SZbNAhL's Similarly Sibilant (if unpronouncable) Random Banter #223

[LaZodiac]

Ah, alright, gotcha. Makes sense. I've heard good things about that game (including from when you Tasted it and then proceeded to, like, beat the whole thing before upload, IIRC ), but never actually played it.

It still feels like it needs a comma in there, though. "Life never stops, never stopping."

It's funnier without the comma since it implies no stopping in your saying it. There are no pauses in saying the phrase you say it all at once, and that carries a sort of intensity to it.

I figured it was a reference to that Andy Samberg movie from a couple of years ago...

It might also be this! My brain is full of things that I piece my identity from.

Just out curiosity, what does white text in the forum means exactly? I know that blue text means sarcasm. So I want to know what white text means exactly?

Secret messages.

[Peelee]

I mostly use white text for delayed punchlines. Humor is an art that I like to explore with the dexterity of a kindergartener with watercolors.

[Anonymouswizard]

Just out curiosity, what does white text in the forum means exactly? I know that blue text means sarcasm. So I want to know what white text means exactly?

It means the text has blended with the background

As opposed to the hip n' happening Radio 3, with its party dance mixes of ... baroque and classical music.

Now don't knock Radio 3, I have a cousin who produced a show on it. In honesty the key thing about Radio 3 is there's more leeway about what you can put on our, evening of it is mostly banging tunes these days.


I honestly still don't get the point of Radio 5 (Live).

[Lacco]

You_BUTcan_WHOalso_WOULDsimulate_DOstrange_SOMETHINGvoices_LIKEwith_THAT?it.

[Bartmanhomer]

Well I'm trying to cut down my coffee addiction. Today I drink one cup of coffee.

[Comrade]

FK: S.Z. Banal?
Me: Now that just sounds like a particularly bland Georgian poet.

Banal, no, but Banalidze or Banalishvili...

(I'm part Georgian and damn near every other Georgian has a surname ending in -dze or -shvili. I'm also assuming you're referring to the country and not the state here.)

[Anonymouswizard]

(I'm part Georgian

I didn't realise you were old! Tell me, how were Kings George, George, George, and George?

[Tvtyrant]

But...that's a completely different pronunciation to the actual word? Z and S are most definitely not pronounced the same, at least in the UK, and I'm struggling to think of another letter combination that would actually sound like Z does.

Yeah but there are very few overlapping words with a and s, the syllable isn't needed. We lose zounds to sounds.

[FinnLassie]

Yous all managed to talk for three pages before I was able to snap open my own can of thread participation goodness?! What are you people, social or something?

I mangled my ankle close to two weeks ago and it's still iffy. If it's still flipping the bird at me on Wednesday, ER time!

[SZbNAhL]

Too outlandish, I tells ya!

Mix-Yez-Pittle-Ick. Of course, the real question is how to pronounce Kltpzyxm.

I honestly still don't get the point of Radio 5 (Live).

No, no, "I hate sports" was the previous random banter thread.

But seriously, if you want a pointless radio station try Radio 6. It's just Radio 1 with less talented presenters. Also apologies to anyone who isn't British and has no idea what we're on about.

Banal, no, but Banalidze or Banalishvili...

(I'm part Georgian and damn near every other Georgian has a surname ending in -dze or -shvili. I'm also assuming you're referring to the country and not the state here.)

I'm referring to the poetic movement roughly coterminous with the reign of George V (1910-1936). In hindsight, probably not a reference most non-UK playgrounders can reasonably be expected to get.

[Bartmanhomer]

Yous all managed to talk for three pages before I was able to snap open my own can of thread participation goodness?! What are you people, social or something?

I mangled my ankle close to two weeks ago and it's still iffy. If it's still flipping the bird at me on Wednesday, ER time!

Everybody is socially active. I just can't wait to play my very first D&D First Edition Game.

[Peelee]

Yous all managed to talk for three pages before I was able to snap open my own can of thread participation goodness?! What are you people, social or something

Given that we're all on the internet, I'd say anti-social might be more accurate.

I mangled my ankle close to two weeks ago and it's still iffy. If it's still flipping the bird at me on Wednesday, ER time!

Free access to medical facilities and you put it off.... Well, in any event, I hope you don't need to go and it feels better soon.

Mix-Yez-Pittle-Ick. Of course, the real question is how to pronounce Kltpzyxm.

Kci-Lkttip-Zey-Xim. Obviously.

[Anonymouswizard]

Yous all managed to talk for three pages before I was able to snap open my own can of thread participation goodness?! What are you people, social or something?

I hope not, I annihilate with that in a burst of hard radiation.

Everybody is socially active.

I resent the implication! I'd have much fewer mental issues if I was!


@SZbNAhL, I think Radio 4 Extra makes a valiant case for Most Redundant Station.

[Comrade]

I'm referring to the poetic movement roughly coterminous with the reign of George V (1910-1936). In hindsight, probably not a reference most non-UK playgrounders can reasonably be expected to get.

Oops.

The term 'Georgian' officially refers to too many things.

[Bartmanhomer]

I hope not, I annihilate with that in a burst of hard radiation.



I resent the implication! I'd have much fewer mental issues if I was!


@SZbNAhL, I think Radio 4 Extra makes a valiant case for Most Redundant Station.

I'm sorry to hear that.

[Fyraltari]

Yous all managed to talk for three pages before I was able to snap open my own can of thread participation goodness?! What are you people, social or something?

Nah, they just live on the other side of an ocean.

That's like saying I need to learn underwater basket weaving. I could, but why?

So wouldn't have to pretend to see letters that aren't there.

[DataNinja]

To be fair, most of my friends are female and bisexual.

Yes, I do feel that that probably does determine a general base level of comfort higher than possibly other combinations of the two. (Though, admittedly, not necessarily.)

Annoyingly, the more likely I am to want to hug somebody the more likely they are to respect my boundaries and not. Being autistic doesn't automatically mean I don't have a need for physical affection!

Yeah, that is something that I've noticed tends to happen. At least in my experience. I've certainly heard of different experiences with regard to that. But, because I tend to be a boundary-focused person in general, it means people notice that.

Just out curiosity, what does white text in the forum means exactly? I know that blue text means sarcasm. So I want to know what white text means exactly?

White text is along the lines of strikethrough, in it essentially being "meant" to be ignored - in white text's case, it's far less obvious about it, though. If you've only got a single line of it (rather than whole paragraphs), it's easy for something to be missed entirely, as there's no huge gap. So, usually, it's really only there as a personal joke (or if you expect the post to be quoted), rather than something that you'll expect everyone to see (like you would with strikeout).

It's funnier without the comma since it implies no stopping in your saying it. There are no pauses in saying the phrase you say it all at once, and that carries a sort of intensity to it.

That's fair. I just tend to have a thing about commas. There needs to be just the right amount. Sometimes I'll just go about splitting sentences into two just because they seem to individually have 'too many' commas, even if it makes perfect sense.

It might also be this! My brain is full of things that I piece my identity from.

Yeah... yeah, that sounds about right. I feel that. Even if my brain's less full of various things than I might like/one might expect.

Yous all managed to talk for three pages before I was able to snap open my own can of thread participation goodness?! What are you people, social or something?

Yeah, 'or something' sounds roughly about right.

I mangled my ankle close to two weeks ago and it's still iffy. If it's still flipping the bird at me on Wednesday, ER time!

Oh, geez, Finn. I hope it's nothing serious, and that it heals quickly.

[Peelee]

So wouldn't have to pretend to see letters that aren't there.

I'm the one who refused to see a letter that was there!

[Teddy]

Probably better to explain what it really means, at least, yes. And not "any friendly fraternization with the opposite gender while alone."

*shrugs*
We were aware of the basics of dating already in the earliest years in school. It isn't exactly complicated.

I feel like mucking about with time travel at all is a bad thing. Best case scenario is that nothing changes at all... and then why do you bother involving time travel?

(Getting more tangentially, the version of time travel that I tend to prefer is that of a "history repair system" - you can interfere with the past, but the further you get away from that point, the less affect your changes had. You might be able to, say, go back in time a day and stop a friend from sending an email you regret, changing that... but if you went back in time however many hundreds of years to stop some historical event... come back to present day, and things are basically the same overall. Maybe someone else signed the important agreement, there's a little bit of a difference in the year your town was founded, whatever, but you can't tell much difference.

Of course, I also tend to do things like that for tabletop groups, where you never know what the time travelers'll do. Bit different when you're in control of characters to set up stable time loops. )

I'm almost violently opposed to time travel myself. To many stories with time travel create time loops where people go back in time and create that event or invention or piece of art which deeply inspired them in the future, and I just find such origin stories deeply unsatisfying.

It still feels like it needs a comma in there, though. "Life never stops, never stopping."

That does change the meaning of the phrase, though. Not the formal logic of it, sure, but the subtle flavour.

Just out curiosity, what does white text in the forum means exactly? I know that blue text means sarcasm. So I want to know what white text means exactly?

It has no exact meaning, people use it to create hidden or semi-hidden messages for whatever reason they want something not immediately visible. Personally, I most often use it to either provide boring explanations to things that sound funnier unexplained, but which people undoubtedly will ask for an explanation for, in which case they'll see it when they quote me. Or (as was more the case in my last post) to put some distance between two bits of text where one is vastly less important than the other, and tons of line breaks just look ugly.

Yeah but there are very few overlapping words with a and s, the syllable isn't needed. We lose zounds to sounds.

Oh dear no, the English language most definitely doesn't need even more sounds tied to the same letters only barely separable via context!

I mangled my ankle close to two weeks ago and it's still iffy. If it's still flipping the bird at me on Wednesday, ER time!

Ouch! Here's hoping for recovery! I'm not sure if you can talk about a swift such after two weeks already, but a soon such at least.

Free access to medical facilities and you put it off.... Well, in any event, I hope you don't need to go and it feels better soon.

Hmm, I think there might a cultural difference in when people consider it time to seek medical attention between us Nordic countries and you North Americans, if my interaction with people on the Internet contra people I know around me are any indication. I don't know what it would be, though. Maybe a stronger sense of solidarity with society over here making people less willing to "burden the system with their trivialities". After all, just because it's mostly free doesn't mean there's an infinite capacity. Part of the unspoken social contract is recognising when you probably don't need help from the system, and refraining from using it in that case.

[DataNinja]

*shrugs*
We were aware of the basics of dating already in the earliest years in school. It isn't exactly complicated.

It's not, but it speaks to my naïveté that I was still really unaware into, like, high school. Go me.

I'm almost violently opposed to time travel myself. To many stories with time travel create time loops where people go back in time and create that event or invention or piece of art which deeply inspired them in the future, and I just find such origin stories deeply unsatisfying.

No, that's fair. It definitely has a lot of ways to undercut accomplishments. That's why I like the "not really able to change things in the past" flavour, because the only thing one can really gain is knowledge and perspective. You change because of it, the world itself doesn't.

That does change the meaning of the phrase, though. Not the formal logic of it, sure, but the subtle flavour.

Oh, of course. It just... looks off to me without the comma. Too much run-on.

[factotum]

No, that's fair. It definitely has a lot of ways to undercut accomplishments. That's why I like the "not really able to change things in the past" flavour, because the only thing one can really gain is knowledge and perspective. You change because of it, the world itself doesn't.

That sort of time travel can still have the stable time loop--you know, where someone in the present day gives you a watch, you take it with you into the past, and give the same watch to the younger version of that person? The entire time loop is the same each time through.

[halfeye]

Hmm, I think there might a cultural difference in when people consider it time to seek medical attention between us Nordic countries and you North Americans, if my interaction with people on the Internet contra people I know around me are any indication. I don't know what it would be, though. Maybe a stronger sense of solidarity with society over here making people less willing to "burden the system with their trivialities". After all, just because it's mostly free doesn't mean there's an infinite capacity. Part of the unspoken social contract is recognising when you probably don't need help from the system, and refraining from using it in that case.

Or maybe it's difficult to see a doctor? My GP surgery/practice, which has about six doctors, only allows making appointments 2 weeks ahead of time, and they keep some back to be available on the day, but either way most of them are gone by 8.30 (am), and the few they keep back to the afternoon are gone by 14.30.

That sort of time travel can still have the stable time loop--you know, where someone in the present day gives you a watch, you take it with you into the past, and give the same watch to the younger version of that person? The entire time loop is the same each time through.

So who made the watch, and when? seems wrong to me.

[DataNinja]

That sort of time travel can still have the stable time loop--you know, where someone in the present day gives you a watch, you take it with you into the past, and give the same watch to the younger version of that person? The entire time loop is the same each time through.

I mean, except that's not exactly strictly stable. That watch is going to deteriorate over time, even disregarding the "where did it come from" problem - meaning that the loop will be at least a little different each time as things finally wear down.

But, that's the kind of thing that wouldn't happen in the 'fixed' timeline. If you gave something to someone that they weren't supposed to have, they'd somehow lose it before it really came into effect to damage the timeline, rendering it basically lost and scattered by the time it got to your time again. You'd never be able to start the loop in the first place.

[Teddy]

It's not, but it speaks to my naïveté that I was still really unaware into, like, high school. Go me.

Uhm, for the record, are we talking about "dating" in the sense of being in a relationship, or "dating" in the sense of going out on a date?

No, that's fair. It definitely has a lot of ways to undercut accomplishments. That's why I like the "not really able to change things in the past" flavour, because the only thing one can really gain is knowledge and perspective. You change because of it, the world itself doesn't.

I'm not really fond of that flavour of time travel either, because that in turn makes it feel kinda pointless, and also arbitrarily restricted by the universe. Sooner or later, some time researcher is going to attempt to mess up the timeline completely just to see how far the universe is willing to go in stopping them, and how do you write a story that resolves that in a smooth fashion?

In fact, the only story I can think of where the premise depended on time travel and which I truly enjoyed was Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates, in which there, due to an event, exists a finite number of specific points in time when it's possible to open a portal to another specific point in time. That makes it possible to do time travel without forking timelines, and still enforce that history turns out the same way without making it feel like there are arbitrary limitations at play.

Or maybe it's difficult to see a doctor? My GP surgery/practice, which has about six doctors, only allows making appointments 2 weeks ahead of time, and they keep some back to be available on the day, but either way most of them are gone by 8.30 (am), and the few they keep back to the afternoon are gone by 14.30.

Somewhat, but usually not overly so. And in theory, that shouldn't significantly affect people's tendency to suggest you get your various ailments checked.

[Peelee]

Hmm, I think there might a cultural difference in when people consider it time to seek medical attention between us Nordic countries and you North Americans, if my interaction with people on the Internet contra people I know around me are any indication. I don't know what it would be, though. Maybe a stronger sense of solidarity with society over here making people less willing to "burden the system with their trivialities". After all, just because it's mostly free doesn't mean there's an infinite capacity. Part of the unspoken social contract is recognising when you probably don't need help from the system, and refraining from using it in that case.

Think of it as someone thirsty in the desert hearing that another person is thinking about getting a glass of water but the fridge is too far away. Just because desert-person would chug as much as they could immediately doesn't mean they'll always drink like that.

[Rawhide]

Watch 12 Monkeys. The movie, not the lame donkey tv series.

[DataNinja]

Uhm, for the record, are we talking about "dating" in the sense of being in a relationship, or "dating" in the sense of going out on a date?

As in the sense of what, exactly, a relationship entailed. Because in my mind, "dating" was just going out, and doing whatever seemed fun (again, not in that sense) together. Basically, just... a closer brand of friendship, really. (Which, yes, I understand now that that's still the seed of things - if you're not close friends, it's probably not gonna work out - but in my mind, that's really all there was to it.)

So, there was me with the sense of "oh, yeah, a date is just, like, going out for dinner, bowling, whatever, just the two of you." And 'dating' was pretty much nothing else. Yeah.

I'm not really fond of that flavour of time travel either, because that in turn makes it feel kinda pointless, and also arbitrarily restricted by the universe. Sooner or later, some time researcher is going to attempt to mess up the timeline completely just to see how far the universe is willing to go in stopping them, and how do you write a story that resolves that in a smooth fashion?

In fact, the only story I can think of where the premise depended on time travel and which I truly enjoyed was Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates, in which there, due to an event, exists a finite number of specific points in time when it's possible to open a portal to another specific point in time. That makes it possible to do time travel without forking timelines, and still enforce that history turns out the same way without making it feel like there are arbitrary limitations at play.

And that's fair enough. I don't begrudge people for not enjoying the taste of time travel in their story dish. It's a flavour that's really easy to get wrong, and it's certainly one that requires inherently a fair bit of suspension of disbelief.

[Peelee]

Watch 12 Monkeys. The movie, not the lame donkey tv series.

Spoiler

Show

[Anonymouswizard]

[

Uhm, for the record, are we talking about "dating" in the sense of being in a relationship, or "dating" in the sense of going out on a date?

Wait, we're not taking about determining the age of something?

[DataNinja]

Wait, we're not taking about determining the age of something?

I mean, technically that's still an important part of relationships.