shoover

general recent conversations

Discussion on answer by Obie 2.0: Do …

Imported from a comment discussion on skeptics.stackexchange.c...

shoover

Jan 17 17:53

They also spend about $15/day on cigarettes and cups of convenience store coffee instead of groceries. That doesn't sound like much if you've got a cushy tech job, but for them it's about 15% of their takehome pay.

shoover

Jan 17 17:53

@Michael Some people are really bad with money. An entire lifetime of making bad money choices can make a difference. I have a relative who is barely scraping by, yet when their spouse passed away, instead of putting the life insurance money aside for food, mortgage, or other necessities, they bought a brand new luxury car.

Discussion on question by Joshua Fran…

Imported from a comment discussion on travel.stackexchange.com...

shoover

Oct 30, 2024 04:49

@PeterM You're helping make my point. Driving is even MORE expensive when you factor in hotel rooms.

shoover

Oct 30, 2024 04:49

Doubling down on that frame challenge. According to rome2rio, the shortest timewise journey is also the cheapest, bus to Boston and fly to PDX. The second shortest is also the second cheapest, flying from Manchester NH to PDX. Driving is estimated to take 5x the time and cost 1.5x-2.5x as much as flying. Taking the train takes longer than driving but costs only about 30% more than flying.

Discussion on question by Amit Tomar:…

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...

shoover

Oct 14, 2024 07:24

See also: "yak shaving" (one thing leads to another ...) and "bikeshedding" (doing the fun/unimportant stuff first).

Discussion on question by uhoh: How t…

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shoover

Aug 14, 2024 21:44

Is it factual that "Things have changed, scientific writing is now much less formal and more like natural speech" (to the point of allowing comma splices), or is that opinion? Is the reading ability of the scientific readers lower than it used to be?

Agora

General discussion for politics.stackexchange.com

shoover

Jul 2, 2024 21:33

And IIRC, you sign an enclosing envelope, which I think goes into a second envelope for mailing.

shoover

Jul 2, 2024 21:33

@User1865345 Can't tell whether genuine question about how this works or a troll. My state doesn't allow vote-by-mail unless you're over 65 or disabled, and I'm neither, but at least I know you don't sign your ballot and they don't just hand out generic blank ballots. There's some sort of serial number, bar code, QR code, something at least that indicates that a ballot wasn't just printed up in somebody's mother's basement.

shoover

Jul 2, 2024 15:29

TBH this person sounds like someone who has never voted in the U.S. before. politics.stackexchange.com/questions/88093/…

The Reading Room

Welcome to chat for literature.stackexchange.com — Read any go...

shoover

Mar 8, 2024 17:46

@GarethRees Maybe the author has written a paper on Le Carré and just happened to have this analysis in their back pocket. :shrug:

shoover

Mar 8, 2024 16:55

Does this sound like it was written by an AI? GPTZero says no, but it doesn't sound like "new user" to me. literature.stackexchange.com/a/26397/512

shoover

Dec 10, 2022 00:13

@Bookworm The Oxford University Press has a series of ~750 tiny books (~150 pages) called Very Short Introductions. One title in the series is Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction.

$Mathematics$ Discussion on question by beginner: G…

Imported from a comment discussion on math.stackexchange.com/q...

shoover

Dec 1, 2023 16:32

Maybe call them Alice and Bob throughout and ditch the pronouns.

shoover

Dec 1, 2023 16:32

I'm finding the flip-flopping between first and second person in the problem statement to be confusing. "You and your opponent" but "We both sample" and then "you can resample twice" and "What’s the probability I win?" Are "you" and "I" the same person, or is one of those the opponent?

Discussion on question by Or4ng3h4t: …

Imported from a comment discussion on workplace.stackexchange....

shoover

Nov 20, 2023 23:55

Please don't refer to people as "it" (second-to-last paragraph). Since this question could be generalized to apply no matter what the person's pronouns actually are, I suggest you choose one (he or she or they or ze or ...) and stick with it.

Discussion on answer by Kate Gregory:…

Imported from a comment discussion on workplace.stackexchange....

shoover

Oct 30, 2023 20:03

@d-b If someone says it's too hot, my first thought is "Where is the thermostat, and do we have access to control it?"

Discussion on question by len: What d…

Imported from a comment discussion on genealogy.stackexchange....

shoover

Sep 23, 2023 05:04

Do you have a photo or a link to Find-a-grave / Billiongraves that you can add? If so, please edit your question to add it.

Discussion on question by ChrisW: Lan…

Imported from a comment discussion on travel.stackexchange.com...

shoover

Sep 20, 2023 04:22

@ChrisW Do you mean "officially" or do you mean "(officially)"? That is, if English is not the official language of a country yet all of its transit announcements are in English (plus possibly other languages), would you count that as an answer?

Discussion on question by unforgettab…

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...

shoover

Aug 23, 2023 16:41

When I was most recently in school, 2018-2021, our bookstore used the term "rent."

shoover

Aug 23, 2023 16:41

Is this a rant or a question?

Discussion on question by robin geage…

Imported from a comment discussion on travel.stackexchange.com...

shoover

Jul 31, 2023 16:51

What does "Lebanon chose to delay the time saving of the entire country" mean?

Discussion on question by Markoul11: …

Imported from a comment discussion on physics.stackexchange.co...

shoover

Jul 24, 2023 02:49

In the U.S. this might be a troy ounce vs. avoirdupois ounce thing.

Discussion on answer by Weather Vane:…

Imported from a comment discussion on law.stackexchange.com/qu...

shoover

Jul 17, 2023 20:30

Should each country be handled in its own answer?

Discussion on question by JonathanRee…

Imported from a comment discussion on travel.stackexchange.com...

shoover

May 24, 2023 18:30

I mean I've never seen the blanket sandwiched between two sheets like you describe. I've seen mattress, mattress pad/cover, fitted sheet, flat sheet, blanket, bedspread as described in the link Nate Eldredge left. Also where: California, Nevada, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine...

shoover

May 24, 2023 18:30

I've stayed in many hotels and motels in the US and I've never seen a three-sheet system. I can't even picture a sheet on top of the bedspread. I know this is an old Q, but it could use a photo of the system that the OP is asking about.

Discussion on answer by Dimitri Vulis…

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shoover

May 9, 2023 19:23

The tone of this answer is offensively xenophobic, with its "foreigners do this" and "foreigners do that." I'll just say that people whose ancestors have been in the US for centuries also do these things (urinate in public, litter, ...).

Discussion on question by stipulatepl…

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shoover

Apr 18, 2023 09:00

I have an old yahoo.com email address but that doesn't mean that I work for Yahoo!.

Discussion on answer by Daniel R. Col…

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...

shoover

Mar 14, 2023 23:55

iow a toque

shoover

Mar 14, 2023 23:54

Now "beanie" seems to have morphed into what I would call a "ski hat" looking like this: rei.com/c/ski-hats

shoover

Mar 14, 2023 23:54

@Esther The very word "beanie" has changed its meaning within my lifetime. It used to mean a hat somewhat like a ball cap but either with a very small bill or no bill at all, typically worn by ~1950s college freshmen to signify their freshman-hood. I was not alive in the 1950s, but even so, up until recently that was the meaning I understood. Samples: library.osu.edu/site/beanies

Discussion on question by tailingfibe…

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shoover

Mar 14, 2023 02:56

@Nobody I've lived in the US (where we say "in the US," not "in US") for all of my 58 years and I've known the word "fortnight" since childhood. Maybe it's a generational difference...

shoover

Mar 14, 2023 02:55

@Nobody Yes, that's why I said "unlike football..."

shoover

Mar 13, 2023 19:29

Where do people get the idea that "fortnight" is British English? It's just English, and means the same in AmE as it does in BrE and AuE and all the other dialects of English, unlike "football" and "boot" and "vest" and "pants."

The Ivory Tower

General discussion for academia.stackexchange.com

shoover

Mar 6, 2023 19:15

The institution linked in academia.stackexchange.com/q/193983/43873 grants a Sierpiński Medal! Also, they acknowledge their cleaning staff on their faculty/staff page. However, they also have a typo in their English, "cleaning stuff." And they call them "Lecture hall cleaning lady."

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…

Not for the faint of heart or those easily triggered by Englis...

shoover

Feb 21, 2023 19:56

As a US-based person, when I read english.stackexchange.com/q/603568/49890 I think of an analogous question, "What is the name of the office that performs the background check so you can purchase a handgun?" ... which of course doesn't exist anywhere else.

Discussion on question by Weiwen Ng: …

Imported from a comment discussion on bicycles.stackexchange.c...

shoover

Feb 9, 2023 13:42

I think it's important that the incident happened on a 65-pound (~30kg) bike going down a 14% grade with a pair of pre-teen riders who had probably never ridden an e-bike before (it was a new bike belonging to the sister of one of the girls).

Discussion on question by Node.JS: Sa…

Imported from a comment discussion on workplace.stackexchange....

shoover

Jan 12, 2023 00:17

Does this answer your question? Remote Work: I moved, my employer wants to reduce my pay

Discussion on answer by littleadv: I …

Imported from a comment discussion on money.stackexchange.com/...

shoover

Jan 6, 2023 11:22

Please put answers in the answer box.

Wolfram Mathematica

Welcome! This is the main Mathematica chat room for mathematic...

shoover

Jan 4, 2023 16:31

Saw HNQ "How to ignore an argument?" and thought it was going to be in Interpersonal.SE or Philosophy.SE.

Discussion on question by Display nam…

Imported from a comment discussion on workplace.stackexchange....

shoover

Dec 9, 2022 15:57

Does this answer your question? How should I properly approach my boss if I'm feeling underpaid?

Discussion on question by user366312:…

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...

shoover

Nov 15, 2022 21:15

The assumptions in the question and some of the comments are somewhat ethnocentric/nationalistic/offensive.

Discussion on answer by Nuclear Hoagi…

Imported from a comment discussion on travel.stackexchange.com...

shoover

Nov 9, 2022 02:21

Your WAG for monolinguals is too high. According to the 2021 American Community Survey, 78.4% of US residents 5+, and 83.6% of US citizens 18+, speak only English.

Discussion on question by professiona…

Imported from a comment discussion on workplace.stackexchange....

shoover

Oct 9, 2022 05:53

Did you charge this on a company card/account, or did you charge it on your own card with the expectation of being reimbursed? The latter is much easier to recover from, professionally. NM, I just reread and saw "corporate credit card." Yikes.

Discussion on question by Sandra: Is …

Imported from a comment discussion on academia.stackexchange.c...

shoover

Aug 5, 2022 19:16

"Is this ethical?" questions in academia.SE are like "Is this a scam?" questions in money.SE. The answer is almost always the same, and it's not usually the answer the OP is hoping to hear.

The Water Cooler

General chit-chat for workplace.stackexchange.com. Feel free t...

shoover

Jun 24, 2022 14:59

@Kilisi As someone who by almost anyone's definition of "white person" is a white person, I find it annoying when "white people" are lumped together as if we are some monolithic homogeneous group of like-thinking Borg.

The Velodrome

General discussion for bicycles.stackexchange.com

shoover

Jun 23, 2022 03:22

https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/q/84480/23605
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Discussion on answer by littleadv: Wh…

Imported from a comment discussion on travel.stackexchange.com...

shoover

Jun 22, 2022 21:51

@JonathanReez QR codes require customers to carry smartphones with charged batteries. Credit cards with chip don't.

Discussion on question by Chris Roger…

Imported from a comment discussion on skeptics.stackexchange.c...

shoover

Jun 4, 2022 13:31

"tobacco products being the cause of 90 percent of deaths" -- what's the denominator? It's not 90 percent of all deaths. Maybe 90 percent of deaths of smokers?