etc.
 
I wouldn't be satisfied with that, but I'm being particularly picky, so I'm happy to stop
 
Also those other things are not nearly as common.
 
@MrShinyandNew安宇 A door requires a frame. A window can just be a hole
 
1:40 PM
if it's just a hole it's not a window
 
it is
a hole in a wall
 
nope. hole != window
 
oh god. I don't care anymore. you are wrong and I'm not discussing it further.
 
I'm never wrong! everyone ELSE is wrong
 
fine. I'm wrong and you're not discussing it further
:p
 
1:42 PM
I think you might be wrong about the "not discussing" part too! :)
 
Hey, @Matt, why don't you post closure as an answer with the Italian dissection?
I'll upvote you.
 
@Kitḫ That's a most kind offer.
 
Or operculum. I dare you.
Ugh. My project lead just gave me a present.
 
I hope that's not a euphemism for dead bird
 
Hehe. No.
It's a euphemism for a box of brownie mix and a Pyrex brownie pan with a nice basket holder.
 
1:47 PM
@Kitḫ I wonder if he would ever give that to a man.
 
@Kitḫ how quaint!
 
@MrShinyandNew安宇 He visibly flinched when I told him that I liked Scotch.
He asked me what I liked—beer? wine?
 
It has the added benefit of being true.
I told him that beer and wine were also fine. I like stouts and porters mostly, although wheats and browns are pretty good too. Sweet white wines or almost any kind of red except for merlot or chianti (too boring), but my favorite is syrah.
 
makes notes
 
1:51 PM
He looked like he was going to fall through the floor, so I didn't start on hard liquor.
Well, as long as you are taking notes, merlot and chianti are OK, just not my first pick generally.
He is just so obviously unsure of what to do with a woman who is not meek.
 
awesome. You should bring a bottle of scotch to work, with some nice glasses, and just leave it by your desk, but whenever he's there, polish the glasses a bit.
 
Yes. Hmm. Maybe I should bring some sort of weapon as well.
"This? Oh, it's just my spare katana. Traditionally, you are not supposed to re-sheathe it without blooding it..."
 
Hey, want to hear a story about samurai blades?
 
2:01 PM
yes!
 
yes, me too.
but also this:
 
A friend of mine told me this a while back. He was an accomplished liar, and I like to embellish stories, so there is probably only a small grain of truth to it.
 
makes note to watch at home
 
Oh!
Yummy!
Thanks.
Anyway, so about these swords....
A man's car breaks down along the road somewhere out in the Midwest.
This was before cell phones and whatnot, so he walks the short distance to the nearest farmhouse.
There's no service station open by now, so the farmer offers to put him up for the night.
They have dinner together and friendly conversation and as the hours grow late, they start talking about their families and the war and such.
The farmer relates how his father was on a boat in the Pacific, and it was his job at the end of the war to take the Japanese soldiers' samurai swords and throw them into the sea.
There was a great big pile of them, and so the farmer's father decided that a single pair of blades wouldn't be missed and would be a good keepsake.
He picked his favorite set and brought them home.
The man's interest was piqued. "I deal in antiques, particularly swords. Do you still have them? May I see them?"
The farmer went and got the swords from the barn. They hadn't been displayed, but they had been kept well.
The man looked them over, growing more and more excited.
"I must make a phone call," he says.
The next morning, a helicopter lands in the farmer's field.
A young Japanese man gets out of the helicopter, and the farmer, surprised, welcomes him into his home.
The man shows him the blades.
The Japanese man looks at them for a long time.
Then he says to the farmer, "These swords belonged to my grandfather. I will pay any price to have them back."
The farmer responds without hesitation, "If they are your swords, then take them. They aren't mine to sell."
The Japanese man smiles. "Thank you for returning these to me. You have kept them well and you have acted honorably. I will make you a member of my family. You are now a son of house Mitsubishi."
The Mitsubishi family paid off the mortgage on the man's farm, and every year after that, the farmer went and visited with them in Japan.
The end.
 
2:19 PM
Cool!
That's quite the happy coincidence.
 
I did mention that it is probably pretty fanciful?
 
Yes :D
 
For one thing I strongly doubt that there were many japanese sailors who had swords with them, or that the US would throw these overboard. I'm not really sure what the terms of disarmament are during surrender but it seems to me like there'd be way too many weapons on a ship to bother throwing swords overboard.
But it is true that Mitsubishi is a Japanese name, and that the US was once at war with Japan. :)
 
Well, come on. A helicopter from Japan overnight? What about visas?
@MrShinyandNew安宇 Famous Japanese steel-makers, actually.
But I do think that the soldiers who came from noble houses carried swords. Let me see if there is any truth to that.
 
@Kitḫ everyone knows that wealthy industrialists can do this sort of thing, right? They just make a phone call... and a mid-air refueling.
@Kitḫ but on a ship?
 
2:26 PM
@MrShinyandNew安宇 Well, he probably took a jet to California.
@MrShinyandNew安宇 Could have been after an island invasion.
 
Ok, I've found at least one website mentioning large numbers of japanese swords brought to the US by returning military.
 
I think we need to track down Mitsubishi san and ask him
 
> The most legendary sword in the history of the world is the Samurai sword. This weapon holds an almost magical aura about it. The sword was so revered by its owner that it was often called the "soul" of the Samurai. He did not go anywhere without his sword. The warrior tradition remained fairly untouched even through WWII, where the soldier carried the sword to battle just like his ancestors did many years ago.
I also remember that family swords were incredibly important as a symbol of the house.
 
@MrShinyandNew安宇 ...yes.
 
> MacArthur guided Japan's transition to a democratic form of government. In a testimony before Congress MacArthur called Japan a “boy of 12" in need of instructions on the basics of Western democracy and capitalism. Among his first actions was confiscating 5 million swords.
Can you imagine?
 
!!
how rude
 
When I think about how much more those swords meant.
How humiliating for them.
 
wow, I'm surprised that didn't result in an uprising.
 
indeed
 
2:32 PM
Maybe it was a good move. An act of ultimate surrender.
Maybe they were admitting they were defeated.
 
probably
 
And I waver constantly between thinking the Japanese were honorable and remembering that they were brutal savages.
The things they did to the Chinese make Hitler look like Mary Poppins.
It's hard to reconcile.
 
well it's complicated and also probably pointless to try to paint the entire country with a single brushstroke.
 
Look, @MrShiny, I appreciate your candor, but I have taken the Myers-Briggs test, and "Judgmental" is my only defining characteristic.
 
honour is a tricky thing sometimes too. Like, there's a trial in Canada right now, where a family (husband/father, son, 2nd wife) is accused of murdering 3 daughters and one wife (polygamous marriage) for "honour". On one hand, you can see how their "honour" might be affected, but on the other hand, HOLY FUCK YOU KILLED YOU DAUGHTERS? wtff
oh, and then, also, they don't have the decency to admit that they did it, because I guess they know that murder is kinda dishonourable, a bit.
brb
 
2:40 PM
Well, yes, I see your point, except that here I am defining "honor" as what I personally think is honorable.
Oh, I watched the last Harry Potter movie last night.
 
Was it good?
 
Uh. Did you like the others?
 
I've only seen one of them and I don't really remember it
 
Then, meh.
 
Fair enough. I wasn't planning on watching it. Did your boys enjoy it?
 
2:50 PM
I read all the books. I found the movies OK. This one doesn't go at all like I remember the book (although it's been ages) and I think you wouldn't follow it at all without reading the books.
Also, I felt like they focused on the wrong parts of the plot.
 
ah. I've not read the books at all
 
The books were pretty good.
Except the last one, which was kind of not very good.
I think she rushed too much to finish it.
 
I might give them a try then. I have a tendency to avoid things that are absurdly popular.
I don't know why
 
The pacing is terrible and the plot is confusing in some parts.
 
One would think that popularity would be a good measure
 
2:52 PM
@MattЭллен My boys did not watch it. Too scary.
@MattЭллен Except that most people are stupid.
 
@Kitḫ ah. understood
 
What kinds of things do you like to read?
 
@Kitḫ I'm a scifi fan, but I've been finding I'm not reading books a lot. I've read maybe 10 fiction books this year, possibly less
 
gasp
 
I know
 
2:55 PM
Although I'm one to talk. I hardly ever read these days.
Well, I read every day actually.
But wee children's books.
 
The last thing I read was Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson
 
Oh dear. That sounds good.
 
@Kitḫ I'm not sure how the japanese defined honour during wwii.
 
@Kitḫ Yeah, that might limit how much reading for you you do!
 
@MattЭллен It's not that so much as I have a little reading problem.
Much in the way alcoholics have a little drinking problem.
 
2:56 PM
I see
 
@MrShinyandNew安宇 Right. But I'm talking about how I feel about the Japanese.
 
I thought the last HP book was decent given the story she wrote leading up to it.
 
I've got so many books I think I "should" read that I end up reading none of them
 
@MrShinyandNew安宇 I agree it was decent, but not as polished as the others. It felt like it needed another draft or two.
 
@Matt the HP books are very easy reads, very quick. Overall I like them but there are many flaws
 
2:58 PM
I concur.
 
All I want to read is fiction, but I would do better to read things about science and programming
 
@Kitḫ hm... maybe.
Frankly I feel like the whole HP series is like a draft of a real story waiting to be told.
 
The first two are very much children's books.
There's not any really interesting character development until the third book.
 
@MrShinyandNew安宇 I think I have quite a strong suspension of disbelief when it comes to stories
 
Hi!
 
2:59 PM
hi @aedia :D
 
Hi!
 
@MattЭллен you'll need it.
 
@MrShinyandNew安宇 Yes. It's called Lord of the Rings.
:P
 
I liked the first Harry Potter book I think. I don't remember if I've read many of the others.
 

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