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Cerberus
Cerberus
12:48 AM
@Mitch Many social norms are progressing, at least in many places, including yours and mine.
They don't change overnight.
At any rate, we don't have the demographic thrust that the Persian youth have.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
1:18 AM
@Robusto I love jingles. Of the good ol' days. As a kid I would sit down and try to figure them out by ear. And we didn't even have many. Commercials had only just been invented in Russia. So everyone was getting crazy creative. Then I moved to Germany and it was like a treasure trove. Mind=blown. Everyone had a wonderful memorable melody of their own. Milka. Lenor. Coca-Cola. You couldn't force me at gunpoint to say they were shit.
Then things deteriorated.
First people stopped writing original music, just grabbed stuff from the public domain. Like Nokia with Tárrega. Or everyone and his dog with Tchaikovsky or Beethoven.
And nowadays they don't even do that anymore. Nowadays yes it's all shit all the time. All of it. All the time. You say they have "that kind of money", well I dunno what the fuck they now spend all that kind of money on, but certainly not on music.
They just go to a music library.
It's like $9.99/month for them. Nathan East won't even come over to your place for that kind of money. It wouldn't even cover his travel expenses. He can't compete.
So they go to the lib instead, and everything sounds the same there, and they just pick whatever, and it all sounds the same.
I can't tell you how often I have to skip a YouTube commercial in utter disgust, not because it's too long, not because it's for something I don't care for, but because from the second the music starts playing you go "yup, you fuckers went to a sound library and just grabbed whatever".
It's all boilerplate garbage. Best talent my ass. Anyone can write fifty of those in a day. Everyone does write fifty of those in a day.
I'd love me a good old banal jingle. It may have been banal, but it was one of a kind.
That was the whole point.
That you could tell Toyota from Nestle.
You can't anymore.
Maybe that's only fair, since Toyota is probably owned by Nestle at this point anyway.
P. S.: true story. I only ever started watching Two and a Half Men because in the first season Charlie Sheen's character would sit at the piano and write jingles. That was his job. Well they got rid of all of that, didn't they. The second season had no jingles. Next the piano had to go. Then Charlie Sheen's character's basically had no job. Then Charlie Sheen lost his.
 
 
1 hour later…
Robusto
Robusto
2:58 AM
@RegDwigнt Well, they sure don't make jingles like they used to. Consider this from the (probably) early '60s:
Even 30 years ago, when I was still doing beer commercials, we would spend mucho money on production. I got to fly to Dublin and produce a set of six radio (radio!) spots using The Chieftains, with music composed by Bill Whelan.
My original idea was to produce an American "Irish" group that I'd heard on NPR, and I was going to sell that idea on how inexpensive it would be to produce. "Fuck that," the brand manager said. "Let's get somebody real."
And this was for radio spots that would run for St. Patrick's Day. Maybe a week or so. And never heard from again.
BTW, Paddy Moloney gave me a pennywhistle that I still have.
I tried his and, given my flute/recorder background, I was able to duplicate the melody he'd been playing, then did it again with some ornamentation. Whelan laughed and said "That'll teach you to let someone else play your instrument, Paddy."
Afterward we all went out and got roaring drunk.
BTW, remind me to tell you about pub crawls in Dublin. Pro tip: don't drink more than one pint per pub. That way you might last halfway through the evening.
 
 
6 hours later…
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
9:10 AM
@Mitch gall bladder surgeons are just the right size to grab thing from under the dresser for me. liver surgeons are too big, kidney surgeons are too small. Gotta be gall bladder
 
 
1 hour later…
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
10:39 AM
@Robusto probably the only person still going to such lengths today is Walter Murphy with the Family Guy. And for not unsimilar returns, mind. Nobody watches a Family Guy episode twice. Hell, nobody watches Family Guy.
Direct link to time stamp. He goes through his process of scoring a spoof commercial from the 50s. Much like the video you posted, which is why I immediately felt reminded of it.
From a sketch on a napkin through a DAW mockup to recording with orchestra and singers.
Might be an even more interesting watch for you than it was for me.
> Writing for television, it's kind of like writing for the theater, where you have to presume that the audience is only going to hear the song one time. They can't look at the lyrics on the back of a jacket or anything. So the lyrics have to be set in a very concise way that's very intelligible.
There was a point where I stopped watching Family Guy altogether. But I would always go and seek out Murphy's musical numbers. There's something about his tunes that is utterly brilliant. Really fantastic music, really catchy, and really well produced.
He's a really gifted songwriter. I'm always jealous of everything he does. Christmas Time is Killing Us, All I Really Want For Christmas, Bag of Weed, Shipoopy. Note for note, pure genius.
 
 
2 hours later…
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
12:35 PM
@skullpatrol here's one that's alright.
The mix is questionable in places, and it was full of ads at least for me. But yeah it's Karajan and Hendricks and the Wiener Phil. Not too shabby.
As I said, I most liked the first two movements and the last two. So if you don't have 80 minutes to spare, that's where I'd personally start.
And if you are looking for the gargantuan triple-forte tutti, start at around the 54-minute mark. And then let it run for at least five minutes. Because every time you think surely that's all he's got, I guarantee you he'll kick it up yet another notch.
Kids these days don't even know what "epic" really means anymore.
 
RegDwigнt
RegDwigнt
12:51 PM
If you're more into watching pictures move, you can check out
It's really quite a show, admittedly. Watching 60 string players almost saw their instruments in half.
At the concert I was at, there was that one lady at one of the six double basses. A gorgeous blonde, very slender, very delicate fingers. A brittle creature of beauty. But the sheer brute force she applied to the bow was beyond description. Every time I started watching her I almost couldn't look away again.
@Robusto also, I forgot to mention, from where I was sitting this time I couldn't see the harpists, just their hands. And they were so perfectly in sync, I don't even know what adjectives to use to describe it.
Not just playing the notes (obviously, duh), but everything in-between. All the sweeping arm movements and tiny little gestures. How'd they prepare for playing, or put their hands away. Tilt their instruments. I could only ever see the hands. Always perfectly in sync. It was like watching artistic swimming.
 
 
2 hours later…
Mitch
Mitch
3:03 PM
@Malavika Kerala?
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
windows keyboard shortcuts clearly invented by an emacs user.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattE.Эллен Gall bladder surgeons = Goldilocks.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
> Windows logo key + Ctrl + Shift + number
how do my fingers do that?
@Mitch why they're only found on earth, though theorised to have been on Mars in the past
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattE.Эллен most command lines (linux, windows) use emacs bindings - ctrl-a beginning of line, ctrl-d delete char, ctrl-e end of line, ctrl-k kill to end of line.
@MattE.Эллен That wasn't in the story.
@Malavika What do you think about the conservatives in Kerala?
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
@Mitch once upon a time... a solar system formed? first goldilocks tried to live on mercury. "that's too hot". then she tried to live on Mars. "that's too cold. Then goldilocks found earth. "That'll be just right in a few billion years."
 
Mitch
Mitch
3:12 PM
@MattE.Эллен The bears on Earth wouldn't care much for that.
Bears. Crikey.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
@Mitch as burglars will tell you, if you don't want to get robbed, don't put porridge on the table.
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattE.Эллен Burglars are very open about their business.
There is honor among thieves.
Wait...
Isn't it 'There is no honor among thieves.'?
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
both, I think
depends on who is saying it
 
Mitch
Mitch
lupus lupum, fus furem, somethy somethum some-latin-verb-about-trust
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
if the burglars are watching your house, who watches the burglars?
 
Mitch
Mitch
3:24 PM
Surveillance cameras. They're -everywhere-
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
good point
 
Mitch
Mitch
Which means there's a lot of those surveillance camera operators who are watching something else, probably youtube, instead of the burglars.
because there are still burglars.
it took me a while but I got to my point.
@Malavika I know very little about Kerala.
I don't even know how to pronounce 'malayali'.
Is it 'MA luh LAH lee'?
Or is it 'muh LAY uh lee'?
I knew that India is fairly conservative socially, and that Kerala had very high literacy rates (but 100%? That's gotta be made up)
And that Kerala was run by a communist party.
But I didn't know (if Quora is to be trusteed (and that's not a given)) is that Kerala is -very- socially conservative.
Whatever any of that means
You know. Words. What do they mean?
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
whatever I decide them to. that's right. I'm the duly elected arbiter of English
just don't ask me for a definition when the internet is down
 
Mitch
Mitch
3:41 PM
Senator Matt Ellen, I served with Jack Kennedy Humpty Dumpty. I knew Jack Kennedy Humpty Dumpty. Jack Kennedy Humpty Dumpty was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy Humpty Dumpty.
@Malavika Close. The US.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
@Mitch If you look at me, am I not egg shaped? (don't answer that)
If I fall from a wall, can I not ever be put back together again?
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattE.Эллен I... uh...
averts eyes
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
it's for the best
 
Mitch
Mitch
@MattE.Эллен Doctors can do a bunch of stuff.
I mean ... face transplants.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
@Mitch if a horse can't do it, I don't see how a doctor could.
 
Mitch
Mitch
3:50 PM
@Malavika That is a bunch of Americans and Brits. What do they know?
I'm not sure why they brought horses into it. I mean... hooves?
Uh oh... guests!
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
baton down the hatches. put all skeletons back in cupboards
possibly in the other order
I feel like I've made that joke before
I can't find it. I'm being original :D
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@Mitch I would rather do a face transplant with a cactus than John Travolta
 
tchrist
tchrist
@Malavika You're using get very weirdly.
You will not be correctly understood by most native speakers if you do that.
@M.A.R. I was unaware that doing John Travolta was even an option.
@Malavika You should use understand when that's what you mean. The limited use of "getting" a joke's humor is rather more restricted.
I've noticed that certain ESL speech communities seem to use the verb get in ways curious to native speakers. I'm not sure how that particular use has gained such widespread use there.
It's not that it cannot ever be used that way. It's that this is a very uncommon use. Normally the verb means either to possess or to receive/fetch.
And it's the relative frequencies of occurrence that cause native speakers to misunderstand you when you choose an uncommon sense for a common situation.
The sense of "to figure out" is not an especially common one.
> There was one question on the test whose answer I just couldn't ______.
You might be able to use it there.
> I just couldn't figure out the answer to one test question.
Might be better.
> I got three wrong answers. / I got three answers wrong.
That's more normal for get.
@Malavika Yes.
Indeed.
If someone says something to you very quickly but you could not quite hear which words they were saying, that's one thing. But if they made a point using logic that didn't seem to follow, that's another.
Now and then people will use get for the first of those two scenarios, but never for the second.
> I didn't quite get what you were saying.
> I didn't understand your reasoning.
Those are two different things.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
4:16 PM
And if it's random gargling while making a point, "underget"
 
tchrist
tchrist
If a joke relies on word play that someone else doesn't understand, then you could say that the listener didn't get the joke. That a perfectly common way to say that.
But if they simply found it to be not funny, then they got the joke but still didn't laugh because they didn't think it deserved to be called a joke. :)
Another common way to use get is We got the message but there it somewhat means received.
Then there's the expression "Got you", sometimes written "Got ya" or "Gotcha" to mimic its pronunciation.
That's how I would understand that.
The message came through loud and clear, so to speak.
@M.A.R. You sound German! :)
@Malavika No no, us from you!
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@tchrist Ich have been lerne Deutsch zeit zwei months.
Work in progress . . .
Is it already showing?
 
tchrist
tchrist
Depends on whether it's being unterschreiben bei anderes forzas del destino.
And yes, the case is wrong on "others" but I was halfway to Italian bei den.
@Malavika awwwwwwww
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@Malavika Not a German
Only grown up cats are German
 
tchrist
tchrist
@M.A.R. Muschis cannot be German? :)
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
4:28 PM
Grown up != adult
 
tchrist
tchrist
@Malavika Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Good news: For now, we've been left on our own
5
Q: Why is the "Through the loop" banner only on Stack Overflow?

AlexWhen I happened to visit Stack Overflow today, I noticed a banner advertising the "Through the loop" survey: However, I hadn't seen this banner on any other site on the network: Is this status-by-design? Is "Through the loop" only meant for Stack Overflow and not the rest of the network? D...

support stack-overflow notification-bar the-loop
 
tchrist
tchrist
blames the earthnuts
@M.A.R. Again I say unto you that it is easier for a camel to pass through the loop of a needle than for a man to become rich by selling off a rotten company to duped investors.
Oh wait, it's only Thursday not Sunday, sorry.
More Mjölnir, less sharing of plows.
I Am a Strange Loop
I Am a Strange Loop is a 2007 book by Douglas Hofstadter, examining in depth the concept of a strange loop to explain the sense of "I". The concept of a strange loop was originally developed in his 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach. In the end, we are self-perceiving, self-inventing, locked-in mirages that are little miracles of self-reference. Hofstadter had previously expressed disappointment with how Gödel, Escher, Bach, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1980 for general nonfiction, was received. In the preface to its 20th-anniversary edition, Hofstadter laments that the book was perceived as a...
˙əɹəɥ sɐʍ snᴉqo̤Ɯ
Man it's hard to type upsidedown.
Froot Loops
Froot Loops is a brand of sweetened, fruit-flavored breakfast cereal produced by Kellogg's and sold in many countries. The cereal pieces are ring-shaped (hence "loops") and come in a variety of bright colors and a blend of fruit flavors (hence "froot", a cacography of fruit). However, there is no actual fruit in Froot Loops and they are all the same flavor. Kellogg's introduced Froot Loops in 1963. Originally, there were only red, orange and yellow loops, but green, blue and purple were added during the 1990s. Different methods of production are used in the UK where, due to the lack of natural...
WHY NO PIX!?
Bastards.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@tchrist Just so he knows, his strips are lying all around the place. What is he, five, he should come and clean them up
 
tchrist
tchrist
Si, Leonardo, é più facile così.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
4:39 PM
@tchrist do you guys not find that very black beak in the middle distracting?
@Malavika I guess you'd be slow for the first couple of sentence but after that no
 
tchrist
tchrist
@M.A.R. It's a sort of leaden ballast to keep the image from becoming top-heavy and falling over.
Lowers its center of gravity.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
"Ballast" TIL
 
tchrist
tchrist
It forces your eye to the strange loops ascending in glorious rapture into your waiting maw.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
I will never forget the genius of fruit flakes or whatever they are now
 
tchrist
tchrist
Frosted Flakes?
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
4:44 PM
@tchrist Also sets your eye on a golden ring and makes you worship it
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
Museli?
 
tchrist
tchrist
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Mordor Inc. is a favorite company for many
Run by Palpatine now
 
tchrist
tchrist
@M.A.R. There can be only one.™
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
They sound painful. I wouldn't wanna eat pine cones for breakfast
Just cultural differences
 
tchrist
tchrist
4:49 PM
@Malavika Alpen-brand muesli? Alas, I do.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
 
tchrist
tchrist
But preferably the kind with sugar.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
I can't help but think they're really looking awkward
 
tchrist
tchrist
Otherwise you can add honey.
@M.A.R. That's a mite odd.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Like, did they pronounce the words at gunpoint? What is it with the expressions on their face?
 
tchrist
tchrist
4:55 PM
@M.A.R. At least some of those, probably all, are computer-generated simulations.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
@tchrist Well sure, I was just joking
It doesn't make them any better though
 
tchrist
tchrist
Is Malayali supposed to syllabify as ma-la-ya-li or as ma-lay-al-i?
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
Why not just a subtle smile
Ma-laaaaaa . . .
 
tchrist
tchrist
ma-lei-al-li?
oh.
Malay is ma'lei, right?
Or is it ma'lai?
I can't be arsed to typo proper IPA.
 
M.A.R.
M.A.R.
What is Malayali anyway? The local version of "Malay"?
 
tchrist
tchrist
4:57 PM
I think so.
ok good, I'm not creizi.
Malayalam
Malayalam (; Malayalam: മലയാളം, Malayāḷam ? [mələjaːɭəm]) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India spoken by nearly 2.88% of Indians. Malayalam has official language status in the state of Kerala and in the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé) and is spoken by 37 million people worldwide. Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with significant number of speakers in the Nilgiris, Kanyakumari...
Malay language
Malay (; Malay: Bahasa Melayu, بهاس ملايو‎) is an Austronesian language spoken in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as parts of Thailand. A language of the Malays, it is spoken by 290 million people across the Strait of Malacca, including the coasts of the Malay Peninsula of Malaysia and the eastern coast of Sumatra in Indonesia and has been established as a native language of part of western coastal Sarawak and West Kalimantan in Borneo. It is also used as a trading language in the southern Philippines, including the southern parts of the Zamboanga Peninsula, the Sulu Archipelago...
Okay, these are unalike.
Prithee how dost thou schedule a language?
@Malavika So I have just now learned, however little this new knowledge decreases the numberless infinities of my ignorance.
What is a "scheduled language" in the nation of India?
Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India
The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages of the Republic of India. At the time when the Constitution was enacted, inclusion in this list meant that the language was entitled to representation on the Official Languages Commission, and that the language would be one of the bases that would be drawn upon to enrich Hindi, the official language of the Union. The list has since, however, acquired further significance. The Government of India is now under an obligation to take measures for the development of these languages, such that "they grow rapidly in richness...
Huh.
> ... and that the language would be one of the bases that would be drawn upon to enrich Hindi, the official language of the Union
That's curious.
It makes it sound like Hindi is "allowed" to borrow words from those 22 language, but not from others.
Honestly, I know nothing.
> English, along with Hindi, is one of the two languages permitted in the Constitution of India for business in Parliament. Despite the fact that Hindi has official Government patronage and serves as a lingua franca over large parts of India, there was considerable opposition to the use of Hindi in the southern states of India, and English has emerged as a de facto lingua franca over much of India.
The reason there are so many languages spoken by the peoples of the subcontinent is that it has been occupied by people for so very long. If it had first been settled by humans a hundred years ago and not before, you would not have this situation. :)
How many different languages does the average non-governmental person of India read?
I see.
I realize why these charts and maps focus on the current nation of India, but I often wish they could be "zoomed out" to cover the entire subcontinent, meaning here the geographic region surrounded by the Indian Ocean comprising the current nations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Because I suspect that the "linguistic genetics" disregards national boundaries.
So you are a Karelite from Kerala?
The far south-south-western edge?
I don't know the proper demonym.
And cannot seem to manage to pronounce Malayali. :)
Let alone Thiruvananthapuramanian.
Looks Welsh, franky. :)
@Malavika Micro-kitten!
I think Indian words really need spaces in them just like German words really do.
Thiru-vanan-thapu-ramanian.
Yes, and so is Scheibenwischer but wind shield wiper reads more easily to me.
Too many letters!
Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän.
= Danube steamship company captain
I know.
Not even septasyllabically needs 7 syllables. :)
Cryptobiologically.
@Malavika Oh thank heavens!
"Triv"
"Triv" I can say.
 
Matt E. Эллен
Matt E. Эллен
5:24 PM
all these longwords in otherlanguages are inconsiderate to Englishspeakers. χρησιμοποιώ ελληνικά για παράδειγμα
 
tchrist
tchrist
Yo my dudes lets us be off to Triv now!
blames Sanskrit
The problem for us is that we cannot "see" any individual morphemes (units of meaning) inside these very long words.
With something like cryptobiologically we can see many individual components.
But with Thiruvananthapuram, we cannot, being ignorant.
Even with Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän we can see individual components if we squint long enough, at least some of us can.
pseudoanthropomorphologically
pseudo + anthropo + morpho + logical + ly
Graecum est non potest legi.
Does each piece mean something to you, or are those just the syllables?
Best morpho ever!
I did indeed blame Sanskrit!
> 1980 Eng. World-wide 1 i. 16 Restrictions increasingly imposed on schools operating in Chinese, leading ultimately to their Malayanization.
word
HURRAY
That is what I was looking for.
Divide and conquer.
I am reminded of the god Tristangrascalaticrunagore from author Steven Brust's Dragaera cycle.
 
tchrist
tchrist
5:56 PM
The books are fun to read.
This search suggests that there is.
 
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