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00:45
@jlliagre You're getting better at that. 👍
01:06
@Robusto I do not underestimate the role played by luck here. Mañana será otro día... ¡No! ¡Mañana ya lo es!
@jlliagre I just hope my Globle advice helped a smidgen.
@Robusto Triangulation?
That and how to get a usable scale.
Yes. France is a convenient scale.
Here is tomorrow's Globle:
🌎 Mar 7, 2023 🌍
🔥 1 | Avg. Guesses: 6.5
⬜⬜🟧🟨🟧🟩 = 6

globle-game.com
#globle
You must be just after midnight.
I will have to wait till I wake up in the morning.
01:17
2:16 AM here
L'hexagone.
@jlliagre OK. You're 8 hours ahead of me.
@jlliagre For the purposes of Globle, 1000 km is not a lot different from 950 km. You lose at least 5% just by using your thumb and finger as a caliper for measurement purposes.
01:40
> So we go on preparing more months and years - precious, perhaps vital to the greatness of Britain - for the locusts to eat.
Contemporary slang term of the day: neurospicy. The new TikTok word for "neurodivergent."
Technical term of the day: shebang. The sequence of characters #!
I thought that maybe Churchill's "for the locusts to eat" was borrowed from the Scriptures, and googled..
> 35. If the hail destroyed every herb of the field, what was left for the locusts to eat? We use cookies to give you the best experience possible on our site.
Incidentally, someone should really write about the lexicography of TikTok, particularly the spread of libfixes like "-spicy."
libfixes?
In linguistics, a libfix is a productive bound morpheme affix created by rebracketing and back-formation, often a generalization of a component of a blended or portmanteau word. For example, walkathon was coined in 1932 as a blend of walk and marathon, and soon thereafter the -athon part was reinterpreted as a libfix morpheme meaning "event or activity lasting a long time or involving a great deal of something". Words formed with this suffix include talkathon, telethon, hackathon, and so on. Affixes whose morpheme boundaries are etymologically based, and which are used in their original sense,...
01:58
@CowperKettle Exactly, things like "-athon." "-spicy" might be a bad example; it's a whole word, not a component of a larger word.
In Russian, the flu is called grippe, borrowed from French
The Roman goddess of fever is Febris, after the word febris, fever. They were not particularly creative.
@alphabet Also things like -gate as in Scandalgate.
(Rome had a lot of deities that are just loosely personified common nouns, likely reflecting a less anthropomorphic view of deities than in, say, Greece.)
@Robusto Interesting fact: the -gate libfix was coined by Njxon's former speechwriter as (essentially) a form of whataboutism used to downplay Watergate.
@alphabet That is interesting. Which writer was that, Ben Stein?
Pat Buchanan, maybe?
02:08
@Robusto William Safire, the conservative columnist. iIRC.
Oh, that guy. The prescriptivist himself, coining playing fast and loose with the language in a way he forbade others to do.
@Robusto Also, the UK has had a "Gategate": en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plebgate
@alphabet I suppose it was inevitable.
02:35
@alphabet Yeah but a normal reader application on your phone will do that automatically.
I know about the saccades while reading, moving one's eyes continuously is probably hard to do in any situation?
03:11
@Cerberus It's how your brain prevents motion blur. IIRC, during a saccade your vision very briefly turns off--your brain just ignores any new (severely blurred) signals from your eyes. The saccades have to be short and fast so that the lost signal isn't noticeable.
@alphabet I was going to say that, probably to avoid ghosting / motion blur.
You can tell this if you look at the second hand of a clock and, right before it ticks, look away; it will look like the clock skipped a tick.
Even so, I still don't understand what Vikas meant.
Look away where?
I'm afraid I don't have clocks with hands any more.
> Recent Russian attacks along the front lines in eastern Ukraine were at first regarded as exploratory stages of Russia’s long-anticipated spring offensive, but are increasingly being seen by military analysts as the best that exhausted Russian forces can manage.
I wonder why analysts still appear to be very bad at assessing the power of the Russian army.
@Cerberus I suppose I haven't thought it was worth the trouble of getting such a reader given the trouble I have with non-books. Pretty much any website I go to, the type is so small so I have to expand it, and then I have to swipe back and forth to read a single line, and like @alphabet noted, it's hard to find the start of the next line when swiping back and forth.
@Mitch You don't need to swipe at all if you read in a normal reader application.
You only swipe to flip to the next page.
You can make the font as large as you want.
03:15
Most news websites (major newspapers) are OK fontsize wise though, but for whatever reason I tend not to look at the news on my phone.
@Cerberus For arbitrary web pages? (in chrome on my phone)
If you want to increase the font on websites without having to swipe left and right to read a single line, use Kiwi Browser and enable Text Reflow.
@Mitch For that, use Kiwi.
kiwi is a full browser?
Or any browser that supports text reflow.
I've never heard of it
@Cerberus yeah text reflow sounds like what I'd want
Yes, Kiwi is basically Chrome plus the ability to run any Chrome desktop extension plus other features.
@Mitch When you read a normal book in a normal reader application (not a web browser), it will always have text reflow.
03:17
@Cerberus The clock thing works but you have to try it a few times to get the timing just right--you need to look away, but to a place close enough that you can see the "missed tick," and you have to do it at exactly the right moment. But it's very noticeable once you get it right.
Ah, I understand.
@Cerberus also just the "reader" button in Safari on iOS/Mac
So you need a clock with a hand that indicated seconds?
@alphabet Sure, many browsers have those, but they are deficient.
They only work on some sites.
@Cerberus I'm looking at settings now (to see if Android chrome has text reflow). I'm playing with the accessibility options now.
Kiwi has that too, but it doesn't work consistently like text reflow.
@Mitch It does not.
03:19
@Cerberus You need one that ticks every second, rather than moving continuously. You can't look away after you see the clock tick, you have to anticipate when it's going to happen based on the timing, hence a clock.
I guess my eyes are getting older...I don't need glasses, it's just uncomfortable looknig at smaller type.
I searched for years until I accidentally found out that Kiwi had it, which I was already using because it can run all Chrome extensions.
@alphabet Yes, it makes sense.
Another hack: select all the text on the page and copy/paste it into the Notes app (or equivalent)
Just use Kiwi with text reflow if this bothers you regularly.
Use Kiwi anyway. It's the best browser.
Again, full extension support.
Yay!
I found a zoom feature (redoes layout) for Android chrome.
03:26
Oh, really?
Where can it be found?
Does it do proper text reflow?
Takes an extra click on any page you want it.
So not optimal
but an improvement
Anna Karenina, Here I come!
Goddamit
She dies at the end, doesn't she.
Better download AK as an EPUB file and open it in e.g. Mantano reader.
@Cerberus Yes.
Go to the URL chrome://flags
search for 'zoom'
Much more convenient than reading in a browser: you can have bookmarks, it remembers your position, you can flip pages and never need to scroll.
one of the flags is accessibility-page-zoom
03:28
I don't have that.
Enable it.
Maybe I need to update Chrome.
Restart chrome
OK then, on to War and Peace
goddammit
Napoleon loses, right?
OK, then David Copperfield.
I have no idea what that is about beyond some person named David Copperfield.
And he's some kind of magician?
Which one is right?

wrong evil horrible things
evil wrong horrible things
wrong horrible evil things
horrible wrong evil things
evil horrible wrong things
horrible evil wrong things
Chrome seems to be broken after the update.
It won't load any page any more, not even chrome://flags.
I don't use it anyway.
But I'll revert to a previous version.
03:39
Anyway, the idea of reading novels on your phone is moot for me. I have a Kindle, which I use all the time. I seldom read paper books anymore because the Kindle is just so handy. I know, Tom (@tchrist), this is anathema to you, but I get so much more reading done this way.
The best book is the one that you have with you.
2
Which in my case is my phone.
I usually don't carry any luggage when travelling.
@tchrist "Horrible wrong evil" sounds best to me, followed by "Horrible evil wrong." "Horrible" is a bit more extrinsic.
(Insofar as it's more related to the effect on others, rather than intrinsic qualities)
@Cerberus When I know I'm going to have time to read I take the Kindle. It's small enough to fit in my back pocket if I really want to. But it really isn't much to carry in any case.
You mean your trouser pocket?
Yes. Or a jacket pocket, preferably.
03:49
I would be scared to put any hard objects there.
Butt pocket.
Jacket could work, but I'd still be scared.
And I often won't wear a jacket in summer.
@tchrist I think "horribly wrong evil things" works for me.
@Robusto And indeed, that was the precise version upon which I settled.
@Cerberus Agreed. But in summer I wear shorts, usually with cargo pockets, and it fits well in those.
@tchrist Great minds.
03:51
Ancient minds.
I'm sure a larger, E-Ink screen is nicer, but it will probably not have access to standard dictionary formats that you can download? And no Internet access?
@Cerberus Well, if you have wifi it's not a problem. They used to use Whispernet, which worked anywhere, but of course that went away when 3G did.
@tchrist Also "horrible evil wrong" has a nice tricolon diminuens structure
That's where I started.
@tchrist I was thinking I'd add commas if there had to be so many seemingly coördinate adjectives.
Without, I'd prefer wrong evil horrible things.
I suppose from short to long is euphonioust to me.
@Robusto I may very well not have Wifi while travelling or waiting.
I could hotspot my phone, but that drains the battery and is a bit of a fuss.
03:54
@Cerberus Don't all the Euro trains have wifi?
Our trains do have Wifi.
Well, there you are.
Travel means airplanes to me.
@Cerberus Yeah, people tend to like it when modifiers get progressively longer or shorter in sequence (eg tricolon crescens/diminuens)
But trams, metros, buses: probably not.
03:55
Going to some foreign state.
Then there are other places where I might want to read, like waiting-rooms, tram stops, anywhere.
@tchrist Those have wifi too, if you want to pay for it.
paying for wifi seems...
wrong
like paying for music when you have 1) the radio and 2) youtube
Re tricolons: note the show is called Ed, Edd, and Eddy, not Ed, Eddy, and Edd
same with TV.
03:57
What are tricolons?
I only know of tricola.
He said we fly wee wfi flies, and flees.
but in (most?) European countries don't you have to bay a TV tax if you own a TV?
Germany, England... anywhere else?
We had that.
Maybe still do, not sure.
incentive not to have a TV
I haven't had a television for decades.
03:59
Yeah really, who the hell still watches tv?
as in major networks... old people?
Yeah, public television, which is still the most important channels, is free online.
younger people only know of downloadable things
oh.. in the US, Fox viewers.
@alphabet Yes, because that is a proper tricolon crescens.
@Cerberus Does "public television" mean something different to you than it does to me? Here it specifically means PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service.
04:08
@tchrist It means the television channels paid for and organised (indirectly) by the government.
Each public channel has programs made or bought by various broadcasting organisations.
Let's say it's a complicated system.
@Cerberus I'll start saying tricola as soon as I hear someone else say octopodes
Octopodes.
What are the antipodes of octopodes?
Anoctopodes?
@Cerberus I said hear, not read!
@Cerberus Wasn't he friends with Aristeides?
2
@alphabet I think this pronunciation is better, or at least it's how I would pronounce it.
Interesting article about transcribing English diphthongs: seas3.elte.hu/phono/notes/glides.html
04:32
Basically there's a case for transcribing English phonemes traditionally seen as diphthongs as instead consisting of a vowel + semivowel: englishspeechservices.com/blog/british-vowels
I haven't clicked on the link but I agree.
Like the a in late.
Or the i in like.
(This is for BrE, of course)
To me this seems right; the ordinary transcription irks me.
Well yes.
Although their goat is getting silly. Just use /ow/ in terminal positions and be done with it.
There are a lot of differences compared with American English, but the thrust to use a glide consonant for a diphthong makes sense anywhere.
It's the bad old notation that makes foreign learners pronounce things that none of us ever says.
Try to get them to say coordinate. Of course there's a /w/ between those first two syllables.
Lindsey has a video about all this.
@tchrist Yeah I saw his video. Are there people who "really" say these as diphthongs consistently?
04:47
It's a notational matter.
Other phonologists analyse these quite differently.
So every Spanish diphthong is always a vocalic nucleus coupled with a consonant glide either fore or aft, or both for triphthongs.
@CowperKettle Yeah, no matter how hard I try the metronome never sounds steady.
@tchrist Huh. I take it English is similar, we're just stuck with a somewhat nonsensical transcription
@alphabet I think so.
@tchrist This does help explain something. Reading the normal IPA transcriptions I've always had trouble figuring out why certain phonemes are represented as diphthongs, since they don't really seem to consist of a "shift" between the two vowel phonemes of which they are (supposedly) composed.
04:53
@Cerberus I'm not very sure now. I think text was responsive in that file I was reading. It adjusted depending on width.
@alphabet Some of it is that IPA transcriptions are dominated by British phonologists, and they have different vowels than we have. Like they really do say story with the lax THOUGHT vowel, whereas we have a tense /o/ there. Little changes like this percolate through the system.
@alphabet I use Kindle device actually, now. I increased space. But it has margins on borders which look good but I would like to sacrifice it for more text on one page.
@tchrist Huh, so for them the diphthongs are at least closer to consisting of the component vowel sounds. This explains why BrE "story" sounds kind of like "starry" to me.
Oh are you from the West Coast?
They have the vowel from "straw" there.
The Brits do.
But most young people from the West have lost that vowel.
Then there are the people from NYC who go way the other way and make everything hahribble.
@tchrist It sounds kind of like "starry," but not the same. (I'm from New England)
05:01
Like Trump.
He took a THOUGHT vowel in his horrible and lost its rounding, leaving the FATHER vowel.
@alphabet Oh that's right. So you hear more accents there than the west coast people do.
But many of us don't have THOUGHT in horrible, let alone FATHER. We have a harrible question somewhere about this.
8
A: Why do I pronounce "horrible" so harrhibly?

Peter Shor Pronouncing the words horror, horrible, and horrid (not to mention quarter) with the same vowel as sorry and starry is very common in New York City and its surrounding suburbs — in fact, it's kind of a give-away that identifies you as coming from that area (i.e., a shibboleth). So if you don't ...

There are a few dialects that round their FATHER-type vowels. Maw and Paw Kettle accents.
Grandpaw.
@tchrist Indeed. I seem to have the cot-caught merger in most but not all words, probably because you find both around here.
Of course, there are also people with the non-rhotic "Boston" accent. All fifteen of them. Plus the tour guides who fake it to sound more "authentic."
05:20
I don't have it anywhere. But I do have the father-bother merger; that is, unrounded lot.
The Pittsburgh accent merges cot-caught the other direction.
It's unusual.
Then there is the "awn" line (on).
@tchrist Incidentally: my high school had two students, Aaron and Erin. A bunch of my friends once ended up in a long argument about whether their names were homophones. (In retrospect this is just the Mary-marry-merry mergers.)
Yeah.
I had that same situation in my own high school class.
@Mitch When should I use "as in"? What does it mean? Does it mean similar to: 1) For example 2) Do you mean
Use it outside as inside. :)
🤔
05:36
@tchrist Don't take it to heart
06:02
Word of the day: sett ( small, square-cut piece of quarried stone used for paving and edging)
@CowperKettle Huh. TIL those aren't bricks. (Makes sense, I guess, since they're not formed out of clay.)
The same realization hit me like a sett.
But I'm not very upsett.
 
1 hour later…
07:22
@Mitch I got Chrome to work and changed the zoom setting.
But can't seem to find the option?
07:47
> The crane which refuses to leave its human saviour
08:04
Wordle 626 4/6

⬜⬜🟨⬜🟩
⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
 
2 hours later…
09:40
#Worldle #410 2/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨⬅️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
 
1 hour later…
10:51
Wordle 626 X/6

⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟨🟨⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
Daily Octordle #407
6️⃣7️⃣
8️⃣🔟
🕚🕛
4️⃣9️⃣
Score: 67
> "Bing, write the first chapter of Genesis as a corporate memo"
Not very good.
American football player by Salvador Dali
Why feed pellets? Let the animals fend for themselves; observe emergence of apex predators.
11:18
Yes. The neural net was not very creative here.
Daily Quordle 407
5️⃣6️⃣
4️⃣7️⃣
quordle.com
Daily Octordle #407
5️⃣🕛
4️⃣🕚
7️⃣🔟
6️⃣9️⃣
Score: 64
11:46
#Worldle #410 1/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
Oll korrekt
 
1 hour later…
13:00
In the Belgorod region which borders Ukraine, the number of crimes committed using firearms increased 50-fold compared with January 2022, reports the local police kommersant.ru/doc/5862681
The number of crimes involving the sale of illegal firearms doubled.
Putin is turning Russia into a USA.
Ah, wait, scratch that. It's due to shelling.
They are counting every stray shell as a crime.
@CowperKettle that sort of eyeroll-worthy behavior sounds straight from our rulebook
Once whataboutists believe their own BS they turn into impudent little brats
13:42
Yes, of course; nothing amusing at all. We must always maintain maximum rage against the sytem and never find any irony or humor in its machinations. Thank you comrade for correcting my wrongthink and providing this opportunity for personal growth. — Ben 8 hours ago
14:12
#Worldle #410 1/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
🌎 Mar 7, 2023 🌍
🔥 53 | Avg. Guesses: 4.89
⬜⬜🟧🟥🟨🟧🟩 = 7

globle-game.com
#globle
Wordle 626 3/6

⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
🟨⬛🟨🟨⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
#Worldle #410 1/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
⭐⭐🏙️🪙
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
I did not know the capital.
Daily Quordle 407
3️⃣4️⃣
7️⃣6️⃣
quordle.com
14:36
> The opera features a memorable operatic death in which the heroine throws herself into an avalanche. It is seldom performed, partly because of the difficulty of staging this scene.
Daily Octordle #407
3️⃣8️⃣
7️⃣🕚
🔟6️⃣
4️⃣5️⃣
Score: 54
@Mitch So coliform is not in today's Spelling Bee. I guess they run a clean operation at the NYT.
14:52
Coliform bacteria are defined as either motile or non-motile Gram-negative non-spore forming Bacilli that possess β-galactosidase to produce acids and gases under their optimal growth temperature of 35-37°C. They can be aerobes or facultative aerobes, and are a commonly used indicator of low sanitary quality of foods, milk, and water. Coliforms can be found in the aquatic environment, in soil and on vegetation; they are universally present in large numbers in the feces of warm-blooded animals as they are known to inhabit the gastrointestinal system. While coliform bacteria are not normally causes...
15:41
WotD: Danaïdean: of or relating to something infinite or impossible
In Greek mythology, the Danaïdes (; Greek: Δαναΐδες), also Danaides or Danaids, were the fifty daughters of Danaus. In the Metamorphoses, Ovid refers to them as the Belides after their grandfather Belus. They were to marry the 50 sons of Danaus' twin brother Aegyptus, a mythical king of Egypt. In the most common version of the myth, all but one of them killed their husbands on their wedding night, and are condemned to spend eternity carrying water in a sieve or perforated device. In the classical tradition, they came to represent the futility of a repetitive task that can never be completed (see...
hi
hi
how are you?
I’m alive
Me too
15:45
so that’s good.
You're right.
Hi @Mitch
Do you enjoy my WotD?
The context was "Yeah really, who the hell still watches tv?"
and I responded:
"as in major networks... old people?"
This was a lot of telegraphic (leaving out lots of inferencing and connecting explanation for:
"Who watches TV anymore"
"If you mean network TV like ABC CBS as opposed to Netflix or Amazon Prime, then I suppose the only people who still watch that is old people."
So yes I was kind of like both "For example" and "Do you mean". SO I could have said "For TV, do you mean for example ABC, CBS and similar major networks? If so, then old people are the ones who watch that and fewer younger people".
I hope that labored explanation helps.
@parz Hold on... going through my reply list!
@Cerberus Good! I was worried my questions led to you breaking your system.
@Mitch Worry not, for I would have reverted to an earlier version.
@Cerberus hm... different systems? I think the help page didn't tell me the right place but I found it anyway by clicking on different menus.
15:55
And now Chrome won't load pages any more.
@Robusto snort
lots of fiber?
So the newest version is just broken on my system.
you're talking about your phone or your laptop?
Still no option for text reflow.
Phone.
I don't have a laptop.
OK
15:56
And I don't normally use Chrome on any of my devices.
Well, that there is a lot of incentive to read on your phone.
What?
@Cerberus Do you use Safari?
Of course not.
@Cerberus If you only have the one electronic device, then your choices for where you eread are sort of made for you.
What browser do you normally use?
15:58
Why would I have only one device?
I use Firefox on my computer and Kiwi on my phone, as I told you above.
@Cerberus Oh... but the lnk I gave doesn't give an option for text reflow on resize. It just gives you more control over text size (and therefore how much tex appears on a line) -once-
@Cerberus Oh OK. I didn't see that (also I've never heard of Kiwi, so I didn't recognize that for what it was).
And now the old version of Chrome I have restored doesn't work either.
13 hours ago, by Cerberus
If you want to increase the font on websites without having to swipe left and right to read a single line, use Kiwi Browser and enable Text Reflow.
I explained Kiwi here at least four times.
@CowperKettle That's awful. I'm so sorry.
Ok old Chrome does work.
@Cerberus I'm slow.
16:02
Next time, I will just remain silent.
My apologies
@parz OK. Now I've caught up
WotD? Which word? Which day?
23 mins ago, by parz
WotD: Danaïdean: of or relating to something infinite or impossible
23 mins ago, by parz
In Greek mythology, the Danaïdes (; Greek: Δαναΐδες), also Danaides or Danaids, were the fifty daughters of Danaus. In the Metamorphoses, Ovid refers to them as the Belides after their grandfather Belus. They were to marry the 50 sons of Danaus' twin brother Aegyptus, a mythical king of Egypt. In the most common version of the myth, all but one of them killed their husbands on their wedding night, and are condemned to spend eternity carrying water in a sieve or perforated device. In the classical tradition, they came to represent the futility of a repetitive task that can never be completed (see...
@parz Got it. I am not very familiar with that particular myth
Sort of the woman's version of Sisyphus?
But actually realistic?
Yeah.
Like picking up socks.
It's never ending.
16:06
The one who didn’t, Hypermnestra, her son started the Danaid dynasty.
You pick up one (it's always one) and then later on there's another (of course, not matching)
Narrator: those are his own socks that he's complaining about
@parz I suppose that means the other women didn't find a backup?
No,they did…
before they died.
Oh?
They just didn't have sons who created remembered dynasties?
Yeah,they died, went to Tartarus, and became female Sisyphi.
Or is it Sisyphuses.
?
Aren't the Danaides the Phoenician's? or something like that... the settlers of Carthage?
@parz Sisyphides.
16:10
No, founders of Argos.
Sons of the founder, at least.
@parz I need a map.
In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; Ancient Greek: Δαναός Danaós) was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's Iliad, "Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and "Argives" commonly designate the Greek forces opposed to the Trojans. == Family == === Parents and siblings === Danaus, was the son of King Belus of Egypt and the naiad Achiroe, daughter of the river god Nilus, or of Sida, eponym of Sidon. He was the twin brother of Aegyptus, king of Egypt while Euripides adds two others, Cepheus, King of Ethiopia and Ph...
Argos (; Greek: Άργος [ˈarɣos]; Ancient and Katharevousa: Ἄργος [árɡos]) is a city in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and the oldest in Europe. It is the largest city in Argolis and a major center for the area. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been part of the municipality of Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 138.138 km2. It is 11 kilometres (7 miles) from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour. A settlement of great antiquity, Argos has been continuously inhabited as...
16:22
Argh... I was thinking of Dido, not Danaus. mixed up something about north Africa?
Yeah.
What I find interesting is that these Greek myths seem to be very... cosmopolitan? International?
I always hated the African map.
@parz Has north African always been so arid and uninhabitable in historic times?
I don’t think so.
16:25
Anyway, the Greeks seem to be very intertwined with all the other very different ethnicities around the Mediterranean.
I wonder if Egyptus in the Danaus myth had any possible correspondence with an actual Egyptian pharaoh? Do you know @Cerberus?
I don't know.
WIKIPEDIA TO THE RESCUE!
@parz Have you been saved?
> The Greek forms were borrowed from Late Egyptian (Amarna) Hikuptah or "Memphis", a corruption of the earlier Egyptian name
O6 t
pr D28 Z1 p
t H
(⟨ḥwt-kȝ-ptḥ⟩ 𓉗 𓏏𓉐𓂓𓏤𓊪 𓏏 𓎛), meaning "home of the ka (soul) of Ptah", the name of a temple to the god Ptah at Memphis.
Wikipedia can’t save us now…
I’m proud I can read some of that @Cerberus
I’ve been learning hieroglyphics
16:30
Good!
Writing them is horrid though.
I can see why scribes were needed.
 
4 hours later…
20:19
What's the reason for the omission of /t/ in "wassup"? The spelling "wassup" seems to reflect the fact that "what's up" is often pronounced without the [t]; I don't think there's a glottal stop there so this isn't just t-glottalization.
21:04
@alphabet Just dropping the t
nothing special other than reduction of a consonant cluster under fast speech.
It's uncool to say 'people be lazy' but cripes a contraction is dropping a vowel why not the 't' too
like 'Ima' for 'I'm going to' or 'I dunno' for 'I don't know'
Bing offers a Kantian analysis of the choice to work on the Death Star.
22:20
@Robusto OMG you don't want to know what word they did accept.
You'll see tomorrow in 'yesterdays' answers.
I just tried some crazy ones and one got accepted
@Mitch Did it start with a C and have 9 letters?
@CowperKettle That is pretty good, if it is real.
22:45
@Mitch ^
 
1 hour later…
23:56
@Robusto wants to answer so badly

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