English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mahnax

3:00 PM

His horn was sideways.

user19161

Of course one can type in other things to generate other unicorns, but that would not be representative.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Here is one I like from one of my email addresses

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I bought a bunch of Wasteland Skimmers and have been having limited success with them. Went back to strike/rush

Also bought the 100,000g card, but can't figure out how to use it.

Vitaly

The 100Kg card is old.

Its price isn't representative of its usability.

user19161

@Robusto Didn't it come with an instruction manual? Ask for a refund!

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:08 PM

I got a Savior and eight Skimmers just because I could. Don't intend to ever use them.

Vitaly

Active war. Trying out a new farming target.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Still sitting on 1.7 million, waiting for sealed Homeworld.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Savior. That's the name of the card.

JSBᾶngs

are there people here who care about this?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JSBᾶngs me!

Robusto

3:09 PM

@JSBᾶngs "Care" would be overstating the emotion.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto still countable to me. Just like Skimmers.

Or any card, for that matter.

Robusto

I was just saying that as in, "Savior. Right, now I remember the name, which I couldn't think of before."

JSBᾶngs

i'm actually Not A Fan of WoT... but this showed up in my feeds and i thought it looked interesting

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Well, that cover isn't too bad, considering

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto ah, sorry, I don't read your shit.

user19161

3:11 PM

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 No shit in this chat!

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Which is why I don't poop in chat.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

I also bought a second Hephatat. Just for the art.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JSB I think if I'd started reading the series in 1990 I probably would have grown disillusioned.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I gotta get that, but the prospect of grinding it is daunting.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

You no has monies?

ladenedge

3:12 PM

Does this seem on-topic here/would you be interested in a migration?

9

Q: Why does Juliet ask "Wherefore are thou Romeo" and not "... Montague"?

The "wherefore" in the above quotation is often (mis)interpreted as meaning "where" instead of "why." Partially, I believe, because the two words sound alike, but also, because it kind of makes more sense. There is no problem with her beloved's surname being Romeo, only with his family name be...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

The illustrator who did the first 13 WoT books died, so this last book has a new illustrator. But he's done a decent job, it looks like, in maintaining the style of the previous books. I find it incredibly annoying when publishers make it impossible to get an entire series of books with the same style of cover COUGH COUGH I'm looking at you, George R. R. Martin

Robusto

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Considering what? Considering how girly it is? Why not just become a brony and be done with it!

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Ah you mean grinding the raid.

Yeah the raid sucks.

Robusto

@ladenedge Wherefore means why in that sentence.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto that's not the question, though.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

3:14 PM

@Robusto no, don't misunderstand. The covers of the WoT books have been uniformly awful all along, since 1990. But more important to me: they have been uniform.

Robusto

@MrShinyandNew安宇 You misspelled unicorn.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@ladenedge I looked at it the other day but couldn't make my mind up. The response in this room was meh.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Actually unicorns would have improved them.

uniform unicorns

Robusto

Who can resist a unicorn in uniform?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Not me.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:15 PM

An uninformed Unimog.

user19161

It is interesting that there are unicorn, acorn and popcorn.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

oh, uninformed unicorns: not a fan of those.

ladenedge

@Robusto: I think it's a pretty good question, but it's not about 'wherefore'.

Robusto

Can't you just see them all, cute little brown-shirted unicorns, goose-stepping along with their horns at attention.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Unimog. Not unicorn. That is so not the same.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

3:16 PM

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Yeah. I was bringing the discussion back to my topic, not yours.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@JasperLoy you're an eggcorn.

@MrShinyandNew安宇 I was discussing your topic alright. You thankless unthanker.

user19161

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Ah, I forgot that one. I even had to ask Jimmy what eggcorn and malapropism mean, and I am still confused.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I'm not thankless! Just today someone thanked me for something.

I have at least one thank

ladenedge

@RegDwightB8: alright, 'meh' it is, heh.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Well that'll be the last time for today, I'll take the measures necessary. MUWAHAHA.

No thanking Mr Shiny and New in this chat today.

There.

Anyway, back on topic,

Robusto

3:19 PM

@ladenedge Well, it's freshman-level stuff, regardless. Ultimately it can't be resolved by a vote, like most questions on Lit.SE.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

This thing resists unicorns just fine. I tried.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Have you tried it with phalanxes of uniformed unicorns? If you say yes, I will know you're lying.

Maybe.

Maybe means no.

No.

3:21 PM

Better.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Kontingentflüchtling.

Robusto

Imagine them, phalanxes of cute uniformed unicorns (though how could uniformed unicorns not be cute?) overriding whatever power your LEGO truck has to resist their charms. Soon there is nothing left but little plastic blocks and a few wires. You are pwned, utterly and completely, by unicorns.

user19161

Wow I am glad I can understand the maybe, maybe means no, no, better thing above.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Well you can't.

^ quote from which movie?

Robusto

@JasperLoy How can you be sure it's not a language trap we have laid for you. We are constantly laying language traps for you, you know.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:23 PM

@Robusto sometimes I have the feeling you spelled your age backwards when you said it was 70.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Except I never said my age. But what I have done is admit to serial immaturity.

Mar 15 '11 at 10:53, by Robusto

@Cerberus — You're only young once, but that's no reason you can't be immature forever.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Except for the death thing.

user19161

@Robusto Well, I saw the double meaning of the no already, but there might be a higher trap.

Robusto

24 hours ago, by Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 "On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero."

Actually, that doesn't take into account the apotheosis that would be concomitant with the Singularity.

But I'm not too worried about that.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto I challenge that. With mighty logic. At the age of 5, your chances of dying before turning 10 were rather high. At the age of 20, your chances of dying before turning 10 were zero, but the chances of dying before turning 30 were considerable. Now at the age of 70, your chances of dying with 10, or 20, or 30, are all zero. You're turning immortal.

user19161

3:28 PM

0

Q: Pronounciation using alphabet

So there's a term vi and it should be pronounced vee-eye. I have a transcription for the word emacs: /ˈiːmæks/ How can I render this transription to a alphabet letters? The best I can do: ee-mex I can't find a better name for the question - if You'll come up with a better - please fix (ther...

pronunciation

user19161

OT

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 What is this, Emo's Paradox? Pah!

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto no, Elmo's Paradox.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 So it involves being tickled to death?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Immortality. Tickled to immortality.

That's the only way.

Think about it.

Cause I won't.

@JasperLoy yes, only proverbciation is on-topic here. Pronounciation is gen ref.

Robusto

3:31 PM

Actually, when you're born your chances of living to be 80 are less than half. When you reach 60 they're about 50%. And your chances of living to 100 are, at birth, minuscule. But if you reach 90, they're actually rather improved.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Well that's what I'm saying.

Robusto

But Jim Morrison said it best: "No one here gets out alive."

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

He lead by example.

Robusto

You mean "leaded"?

user19161

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 He's not asking about the pronunciation which I would consider on topic. He asks for how to convert phonetics into letters there.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:32 PM

@Robusto Let's settle for plumbumeted.

@JasperLoy would you please kindly whoosh yourself? I am too tired.

Robusto

I think you need to double the m: plumbummeted.

user19161

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Thwack.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

No, it's doubled already. Plummeted -> plum-bu-meted. Like, Plum-fucking-meted.

Plumbummeted, on the other hand, makes you sound like Tom Green.

Robusto

No. You are disqualified. Doubled means doubled, not one here and one there.

In baseball, two singles don't make a double. QED.

user19161

It is interesting that colours are used as last names, like green and brown.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:35 PM

One and one makes two, you shouldn't have dropped out of the first grade.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Hey, it took Bertrand Russell 60 pages to prove that 1 + 1 = 2. This stuff is hard, man.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto yeah that would be so like you, ignoring maths and applying baseballs, to forehead.

Robusto

What, now you're trying to invent the mathpalm? That's so like you.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

I'm the mathpalm pilot.

Robusto

And just for the record, you can palm a ball but you can't palm a math.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:36 PM

You just have to try harder. Like, second-grade harder.

Robusto

Have you learned nothing from your slacker culture?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

There's no stuff to learn in slacker culture, duh.

Learning is for people who fail at slacking.

Robusto

Thanks for underlining my point.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

__________________________

user19161

Kris sounds very authoritative in his comments. Sometimes they make me chuckle.

Robusto

3:38 PM

That's too low. You have to move it up.

user19161

I moved it higher.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto Just tilt your head 52°.

Robusto

That's a pineapple underline.

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Fahrenheit or Celsius? Or Kelvin, perhaps?

user19161

@Robusto That's called a strikeout, duh.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto Reaumur.

Robusto

3:39 PM

@JasperLoy Now look who's bringing up baseball.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

For the zillionth time.

Robusto

You mean Rohmer?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

I never not don't.

Robusto

Nice conversation-stopper.

3

Q: What is being in a state of being subdued called?

In geology, subduction is the process that takes place at convergent boundaries by which one tectonic plate moves under another tectonic plate... (Wikipedia) Now I understand that quite literally, subduction is a process whereby one thing goes underneath another; and while figuratively an em...

word-choice

Like Kosmonaut, sometimes I feel like I don't understand English anymore.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Try Chinese. I am told it has fewer grammer.

user19161

3:50 PM

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I know you are just trolling me there.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Actually the answer seems to have some ideas.

Robusto

@JasperLoy Well, I T-roll you wherever.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Even Chinese people will tell you Chinese has no grammar.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@MrShinyandNew安宇 but they will tell me that in Chinese.

Robusto

But this is really a question about psychology. At least jwpat's answer makes it so.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

3:51 PM

What they mean is that you don't change verbs or nouns according to the verb tense or grammatical number.

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Probably they won't, or else you wouldn't understand it.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

I will try not to understand it regardless.

Robusto

@MrShinyandNew安宇 No. They don't really mean anything. All Chinese "language" is just for show. Wake them up in the middle of the night and they'll yell at you in English, just like everyone else.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2

Q: Expression for when you've fixed something, but something else breaks? And repeatedly?

Is there an expression for the situation where you've just fixed something, only to find out that your fix broke something else? So you fix that something else, and another thing breaks. And so on and so forth? Totally inspired by my current work at my job.

expressions

I think he's looking for "life".

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto based on my sample size of one chinese person that i sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, I cannot refute your claim.

Robusto

@MrShinyandNew安宇 QED.

user19161

3:53 PM

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I wanted to say induction there.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Is there a Schadenfreude badge yet? If so, he should get it.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

What was that one all about, again?

Or you mean literally? Then there must be no badge. That's an integral part of any schadenfreude.

Robusto

I don't know what it was all about. But part of it was about providing laughter material for ELU chat.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Ah.

Any question can do that.

I mean, we can do that to any question.

Robusto

However they do it, if they make us laugh at their lameness they should get the badge.

►

Speaking of lameness.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

3:58 PM

@Robusto I can't begin to understand that. Is it Chinese?

The title alone gives me headaches. Seven.

user19161

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I wonder whether Russian or Chinese is harder to learn, hmm.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@JasperLoy Depends on whether you're a native speaker of Russian or Chinese.

user19161

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I mean if neither.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

There's people like that?

We'll bring an end to that. Or put that to an end.

user19161

We will need to ask someone who has learnt both.

Robusto

4:00 PM

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 We'll put an end to that. I think that's what you meant to say.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Actually, no.

Robusto

Well, then you're just wrong. QED.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Which is why I corrected it before your intermezzo arrived.

Robusto

Actually it was an entr'acte.

user19161

Quiet elegant dude, quit explaining dictionaries.

Robusto

4:02 PM

Another county heard from.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto it's "put an end to" but "bring to an end". I was deliberately mixing them up. What's not to love?

Another day, another sophisticated joke.

Another Robusto not on top of things.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 And I was messing that up by stating the obvious, as you did to me earlier. What's not to love.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

And I am messing that up now.

What's not to not hate?

Robusto

And btw, last time I checked I was still on top of things in ELU. QED.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Only if you tilt your head 52° Reaumur.

Robusto

4:04 PM

Is it too late to get that in Imperial gallons?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

No, but the calculations involve several hippos and are also quite complicated.

Robusto

I can wait.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

That you shall.

Meanwhile I'm communisting again. Laters.

Robusto

Wait!

Before you go, I have this question about a vs. an! Oh, damn ... he's gone.

Now I'll never know the answer.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Wait? What for? The bus? I can do that at the bus stop?

CU

Robusto

4:06 PM

Laters.

Cerberus

Hey, look whom I have just missed.

Robusto

Whom? You missed whom? That strikes me as rather careless.

Cerberus

Why?

It's whom's fault.

Robusto

Ssshhh. You're not supposed to ask indelicate questions here.

Cerberus

I'm never supposed to do anything!

Robusto

4:08 PM

Correct.

Cerberus

Next thing you're saying I can't say the things Kit's son says.

Robusto

Correct.

Cerberus

Next thing you're saying "correct".

Robusto

Right.

Cerberus

Next thing you're trying to sabotage my schemes.

Robusto

4:15 PM

Elephants. Or something like them.

Cerberus

In the room or outside?

Robusto

I don't have a big enough room. We'll have to do it at your place.

Cerberus

I don't exactly have rooms.

More like giant caves.

With comfortable furnishings, where appropriate.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JasperLoy Chinese is harder to learn than Russian, because the writing system is designed to be hard to use.

Cerberus

So can you explain to me what the advantages of a common-law system are over a more statutory/legislative system?

user19161

4:20 PM

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Ah OK. For one there is no alphabet.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus are you asking me?

Are you asking me to compare the advantages of, say, France's legal system, with England's?

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 If you have an answer, then, yes!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

(England having the common-law system)

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 For example, though I am mostly interested in general or principal differences that lead to advantages.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

As I understand it, the main distinction is that case law sets precedent in common-law systems. This is supposed to lead to more uniform application of laws.

Cerberus

4:22 PM

(I know.)

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Yes, sort of. Courts in non-c-l systems also set precedents, but they have a far narrower window of interpretation.

If the law does not say anything about a certain action, and it is not deemed bad beyond any reasonable doubt, a judge will have to allow it.

If there is a law that is clearly applicable, but the details are unclear, the judge will have to interpret the law.

And judges will take rulings by other judges into account.

Especially those of appellate courts. And the High Council (at least here) is binding for lower courts until Parliament changes the law. But usually the HC sets a precedent for decades to come.

So the difference is gradual.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

According to wikipedia, most contract law in England, and countries whose legal system derives from England's (i.e. USA, Canada, etc), is based on common law, i.e. judge-decreed laws.

wikipedia also says that most civil-law (non-c-l) countries have evolved a sort of "jurisprudence" which strongly resembles common-law

Cerberus

Yeah.

So I sometimes wonder how large the actual difference is.

Perhaps it is because here laws have changed more in the past? After a big overhaul by Parliament / some new government, old precedents would disrupt the system.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I'm pretty sure that even in a common-law system new laws trump old precedents.

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Yes, but perhaps they are common-law systems precisely because Parliament would never enact such laws if they ran counter to precedents?

cornbread ninja

the cowardly downvoter is really pissing me off.

and hello.

Cerberus

4:37 PM

Don't look at me!

cornbread ninja

I can't!

Cerberus

Good.

cornbread ninja

you're... wherever

at the gates of hell

or the underworld. no, that's someone else

piper at the gates of hell

chatkillah out

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus Well, I don't think parliament feels itself beholden to precedents. In Canada there have been many cases of new laws overturning old precedents. Often laws are specifically designed for that. Otherwise there would be no way to change the laws.

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Right, but perhaps it happens much less frequently?

I'm trying to establish the actual differences between the systems.

Are they really that different anyway?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

4:41 PM

@Cerberus I have no evidence for this, but I suspect that parliament does not actually look at precedents.

Parliament's function is to change law (add, delete, modify)

I don't think it matters much what the old laws are

except where they need to consider interactions with existing laws, and ensuring that the new law is itself legal.

Cerberus

But if judges all across the country have abided(abidden?) by a certain precedent for decades, Parliament might feel more inclined to stick with the status quo?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus why?

let's say a judge decides that the standard for jail-time for drunkenness is "staggering, fall-down drunk". (I actually was present at a court case where this very precedent was cited). Parliament might decide "we need to get tough on drunkenness" and decree "blood alcohol content 0.08" is the new standard. poof! old precedent gone.

Cerberus

Yeah OK, but the difference would be gradual: they would just be more inclined to let precedents be.

I know that Dutch Parliament sometimes issues a new law that directly counters a verdict by the High Council, but doing so is considered brash and brazen.

Unless it really fixes a loophole that everybody agrees upon.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

In Canada I don't think parliament is so inclined to kowtow to the supreme court. If parliament agrees with the court, they let it be. if they disagree, they make new laws.

Cerberus

Then Holland would seem to be more common-lawish than Canada?

I still can't put my finger on the practical differences.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

4:56 PM

@Cerberus I think you are misunderstanding the point of common-law. common-law is just judge-made law. Why should parliament care about the existing laws when they change the laws? they are changing the laws, after all.

Cerberus

I don't know, because greater weight is given to verdicts by judges than in non-c-l countries?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus as in, the law is somehow more important than if the same law had simply been made in parliament?

Jez

lol

So I was badgered 2 days ago evening by a recruiter into going to an interview that I said I didn't want to go to because the parking there was awful and the wage was too low

he insisted it was worth trying and the wage was totally negotiable

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 No: more important than a verdict in a non-c-l country.

@Jez Hah, you're popular!

Jez

today, the feedback: you were too late there (parking was shit), and you wanted too high a wage

lol

Cerberus

5:00 PM

Haha, that sucks.

Jez

i wonder whether my gut instinct about not going was right?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus But a verdict's importance is only important to other judges. Parliament supersedes judges.

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 That applies to both Ways.

But what are the differences?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus the differences are supposed to be in how judges interpret "the law". In common law that's "every decision ever", in civil law it's "what's in the law book"

anyway time for luncho

Cerberus

@MrShinyandNew安宇 "every decision ever"?

Santosh

5:12 PM

What will be code + delicious? Codecious or codicious?

Cerberus

The latter.

user19161

@Santosh Er, what do you want to use it for?

user19161

It's not a real word anyway, so use whatever you like.

Santosh

According to grammar?

user19161

What grammar? There's no such word.

Cerberus

5:16 PM

There is no Grammar to decide on these things.

JSBᾶngs

@Santosh i'd say codelicious

portmanteaux with delicious generally preserve the L

Santosh

@JasperLoy Whats your preference?

JSBᾶngs

NB i'm the only native speaker in the room right now

Cerberus

I agree.

But between those two it would be codicious.

Or maybe pick an entirely different word.

user19161

I would pick neither. I only use words in the dictionary. QED.

Matt Эллен

5:40 PM

@Santosh I agree with JSB

Jez

soooooo, that's today's job hunting work over

how's you lot?

Matt Эллен

5:56 PM

@Jez Pretty good. washing dishes at the mo. How's the hunt?

Jez

6:07 PM

hectic

funny how one man's perfect candidate is one man's crappy one

I had to practically beat off one employer with a stick as I didn't want the job

but another's feedback was that I didn't present myself well so they didn't want me

mind you, they had programmers that had been there for years and were still on £28k... avoid avoid avoid

Matt Эллен

Job hunting is hard, I find. Although now I've several years experience they're easier to find.

Jez

piss easy for me. i wish online dating were this easy.

Matt Эллен

I'm sticking where I am for now. I might be able to get better money, but I doubt it'd be as much fun

Robusto

@MattЭллен Same. Codelicious is the confection that works here.

Matt Эллен

Have you got a Stack Overflow Careers account, @Jez? That could turn up some gems for you.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

6:16 PM

Matt Эллен

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 ah! Dating advice for @Jez!

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

0

Q: Meaning of sentences

Do the following sentences have meaning? Tom was extremely sad. Tom was frustrated. In dictionary, Frustrated means annoyed. Can it also mean 'extremely sad' or upset or only annoyed?

meaning vocabulary

JSBᾶngs

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 no, they do not have meaning. nothing has any meaning.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Okay, just when I think I have been tortured in every way imaginable, people come up with new ways. Such creativity!

JSBᾶngs

look at that last sentence

> I don't understand many emotions but I know what 'happy' and 'sad' face means.

clearly, this was written by a sentient AI which has learned about human feelings only by observing our emoticons

Matt Эллен

6:21 PM

then it will soon be ready to conquer the humans

I might as well stop running from this robot

Robusto

"I have always wished for my computer to be as easy to use as my telephone; my wish has come true because I can no longer figure out how to use my telephone." — Bjarne Stroustrup, computer scientist and creator of the C++ programming language

We just had phone training today.

Matt Эллен

did you have to learn how to dial a number?

Robusto

Remind me again, please: what exactly is it that we're supposed to use desk phones for?

@MattЭллен I'm not sure. I was playing with my smart phone.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto I use them for answering wrong numbers

user19161

They're making telephones like iPhones too, it's true. The fax machines are even harder to use.

Matt Эллен

6:30 PM

the what machines? ;)

Robusto

@MattЭллен Yes, that is one use. Also for ignoring telemarketing calls and political pollsters.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus precedents don't exactly expire, though judges tend to not put much weight on old ones.

@Cerberus Between the moldy shoe and the broken glass bottle, which is the better hammer?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

►

Robusto

Yes, I know it well. And that's Harry Nilsson's The Moonbeam Song playing in the background, if you're following along at home.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JasperLoy I think Stroustrup's quote is older than the iphone, a bit.

Robusto

6:35 PM

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 But you're right. Smashing sanctimonious rebound fucks in the teeth is another excellent use for them. The problem is, the new ones are so light i doubt they'd do enough damage.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@MrShinyandNew安宇 you mean computers are now easier to use than phones, a bit?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 no, I mean Jasper's comment about "they're making phones like the iphone too", which I infer to mean "They're making landlines which are as complicated as iphones" doesn't say anything about what Stroustrup was saying, since he said it way before the iphone came about.

user19161

The printers are quite complicated too. I even have to set the time before I can use my printer after switching off.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

and iphones are both phones and computers, so a phone is as easy to use as a computer, qed.

@JasperLoy you print stuff? like, on paper?

You don't just save the document to your smartphone/tablet/ereader?

user19161

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Very rarely.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

6:40 PM

I was pleased the other day when an insurance company let me scan a paper contract they gave me, so that I could email it to them with my signature on it. Beats mailing it or trying to figure out how to fax it.

Matt Эллен

less than 100 reps before the big 10K!

user19161

I prefer print books to ebooks. I guess there will always be print books, just like laptops won't fully replace desktops.

user19161

@MattЭллен Wow, very fast increase in rep recently!

Matt Эллен

I scored over 1K in both march and april

Robusto

►

Also good.

user19161

6:45 PM

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I don't quite get what it is trying to say, as usual.

Robusto

@JasperLoy @Reg is just telling you he loves you, in as threatening a way as he can.

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I'm experience meta-frustration at this.

user19161

@MattЭллен Maybe we are all robots too. All our actions are determined by our neurons from the day we were born.

Robusto

@MattЭллен Are you ready for that much responsibility? More to the point, did you remember to put on clean underwear?

Matt Эллен

Cleaner than the underwear I was previously wearing

Robusto

I guess that will have to do.

@JasperLoy My neurons get daily updates. It costs a little more, but it's worth the price.

Matt Эллен

6:54 PM

Well, I'll only need clean underwear when I actually breach 10K. the last question I answered is towards the bottom of the multicollider, so I won't be capping today

skullpatrol

@Robusto How did you set the viewing time on your Youtube post?

Robusto

Add t=n to the query string, where n is the number of seconds. Alternatively, t=1m32s (one minute, thirty-two seconds). You get the idea.

skullpatrol

Yes, thank you :D

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…