The Sphinx's Lair

6:00 PM

Googling just my username I can find a fair bit. a little disconcerting if I ever get a stalker or something, but I'd imagine the main source of the "leak" will disappear after a while.

Mike Q

I've googled myself. No accurate results. Possibly because I don't exist.

n_palum

@dcfyj so you play(ed) path of exile

dcfyj

Yeah, haven't been on there in a while

n_palum

DO YOU STREAM

Sid

I've googled my full name. It gives a lot of results. None of which is me.

n_palum

6:02 PM

WHY DID YOU TELL US THIS

I'VE GONE TOO FAR

dcfyj

I started streaming a few weeks ago

n_palum

My immersion that you're just a sentient orange block has been broken

Rubio

Good luck finding stuff about me. You'll be drowned in hits about political figures and taco restaurants. :)

Sid

why are you shouting?

dcfyj

There's only one site that links this username and my name together, and as I said, I'm pretty sure that'll poof eventually

@Rubio lol

Sid

6:03 PM

@Rubio lol. I love that.

n_palum

@dcfyj Eventually, but it's semi existent for the time being

dcfyj

So you found what I'm talking about then?

n_palum

I could give you a follow on Twitch but then you might reverse hunt me down

Yeah I think I know what you mean, and sorry for now presumably knowing your name

dcfyj

Nah, go for it. It's just me and my wife playing games and chatting basically, no one ever sticks around to talk sadly.

Mithrandir

Googling my real name returns nothing about me.

Sid

6:04 PM

@n_palum Well, you aren't exactly hidden.

Mike Q

@Mithrandir Found you very easily: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandalf

dcfyj

@n_palum I'm not remotely upset about it. I deleted that a few weeks ago (I'd forgotten I created it a long time ago

n_palum

@Sid Well I mean if you googled me some director comes up so

dcfyj

@n_palum anyhow, as I said, you're welcome to join us. Having someone to talk to would be more entertaining than us just talking to each other.

Sid

lol. I don't know your name, either.

dcfyj

6:07 PM

I found you @n_palum!

n_palum

:O

dcfyj

(click the link)

n_palum

I streamed a handful of times like forever ago

dcfyj

I find it fun, but no one ever sticks around (or actually says anything to us)

n_palum

Oh I thought you meant on twitch

I'll give you a follow and come say hi sometime ;)

dcfyj

6:08 PM

oh, no lol

n_palum

Dunkey would be proud of you

dcfyj

sure, we stream on the weekends at 1

Not sure what we'll be playing this weekend though we just finished a playthrough of Knack

n_palum

Knack baby

dcfyj

More accurately it was a playthrough of vampire knack, which oddly enough wasn't all that different from regular knack.

n_palum

Lol

dcfyj

6:10 PM

Also, who's dunkey?

n_palum

I haven't touched my PS4 in awhile, waiting for des2ny

dcfyj

and your username is far from revealing

n_palum

Oh my twitch username doesn't give away anything really

ffao

eh, if you google n_p a director comes up but also n_p

dcfyj

Ah, I've never been interested in destiny (1 or 2) I like solo/couch co-op better

ffao

6:11 PM

I swear I didn`t want to see your picture, I was just trying it out!

Sid

@ffao How do you know whomever you saw is plum?

n_palum

@ffao ??

@dcfyj I do enjoy couch co op but it's hard being at school

Mike Q

Everyone knows that NP is P

Sid

@MikeQ Not that, again...

ffao

so for the CCCC rounds tonight, we had M Oehm saying "A of B" as reversal is not kosher, when he himself has used it before (so it might be kosher in some cases?)

dcfyj

6:13 PM

@n_palum It's hard doing couch co-op on PS4 you mean...

n_palum

well that too I guess XD

ffao

and "indeed", when everyone was angry at Rand for "inch"

Deusovi

"indeed" literally means "in deed". that's where it comes from

dcfyj

I don't know why there are so few of them, I find it rather annoying.

Rubio

indeed and inch are very different beasties

Deusovi

6:14 PM

and can you give an example for M Oehm using "A of B"?

n_palum

If you want a fun couch co-op, I recently did Magicka 2, Humans Fall Flat, and Overcooked

feelinferrety

Well I did find a possible name for @n_palum, not sure if correct. :|

dcfyj

@n_palum Never heard of the other 2, but I have the original slaughter-your-buddies, I mean Magicka.

Beastly Gerbil

@rubio you mention me? ;)

ffao

well, it's really obvious this is n_p

either that or someone very similar

Rubio

6:15 PM

@BeastlyGerbil you're a very different beastie. ;)

Sid

I really have no idea why inch is bad and indeed is good.

I would be fine with either

inch basically says in ch. I would do that if ever I turned evil

ffao

@Deusovi "Fondness of gravity" for GLOVE

n_palum

@feelinferrety shrugs

Deusovi

I think it's fine as long as it sorta makes sense. "G-love" is kinda implausible, but at least it works. "CR" for "right of center" doesn't, really. You wouldn't use those abbreviations together.

feelinferrety

This "IRL" discussion makes a persistent thought come back to mind... why is everyone on the internet automatically assumed to be male?

Deusovi

6:18 PM

@Sid "Indeed" comes from "in deed". "Inch" does not come from "in ch".

n_palum

@dcfyj One is a puzzle ish game, the other is a chaotic cooking game

feelinferrety

Ooh, and if we're talking couch co-ops, Octodad FTW

A barrel of laughs a minute, that one is.

n_palum

@dcfyj your name is very Canadian btw

Sid

@Deusovi I don't understand how the origin matters. To me, inch is as fair as indeed.

Deusovi

Because "indeed" is read as "in deed", but "inch" is not read as "in ch".

dcfyj

6:21 PM

@n_palum Is it? :P

Deusovi

"Indeed" is sketchy as-is. "inch" is pushing it too far.

n_palum

Well imo :P

dcfyj

Clearly you've forgotten information that was provided in these rooms :P

Sphinx

0

Q: What would '34' answer?

Here's a riddle for you: If you ask the question to the '1', it'll answer: None of them. If you ask the question to the '90 ', it'll answer: 6 If you ask the question to '86, it'll answer All of them 966 and 972 would also answer: All of them But if you ask the same question to 49, you ...

feelinferrety

Woo we just had a brownout

ffao

6:22 PM

n_p... forgot something? :o

dcfyj

Seems like it

feelinferrety

Double brownout!

Mike Q

@feelinferrety That's not necessarily true - I noticed that folks here tend to use the pronoun "they" until/unless they actually know the referred person's gender

Deusovi

^. I've been trying to use gender-neutral pronouns more often.

feelinferrety

@MikeQ Folks have referred to me with male pronouns. Not sure if it's because one person did it and others followed suit, or what

Sid

6:23 PM

And the whole pronoun thing led to... "controversy" a while back..

ffao

so have I, but I do know the genders of most people on TSL

feelinferrety

I definitely use neutrals where I can unless I know otherwise

Mike Q

I'm pretty certain of the genders of fewer than 10 TSLers. Everyone else is "they".

dcfyj

I'm usually pretty obvious about mine

feelinferrety

I would say I know only a few from discussion, and a few others because of usernames

Beastly Gerbil

6:24 PM

I edited my profile a few days ago just to add my gender :P

ffao

for reference: feelinferrety, as4 and Morgan are shes, as far as I know

Sid

Morgan is a she? notes that down to use a She for them

feelinferrety

@ffao I am indeed. I've been referred to mostly as male recently, so I've sort of been playing into it. I've done so rather intentionally in the past as well.

dcfyj

@ffao Not sure why this is relevant

Mike Q

@feelinferrety Nothing wrong with playing into it, unless it bothers you. I assume that most people here think my name is Mike.

ffao

6:26 PM

just so no one uses "he" for them unintentionally

feelinferrety

@ffao I don't mind, actually

Sid

@feelinferrety Well, I apologize in case I have unintentionally used a "he" and you were offended.

n_palum

@dcfyj What did I forget? Did you change your name or something? (I'm going based off that thing you want to disappear)

feelinferrety

I just felt sort of *plays "Secret Agent Man"* about it

Beastly Gerbil

I think unfortunately if someone doesn't know someone's gender they are a lot more likely to use 'he' for the person in a generic way. People should use 'they' more ofton...

Deusovi

6:27 PM

@MikeQ Well, I certainly did. It seemed a reasonable assumption.

feelinferrety

@Sid I am not offended. You are welcome to use whatever you prefer.

Rubio

it's just the classic problem with English that there's no clear gender-neutral singular pronoun. Either "he" or "they" have traditionally been used for this, but neither is particularly satisfying.

dcfyj

@n_palum You said my name was Canadian sounding. Makes it seem (to me) that you forgot I'm from there.

Beastly Gerbil

I think there was a question about the on English SE @rubio...

Mike Q

Oh no I just realized this is a trap

n_palum

6:28 PM

lol no I know you're from Canada

Just solidifying that XD

Deusovi

@BeastlyGerbil Some people say it's not "proper" to use "they" as a gender-neutral singular pronoun. It's been used for centuries, though - Shakespeare used it, for example

Rubio

and "it" referencing a person is really unsatisfying :)

Beastly Gerbil

lol

Mike Q

Everyone, stop saying personal information! This is all part of n_p's grand plan to steal our identities!

Sid

..No. Just no. "It" for a person is simply wrong.

Not only unsatisfying. Simply Wrong

Beastly Gerbil

6:30 PM

273

Q: Is there a correct gender-neutral singular pronoun ("his" vs. "her" vs. "their")?

Is there a pronoun I can use as a gender-neutral pronoun when referring back to a singular noun phrase? Each student should save his questions until the end. Each student should save her questions until the end.

word-choice possessives personal-pronouns singular-they gender-neutral

Sconibulus

@Sid what about that clown?

feelinferrety

FWIW, standards manuals specify the use of "they" for unknown persons.

ffao

if it's already been said then n_p knows about it already

Sid

(I like the fact that my native language has completely gender neutral pronouns. So, you wouldn't even know if your story's hero is a male or a female.:P)

ffao

n_p doesn't forget

Beastly Gerbil

6:31 PM

I don't understand why people might say 'they' isn't proper @deus..

Mike Q

And lots of folks stopped using "s/he" because of non-binary genders

Deusovi

Because they're stuck-up pedants. Same reason people think using prepositions at the end of sentences is wrong.

ffao

'he' has been used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun for even longer than they, if we want to talk historical usage

Sid

@Sconibulus I will refer to them as "The Clown"

ffao

it became masculine-only fairly recently

dcfyj

6:32 PM

@Deusovi "Where are they at?" sounds awful

Rubio

Putting prepositions at the ends of sentences is nonsense up with which I will not put!

Deusovi

@Sconibulus clowns don't count as people for any purposes

4

feelinferrety

Also FWIW, I personally identify closer to NB than female these days, so I really do not care about my own pronouns.

Deusovi

@dcfyj True, but "Where are you coming from?" sounds natural.

Beastly Gerbil

People just need to accept that not everything we say or do is rascist, sexist or offensive...

Mike Q

6:32 PM

@Deusovi What are you, an anti-clownite?

Sconibulus

that sounds pretty anti-clown

Sid

@MikeQ He is scared of clowns

Rubio

Deus is definitively anti-clown.

Mike Q

Really?

Beastly Gerbil

Yeah @rubio can testify that :P

Rubio

6:33 PM

I have pictures. ...

NO!!!!!!!

@Rubio DO TELL

Clowns are scary.

So not only do I know Deus's name and school, I also know his ONE WEAKNESS....

Deusovi

@MikeQ Oh, I have a lot of weaknesses.

Rubio

6:33 PM

Lol. We won't go there. :)

n_palum

Same Mike

Mithrandir

@Rubio ow

feelinferrety

I -think- I have also found Deus's full name, high school, and university

Deusovi

The only time I recommend using gender-specific pronouns for people of unknown gender is when it makes things clearer. For example, I remember seeing a rulebook for a board game that used "she" for an attacking player and "he" for a defending one in the combat section

Beastly Gerbil

Last time it resulted in some strong language getting starred :P

Mithrandir

6:34 PM

'Lol' just seems wrong. It should be LOL or (less preferable) lol, but Lol treats it like a word.... Which it isn't.

Sconibulus

...so we need to work clowns as thoroughly into our next cryptic crossword as possible, so Deus won't break it too quickly

Rubio

@BeastlyGerbil Unexpected on two counts.

Sid

Also, now that I think about it, I don't think I have ever referred my gender here. But, it is probably obvious from my username(and whoever knows my first name)

Deusovi

@feelinferrety You very well could have. But a Google search for [my full name] [university I go to] doesn't give any results relevant to me.

feelinferrety

@Deusovi I believe they [the main part, anyway] both begin with uncommon letters.

Sconibulus

6:36 PM

@Mithrandir It's wordish

ffao

then we get into a debate of what is an "uncommon letter"

Deusovi

@feelinferrety My last initial is also common knowledge here, and I don't think the letter is too uncommon

Sconibulus

it can be pluralized and such

Mithrandir

@Sconibulus I refuse.

Deusovi

@BeastlyGerbil No, it's not, but it's very easy to say racist or sexist things without realizing.

feelinferrety

6:36 PM

@Deusovi The schools

Sid

@ffao Easy, if we simply check letter frequency'

Sconibulus

for the lols, for example

Mithrandir

Uh uh.

Rubio

I suppose you complain about "lasers" too. ;)

Mike Q

@ffao How about that 27th letter of the English alphabet that is never used

Deusovi

6:37 PM

@MikeQ &?

(It actually used to be considered a letter!)

Mithrandir

@Rubio no, that I don't - that has become an actual word

Sconibulus

is it & or y?

y being th

Mike Q

@Deusovi No, the other one

Sid

@Deusovi I think the "not realizing" part is important.

Sconibulus

which is actually like pbhybrid

feelinferrety

6:38 PM

@Sconibulus The thorn?

Sconibulus

aye

Mithrandir

Þ

Mike Q

ye olde thorne

...ye olde yorne?

Deusovi

@MikeQ you mean ye olde yorne

Mithrandir

:Þ

feelinferrety

6:39 PM

ninja'd

Deusovi

when people would say letters by themselves, they would say "X, per se, X" ("X, by itself, X"). over time, "and, per se, and" got slurred into "ampersand"

Gareth McCaughan

@feelinferrety It is not too difficult to find Deusovi's full name, high school, and university. (But for some reason his surname keeps falling out of my brain and if I actually needed it I would need to go and online-stalk him again to find it.)

Mike Q

I wonder if @GarethMcCaughan's name is actually Gareth McCaughan

Gareth McCaughan

@Deusovi I am not sure that was ever a general thing for all letters; I always assumed it was applied to & because an "and" could otherwise be metadata, so to speak.

Anyway, AFK for a bit again now.

Deusovi

@GarethMcCaughan Oh, really? I thought it was a general thing because of letter-word homophones. But it would also make sense if it were not.

Sid

6:41 PM

@MikeQ It should be. It doesn't feel too sane to give a completely different username(which sounds like a real name) in a random site.

(and make a website on that name too...)

Deusovi

@MikeQ ...He has a link to his website, and papers he's written show up under that name.

Mike Q

@Deusovi In the words of Abraham Lincoln, "Don't Believe Everything You Read On The Internet"

Deusovi

If it's not his birth name, it's sure as hell his "real name" now.

Sid

@MikeQ When did Lincoln have internet?

Deusovi

(that's the joke)

Mike Q

6:43 PM

Well, if anyone (cough @n_palum cough) feels like googling my name, it doesn't start with Mike, and the surname may or may not contain a Q.

Hopefully that narrows it down

Deusovi

Huh. Then why that username?

n_palum

I won't hunt you down lol

Mike Q

@Deusovi Less contrived than John Doe

Deusovi

fair enough

Sid

@MikeQ Easier way to google is just reverse search that coffee cup. :P

n_palum

6:44 PM

How's being back at school Deus?

Deusovi

@Sid for some reason I don't think Mike is actually a coffee cup

don't know why - just a hunch

feelinferrety

@Sid One of my methods. ;)

Mike Q

@n_palum As if you don't already know

n_palum

Reverse search mine and you'll find me

ffao

I think we determined Mike is a bot?

n_palum

6:46 PM

Now that'd be some voodoo magic witch bs if I knew how Deus felt about being back at school

ffao

not sure if antropomorphic or not

Sid

@n_palum gets redirected to Puzzling main site. :P

Mike Q

@n_palum Found you: gaming.stackexchange.com/users/178511/n-palum

Deusovi

@n_palum It's nice, I guess. Currently kinda panicking about schedule stuff.

n_palum

Dang I've been found out

Why? Not a set schedule or not the classes you wanted?

Sid

6:47 PM

@Deusovi This would be your sophomore year, I think?

Deusovi

Waitlisted for one of the classes I was going to take, doesn't look like I'll get off the waitlist. Trying to find another class to replace it.

n_palum

That's never fun, earlier years are always harder for that stuff

Mike Q

@Deusovi If you like math, why not take numerology

Sid

@Deusovi How do you choose your classes actually? For example, there could be hundreds of students looking for, say Math. How does your University filter out which students to take?

Deusovi

@Sid yup!

Mike Q

6:50 PM

@Sid I think most university systems default to "first come, first serve"

Deusovi

@Sid depends on the specific classes. we get a list of classes to sign up for (more popular classes are typically larger or with multiple sections), and the first ones to sign up get in

4th year students get first dibs, then 3rd years a few days later, then 2nd years, then 1st years

Sid

Ah, yes. First come, first serve basis.

Deusovi

each year has a couple "waves" of signups, and unfortunately I've been put into the last one every time

Mike Q

Oh right. I missed that detail. It's first come first serve, but staggered according to year

Sconibulus

If you can finagle joining the athletics department somehow, those usually get first dibs

Deusovi

6:52 PM

yeah, staggered according to year, and then staggered even more within years randomly

n_palum

Yeah my first two years I was pretty late among my year

^^ that too

Deusovi

I am not an athlete.

n_palum

Mathlete!

Sconibulus

Sometimes surprising things count

Esports :)

My brother did some cheerleading for that purpose his first couple years

n_palum

Only a couple uni's are onboard with that ;)

Sconibulus

6:53 PM

I played Hockey a few years

Mike Q

I was on the cow wrangling team

Beastly Gerbil

don't get me started on sport...

Sid

We have a rather....strange way here. In a total of 900 students in freshman year, we are divided into two "halves". The first half read completely different stuff and the other half read completely different stuff, with Math and Physics being common to both.

feelinferrety

Ugh now I'm really curious what PSE's demographics look like

n_palum

Ahh that's right, Mike is a southerner

Mike Q

6:55 PM

@n_palum or am I?

How can I be from the American south if I don't exist?

n_palum

Hush you

Sid

And after the first semester, the subjects "reverse". That is, the other half will read what they didn't study in first semester

(And I have no subjects directly relating to my major subject in this semester.)

And we don't choose the subjects. We are randomly assigned them.

Sconibulus

...that sounds awful

Sid

That's only for freshman year though. It changes from Sophomore year, where major subject's emphasis increases.

Sconibulus

Well, not getting to pick side-subjects at all

that seems like the worst

ffao

6:59 PM

oh god, I studied CS and I had a semester with Physics, Thermodynamics, Mechanics of Materials, Economics and a bunch of other unrelated stuff, that was awful

especially Mechanics of Materials, how is that related?

Sconibulus

I didn't get any subjects relating to my major my first year either, but that's because I tested out of them, but not out of the Math prereqs for year two (needed Formal Logic)

feelinferrety

I don't remember college anymore XD

Sid

@ffao Guess what I have Biology in this semester. I have no idea what Biology has got to do with Engineering. :P

feelinferrety

I do know I had to take physics and psychology, though...

Actually now that I think about it, I can see why those might be relevant

ffao

I thought you liked Biology

the worst part is when you take something completely irrelevant and you struggle with it

I tested below passing grade on the first two exams of the materials course :(

feelinferrety

7:01 PM

ouch

Mike Q

@Sid Obviously so you can learn how to build Replicants

Sid

Well, fortunately I don't struggle with Biology. I don't particularly like it, though.

Especially when I have to remember the names of some plants which I wouldn't encounter in my life

@ffao I have Mechanics in the next semester...

feelinferrety

I rather liked math and science. I also excel at language mechanics.

Sid

@feelinferrety what is language mechanics?

ffao

And apparently passing the materials course allows me to legally supervise construction of buildings of up to two floors

I'm now scared every time I sleep under a roof

feelinferrety

7:04 PM

@Sid I mean the construction and such, not so much the artsy part

Sid

My roommate has all the nice courses like Basic Electrical, Programming and such. And I am stuck with Environment Engineering and Biology...

Mike Q

@Sid Don't fall into the trap of assuming that your undergraduate education forces you into one specific path

My undergrad curriculum didn't entirely line up with my actual career

feelinferrety

@ffao I've never been especially trustful of upper floors, grates, or suspended/cantilevered rooms.

n_palum

What's wrong with Environmental engineering

Sid

Nothing. It's just boring..

feelinferrety

7:12 PM

Sounds like landscaping science

n_palum

It used to be solving the problems of tomorrow today, but now it has to solve the problems of the past asap

Sid

(Apparently it's a part of Civil Engineering. Or so, my sister tells me.)

dcfyj

@n_palum That's how my job is...

feelinferrety

Same

Sid

Anyway, thoughts on the C4?

Mike Q

7:24 PM

I hope it doesn't require too much musical trivia knowledge to solve

Sid

new can be an anagrind. I saw that in today's Guardian Cryptic. But, it has also been used here before.

@Gareth Can we have a clarification on Mike's concern? Or would that be too big a hint?

Also, @Deusovi I have grown this habit of referring people to your guide to understand cryptic clues. All whom I have referred it, have liked it.

Deusovi

That's great! I'm glad it's been useful for people.

Mithrandir

7:43 PM

in Contact, 17 secs ago, by Mithrandir

o/

John Dvorak

I'm walking home soon, I'll o/ afterwards.

Sid

Sorry, I can't play. I should go work on my sleep schedule.

Sid

8:07 PM

@deus or @rubio doesn't the downvoter puzzle use external sources?(or so I have gathered from the answer). Is that allowed?

Rubio

Honestly we won't know until it's solved. What's at the offsite thing seems to be minimal, and probably derivable in other ways (for sure, half of it seems pointless)

Deusovi

I don't have high hopes about it being a great puzzle.

(Or even a solvable one.)

Gareth McCaughan

8:27 PM

@MikeQ @Sid My C4 does not depend on obscure musical trivia.

Rubio

8:57 PM

Call to arms: John Dvorak is defending in Contact

feelinferrety

9:10 PM

oh btw @rubio

Rubio

yes?

feelinferrety

I told you I'd ask about distribution for the Hot Dougs movie.

The (producer?) (director?) dude said they're trying to get a local broadcast

And then they're going to look into web distribution

Rubio

Nice

I'll hold out for the latter.

feelinferrety

You can keep an eye on it here hotdougsthemovie.com

Sphinx

9:45 PM

0

Q: Finding Sequence in Third Square

This particular puzzle is throwing me off for some reason, given that solutions I've tried for similar problems are not working. Problem Given that you have this square: .14 .21 .22 .17 .26 and this one: .4 .3 .0 .2 .1 What should replace the question mark in this one: .0...