English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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Spare Oom

4:00 AM

Then again, I don't get out much.

Cerberus

@Vitaly I don't even know what those numbers mean, probably some kind of deviation.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus Hahahaha!

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Ah, I didn't know that. Funny. Another typical lawyer name, by the way.

Vitaly

FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! I accidentally ordered my precious icons on my desktop. Now I have to place them manually again. Damn it.

P-value

In statistical significance testing, the p-value is the probability of obtaining a test statistic at least as extreme as the one that was actually observed, assuming that the null hypothesis is true. One often "rejects the null hypothesis" when the p-value is less than the significance level α (Greek alpha), which is often 0.05 or 0.01. When the null hypothesis is rejected, the result is said to be statistically significant. A closely related concept is the E-value, which is the average number of times in multiple testing that one expects to obtain a test statistic at least as extreme a...

Kitḫ

Why am I awake?

Cerberus

4:02 AM

@Vitaly Awwww...there are programs that can save the order of your icons, I believe.

And restore them.

@Kitḫ Because you're scanning baby pictures?

Kitḫ

I should be sleeping.

I can't scan these all tonight and besides, I'm not doing a good job of it.

Oh, oh, oh! A picture of my brothers holding me when I was tiny!

I have never seen that one before either.

Cerberus

Awwww.

Post it!

Kitḫ

Can't, I haven't scanned it yet.

It looks like there are several.

Cerberus

You have all night to scan them!

Kitḫ

I'll post one in a couple of days, when I get back to it.

Cerberus

4:06 AM

OK.

Kitḫ

OK. It's me for bed.

Good night!

Vitaly

Well, the data is not solid enough, but I don't see how the reported effect couldn't be plausible.

Night.

Cerberus

@Vit: I'm trying to search the dentist registry they used, but it doesn't work as it should: I got 50, 100, and 100 names for Dennis, John, and Edward within 100 miles of NYC.

@Kitḫ Night!

Spare Oom

Goodnignt @Kit

Cerberus

Night!

Spare Oom

4:13 AM

I'm just mixed up.

Cerberus

So are we.

Spare Oom

4:33 AM

Ok, my eyes are blurring now. Good night.

Cerberus

Bai!

Vitaly

4:53 AM

@Cerberus puggle

Cerberus

@Vitaly Hmm no idea. Something with fist-fighting or thumbs?

Probably not.

Vitaly

> (Australian) A baby monotreme.

> (US) A small mixed breed of dog created by mating a pug and beagle

so basically a baby echidna

Theta30

5:09 AM

why echidna?

wow only 4 people

no,6

Vitaly

because there are some google results that suggest baby platypuses aren't called puggles

and the only other extant monotremes are echidnas

and because i've first heard the word in reference to a baby echidna in a BBC nature show

Theta30

but you are joking right?

Vitaly

huh?

Theta30

echidna is an animal very different than dogs

google it

Vitaly

oh, but that's US :P

Theta30

5:17 AM

perhaps beagle is a race of dogs

Vitaly

@Theta30 googled: google.com/search?q=echidna+puggle

Theta30

ok, sorry, I misunderstood you

Cerberus

5:43 AM

Oh dear, my vocabulary was suffering from a great hiatus! I'm glad you filled it in.

Theta30

hehe

you may introduce puggles in conversation from now on

good for trivia

2 hours later…

Theta30

7:44 AM

funny Aussies have a name for baby echidna

mommie i want a puggle!

3 hours later…

Robusto

10:40 AM

@Cerberus Yes. And as my my parents named me Robert, I couldn't help but become a robber. Or a robot. I can't remember which.

3 hours later…

Robusto

1:16 PM

@Vitaly: Do you see a use for Ozeous?

Gigili

1:49 PM

Regarding your favorite question "an vs. a", I came across some confusing combinations like "a nfa (nondeterminitic finite accepter)" and "an s-grammar(simple)" ..

Why is that?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:43 PM

@gig it's always because of sound: nfa is pronounced eneffay so it should be "an nfa". Unless the writer expects you to pronounce it some other way, but I can't see why they would.

Some acronyms have two or more pronunciations. SQL can be essqueue'ell or sequel. The use of an vs a will betray the author's intention.

Cerberus

3:34 PM

@Robusto So you're chatting with us from prison, is that it? — Your humble cervant.

Robusto

@Cerberus Hmm, "cervant" — is that the singular of "Cervantes"?

Cerberus

Dammit! So I could have been a writer.

bangs heads against low downstairs ceiling

Did you notice how the spoof version is called "Upstairs Downstairs"?

Robusto

@Cerberus Spoof version of what?

Cerberus

Guess.

Or I'll just link you:

►

Robusto

Downton Abbey?

Cerberus

3:41 PM

Oh, wait, it's "Uptown Downstairs Abbey".

Ding!

Robusto

Ya blew the reference.

Cerberus

Ah, well.

Memory, shlemory.

Robusto

Pretty funny send-up, though.

Cerberus

Yeah, well, it's Eddie and Patsy!

In case you hadn't noticed.

Robusto

The actor who plays the writer in that spoof — I think he was in Shakespeare in Love as the Master of Revels.

Cerberus

3:46 PM

Hmm I actually don't remember who he is.

Robusto

Also, the actor who plays Carson in Downton Abbey was definitely in Shakespeare in Love.

Cerberus

You're probably right.

You did notice Samantha from Sex and the City, right?

Robusto

Never watched that show.

Cerberus

The best line is "I hate the word servants. I prefer to call them downstairs...friends!"

@Robusto It's Her Ladyship.

Robusto

imdb.com/name/nm0001003

Simon Callow. He's credited in the spoof as well.

Cerberus

3:52 PM

Hmm sounds vaguely familiar. And who is Lord Grantham? He looks familiar too.

My God, look how creepy that guy from Little Britain looks in real life:

I thought it was brilliant make-up, but no.

Robusto

@Cerberus He was in Mansfield Park, I believe.

Cerberus

Hmm haven't see that.

Part 2:

►

In case you're not already watching it.

The lounge–drawing room bit is the best.

Gigili

4:19 PM

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Makes perfect sense, got it. Thank you very much.

2 hours later…

Vitaly

6:37 PM

@Robusto — No.

Cerberus

Is that all?

Vitaly

What else is there to be said about a completely useless card?

Cerberus

You might have commented on the weather, or foreign politics.

@Vitaly Hey, do you know of an easy-to-use text editor that has good regex support?

Notepad++ is flaky.

It doesn't do certain things it is supposed to do.

Like recognize word boundaries with \b.

Vitaly

Rob has recommended a free one some time ago.

Cerberus

Hmm I will ask him, then.

I know there's Notepad2, and ehh some others.

But I'd rather not test them all.

Vitaly

6:49 PM

Jun 27 '11 at 14:57, by Robusto

@Vitaly — Komodo Edit's macro API supports negative and positive lookahead and lookbehind.

Read the transcript.

Cerberus

Ah!

Perhaps I should try Komodo, then.

Vitaly

1 min ago, by Vitaly

Read the transcript.

Cerberus

Wow, it's 48 MB.

It'd better be good.

Vitaly

Apparently it supports Python regexes.

docs.python.org/library/re.html

> \b Matches the empty string, but only at the beginning or end of a word. A word is defined as a sequence of alphanumeric or underscore characters, so the end of a word is indicated by whitespace or a non-alphanumeric, non-underscore character. Note that \b is defined as the boundary between \w and \W

Cerberus

7:04 PM

Good!

Robusto

@Vitaly Otherwise known as a "zero-width assertion."

Cerberus

By the way, do you know Regex Coach? Or do you use something else, like paid Regex Buddy?

This is pretty nifty.

Okay, Komodo seems to work well!

And does any of you like editors that can show a mini-map of your entire document?

Like this:

Sublime Text.

Vitaly

7:41 PM

A 226-GB file … Wow.

Cerberus

Haha.

What in heaven are you doing?

Vitaly

Not my screenshot.

Cerberus

Oh.

1 hour later…

RegDwight Ѭſ道

9:08 PM

Yo @martha, here's a question for you:

Q: Is using "all" instead of "all used up" a regional thing?

My inlaws from Central PA will say, "The milk is all" instead of "The milk is all gone". Another very common example, "Can you bring me some cookies?" "Sorry, the cookies are all". Anyone familiar with the usage?