English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

user19161

6:00 PM

@tchrist I am a minimalist. I don't want 9000 accounts on the internet.

user19161

See, now I can't even delete my youtube account unless I delete my google account!

user19161

See, now I can't even delete my gravatar account!

Shog9

@JasonBourne that sounds handy. Less accounts to delete!

user19161

See, now I can't even remember which accounts I have on the internet!

tchrist

@JasonBourne Would you like me to check for you? :)

user19161

6:01 PM

@tchrist Haha, no. I don't think you can check that easily, even if you own google.

tchrist

You already have 9000 IP addresses in Singapore. Why not have 9000 Internet accounts to go with them?

user19161

@Shog9 You must be in cahoots with google!

user19161

I deleted my sourceforge account, my facebook account, my friendster account, and my linuxmint account.

Shog9

@JasonBourne Naw. Just looking forward to the day I can click one button and disappear everywhere.

Cerberus

OMG you have deleted your Linuxmint??

user19161

6:03 PM

The only online accounts I have now are google, stackexchange and gravatar.

user19161

@Cerberus It was just a forum.

Shog9

@JasonBourne Since you use Google for your SE account, you can effectively stop access to that too by cancelling one account.

tchrist

@JasonBourne You had a Facebook account? You had a Friendster account? And you just admit that in public? I thought your confession about dating that hermaphrodite was bad, but this is just going too far.

Cerberus

What's next, you're cancelling your apartment? Your health insurance?

user19161

@tchrist Haha, I have not done any deeds to be ashamed of in this life. Small mistakes yes, but not anything I am afraid to let the world know...

user19161

6:09 PM

However, various people have condemned me for various things, things which are not wrong according to my conscience.

tchrist

@Shog9 If you guys don’t think IP tracking in chat via images is worth getting concerned about, then I won’t either. It did come as a surprise to most people here, including those with lots of experience who just had never thought it through. But you have more important things to worry about. (no sarcasm; that is exactly what I mean)

user19161

I can explain to them my perspective, but they probably lack the wisdom to understand it in this lifetime.

tchrist

Thanks for stopping by. Don’t rubberize the eggs.

user19161

Also, they probably lack the motivation to even try to understand my perspective. I consider them lesser mortals.

user19161

And I am not having delusions of grandeur here. I am just sick and tired of all these people.

user19161

6:14 PM

@cerb I see your answer has gotten 3 upvotes so far...

Cerberus

Oh, has it? And yours?

tchrist

Is there any way for me to search within my own comment history?

On the main site, not here?

user19161

@tchrist Yes, filter by comments under activity.

user19161

Oh search, I don't know.

tchrist

There are a hundred and sixty-one pages there. I can’t do a visual grep on that.

user19161

6:16 PM

@Cerberus 3-1, thanks to Kris.

tchrist

And that even after deleting hundreds and hundreds of them.

I talk too much.

Cerberus

@tchrist Yeah just give me an orderly list.

@JasonBourne Oh, really?

user19161

@Cerberus Well, I think the downvote probably came from him.

Cerberus

At least your balance is 2 now.

user19161

I am glad the asker unaccepted his wrong answer.

user19161

6:19 PM

If that is the accepted answer, I ragequit.

user19161

Also, the asker even said his wrong answer was brilliant!

user19161

So I facepalm.

user19161

@tchrist I am just curious, how far is the nearest supermarket from your home? I just want to have an idea of what it is like there.

Cerberus

How far is it from your house?

user19161

Well, about 10 min walk away.

Cerberus

6:22 PM

OK.

2 minutes here.

tchrist

:7655763 Look here. There is a grocery store right next to North Boulder Liquor up in the northeast corner of the map, on Broadway.

Oh. The scale depends on zoom. Sorry.

user19161

Ah, and the lions are just around the corner...

tchrist

It is about 4, maybe 5 blocks to the east-northeast of me.

Which tells you nothing.

The important thing is the z axis.

It’s a fair ways downhill, so is easy to get to but a bit more tedious coming back.

user19161

@Shog9 Only one at a time! OK, not too bad, no need for me to raise a post then.

tchrist

user19161

6:29 PM

Oh dear, more images...

tchrist

They’re imgur images.

I’m not tracking them.

Cerberus

@tchrist How many minutes or km on foot?

user19161

I am not afraid of you tracking me. I am not a terrorist.

tchrist

@Cerberus hm?

Cerberus

Approximately.

tchrist

6:31 PM

@Cerberus 10 down, 15 up. Half that if you really hustle.

Cerberus

OK.

That's not too far.

tchrist

I said it is only like 4 or 5 blocks, but downhill.

Cerberus

I don't know what size blocks are.

Shog9

@JasonBourne First they came to track the terrorists, and Jason said nothing because he was not a terrorist...

Cerberus

We don't have blocks.

And I don't really see a square pattern on your map?

user19161

6:33 PM

@Shog9 Wow, this line is too deep for me, I need to think about it...

tchrist

Cerberus

@Shog9 So ehm what do you think about the image-loading question I posted? Do you think something should/can be done about this?

tchrist

@Cerberus Of course you have blocks. A block is the distance from one street to the next, by definition.

Shog9

@Cerberus defaulting to small / thumb-sized images?

I'd be fine with that.

Cerberus

@tchrist Okay, that's not too far.

tchrist

6:35 PM

@Shog9 I think you can see how nervous I am about revealing my own location info. :)

Shog9

note to self: if ever visiting Boulder, walk to tchrist's house, peer in windows

user19161

@Shog9 And report back to us!

tchrist

Why not, everybody else does?

I have deer and foxes and racoons and skunks peering in my windows like constantly. Sometimes bears.

user19161

@shog Nice beard you have.

Shog9

@tchrist maybe he's in one of those crazy little villages where every street intersects with every other street, repeatedly?

Cerberus

6:37 PM

@Shog9 I proposed either uploading all linked online images to Imgur automatically, and displaying a clickable thumbnail in chat; or generating a thumbnail in the browser of the uploading at the time of uploading, which links to the original online image.

@tchrist This is stalkable.

tchrist

@Shog9 He lives amongst the canals of Amsterdam. They have a circular pattern.

Cerberus

What are the blocks here?

That's my neighbourhood.

tchrist

A block’s walk is from one intersection to the next.

It is a linear not a square measure.

user19161

@cerb You misspelled thermometer as thermometre that day. A meter measures, but a metre is a length.

tchrist

@JasonBourne That one is always yard to spell.

Cerberus

6:38 PM

@tchrist I don't know, it doesn't sound...appropriate if you have no rectanglar...groups of houses.

user19161

Note that the instrument in physics labs is the micrometer screw gauge, because it is a meter for measuring, though it measures in micrometres.

tchrist

When someone says walk down this street for five blocks, then turn left, they mean to walk to the fifth intersection.

Cerberus

@JasonBourne Oh no!!!

tchrist

It does not matter that those intersections are not equidistant. It is simply counting them.

Cerberus

@tchrist I would simply say "take the fifth street on the left".

Or something to that effect.

tchrist

6:40 PM

Then I would walk the wrong way first.

I would walk left for five streets.

Not down the street for five, then turn left.

Cerberus

@tchrist Well, you were using them to measure distance...and this distance was not immediately apparent, so I asked how far your 4–5 blocks were.

tchrist

It was not a bad question.

A city block in a residential area is like what, six or eight houses between intersections? Something like that. Not sure.

Maybe fewer.

Cerberus

@tchrist What does that mean?

The fifth street on the left means count streets on your left as you pass them, and take the fifth one.

tchrist

If told me to take the fifth street on the left, I would walk left for five streets, not straight for five streets.

Maybe to you.

user19161

Just an interesting observation. Many people on SE seem to have dogs, cats or beards...

Cerberus

6:43 PM

@tchrist Well, not here, and I didn't see regular blocks on your map.

tchrist

I am not good with verbal directions that involve complex convolutions of left and right.

Cerberus

@tchrist Uhh do I need to teach you English?? That it should come to this!

@JasonBourne I have none of those things. I am one.

tchrist

I have topographic amnesia. It will not work.

user19161

@Cerberus Same here. Let's get married. =)

Cerberus

Uhh...there is a reason I don't have them, you know.

user19161

6:44 PM

@tchrist Topographic amnesia?

user19161

@Cerberus You are allergic to hair?

Cerberus

@tchrist So do I, that is, any sense of direction is offensive to my subconscious, and remembering routes is like memorising a phone book.

tchrist

@JasonBourne I can’t sort out left and rights in my head. I tend to draw maps that are only correct in the mirror. I always turn the wrong direction when repeating paths.

Cerberus

I can only work with maps.

tchrist

Exactly.

Cerberus

6:46 PM

I like maps. They work.

user19161

@tchrist I can't give people walking directions even though I can walk there myself.

tchrist

Best of all is big giant landmarks a few miles in the sky.

user19161

@Cerberus I can't work with maps either.

Cerberus

Those only serve to guide you in a general direction...we have churches everywhere, luckily.

user19161

Also, I can't swim properly. Also, I can't cycle. Hopeless right?

tchrist

6:47 PM

I think there are other names for these syndromes.

Cerberus

But you can't see them unless you're on a square, or if one is at the end of a straight street.

@JasonBourne Really? But they are so convenient!

A church is 100 m from my house, but I can only see it if I walk to the next canal.

tchrist

All the greenbelts are lions’ nests here. Plus there are unmarked greenbelts along Silver Lake Ditch where they like to lurk and pounce. Grass attracts deer. Deer attract lions.

user19161

@tchrist Lions attract me.

Cerberus

Isn't that dangerous?

tchrist

The lake is a real magnet for bears and lions. They are always relocating dens of them, and their cubs, from there.

Cerberus

6:51 PM

I would be terrified if danger lurked in the dark here.

tchrist

@Cerberus Are you the sort to pick a fight with a great hart?

user19161

@tchrist Aren't those animals dangerous at all?

tchrist

Well, I advise against picking a fight with them.

But it is their land, too, and they were here first.

user19161

So if I walk in front of a lion or bear, they won't do anything?

Cerberus

I would erect a wall.

But we have no dangerous wild animals.

tchrist

6:52 PM

That will keep the deer out.

Cerberus

Except ticks and wasps. The former don't enter the city.

tchrist

But bears climb walls, and lions too. Lions also jump 20 feet vertically. Good luck with your silly wall.

user19161

Can we keep the mosquitoes, cockroaches and rats out?

tchrist

@JasonBourne Depends.

Cerberus

Make it higher. A proper city wall is higher than 20 feet.

tchrist

6:53 PM

Walls are icky.

Animals are part of our world.

You learn to live with them.

user19161

@tchrist So just don't go too near them and all is fine?

tchrist

Like, don’t put your garbage out on the street the night before pickup.

@JasonBourne Yeah, pretty much.

Why would they bother you?

As I said, don’t pick fights.

We have skunks. Would you exterminate the poor things just because you shouldn’t be picking a fight with them? That is dumb.

Why are city people always so aggressive? Must be the overpopulation.

user19161

What should you do if a lion or bear runs after you?

tchrist

Turn and do battle.

Never run.

Never ever ever ever ever run.

Cerberus

@tchrist How do you mean?

tchrist

6:56 PM

You cannot possibly evade them.

A housecat sprints at 30 mph. Now imagine a lion. Never ever run.

Cerberus

tchrist

That is how people die: they send out “I am a fleeing prey animal” vibe. You FIGHT if they attack.

Cerberus

Is it too much to ask that I don't have to fight in my city?

tchrist

Plus bears like to bluff. Dominance games. Cats, don’t.

Cerberus

That my children are not eaten?

tchrist

6:57 PM

*be

One last time: do not pick fights.

Cerberus

Regrettably, our walls have been torn down.

tchrist

Simple.

user19161

I think I should sing if a bear or lion comes after me.

Cerberus

We still have plenty of moats, though.

tchrist

They do not “come after you”. However, you are right about the singing thing. Did you already know that?

Cerberus

6:58 PM

@tchrist I'm presenting it as a fact at the same time, because I am already safe.

user19161

@tchrist I just felt like saying it from the depths of me. I don't know where it comes from.

tchrist

You never want to surprise a bear or lion. They might be startled into thinking you are trying to pick a fight with them. Therefore, it is good to make a lot of noise when you worry they might be around. Singing is one of the preferred noise-making strategies.

Does that make sense?

user19161

I think they can roar but can't make music, so when they hear musical notes they will be enchanted.

tchrist

City of Boulder Bear FAQ.

Oh, and here is a top-level version that includes both.

Just learn out to live.

If You Meet a Bear, Stay Calm
1. NEVER RUN. Running can make a bear chase you.
2. Keep your distance. Back slowly away facing the bear. Avoid direct eye contact.
3. Slowly and calmly leave the area. Talk aloud so the bear will become aware of you.
4. Be extra careful around a female with cubs. Never approach a cub.
5. NEVER throw food to distract a bear. This teaches a bear to approach people for food.
6. Fight back if attacked. Black bears have been driven away when people fight with rocks, sticks, binoculars, or even bare hands.

What to Do If You Meet A Lion
* When venturing into mountain lion habitat, go in groups and make plenty of noise in an effort to reduce your chances of surprising a lion. Make sure children are close to and under the supervision of adults. Teach children about mountain lions and what to do if they see one.
* Do not approach lions. Most mountain lions will try to avoid a confrontation. Give the lion a way to escape.
* Stay calm if you come upon a lion. Talk to it in a firm voice in an effort to demonstrate that you are human and not its regular prey.

It simply is not a big deal. Honest.

user19161

@tchrist I am not so sure about the rocks part.

tchrist

7:05 PM

Yes, sometimes panicking Europeans get eaten. I think they have evolved back into prey forms.
* 14 July 1997 14 July. A 4-year-old French boy was attacked by a lion at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. The lion had previously been seen approaching people, and was killed. The boy's wounds were not life threatening.

More where that came from.

What you do not understand is how incredibly rare this is.

There are millions of people and many thousands of lions.

user19161

I have a confession to make.

tchrist

Moreover, it is a huge continent.

user19161

I was once chased by a dog.

tchrist

Very few Coloradans ever meet a lion face to face.

user19161

I ran, and the dog ran after me.

tchrist

7:08 PM

Of course he did.

They do that.

user19161

The dog was big and fierce.

user19161

Luckily, another man came out and shouted at the dog.

tchrist

Well, you can climb up trees and stuff to escape dogs. Dogs are dumb.

Do not try that with a lion or a bear. They will just come up after you if you’ve pissed them off.

Rule 1: Do not piss them off.

Rule 2: Go about your business, and they will go about theirs.

Rule 0: Never ever run.

That is all you need to know.

You are not their prey, nor their enemy. Give them no reason to believe either of those.

It seems so obvious, doesn’t it?

user19161

I will just tell them I am Jason Bourne next time.

tchrist

Here are the last ten years of lion attacks in North America, including in Boulder.

user19161

7:14 PM

@tchrist Cougar? LOL.

tchrist

@JasonBourne Huh?

user19161

@tchrist Well, I was thinking of cougar as mature women.

tchrist

And what does LOL indicate? You keep using it. Does it mean ":-)" or something?

@JasonBourne Oh, stupid populist claptrap catchy trendy jargon. Right. Got it.

user19161

@tchrist It means "laugh out loud". Wait, you really don't know?

tchrist

I do not care about the acronym. That tells me nothing. I asked what it indicated.

I do not understand what it means when you use it.

user19161

7:16 PM

Well, it means something like "this is very funny", not that I actually laugh out loud.

user19161

There, there. QED.

user19161

Oh, so what does my QED mean?

tchrist

Do you have to telegraph your jokes?

user19161

It means something like "case closed".

tchrist

Now, let us see the list of muggings in the last ten years on your nearest continent, and we will see where the dangerous place to live really is.

user19161

7:17 PM

@tchrist Nearest continent or just continent?

tchrist

I don’t know. Do you have a continent?

I thought you said you were in-, so I let you pick the nearest one.

user19161

Well, depends on the definition of continent.

user19161

Some use the term to include the surrounding small pieces of land.

user19161

Anyway, I know what you mean now.

tchrist

Asia. North America. Antarctica. Europe. South America. Australia. Africa. Hawaii.

user19161

7:20 PM

@tchrist Haha, without looking at a map now, I would not know which continent to classify Hawaii under. I know it is stranded in the ocean though.

tchrist

That was to see whether you failed the audit check.

user19161

I know the seven continents.

user19161

I also know about the different classification systems for continents.

user19161

Under some systems, it is not seven.

user19161

Also, long ago, it was just one landmass called Pangaea.

user19161

7:22 PM

And then due to plate tectonics, there is the continental drift.

tchrist

Yes, yes, yes.

Go teach a seven-year old. :)

user19161

Well, if I did not learn geography or did not read Wikipedia, I might not know these things.

tchrist

Basic science education.

From primary school, I should imagine.

user19161

Hey @mitch!

Mitch

<peeve>wtf...

-8

Q: What should be our policy on content in user profiles?

I have noticed that some users use their profile page to advertise their blog or the books they have written. Should we have restrictions on what users can include in their profile page? If so, what should they be? If a user is found to be in violation of the restrictions, what should be the con...

discussion

very good at asking obviously irrelevant questions.

tchrist

7:25 PM

He is peeving because I said I wrote a book.

Mitch

irrelevant is not the word.

tchrist

So the flup what?

Mitch

stupid?

idiotic?

clueless?

user19161

@tchrist One is supposed to promote his work in the profile.

Mitch

Has not learned from reality.

</peeve>

user19161

7:26 PM

Just read the faq.

Mitch

That's it.

@tchrist was that his direct motivation?

user19161

I did make sure I browsed through the entire faq at least once.

tchrist

@Mitch I am the lens of the world.

Mitch

@JasonBourne it means 'check and mate'

tchrist

I have no idea. I never thought about it till you just now showed that. I saw the advertise bit only.

Mitch

7:27 PM

@tchrist no doubt, and you're burning an ant on CR's forehead.

user19161

@Mitch Wanna hear another romance story?

Mitch

go!

about a 'friend'?

tchrist

No, about formicating fiends and wandering workers. Hence “rome” “ants”.

Mitch

@JasonBourne I wou;dn't be surprised that he in fact did such similar browsing, but he only understood every other word, those being the grammatical words, not the content words...

and even then reinterpreted to his own liking.

tchrist

Roaming ants lead to romance in very strange places.

Mitch

7:29 PM

no one is out to get him...his questions suck on their own terms.

user19161

@Mitch So I told you about the 30 year old guy and the 45 year old woman right? Well, before that in that same room which is not this one, there was also a 20 year old woman. But in this case, I think the age gap is also too big, so also end of story.

Mitch

@tchrist leads the ants to very strange places

tchrist

Is this Nordie?

0

Q: In that instance

Let's say Joseph and Michael were at a party. During the party, they were about to argue. Then Joseph backed off. On that occasion, Joseph chose not to argue with Michael. In that instance, Joseph chose not to argue with Michael. 'On that occasion' in the first sentence is corre...

meaning grammaticality idioms usage

Mitch

@JasonBourne You know, everyone in the world is going through an inner turmoil of possibilities of romance, but nobody can hear you think. Probably a good thing. Itd be too noisy otherwise.

tchrist

Awfully damned tag-clever for a rep=1 user, too.

Mitch

7:32 PM

can't you post an image there to see their IP? (I didn't get the mechanics)

user19161

@Mitch Maybe one of the right age will come along soon. =)

tchrist

@Mitch Only if he is in the room, or scanning the logs.

0

Q: Best way to learn English grammer?

I am new to English language, and i looking for an article or page that provided for beginners to learn the English grammer. can anybody introduce me one or more..?

grammar american-english learning

Who cares about grammar? Best get the spelling down first.

I feel unarsible towards downvoting or closevoting today.

Mitch

@tchrist very nordie like though

user19161

To check if it is NS, simply google the question.

tchrist

I need to add use of tags to my feature-set that predicts him.

user19161

7:34 PM

See if it is posted in another place already.

Mitch

but there are lots that are not nordie, but really good ELL stuff.

tchrist

There is more than that, plus he has cottoned to our ways of detecting him of late, so has somewhat altered his modus operandi.

user19161

Anyway, I have forgotten all about NS. He is too unimportant to warrant a place in my attention.

user19161

@mitch The actual gaps in those cases were 17 and 11. If it were 10 it would be alright. =)

tchrist

ⁿ⁄₂ + 7

Oops. :)

user19161

7:37 PM

@tchrist Yes, I know that formula.

user19161

But it does not work well in my opinion.

MετάEd

@tchrist That answer has to be close to 1.0 lawler. If I think to later, I'll figure it.

user19161

My own formula is plus minus 10 for suitably high ages.

Shog9

@tchrist D'you guys have a FAQ for this sort of thing?

tchrist

> Does charges word have negative association?

Yes, if it is the red jumper cable. Otherwise it is positive.

Mitch

7:38 PM

@JasonBourne 17 is a lot. 11...better

tchrist

@Shog9 I do not believe so.

Shog9

@tchrist Might want to keep that in mind

MετάEd

@tchrist I don't know why you say the lawler is top bounded. It is not upper bounded at all. A text which is bolded and italicized will measure 2.0 lawler.

Mitch

@JasonBourne its a good check though that you're not ...um... doing something liiegal?

tchrist

@Shog9 I didn’t do any voting on the question, or answering. Just noted it.

MετάEd

7:39 PM

@tchrist You think? I still pick him right out.

Shog9

I know y'all get a lot of questions from folks who are learning, giving them some resources might be more effective than whack-a-mole

tchrist

But really, it cannot be constructive, can it?

Shog9

@tchrist No, no where near

user19161

@Mitch I have read many interesting stories about teacher student affairs where you live. =)

Mitch

@Shog9 the NS questions tend to be awfully local. "In this sentence is 'of, or 'by' better?"

ther's no ref for it. basically go ask your TA in your language class.

tchrist

7:41 PM

@Shog9 I kinda doubt anything will ever affect our Groundhog-Day game of whack-a-mole, but one can always put something in the FAQ.

Hm, there are resource/list questions, like on meta. Maybe there? No, hm. Blog posting?

Mitch

@JasonBourne wholly crap! How do you know where I live? Can you see what I'm doing right now?

user19161

@Mitch Yes, you are chatting right now...

Shog9

@Mitch Assuming these folks don't have easy access to actual teachers, any online learning resources would be useful.

user19161

@Mitch Assuming the TA is competent, and many aren't.

Shog9

Obviously, you're not answering their actual question in this case - you're trying to teach them to fish.

tchrist

7:43 PM

Question #2 in the faq-sorted questions list is perhaps the sort of thing that might help.

But I am afraid it would be mostly a CYA action on our part, since it isn’t like they ever search the site first, or check the FAQ, or anything.

Mitch

@Shog9 sure, but the culture at ELU is not to be an ESL homework helper (I think there should be a place for it, but the culture is for it to not be here at ELU)

user19161

Hey @MετάEd I really love your orange. I think we complement each other very well.

Shog9

@Mitch Which is why I'm suggesting that you direct folks who need that somewhere else.

Mitch

@tchrist when you type in your question, there's an SO search feature, but for most of these questions the search doesn't do well, too many stop words are important.

tchrist

There will always be many orders of magnitude more ELL-type questions here than anything serious enough to attract the “serious professional” type. Plus they always try to shuffle those off to the beta Linguistics.SE, as though our pretty heads can’t be bothered by it. And there is some merit there, since hard questions don’t tend to get answered here.

Shog9

7:47 PM

@tchrist Yeah, that's a pretty good start. Could use some editing.

Mitch

@Shog9 ELL is supposed to help deal with that.

Shog9

@Mitch yeah... we'll see

tchrist

Perhaps.

I am not getting my hopes up.

Shog9

if it becomes blind leading the blind, we're probably doing more harm than good

But, yeah, we'll see

user19161

There is already much blind leading the blind on ELU, not that I can see too well myself.

Mitch

7:49 PM

Blind? really?

user19161

Well, I mean, not too blind, yes.

tchrist

We still have no more professionals and semi-professionals than you have fingers on your hands. And I’m probably not counting the thumbs. If you skip the semis, we’re definitely down to this-little-piggie-went-to-market territory.

user19161

But sometimes, the amateurs are better than the pros.

tchrist

@Shog9 What ever came of that machine-learning challenge? Anything?

Shog9

@tchrist eh. Nothing terribly interesting.

tchrist

7:52 PM

Was afraid of that.

Mitch

the amateurs may be able to translate to the prelinguistic better.

user19161

These days, it is not too hard to earn a bogus PhD online.

Mitch

that's not true at all.

but maybe the case for master's degrees

tchrist

@Shog9 My previous boss, who is a linguistics and compsci prof, thought it might be a good semester project for a grad student. I thought he was overestimating what they were capable of.

Matt Эллен

@Mitch exhibit A: Gillian McKieth

Mitch

7:53 PM

there's a big range of abilities in grad students

@MattЭллен no idea!

Matt Эллен

but she has a bogus phd in a bogus subject, so that's different

user19161

@matt Boo!

Mitch

@MattЭллен bogus in what way?

Matt Эллен

@Mitch she has made lots of money calling herself a doctor and spouting nutrition advice

@Mitch she paid for it

Mitch

Oh.

tchrist

7:54 PM

It is not an uninteresting problem. But one flaw is that a bunch of the stuff I could think of for the feature-vectors for the machine learning number crunching needed access to private data that is not even in SEDE.

Matt Эллен

she still makes money

Mitch

good for her.

user19161

Now if you compare the PhD requirements in different places, you see vast differences.

Mitch

too bad for the suckers though

Matt Эллен

indeed. Shame the whole of the British media didn't catch on sooner.

Mitch

7:55 PM

I think I'm paying for it in lost punctuation

Shog9

@tchrist Problem is, you could come up with something that would have a reasonable accuracy rate without actually discovering anything interesting in the process. So, y'know, a bunch of black boxes that were sorta not terrible at identifying problematic posts, but couldn't tell you why they were problematic.

user19161

Vast differences sounds like vas deferens, LOL.

tchrist

Well sure: but you need the black boxes to have their right values before you have a chance at answering why.

The good papers have both.

user19161

Chrome 24 and Firefox 18 are out in the same week!

Mitch

woo hoo!

Matt Эллен

7:57 PM

they should have to fight to the death

Mitch

Really I don't care.

I just want it to work.

user19161

All this competition means better browsers for us all.

Mitch

if only there was a competition for curing bllindness.

Matt Эллен

I don't care if they ~~live~~ work, I just want a good show

tchrist

@Shog9 For example, the one on Finding Deceptive Opinion Spam by Any Stretch of the Imagination.

Mitch

7:58 PM

fireworks

explosions

the possibility of everyone losing it all

tchrist

Sure, they crunched to get the right values before they had any idea why. But then they started offering theories about why those were the right features and values.

MετάEd

@JasonBourne I'll take that as a complement.

0

Q: Is this sentence semantically correct?

He enjoys skiing, playing the guitar, hiking, and wildlife. Is this semantically correct? If not, is there something wrong with “enjoys … wildlife”?

grammaticality

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…