Qwertystop's Unexpected-To-Everyone-Or-At-Least-To-Him Random Banter #210

[Dragonrider]

What about one of those hypoallergenic cats? Those animals exist right, it's not just dogs?

Yes. Just hard to find. Really a more pertinent problem is that we live in a 600 square foot apartment in the middle of a city and don't really have space for two cats. (You need two really; I am firmly of this opinion.)

Sumerian tablets and seals?!

Yep. Boring ones though.

Hey! It's my fault I'm story orientated

Sorry to be all American and stuff but I still find this word hilarious and redundant. (Americans say "oriented.") (Kind of like preventative v. preventive but don't know the particulars of whose usage is which in that case)

Spanish does inflect for gender and plurality doesn't it?

Yes. I think inflection is at about the same level as French but someone who knows both would have to confirm that.

It's just amazing that you make (some of) your own clothes. It'll take quite a while for the wedding dresses though if you're aiming for fancy. Then again, from what I remember of your fashion preferences you do tend towards the refined, simple elegance, so it should be easier? Knowing nothing about . . . La Libellule I can't comment about that.
There, a nickname for her. Maybe she'll approve, certainly it's less naughty than . . .


Yeah, that.
P.S. La Libellule is French. That's all I'm going to say.

Hehe. That's funny because I've always had an affinity for dragonflies.

Yeah, I have a fairly good idea of what I'd do and it would be pretty simple. We're thinking garden teatime type wedding, nothing very formal, and in the summer.

I'm hovering along the lines of 32/34 FF/G (and maybe GG) depending on the tightness of the band and straps, the fabric overall and the style. It is easier over here buying bras - for one thing we have a fairly accurate industry standard (though naturally brands do vary a little bit) and actually stock for people who aren't 34 - 40 A - D.
And why does America have D/DD/DDD/DDDD?! Is there a phobia of the letter E?
That said I live in a small, small town so there's only one (maybe two) places I can go to try on bras in my actual sizes, and even then in the one shop it's tricky to get my sizes when I'm looking for something specific. The trouble I went to to get a nude bra in the style I wanted . . . The shop assistant had to look around the other poles of bras to split my browsing time in half.
And, you know, it'd be nice if more people knew how to correctly measure bra sizes.
But let's not go all r/ABraThatFits on this place. Or maybe we could . . .

Oh! Let's talk about the trouble getting trousers that fit without having to take up inches of fabric even when you buy petite.

American bra sizing sucks. Yes it does. There is a phobia of the letter E and everything after it, and good luck finding anything anywhere that's not 34-40 A-D. There are boutiques. But I buy stuff online which meant a LOT of returns before I figured out my proper size. And even then it means that I pretty much stay in one model and brand because it varies so. And the colors it comes in are pink pink pink.

[LaZodiac]

American bra sizing sucks. Yes it does. There is a phobia of the letter E and everything after it, and good luck finding anything anywhere that's not 34-40 A-D. There are boutiques. But I buy stuff online which meant a LOT of returns before I figured out my proper size. And even then it means that I pretty much stay in one model and brand because it varies so. And the colors it comes in are pink pink pink.

Not sure if it's the same up here in Canada, but I know I've had trouble coming up with ones that actually fit snuggly. Easier to find in colors other then pink at least...not that I don't mind that.

[Dragonrider]

Not sure if it's the same up here in Canada, but I know I've had trouble coming up with ones that actually fit snuggly. Easier to find in colors other then pink at least...not that I don't mind that.

As a rule I've found the easiest color is beige, but say you find one that fits you like a glove and is the exact right shape for you and then it only comes in these bright colors and the easiest one by far to find is candy pink so you end up with three candy pink and one yellow....

I haven't found any other style that fits as well.

[LaZodiac]

As a rule I've found the easiest color is beige, but say you find one that fits you like a glove and is the exact right shape for you and then it only comes in these bright colors and the easiest one by far to find is candy pink so you end up with three candy pink and one yellow....

I haven't found any other style that fits as well.

Looks more red to me. So I'd be fine with that.

Though yeah, good luck finding something proper for you. Worst case scenario, try bleaching/dying it?

[Taet]

I finally finished work on a programming project I've been working on for somebody! It took a month and a whole rewrite of the codebase, but I finished!

It took all the month? Was it supposed to?

I think you're missing the point of a traditional Nordic sauna. The idea is that you come in from the cold and relax for a bit, then go back out into the cold and cool off. There is no cold to do that in Florida. I strongly suspect she wouldn't like it at all.

Nah, we're all chill. I much prefer people to join in a conversation than to just let it die. There are things I can reply to if someone writes paragraphs or asks a few questions - it's a whole lot harder to do if the only thing sitting there in their post is a few sentences unrelated to what everyone else is going on about. JOIN US.

Don't be intimidated. DON'T DO IT.

Exactly like that. The one I use is called FoxReplace, but I'm sure there are plenty others. It makes my online experience just a little more hilarious, at the occasional expense of readability.

The Florida sauna is inside out. You go outside for the hot bath and inside a mall to the extra cold air conditioning cold bath.

At the expense of readability and maybe of the dignity of someone else.

An easy mistake to make. I'm throwing around algebra like a farmer on the fields, and it doesn't even strike me that most people weren't taught all of this stuff to start with. Go one step further down the mathematical ladder and I forget that it's mathematics altoghether. All I can see are the means to manipulate abstract concept in just the way I want them...

Yeah, one doesn't really mention it that often, especially since all written languages in Middle Earth use it, bar the dwarves who use Cirth (which still was invented by the same elf).

Say, what was it you rewired now again?

The first idea I had about that was not about the farmer throwing around seeds. Fertilizer. Fresh.

This came in the middle of programming talk and I took some time to realize that Cirth is not the programming language of the dwarves.

I am rewiring a sewing machine! All of it unfortunately. The motor and the light and the pedal wires were all horrible. I had a very frightening time when I thought smoke was coming from the soldering iron. It was from the solder but the iron is hollow and it was going up the tip and through the iron body and out the cord end. I quit for the day after that. Too frightening.

ION: It's almost midnight; I think I'm going to fhtagn now.

In public?!

I want a cat. But Girl is allergic. :( The things we do for love....

Here we use those allergy pills from the dollar store. They work just fine. One of the cats makes allergies worse. And it is the cat who loves to sit on your shoulder and rub his fur on your hair and face.

Honestly I'm in need of an evening cut anyway if nothing else, and I'm not sure if I really enjoy long hair without someone to annoy by primping it in front of. :/

I have no idea what an evening cut is.

[LaZodiac]

Playing Grim Fandango.

Reminding myself why I didn't finish the Sam and Max games. Very violently.

[Mutant Sheep]

*wanders back into Banter, thinking of trawling back 4 pages to respond to things*

*sees all the bra-talk*

*backs away slowly, retreats to his Tolkien*

[Feytalist]

Playing Grim Fandango.

Reminding myself why I didn't finish the Sam and Max games. Very violently.

Grim Fandango is awesome.

But I play those games for the story, not for the game mechanics

[Coidzor]

I am rewiring a sewing machine! All of it unfortunately. The motor and the light and the pedal wires were all horrible. I had a very frightening time when I thought smoke was coming from the soldering iron. It was from the solder but the iron is hollow and it was going up the tip and through the iron body and out the cord end. I quit for the day after that. Too frightening.

Oh. Neat. Also intimidating, so good luck with that. I hope you can avoid any further complications without having to abandon the project or scrap any of your tools.

I have no idea what an evening cut is.

Mah hair needs to be evened out because it is uneven because I never got it cut to even it out when I first grew it out.

[factotum]

Really a more pertinent problem is that we live in a 600 square foot apartment in the middle of a city and don't really have space for two cats.

Wow. 600 square feet is *small*? I'm pretty sure if you totalled up the floorspace of my two-storey, three-bedroom semi-detached house it would only be about that size!

[enderlord99]

Mah hair needs to be evened out because it is uneven because I never got it cut to even it out when I first grew it out.

I read the word "evening" as a time of day, equivalent to late afternoon or early night. Taet might have also.

[Feytalist]

Wow. 600 square feet is *small*? I'm pretty sure if you totalled up the floorspace of my two-storey, three-bedroom semi-detached house it would only be about that size!

:O

That comes to about 55 square meters. For a city apartment, that's pretty big. Over here anyway.

Not so much for two cats though, I'd agree.

[Peebles]

Just quote whatever's interesting.

I think I'd run out of quote space.

Cool. Take it Ha Noi was a stop over before travelling elsewhere then? I'll make sure to check out the Ethnology museum, I do like a good museum. And it's good to know that even with not-so-good Vietnamese I'd be able to get by.
Cheap is good. I'm already planning on checking out some of the street food, but I'll make sure to pop by the river and investigate too. Hopefully there won't be too many bugs as I'm currently planning on arriving in monsoon season - at least it'll be warm and wet eh?
Maybe the street markets just take getting used to? But I can see there'd be a big clash between a British market and any market in SE Asia.

Yeah, we fit it in between India and China, kind of a whistle stop tour of the area before the money ran out! Cheap is doable in Vietnam, if you're willing to forgo some comforts. Well, it was for three days anyway, living there is a whole different thing.

Bugs tend to leave me alone for some reason, but they were pretty prevalent, especially near said river. And it rained. All. The. Time. No doubt it's better outside of the wet season though.

I'm sure the street markets are okay if you get used to them, but I just thought they were more intimidating than similar ones in Delhi and whatnot. I was a young twenty-one though.

*high fives*
Not even sure if I was expecting any, but if you do find some that'd be great!

Working on it. I had my camera stolen in India, and it was pre facebook for me. And I...well, I don't speak to the friend I traveled with anymore. Not that that's unusual for me - I make friends easily and lose them easier. I'm reestablishing contact though, you've given me a nice excuse to swallow my pride.

Oh I hope so, being 5' 3" on a generous day can make things like reaching really tall shelves for large items quite intimidating. And shopping for things that fit. I'm short with boobs in the FF/G range, so everything is too long in the everywhere or I'm popping buttons.

To quote George Takei: Oh my.

My sisters 5' 0" and generous up front, so she has the same problem. I sometimes think one of us is the milkmans, as I'm a good eight inches taller and rather less prone to back problems if you catch my meaning. Thinking about it, we never had a milkman. Maybe I'm the postmans.

And it's definitely better than a seagull. I live on the coast. Three a.m. wake up calls are unpleasant even after a lifetime of it happening.

You'd think you wouldn't get seagulls in Peterborough, but the horrible things are here as well bullying the pigeons.

Sound fun, I've had occasional requests to do Access type stuff for my uni too, but they don't really pay for travel expenses. Also I'm bad at public speaking - shocking I know - and probably would be too informal for them.
And I'm glad you could get way from there (and that your new flat seems to be pretty much a certainty right now).

It's better than the business facing stuff I used to do, that's for sure. Don't give the uni the idea of getting students to do it, otherwise I'll be out of a job! Most colleges and schools I go to prefer the informal approach, but I do have to go the stuffy route on occasion, which is much less fun. I can speak in front of a group of students way better than I can in front of two strangers, weirdly.

As for the flat, the landlord wants me in asap, and I want in too and have the deposit. Just having to go at the speed of the letting agents, who've been given advice by a snail I think.

Ah, another tea fan. Well if Teddy dear doesn't have Earl Grey I have it. And Lady Grey. And raspberry and strawberry tea. And chamomile tea. And nettle and peppermint tea. And green tea with jasmine. Ever had coconut oil with green tea? it's lovely, though the texture is a little strange at first.
Yes, I really do have all those teas myself. I'm actually running low, believe it or not.

Strawberry and kiwi tea is amazing. Cinnamon and orange too. I am unfortunately allergic to coconut. And dogs. And cats. And I get hayfever. I'm not lactose intolerant though, so at least there's that.

Oh I'm glad; will you be able to reach the gaming place easily from your new flat or will you go the extra mile to get there. Did you like you fellow gamers or are you still testing the waters?
Never actually done normal D&D myself, but it sounds fun. If you're looking for bardic songs I suggest Queen. And Van Canto. And some cheesy songs from the 90s just for shock value. And that Stonecutter's Song from The SImpsons.

It's pretty close by which is nice; a group of friends that I used to play with at college, that I somehow managed not to alienate in my previous attempts at completely flying off the rails. I got into contact with a couple of them when I moved back home last year, met up a few times, and last Friday was our first game. It was a bit weird being with a group of people I'd barely seen for years, but I like to think I fit in okay.

You should try it, if you have the time. If you've got the storyteller bug in you, and you have the right group, there's not a lot of things I'd rather be doing. Is it sad to admit that? Probably.

The Sister's so attached to her hair (and she treats it so poorly) that I'm genuinely considering hacking off her hair as she sleeps just so she can get it done.

Apply bubblegum. Rub in. Profit.

:O

That comes to about 55 square meters. For a city apartment, that's pretty big. Over here anyway.

Not so much for two cats though, I'd agree.

That sounds a reasonable size for a flat, though I'm used to UK shoeboxes and don't work in metres very well. Now I want to know how big my soon-to-be flat is.

[Teddy]

. . . okay? I'm sure that's a good thing and I'm glad you're enjoying it, but I have no idea what that is that you're talking about.
But interesting facts are always good. Something to spark a conversation.

'T' as in "Technology", stolen from your "STEM" acronym. At this level, we spend just as much time being told interesting facts as actually practicing anything...

I like making people feel happy, so I play around and use my ego to make others feel better.

And that's why it's a huge strength of yours, and why you're a good person!

*raises eyebrows*
So you're saying that I need little cat versions of smilies? Or Koorlys (No, that would be strange)? That mini-hacking thing sounds impressive though, I could never do that. Also I'm not an artist.

That depends. Do you ask yourself "Why isn't this a cat?" every time you use a smilie?

Good Lord. I remember RBs of a day or two if not less. Why's this so slow?

Short answer short, because there hasn't been anyone around who answers everything. Conversation decays quickly when people only respond to what pertains directly to them and no one already has answered. And the mentaility is contagious too.

It's not so bad depending on the ages you teach and whether or not you assign them projects and things. And what, precisely, you're hired to teach. If I was hired strictly to teach General Spoken English and conversational English I wouldn't need as much paperwork as someone hired to teach General English or focus on Written English or something. I'd still need some - phonetic charts, flashcards, prompts, ready-made games and such, but far less than another teacher might be.
And if I was hired as an assistant teacher I wouldn't need to plan lessons at all! Those are the big ones.
Don't even ask me about making lesson plans (though you can if you want).

Yeah, and it can be even worse. I don't envy the poor, Swedish teachers...

Also, you have teachers for spoken only English...?

Eh, same thing, different name. The only difference is in the first word of the qualification. They both cost a lot of money (though are cheaper abroad in some countries),require observed classroom hours and such, and I think an exam to pass at the end.

Ahh, no, I meant the third acronym, the one you used before C/DELTA...

E-mail? Letters? And when/if you do, thank her from me please! Though how she'd feel about being asked about Vietnam by a stranger from the internets is an entirely different matter.

Don't have any of those, is too lazy/busy for any. Plus, it would feel a bit awkward...

It really was. Makes me wish that assisted euthanasia or whatever it is was legal over here. Oh well.

Did he express such desires himself?

What trailing spaces? You mean when I occasionally leave a line in between paragraphs? In the forums case I only do it to clearly indicate a change in subject matter (though there are, indeed, many times when I forget), often in response to quoting the entirety of another person's post to show that I'm addressing each topic in passing.

Ahh, no, I meant the space characters (' ') you often, but not always, put before the newlines at the end of the paragraph. Highlight the text at the end of the next quote to see what I mean.

Gilderoy Lockhart? Only one I can think of right now.

Correct.
(And I totally did not make a riddle out of it just becaus I didn't know his original English name, not at all.)

What about if you do it in a very obvious joking fashion? I do that sometimes, I think. Can't think of any examples right now, but I'm pretty sure I have.

Well, that assumes I actually know when I was or wasn't the author of some specific action or idea, doesn't it? Wouldn't that mean there was no problem to start with?

I suppose I can endorse the occasional orgy.

Those were some wonderful pictures; I see you're something of an urban explorer. Maybe I shall take note of this on my travels . . .
*is contemplating buying a mildly fancy cheap(ish) camera for purposes of blogging/showing pics to friends and family and might be taking notes about photo opportunities*
*is also already starting to think of names for blog, but having no luck*

Bringing a camera is always good, even if you aren't much of a photographer.

And yeah, I really like urban exploration (some might remember me getting all excited about old German WWII bunkers in Denmark a few years ago). And if you want to read some of my travel accounts, feel free to go back a bit in that thread...

Also known as 'complex mathematics'.

Okay, remove five 0's (or other digits) and add the result twice to itself.

On a more serious note, I actually honestly forgot that multiplication isn't trivial to headcount for most people...

Well I could post a picture of the pixie, but there was a reason I was waiting for the dye to fade: attending interviews with peacock/royal purple hair might not be the best way to get a job, especially in more conservative countries. All I wanted at first was some passport and visa photos, but I'm not having purple hair in those!

Meh, I can always imagine colours, but Curly-hair isn't nearly as easy!

Should I be concerned that 'Does that make sense?' applies so memorably to me?

Well, perhaps it means you're not confident that people will understand you? On a more general note, I personally find it a good thing when people have memorable phrases associated with them. It creates a feeling of familiarity.

Solving these can be difficult! I'm not entirely sure I understand what a derivative is. And how do you know what 'order' the equation's in? Why does one bit get two apostrophes and not another?

Well, it all depends on the problem. One has to keep in mind that equations are supposed to model a phenomenon, so you pick the equation which fits the best and try to predict how the phenomenon manifests itself. Some phenomena are best described by differential equations, and the equation you pick decides how many apostrophies are where.

Maybe homesickness is so expected of people that they force themselves into feeling it because it's something that should happen?

I some cases, maybe, but I think it's highly individual rather than some sort of subconscious conspiracy. People come from different backgrounds and carry different needs...

So a derivative is basically a 'this can change over time, so account for it' problem? I think that makes a little more sense.
Maybe.

Well, I won't say it is that (it's rather described by "this is how fast it changes over time"), but that does sum up an application of derivatives.

Hungh just finished Transistor. Such a good game. I'm on a roll when it comes to completing games this month.

And it's barely even begun yet!

*hugs back*
Or nallekram, if that fits.

Well, that's up to you to decide. I use it because I'm a teddybear who hugs, but it could definitely be used the other way around too.

Well, I thought that, but I've seen the flat, and met the hobo. His name is Walter and he's actually a pleasure to have around. He likes cleaning dishes, and has loads of awesome stories about when he was in the 2nd Order of Calinthrae on the Galactic Council. I think we're going to get on.

Seriously though, the apartment was pretty much perfect. I think I may have broken the record for most progress made towards renting in a single Saturday afternoon, I cannot miss out on this place. All being well, I'll be in there in three weeks!

Nice! Congratulations on your find!

Oh man, it was awesome. Or at least I thought it was. I worried that not doing any roleplaying at all for the last three years had left me with a rose-tinted view of it, but it doesn't seem like it. Bit of a nostalgia trip to happier times for me, and I had a blast.

I think we played the intro adventure from the 5th starter box, but I'm not sure. I'm glad to see Tiefling's are a base race now, and Bard's seem pretty great. Tiefling Bard with a gold-painted fiddle turned out to be pretty fun, though after the third rendition of the robot hell song from Futurama I think I may have started to grate a bit. Need to expand my repertoire.

Sounds like a great time indeed!

Actually, I think it was me. Or maybe both of us said it. Or maybe Teddy said it and I agreed? I'm sure I had some positive input on that conversation anyway.

Hmm, yes, I think I remember something like that too...

I'm still envious of you and your Kneen-visiting. I want to meet the budgie!

Yes, yes you do.

Damn. I've been trying to tell Curly she's a great person for years, and I think you just did it way better than I ever have. I'm slightly jealous.

Naw, thanks!

But I don't like wine!

Don't worry, you're British with a touch of Victorian air. Just your mere presence would be enough ambrosia for our Budgie!

Best way to go in my opinion.

I... don't agree. It's sad for those who still remain, because they're left in a vacuum of uncertainity on whether a message some old one ever will reach its recipient. It isn't as sensitive as I'd like to be, but I'd liken it a little to how people to whom friends or family members have gone missing often will prefer to know them to be dead than just presume them to be. Hopeless hope can be a most destructive force...

I am typing this lying on my back with the Demon Cat sleeping on my boobs, one of her paws pressing down on my voice box - it's getting a clawtastic massage. I can't see the keyboard because it's obscured by the raspy mass of the sleeping cat. If I'm making typos and things it's because I genuinely can't see a thing and am slightly out of practice touch-typing, and I can't be bothered to make all the corrections, and I haven't been able to feel my toes for the last two hours, and my fingers are starting to go too.

Wow, how heavy is your cat?

Ah, another tea fan. Well if Teddy dear doesn't have Earl Grey I have it. And Lady Grey. And raspberry and strawberry tea. And chamomile tea. And nettle and peppermint tea. And green tea with jasmine. Ever had coconut oil with green tea? it's lovely, though the texture is a little strange at first.
Yes, I really do have all those teas myself. I'm actually running low, believe it or not.

I think that quote was directed at Taet, but, well, I do have Earl Grey, if only in bags. If one wants loose leaf tea in my home, it'll either be either Darjeeling or Koh-I-Noor (can't remember which one we're stocking), or English Breakfast, which I consume by the spoonloads.

So . . . how do they get away with male/female prices then? Is it one of those non-policed laws that just exist for no reason? Equal prices is good I suppose, though it's still a rip-off for the men as they have less hair to cut and maintain. That said I know just about as many men who use barbers/unisex places as those who go to actual 'ladies' salons, so they know what they're in for.

Perhaps they do some arbitrary long-hair/short-hair division where females just haaappen to fall on the long-hair side...

The first idea I had about that was not about the farmer throwing around seeds. Fertilizer. Fresh.

I was going to write out "seeds", but decided not to because it got tacky, but wow, I didn't even think about that...

This came in the middle of programming talk and I took some time to realize that Cirth is not the programming language of the dwarves.

Hahahaha! This is great!

I am rewiring a sewing machine! All of it unfortunately. The motor and the light and the pedal wires were all horrible. I had a very frightening time when I thought smoke was coming from the soldering iron. It was from the solder but the iron is hollow and it was going up the tip and through the iron body and out the cord end. I quit for the day after that. Too frightening.

Ahh, right. I sure can appreciate some good, hands-on craftmanship. Good luck and don't electrocute yourself!

And at first I thought you were speaking about the solder going through the iron, and I did start to question your sanity when you thought that wasn't a fault on the iron's part. Then I realised you were talking about the smoke...

[Peebles]

Well, that's up to you to decide. I use it because I'm a teddybear who hugs, but it could definitely be used the other way around too.

There you go then, decided. I'm starting a trend.

Does anyone else feel the Wednesday slump, even though it's only Tuesday? I'm ready for the weekend already.

[LaZodiac]

Grim Fandango is awesome.

But I play those games for the story, not for the game mechanics

The problem is that when the puzzles get too frustrating, be it because you missed the obvious thing that is just "too small" or because the puzzle is bad, you start getting so frustrated that you stop actually caring about the plot, or stop finding the jokes funny.

Like, I've yet to actually determine if they thought Glotis is funny or annoying.

[Cristo Meyers]

Does anyone else feel the Wednesday slump, even though it's only Tuesday? I'm ready for the weekend already.

Same, though I've Friday off, so it effectively is my Wednesday slump.

Well, slump and the fact that my seasonal depression has kicked in something fierce this year.

Spoiler

Show

And this year has chosen to manifest itself as angsting over mortality and questions about the hereafter. Some things I can get around, I've done it before, but this little bundle of questions without answers has been regularly leaving me in a mixed up ball of fear, anxiety, and inability to do anything at it's worst.

I'm not even old...

The problem is that when the puzzles get too frustrating, be it because you missed the obvious thing that is just "too small" or because the puzzle is bad, you start getting so frustrated that you stop actually caring about the plot, or stop finding the jokes funny.

Like, I've yet to actually determine if they thought Glotis is funny or annoying. .

There's a reason many of my attempts to get through Adventure games end with me grabbing a guide... I'm looking squarely at you, Anna

[Thufir]

I think I'd run out of quote space.

Yes. That happens sometimes. Once you hit 10 posts multiquoted you have to hit reply, ctrl+a, ctrl+x and then back to get more, possibly pausing to hit reply in another thread so you can deselect the first 10 quotes. Quotestorming is at times a complex art.

Short answer short, because there hasn't been anyone around who answers everything. Conversation decays quickly when people only respond to what pertains directly to them and no one already has answered. And the mentaility is contagious too.

Short answer shorter, obviously it's just that no-one else is as interesting as Koorly (presumably this is also why we keep feeding her ego).

Don't worry, you're British with a touch of Victorian air. Just your mere presence would be enough ambrosia for our Budgie!

Well, I try.

I... don't agree. It's sad for those who still remain, because they're left in a vacuum of uncertainity on whether a message some old one ever will reach its recipient. It isn't as sensitive as I'd like to be, but I'd liken it a little to how people to whom friends or family members have gone missing often will prefer to know them to be dead than just presume them to be. Hopeless hope can be a most destructive force...

Yeah. There's a lack of closure. I can understand the tendency of people to just drift away gradually though. Hell, I'd reached the point of mostly just lurking rather than participating until last week.

[Devmaar]

Tidying the walk-in freezer would be less unpleasant if it wasn't so cold

[Haluesen]

Playing Grim Fandango.

Reminding myself why I didn't finish the Sam and Max games. Very violently.

What's the problem exactly? I've never had a chance to look into either of those games.

*wanders back into Banter, thinking of trawling back 4 pages to respond to things*

*sees all the bra-talk*

*backs away slowly, retreats to his Tolkien*

That's almost the feeling I had too. Except insert Pokemon instead of Tolkien here. Only have a few books and his aren't in the collection.

Grim Fandango is awesome.

But I play those games for the story, not for the game mechanics

I can get behind that line of thinking. The Walking Dead, a simple point-and-click adventure, has a great story. I've never been big on Dragon Age: Origins gameplay, but the story and the choice-making is nice. And of course for people who prefer them there are always visual novels. THe idea of meh gameplay but great story is everywhere!

Tidying the walk-in freezer would be less unpleasant if it wasn't so cold

I'd be surprised if it weren't cold. But I get what you mean. While working at a restaurant I typically hated doing anything working with the freezer. Though I eventually warmed up to the idea. I'm horrible.



@Teddy: It looks like you responded to absolutely ALL of the banter. I saw something you said and wanted to quote on it but then there was so much more...and so much more...I wouldn't know where to trim. It's amazing though. Oh and hi.


In other news, why can't sleeping work normal? I mean, I spend a few days staying up til 5 am with a friend and next thing you know my body can't decide when sleeping is okay or not. Glad I got at least one fairly normal night of sleeping, so today I can actually do things.

Also my cooking ability continues to slowly grow! I am great at making pastas of various sorts now (including stuff not just from a box!) and I got some little creative ideas to try next month. And I made cornbread for the first time and nothing burned, which I see as great for someone who has basically no baking experience.

And for the record, I do still intend to make my YouTube channel. It's just been tough because of the odd sleeping, some little life stuff, and my current headset starting to fail utterly on me. Once that last one is dealt with and I can keep ahold of money long enough to get Pharoah, I shall start. I've also been thinking of trying Town of Salem to start on my channel, and maybe even the computer version of Cards Against Humanity with a couple friends. Such ideas.

[LaZodiac]

What's the problem exactly? I've never had a chance to look into either of those games.

Just puzzles that have a really bad design to them.

[Haluesen]

Just puzzles that have a really bad design to them.

Indeed then. Well I'm sorry. That does sound rather frustrating. I dislike badly designed puzzles.

...which might be why I rarely make puzzles in D&D. I have so little puzzle designing skill.

So, please remind me, have you been able to play Dragon Age: Inquisition? And if so, what do you think of it?

[Cristo Meyers]

Just puzzles that have a really bad design to them.

You would think they would've learned better by now. Rampant Moon Logic Puzzles are largely credited with the downfall of Adventure games back in the day (see: Gabriel Knight 3).

[TheWombatOfDoom]

Indeed then. Well I'm sorry. That does sound rather frustrating. I dislike badly designed puzzles.

...which might be why I rarely make puzzles in D&D. I have so little puzzle designing skill.

So, please remind me, have you been able to play Dragon Age: Inquisition? And if so, what do you think of it?

I always wonder if I'm a good puzzle maker or not.

For instance, I made puzzle maps on halo, and most people never solved them, because they required gamers who would usually point and shoot to puzzle solve, and most people didn't evolve to it. I'd use some tricks that people who were familiar with the games mechanics would know how to utilize, and I even developed a few puzzles in order to train you up to the harder ones...but still, I had like, 1 or 2 people solve the hard ones. Out of many. I miss watching people play through my puzzles. Oh Halo 4, why did you have to change the map editor?

The question is, if its nicely set up in my mind, is too challenging a good or bad puzzle?

My D & D puzzles are more forgiving (since you can't really trial by error in D & D, unless you have a lot of NPC minions, and are of the lower range of alignment). But from what I'm told, still enjoyable.

[LaZodiac]

Indeed then. Well I'm sorry. That does sound rather frustrating. I dislike badly designed puzzles.

...which might be why I rarely make puzzles in D&D. I have so little puzzle designing skill.

So, please remind me, have you been able to play Dragon Age: Inquisition? And if so, what do you think of it?

DA:I is really fun I'm just having trouble finding time to play it.

You would think they would've learned better by now. Rampant Moon Logic Puzzles are largely credited with the downfall of Adventure games back in the day (see: Gabriel Knight 3).

To be fair I'm playing a PSX era game that's been remastered.

[Dragonrider]

Wow. 600 square feet is *small*? I'm pretty sure if you totalled up the floorspace of my two-storey, three-bedroom semi-detached house it would only be about that size!

:O

That comes to about 55 square meters. For a city apartment, that's pretty big. Over here anyway.

Not so much for two cats though, I'd agree.

Yeah, 600 can be a lot. It's huge for what it is, which is a studio. A studio with a kitchen and a bathroom, but still, the bedroom and living room are one room. And it's too small for two cats + two people.

Edited to clarify: it would be fine if we lived in an area where the cats could be indoor/outdoor, but we don't. They'd have to be indoor-only. That's the main issue with the size.

[Haluesen]

I always wonder if I'm a good puzzle maker or not.

For instance, I made puzzle maps on halo, and most people never solved them, because they required gamers who would usually point and shoot to puzzle solve, and most people didn't evolve to it. I'd use some tricks that people who were familiar with the games mechanics would know how to utilize, and I even developed a few puzzles in order to train you up to the harder ones...but still, I had like, 1 or 2 people solve the hard ones. Out of many. I miss watching people play through my puzzles. Oh Halo 4, why did you have to change the map editor?

The question is, if its nicely set up in my mind, is too challenging a good or bad puzzle?

My D & D puzzles are more forgiving (since you can't really trial by error in D & D, unless you have a lot of NPC minions, and are of the lower range of alignment). But from what I'm told, still enjoyable.

I would imagine that Halo puzzle maps might be something people wouldn't expect. I certainly didn't.

I guess it depends on your mind. Something logical and clear to you might be obtuse and confusing to others. There's just no way to know for sure, so you might as well try. Puzzles are supposed to be challenging.

Heh I think plenty of 'Good' adventurers would have no problem using summoned minions to test puzzles. Though if they do end up more enjoyable, then great!

DA:I is really fun I'm just having trouble finding time to play it.

Nice, though I can understand the time issue. I've been enjoying a second playthrough of DA:2, playing a mage with a very different attitude to the first run of the game. To me mages are a lot cooler now, all the difference being made just by their staves and how they work.

My brother told me he was considering getting DA:I to play the multiplayer with his gf, but as far as we can tell it only has online multiplayer. Most sites we looked up were pretty vague but that's how it seems. So he decided against it.

[Cristo Meyers]

To be fair I'm playing a PSX era game that's been remastered.

Ah, that would explain it, then. It's actually from said era.

I kinda figured they'd do for Grim Fandango was another team did for Shadowgate and change things up on the remaster.

Yeah, 600 can be a lot. It's huge for what it is, which is a studio. A studio with a kitchen and a bathroom, but still, the bedroom and living room are one room. And it's too small for two cats + two people.

Edited to clarify: it would be fine if we lived in an area where the cats could be indoor/outdoor, but we don't. They'd have to be indoor-only. That's the main issue with the size.

600 sq ft was approximately the size of LadyMeyers' and my first apartment. I can't even begin to imaging cramming a cat in there alongside all of our stuff. Poor thing would go completely bonkers.

My brother told me he was considering getting DA:I to play the multiplayer with his gf, but as far as we can tell it only has online multiplayer. Most sites we looked up were pretty vague but that's how it seems. So he decided against it.

Yeah, the MP is online-only. It's very much like the ME3 multiplayer.

[LaZodiac]

Ah, that would explain it, then. It's actually from said era.

I kinda figured they'd do for Grim Fandango was another team did for Shadowgate and change things up on the remaster.

Well keep in mind the guys making the Remaster is Double Fine, and as I've touched on in this thread previously they make nothing but garbage. The only change they made mechanically was adding in point and click controls as opposed to tank controls, though they also put in an achievement where you play the game solely using tank controls because Tim Schaffer demanded it.

[Amidus Drexel]

An easy mistake to make. I'm throwing around algebra like a farmer on the fields, and it doesn't even strike me that most people weren't taught all of this stuff to start with. Go one step further down the mathematical ladder and I forget that it's mathematics altoghether. All I can see are the means to manipulate abstract concept in just the way I want them...

Well, I'm not sure I'd compare our rather casual use of algebra and low-level calculus to a farmer planting seeds, as we're being a good deal more careless than any farmer could afford to be.
\ruthless pedant
But yeah, It's easy to forget that other people won't know what I'm talking about when I complain about something in one of my math classes. Or talk about math in general.

Another step down the ladder would be arithmetic, which is about as much math as a short pamphlet on classic Russian literature is the full text of War and Peace.

Well, then I can promise you perpetual happiness, because no one designs a chip which runs on Python.

But yeah, and I might add that the built-in error handlers of microchips aren't very powerful either. Be happy if you actually get an error State Secret which can point you to the line which failed...

Wooo! C == superior
Personally, I think I'd enjoy doing the work in assembly, but I've yet to need to do that, so I couldn't really say for sure.

I wouldn't imagine. And there's plenty of room for errors that have to do with deficiencies in the hardware, on top of all the possible logic errors.

Yeah, one would think so, but that's not necessarily the case. It does depend on the purpose of the microchip, but one has to keep in mind that floating point operations take time, and chips designed for real-time applications may skip them on virtue of not being fast enough. The ones we had, which were purposed for signal processing, were 32 bit and lacked any floating points whatsoever. Instead, we had to do fixed-point arithmetics, and because this was handled purely through integer types and a built-in library, there was no lower/upper register to handle the results of the multiplications, so we had to restrict ourselves to 16-bit numbers as well.

Not that it mattered that much for the output quality, the filters we made weren't quite strong enough for the noise anyway...

It's also very, very noisy...

It's also possible we won't need to use floating-point numbers at all, but I'm not going to get my hopes up too much.
I know you talked about this a lot while you were doing it/right after you finished, but what sort of signals were you working with, anyway? I vaguely remember you mentioning audio of some sort, but then again, noise can be used to mean a whole lot more than just sound.

Heh. Yeah, it's pretty hard to completely filter out unwanted signals and still have something useable without pretty specialized hardware. I would think it'd be easier with software, but I suppose there's a lot more you have to take into account when reading in the signal (which is incredibly easy in a hardware system).

Heheheh

Yeah, one doesn't really mention it that often, especially since all written languages in Middle Earth use it, bar the dwarves who use Cirth (which still was invented by the same elf).

Does the Black Speech use it, or does that have it? (not that there's a lot of places where that's actually written)

Hehe. The one guarantee that should I truly decide to blog that I can get several thousand words out of the strangest things quite easily, and fairly speedily.

Hey, I'll have you know I can add up things when in the shops. That's real maths with function.

Heh. That will be a fun read, should you decide to do so. I expect a full account of everything!

See:

Another step down the ladder would be arithmetic, which is about as much math as a short pamphlet on classic Russian literature is the full text of War and Peace.

I read this and drink snorted out of my nose. It was hot green tea with coconut oil (naturally hot). It hurt.

About five dollars right? The food in college is subsidised, and naturally the college gets discounts because of how much food it sells. Also it owns its own farms and stuff, so I think they get a lot of the vegetables and stuff from there. Also food is fairly cheap here in general as long as it's not meat.

Heheheheh

Give or take, yeah. Lucky you; ours isn't.
The rest is about the same too, though for some reason the locally grown stuff is waaaaay more expensive than it needs to be.

It's surprisingly expensive to get really good bread in the states. There's plenty of cheap stuff, but it's all crap. The cheap bread I've had in the UK was all much better.
Fruit's cheap everywhere, though, so long as you're getting it in season.
MEAT. Sometimes it's expensive here, sometimes it isn't. It goes up and down a lot, from what I remember (I don't buy a whole lot of meat).

*nods*
The worst part about living in college (I mean the main 'campus') was that there were only two kitchens for everyone there, and one was in a house that you could only access if you lived there or knew someone there. Hard to cook, but the main kitchen did have good quality kitchenware and a great stove. Even if it was electric.
And you weren't allowed to cook in your room; technically you were only allowed a kettle, but I know a few people who had sandwich makers and a rice cooker in their rooms, they just had to hide them when not using them. I think most people tended to cook in their room using the ad hoc method of cooking instant noodles in a cup/bowl using boiled water from the kettle and putting a plate on top to keep the steam and heat in. Not the best by any means, but it worked. Oh, and couscous was good too.
Second year living in a house with only eight people in meant I could use the kitchen. Good times. I even had a part of a shelf in the fridge!

Ugh. People who leave doors open without the agreement of all involved are the worst, especially if you live in a changeable climate; never know when it's going to rain.

Wow, really? There was a kitchen on every floor of my building in the dorms, and it was hardly a new building. I mean, you're still sharing the kitchen with ~70 people, but they didn't really get used all that often.

Living with 8 people?! I don't think I could manage that. Three other guys is about right - any more would be distracting, and any less would be dull.

Generally it's the people taking the trash, who like to leave them open so they don't have to struggle with the door when they're pushing those big trash carts. But yes, it's incredibly annoying. The rain doesn't get in, but the wind sure as hell does. We get some cold wind here, which is a pretty big shock when you've been spending hours next to the grill.

Solving these can be difficult! I'm not entirely sure I understand what a derivative is.
And how do you know what 'order' the equation's in?
Why does one bit get two apostrophes and not another?

They can be, but usually they're not. A lot of the hard part of solving the equations comes with having to use algebra to manipulate them, not from the calculus itself.

The order of the equation is purely descriptive - if the highest derivative is the second derivative, then it's a second-order equation. If the highest is the seventh derivative, it's a seventh-order equation. If the highest is the first derivative, it's only a first-order equation.

It's just how the problem's set up - you could switch them around if you liked, but then it would be modeling something else when you graphed it (and wouldn't be the same equation). The one with two apostrophes is the second derivative, and the one with a single apostrophe is the first derivative - they're just notation to indicate what the equation is.
If you really want to get into why, it has to do with whatever you're trying to model.

Let's do a bit of an extended example. I'll use a spring with a weight on it, because that's probably easier to understand (though the same set of equations works for a swinging door).

tl;dr: A spring-mass system is modeled by an equation of this form: my'' - ry' + ky = 0. The m is the thing hanging from the spring, the r is the dampening effect (resisting the motion of the spring - think air resistance), and the k is how "springy' the spring is.

Spoiler: Extended Example

Show

A spring-mass system is modeled by an equation of this form: my'' - ry' + ky = 0. It's a second-order linear equation, but that's not really important to understand. What is important are the coefficients m, k, and r.

m is the mass of the weight on the spring - it controls the amplitude, or how far the spring moves.
If m is very large, then the spring will go up and down really far. This is like sticking a really big weight on it, pulling it down, and it shooting up in the air.
If m is very small, then the spring will do the opposite - it'll barely move up and down at all.

k is a physical constant of the spring; it basically means how strong the string pulls back to its original position. This is going to control how fast the spring moves back and forth.
If k is very large, then the spring will move up and down really fast. Imagine one of those old-fashioned door-stoppers with the spring attached to the wall - when you play with the stopper, it bounces back and forth really fast.
If k is very small, then the spring will move more slowly. Imagine a slinky - they move slowly, relatively speaking.

r is the damping force - it models the resistance the spring encounters when it tries to move back and forth. This could be air resistance, a special damper placed on the spring itself - pretty much anything that'll try and keep the spring from moving.
If r is zero, then the spring will never slow down and stop, and it'll just bounce back and forth forever. Imagine the spring in space, where it won't be slowed down by anything.
If r is very small, the spring will bounce back and forth, but it'll slow down and stop eventually. This is what'll happen if you do it here on Earth (and what the gif shows).
If r is very large, the spring will slowly close without bouncing back and forth at all. Imagine a spring trying to pull a weight up through molassas - it's 'sticky' and resists motion.
There's also a specific value of r where the door is critically dampened, and then the spring will move to a certain position very quickly and then stop, entirely without bouncing back and forth. It looks a lot like the one with molassas, but imagine something a little bit thinner, so that the spring can pull the weight up quickly, but still thick enough to keep it from bouncing around.

The equation itself can represent anything, though - it's just meant to model that particular system (and we pick equations that make good models).

And looking at the nonlinear thing hurt my head even more than the 'simple' stuff! I know e is an imaginary number . . . with a set 'definition' - or is it irrational? And I know that sin involves using curved line thingies on a graph to express a thing, but how can you work out sin if sin is in the problem? Or is sin the way you solve the curve thingy and thus has another set value?
Brain . . .

Believe me, it would hurt my head to try and solve that too. Nonlinear systems aren't all that complicated, but yeah, they're generally much harder.

As Thurfir said, e is irrational, not imaginary (irrational numbers are ones that you can't accurately represent as fractions, whereas imaginary numbers are a bit of notation to let us take the square root of negative numbers). The rest was far better explained by him and I'd be doing you both a disservice to stumble through my own explanation of those functions.

I'll do you one better:
*pats Ami on back*
It's pretty good. Hard going, and not something you want to read casually. I mean, you can, but a good portion of the atmosphere and plot comes from reading all the footnotes (and footnoted footnotes etc.), working out the puzzles and clues, finding the secret State Secrets and even translating things.
In that respect it's a lot like Umberto Eco's work as his books require knowledge of things ranging from Ancient Greek, Latin in various forms, medieval theology, comprehensive knowledge of Sherlock Holmes, the aforementioned theology and philosophy and more. Still enjoyable if you don't know it, but much better if you translate the untranslated lines and know something about the topics at hand.

Woo, pat on the back!

Yeah, I don't really have the spare energy or time to do anything other than casual reading (what little of that I manage), but perhaps I'll read some Joyce later.

I have no idea who Eco is... but that sounds like reading a complicated puzzle a la Hollywood Illuminati, not a book.

I too know some idiots. I say idiots but they're more biased, prejudiced, bigoted or set in their ways. Or deliberately tune people out. Or that sort of thing.

But but but I'm many of those things!
Bahahaha, I can't even pretend to keep a straight face over text. Nah, I mean, I'm pretty set in my ways (and certainly biased), but that won't stop me from having interesting conversations with people that think differently. I'm just too stubborn to be converted.

Indeed it is. There's an entire industry (or several) devoted to finding, explaining, complaining about, and even exploiting flaws.

No! Correct answers are the devil (lies!)! That's why I almost never have to engage in them. I'm an angel. I have an avvie to prove it too.

Back in the day, people would pay you to complain! But they invented the internet, and now we pay to complain about other people.

I am Satan, hear me roar.

Ha. Siblings are so gullible. My Bees (Little Brother) kind of, I think, idolises me in the knowledge department. It's intimidating because he takes what I say when he asks those sort of questions to heart. Whether it's etymology to pronunciation of Italian battles to where one can find the best iron ore deposits in WoW to computers (yeah, me, I find it weird too) to all sorts of things.
I tell him it's because I read a lot and also know how to use Google, but he still thinks the world of me in that sense.
Scary having someone's education in your hands like that.

Bahahahaha, I'm kinda glad my little sister doesn't think of me that way. There was a long time where she thought that I was a complete idiot, and has only recently discovered that I am, in fact, smart, and that she doesn't, in fact, know better than me about everything.

See, if I had that kind of power over someone's learning, I would abuse it (yes, let's teach you all sorts of "facts". Perhaps it's best that I don't.

Maybe homesickness is so expected of people that they force themselves into feeling it because it's something that should happen?

I think, oddly enough, some people actually like their home life and family and wish they had it back when they're away.
Never experienced it myself, mind.

It's good experience at least.
Hopefully you can switch to a non-Friday or weekend shift. BBB (Black Belt Brother) has to work weekends all the time, sometimes short-staffed and he hates it. And it's a three mile walk in the dark along barely lit, winding coastal roads in a rural area. He was chased two hundred yards by a badger in December.

HAHA, NOPE
We're required to have at least one weekend shift (I work Saturday nights), and they're always short-staffed. But we're short-staffed during the week too. Chances are I'll move my Thursday shift to Tuesday. It's a shame, though, I really like working with John and Allison. They've got their **** together, unlike some of the other people I've worked with.

Well, it's about a 2-3 mile walk home from campus, BUT buses run most of the time, so it's no big deal, generally. I've made the walk once or twice, but it's not really worth it unless I get out extra early (as it takes around an hour, and the bus runs back where I live once an hour at that time of night).

Why would universities stock and sell text books? I don't think any uni in the UK does that, or if they do it's slightly discounted because they buy in bulk and can pass that cheapness down to the students a bit.
Or maybe I was a humanities student and never had to buy a big textbook that was actually needed. Mathematics Friend did, but that textbook lasted her three years or so and she got it cheap online.

\rant incoming
Because they're money-grubbing whores and they know the students will pay their ludicrous prices because they didn't plan ahead.
\end rant

Likely for the convenience of having the book that you need for your class available and searchable by the class and professor, with the added benefit that the university gets to make money off of it that way.

Yeah, humanities books are generally priced more reasonably (as the professors aren't asking for huge, thick textbooks in most cases), but some of the professors make up for it in volume (thankfully none of mine have done that).

Graphics tablets are harder, as far as I'm concerned. For while drawing skill developed on a tablet usually transfers back in to traditional drawing, the opposite is generally not true. So you have to really mess around for a bit before you finally can draw as well as well as you could.

Yeah, my experimenting with tablet drawing was fun (and some parts are easier, once you learn the interface - erasing and redrawing, especially), but I still think I'm far better at pencil and paper.

Gah, I need to get a new pen so I can go back to practicing that. I've got some stuff that I want to draw that will be absolutely ridiculous to try and do with a mouse.

I did! This is how RB is supposed to be.

See I was much the same, I considered lecturing at a uni as a route I might want to go down (But never got close to it because of course the next step in that direction would've been postgrad and I had no idea what I wanted to do), but was always highly averse to the prospect of regular schoolteaching.

In my experience that's mostly what happens, at least with the people I particularly care about. They never decide to leave, they just post less and less until they're gone.

Agreed, agreed, and agreed. I think I could teach uni courses, but I'm not sure what I would actually do.

Hell, I've even found myself posting less - this past week has been a pretty sharp spike in activity for me.

Really? I tend to find sleepiness and inebriation to be nonconducive to any kind of productivity because I can't focus. I may have some great ideas while sleepy or tipsy, but I find it easier to wait until I'm in a more normal state of mind before actually doing stuff with them.

Say things which sound deep and meaningful.
Hope no-one asks what they actually mean and instead assume you're smart and wise.
????
Profit!

I find it really hard to focus on actual work when I'm clear-headed. I distract myself with other things because they're more interesting, and I never get around to the homework - whereas it's a whole lot easier for me to pin an idea down and just do it when I'm in a somewhat affected state of mind. Obviously being drunk or half-awake is bad for quality, but a little sleepy or tipsy generally means I can concentrate on a single thing and get it done.

How to be a politician philosopher 101.

So what you're saying is that as a reward for your services you're going to be getting your hands on excessively large numbers of dongs?

Granted I finished my degree years ago and my recollections of it are somewhat hazy, but I don't recall the limit definition of a derivative being particularly problematic?

Bahahahahaha

They're tedious and annoying. I get that it's an important concept to understand, but I hate them with a passion because they are quite possibly the most annoying thing I have ever done with mathematics.

I'm very much like that as well. I realised a while back that's probably a big part of why I hate doing job applications - there's no definitive right answer to how you write your CV or cover letter, so I'm never sure if I could do it better.

Indeed. I like to get someone who's good at those sorts of things to give me a hand with it, as it makes the process simpler (because they can tell you what's good and bad to put on there, and give specific advice, not just the general advice you see on the web and hear about from other people).

(Just did a word count, including the quotes this post is about 2400 words. What's the character limit on a single post?)

50k. I recently hit a little over 22k (with ~3-4k words, iirc), so we've got quite a long way to go.

Absolutely nothing. Sorry for disturbing the thread. I will not return.

This is by far the most confusing thing that I've seen since that one time I skipped a week of Diff Eq and we started doing complex linear algebra bull**** again. Not sure what you're going on about, dude.

I'd say I like surprising people with quotestorms and Walls-O'-Text, but frankly just seeing my name is enough to know that one's more than likely to arrive.

This is very true. You'll never surprise us unless you do something like only post a few sentences and then never respond.

Never actually done normal D&D myself, but it sounds fun. If you're looking for bardic songs I suggest Queen. And Van Canto. And some cheesy songs from the 90s just for shock value. And that Stonecutter's Song from The SImpsons.

It is a lot of fun, but you really need a good group of people to play with.

As far as good bard songs go, anything by Alestorm.

Processing error.
Does not compute.
I think I did both the curvy graph line and the geometry in Mathematics. Hard to believe I was once so good at the subject I took college lectures when I was Y9.

e^x is really cool, but it's not easy to "get" even if you know about derivatives. (I mean, it's easy to accept, but the why is a bit more of a challenge, and that's probably what you care about)

Not up here, sadly. My poor wallet

You could always try to cut it yourself, though I don't know how much you trust yourself with scissors.

The Florida sauna is inside out. You go outside for the hot bath and inside a mall to the extra cold air conditioning cold bath.

At the expense of readability and maybe of the dignity of someone else.

Or you go during March when the weather is reasonable.

If AT told me to put his name back correctly when replying to him on here, then I'd fix it. Perhaps begrudgingly.

This came in the middle of programming talk and I took some time to realize that Cirth is not the programming language of the dwarves.

I am rewiring a sewing machine! All of it unfortunately. The motor and the light and the pedal wires were all horrible. I had a very frightening time when I thought smoke was coming from the soldering iron. It was from the solder but the iron is hollow and it was going up the tip and through the iron body and out the cord end. I quit for the day after that. Too frightening.

Bahahahahaha

Solder smoke is fun. And by fun I mean it invariably ends up in your face somehow.

I have no idea what an evening cut is.

This I would like clarification on as well.

Short answer short, because there hasn't been anyone around who answers everything. Conversation decays quickly when people only respond to what pertains directly to them and no one already has answered. And the mentaility is contagious too.

Also, you have teachers for spoken only English...?

Yeah... hell, I've even found myself responding less than I used to.

I would suspect she means in Vietnam, rather than the UK. Conversational English classes in England do seem a bit silly, though.

Perhaps they do some arbitrary long-hair/short-hair division where females just haaappen to fall on the long-hair side...

This seems the most likely - that or ludicrous prices on even the smallest amount of styling (which I remember from the barbershop I went to when I still got my hair cut).

ION: I don't know why I bothered to show up to class today. Abbott lectured for an hour and a half on file directories and permissions (which are not only extremely simple, but also thoroughly explained in the reading he wanted us to do before this class). I'm pretty sure everyone that qualified for that course is quite familiar with how a slash works, but thanks for telling us anyway.

IOON: > 26k characters! Halfway there!