On 3/14/2016 11:10 PM, Don Y wrote:
On 3/14/2016 3:26 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 03/13/2016 10:21 PM, rbowman wrote:

[snip]

There's a mountain west of town that was named Squaw Peak, or Squaw Tit
originally. The Indians decided 'squaw' was derogatory, so it was
renamed 'Ch-paa-qn'. Good luck with that. It's still Squaw to me.

I never understood the "dirty word" mentality. You can call something a
"dungheap" or a "pile of manure" (of even 'Ralph' if you wanted to).
It's still
the same thing as the "stinking heap of ****" it was before.

Controlling language is a way of controlling thought.


Language is only one means amongst many used to communicate. It's
impossible to control the thought's of anyone. What is possible is to
attempt to control how people express their thoughts.

--
Maggie

On 3/15/2016 12:23 AM, Muggles wrote:
On 3/14/2016 11:10 PM, Don Y wrote:
On 3/14/2016 3:26 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 03/13/2016 10:21 PM, rbowman wrote:

[snip]

There's a mountain west of town that was named Squaw Peak, or Squaw Tit
originally. The Indians decided 'squaw' was derogatory, so it was
renamed 'Ch-paa-qn'. Good luck with that. It's still Squaw to me.

I never understood the "dirty word" mentality. You can call something a
"dungheap" or a "pile of manure" (of even 'Ralph' if you wanted to).
It's still
the same thing as the "stinking heap of ****" it was before.

Controlling language is a way of controlling thought.


Language is only one means amongst many used to communicate. It's
impossible to control the thought's of anyone. What is possible is to
attempt to control how people express their thoughts.

And how do you control how people express their thoughts?

Mark Lloyd writes:
On 03/14/2016 09:19 AM, Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:

[snip]

To me it looks like a Mexican who got run over by a steam roller.

It's known as an "octothorpe".

On 3/15/2016 6:47 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Mark Lloyd writes:
On 03/14/2016 09:19 AM, Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:

[snip]

To me it looks like a Mexican who got run over by a steam roller.

It's known as an "octothorpe".


Cool! Thanks for that relevant info, which inspired this old Colonel to
look it up.................

"Octothorpe is just one of a plethora of names for the symbol. In the US
it's often called the pound key, because it has long been used to mark
numbers related to weight, or for similar reasons the number sign, which
is one of its internationally agreed names."

On 15/03/2016 13:47, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Mark Lloyd writes:
On 03/14/2016 09:19 AM, Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:

[snip]

To me it looks like a Mexican who got run over by a steam roller.

It's known as an "octothorpe".

Is that a deformed octopus?

--
Bod

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

On 15/03/2016 15:30, Bod wrote:
On 15/03/2016 13:47, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Mark Lloyd writes:
On 03/14/2016 09:19 AM, Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:

[snip]

To me it looks like a Mexican who got run over by a steam roller.

It's known as an "octothorpe".

Is that a deformed octopus?

Or possibly an 8 legged Thorpe.

--
Bod

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

On 3/15/2016 9:31 AM, binky feel good wrote:
On Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 9:10:16 AM UTC-6, Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:
On 3/15/2016 6:47 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Mark Lloyd writes:
On 03/14/2016 09:19 AM, Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:

[snip]

To me it looks like a Mexican who got run over by a steam roller.

It's known as an "octothorpe".


Cool! Thanks for that relevant info, which inspired this old Colonel to
look it up.................

"Octothorpe is just one of a plethora of names for the symbol. In the US
it's often called the pound key, because it has long been used to mark
numbers related to weight, or for similar reasons the number sign, which
is one of its internationally agreed names."

hash


We "hashed" things out in Nam.

On Monday, March 14, 2016 at 10:56:32 PM UTC-4, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 03/14/2016 06:16 PM, bob_villain wrote:

[snip]

This will make you correct about 98% of the time. €œI before E, except after in C or words that say €œÄ�€� [ei], as in neighbor and weigh.€�


I think there's another part to that. Something about Y or W?

BTW, How many English words do you know where W is a vowel?

Does crwth count, having passed from into English to
describe that particular instrument?

Cindy Hamilton

On 03/14/2016 10:33 PM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]
When working on my speech synthesizer, it was frustrating to see just how
many exceptions there are to the "rules" we think we know -- but
actually have internalized and consciously forgotten!

E.g., think of the /w/ sound in:
women
what
which
one
quick

Yes there is a 'w' in quick. Right after the initial 'k'.

I found that "of" is one of the most commonly encountered exceptions
(there's no /f/ sound in the word!)

BTW, when I use NOT in mnemonic devices, it's usually the r's-1 (radix-1)
complement, so NOT 365 is 634 (note that each digit adds up to 9).

It's called the "nine's complement". The ten's complement is obtained
by adding one to the nine's complement. In much the same way that the
one's complement ant two's complements are related.

In this particular case, it IS nines'. R (for radix) makes is less
inappropriately specific, since the same idea applies to all radixes
(bases). I suppose you don't know that r's-1 complement is involved in
how computers subtract numbers. I didn't know it yet, but I learned r's
compliment in second grade.

[snip]

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"When science and the Bible differ, science has obviously misinterpreted
its data." [Henry Morris, Head of Institute for Creation Research]

On 03/14/2016 10:44 PM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

I.e., when a person says "I have an appointment in 35 minutes",
does that really mean they will wait for the minute hand to make
35 complete revolutions before the appointment begins? Or,
have they done some mental arithmetic and decided to express
the ABSOLUTE time of the appointment in relative terms (for
the benefit of whomever they are conversing with)?

That stuff reminded my of my grandmother cooking biscuits. She wanted to
leave them in the oven for 10 minutes, and seemed to have a problem with
keeping track of that. Keep looking at the clock ans saying "how long
has it been...".

I suggested that (when putting the biscuits in) look at the clock NOW
and figure out what time it will be 10 minutes from now. Then it's easy
to check for that.

Some people will not allow things to be easy.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"When science and the Bible differ, science has obviously misinterpreted
its data." [Henry Morris, Head of Institute for Creation Research]

On 03/15/2016 10:30 AM, Bod wrote:
On 15/03/2016 13:47, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Mark Lloyd writes:
On 03/14/2016 09:19 AM, Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:

[snip]

To me it looks like a Mexican who got run over by a steam roller.

It's known as an "octothorpe".

Is that a deformed octopus?


I figured out "nanogram" faster than I did "octothorpe".

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"When science and the Bible differ, science has obviously misinterpreted
its data." [Henry Morris, Head of Institute for Creation Research]

On 03/15/2016 12:02 PM, Colonel Edmund J. Burke wrote:

[snip]

We "hashed" things out in Nam.

The word "hash" describes the effects of a land mine.

On 03/15/2016 01:20 PM, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
On Monday, March 14, 2016 at 10:56:32 PM UTC-4, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 03/14/2016 06:16 PM, bob_villain wrote:

[snip]

This will make you correct about 98% of the time. €œI before E, except after in C or words that say €œÄ�€� [ei], as in neighbor and weigh.€�


I think there's another part to that. Something about Y or W?

BTW, How many English words do you know where W is a vowel?

Does crwth count, having passed from into English to
describe that particular instrument?

Cindy Hamilton


I think that's one of the two words. I don't know about the other
(although I seem to remember similar origin).

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"When science and the Bible differ, science has obviously misinterpreted
its data." [Henry Morris, Head of Institute for Creation Research]

On 3/15/2016 2:40 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 03/14/2016 10:33 PM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]
When working on my speech synthesizer, it was frustrating to see just how
many exceptions there are to the "rules" we think we know -- but
actually have internalized and consciously forgotten!

E.g., think of the /w/ sound in:
women
what
which
one
quick

Yes there is a 'w' in quick. Right after the initial 'k'.

The 'w' in "one" is more interesting (esp when you are designing rules
to convert spellings to sounds).

Spend any amount of time (i.e., hundreds of hours) trying to understand
why certain combinations of letters are pronounced one way or another
and you end up pulling your hair out -- English is just chock full
of exceptions!

I found that "of" is one of the most commonly encountered exceptions
(there's no /f/ sound in the word!)

BTW, when I use NOT in mnemonic devices, it's usually the r's-1 (radix-1)
complement, so NOT 365 is 634 (note that each digit adds up to 9).

It's called the "nine's complement". The ten's complement is obtained
by adding one to the nine's complement. In much the same way that the
one's complement ant two's complements are related.

In this particular case, it IS nines'. R (for radix) makes is less
inappropriately specific, since the same idea applies to all radixes (bases). I
suppose you don't know that r's-1 complement is involved in how computers

I most certainly do! Having had to design ALU's, you quickly learn that
you perform subtraction by putting a "programmable inverter" (XOR gate)
in front of each bit and force the carry-in to '1' on your ADDER. Voila!
A-B with the same hardware that performs A+B!

subtract numbers. I didn't know it yet, but I learned r's compliment in second
grade.

Look at "casting out nines" and "casting out 11's".
Trachtenberg addition relies on the latter.

On 3/14/2016 7:56 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 03/14/2016 06:16 PM, bob_villain wrote:

[snip]

This will make you correct about 98% of the time. €œI before E, except after
in C or words that say €œÄ�€� [ei], as in neighbor and weigh.€�


I think there's another part to that. Something about Y or W?

BTW, How many English words do you know where W is a vowel?

W is a semivowel. Vowels are "voiced" and produced with the vocal
tract "unobstructed". Voiced consonants build pressure above the glottis by
obstructing the vocal tract.

The "y" and "w" sounds are closer to vowels in their formation -- yet tend
to form syllable boundaries (think: beYond)

On 3/15/2016 2:47 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 03/14/2016 10:44 PM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]

I.e., when a person says "I have an appointment in 35 minutes",
does that really mean they will wait for the minute hand to make
35 complete revolutions before the appointment begins? Or,
have they done some mental arithmetic and decided to express
the ABSOLUTE time of the appointment in relative terms (for
the benefit of whomever they are conversing with)?

That stuff reminded my of my grandmother cooking biscuits. She wanted to leave
them in the oven for 10 minutes, and seemed to have a problem with keeping
track of that. Keep looking at the clock ans saying "how long has it been...".

I suggested that (when putting the biscuits in) look at the clock NOW and
figure out what time it will be 10 minutes from now. Then it's easy to check
for that.

Some people will not allow things to be easy.

Growing up, we had pasta at least once a week. (short) mother kept
it on the top shelf -- and always had to ask me to get it down for her.

"Sheesh! Why don't you just LEAVE IT ON THE COUNTER, we eat it often
enough?!!"

On 3/15/2016 5:00 PM, Don Y wrote:
On 3/15/2016 2:40 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 03/14/2016 10:33 PM, Don Y wrote:

[snip]
When working on my speech synthesizer, it was frustrating to see just
how
many exceptions there are to the "rules" we think we know -- but
actually have internalized and consciously forgotten!

E.g., think of the /w/ sound in:
women
what
which
one
quick

Yes there is a 'w' in quick. Right after the initial 'k'.

The 'w' in "one" is more interesting (esp when you are designing rules
to convert spellings to sounds).

Spend any amount of time (i.e., hundreds of hours) trying to understand
why certain combinations of letters are pronounced one way or another
and you end up pulling your hair out -- English is just chock full
of exceptions!

I found that "of" is one of the most commonly encountered exceptions
(there's no /f/ sound in the word!)

BTW, when I use NOT in mnemonic devices, it's usually the r's-1
(radix-1)
complement, so NOT 365 is 634 (note that each digit adds up to 9).

It's called the "nine's complement". The ten's complement is obtained
by adding one to the nine's complement. In much the same way that the
one's complement ant two's complements are related.

In this particular case, it IS nines'. R (for radix) makes is less
inappropriately specific, since the same idea applies to all radixes
(bases). I
suppose you don't know that r's-1 complement is involved in how computers

I most certainly do! Having had to design ALU's, you quickly learn that
you perform subtraction by putting a "programmable inverter" (XOR gate)
in front of each bit and force the carry-in to '1' on your ADDER. Voila!
A-B with the same hardware that performs A+B!

subtract numbers. I didn't know it yet, but I learned r's compliment
in second
grade.

Look at "casting out nines" and "casting out 11's".
Trachtenberg addition relies on the latter.

Try out being hearing impaired and you can't actually hear the "w" in
the word "one".

--
Maggie

On Sun, 13 Mar 2016 21:14:56 -0000, Gordon Shumway wrote:

On Sun, 13 Mar 2016 19:48:27 -0000, "Mr Macaw" wrote:

On Sun, 13 Mar 2016 19:34:12 -0000, Muggles wrote:

On 3/13/2016 1:55 PM, Mr Macaw wrote:
On Sun, 13 Mar 2016 18:51:22 -0000, Frank "frank wrote:

On 3/13/2016 2:35 PM, bob_villain wrote:
On Sunday, March 13, 2016 at 1:31:30 PM UTC-5, Frank wrote:
On 3/13/2016 2:29 PM, bob_villain wrote:
On Sunday, March 13, 2016 at 1:22:44 PM UTC-5, Mr Macaw wrote:

What do Americans call this sign? #


number or pound sign depending on use...

also hash tag for the Twitterverse

Sorry...thought he wanted to know about the real world.

We might live in the real world but may be a minority today.

I just tried searching by # on facebook, and I guess it could be
useful. But I don't see why there has to be a hash. Google can search
the internet without search terms having to have a # on them. This
seems a backwards step. I certainly can't be bothered selecting words
that I feel are important every time I post to Facebook.

As for Twitter, that reminds me of using DOS. Where is the interface?
It's just unconnected sentences from people with no threading or anything.


You did ask "What do *Americans* call this sign? #"

As far as I know,just like bob_villain said, we mostly call it either a
pound sign or number sign in general use. Although, twitter uses the
sign for their own purposes, I suppose that's become common place, too.

Pound sign is just wrong. It would be like me calling it a dollar sign. A dollar is clearly $ as it's used for currency.

You are one arrogant asshole. You asked what we Americans called it and when we answered you told us we are wrong. You sound
a lot like our hubris asshole-in-chief in D.C.

I read a website that called it pound and wanted to know if Americans were really that ignorant. It appears the answer is yes.

--
Never raise your hands to your kids.
It leaves your groin unprotected.

On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 00:32:11 -0000, bob_villain wrote:

On Sunday, March 13, 2016 at 7:25:52 PM UTC-5, Mr Macaw wrote:
On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 00:06:51 -0000, rbowman wrote:

On 03/13/2016 03:45 PM, Mr Macaw wrote:

That's the official name, but I've never heard anyone actually use it in
everyday language.

0x23 ascii. Programmers get a little strange in their everyday language.

The last four words in your sentence were unnecessary.


...your being here is unnecessary.

PKB.

--
PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS (45 letters, a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust) is the longest word in the English language, beating TETRAMETHYLDIAMINOBENZHYDRYLPHOSPHINOUS ACID, HEPATICOCHOLANGIOCHOLECYSTENTEROSTOMIES, FORMALDEHYDETETRAMETHYLAMIDOFLUORIMUM, and DIMETHYLAMIDOPHENYLDIMETHYLPYRAZOLONE.

On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 02:48:18 -0000, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 03/13/2016 04:45 PM, Mr Macaw wrote:
On Sun, 13 Mar 2016 21:32:58 -0000, rbowman wrote:

On 03/13/2016 12:22 PM, Mr Macaw wrote:
What do Americans call this sign? #

Octothorpe.

That's the official name, but I've never heard anyone actually use it in
everyday language.

I read that once, although never heard it anywhere. Also 'nanogram'. I
have usually (IIRC always) called # a number sign.

It's hash. Always has been, always will be.

BTW, 1/60 of a second is called a third.

WTF? Why?!?

IIRC, there was also 'solidus'

As in erection?

and 'virgule', names for a slash /.

No, a virgule is a comma. Like this: ,

--
A drunk was in front of a judge. The judge says, "You've been brought here for drinking."
The drunk says, "Okay, let's get started."

On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 03:14:32 -0000, Sam E wrote:

On 03/13/2016 09:15 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

[snip]

Using Opera's mail client: http://nospam.invalid/

I don't use things that make me into a spammer.

Easy enough to turn off. I use it too, and mine doesn't spam.

--
The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 02:15:49 -0000, Dean Hoffman wrote:

On Sun, 13 Mar 2016 18:02:23 -0500, Mr Macaw wrote:

A bunch snipped.

How big is an acre? Try to imagine it in terms of square yards. Not
easy.

I don't know how city people measure lot sizes. We measure farm ground
in terms of sections (640 A) , half sections (320 A) , quarter sections
(160 A),
then 80s and 40s. A parcel of ground for sale might be advertised as a
quarter
but containing 156.83 acres. The odd numbers are because the roadways
are included
in the general description I gave at the start.
Oh, almost forgot. A section is one square mile.

[brain explodes] FFS go metric.

--
My childbirth instructor says it's not pain I'll feel during labour, but pressure. Is she right?
Yes, in the same way that a tornado might be called an air current.

On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 03:32:23 -0000, hah wrote:

On 03/13/2016 07:31 PM, Mr Macaw wrote:

[snip]

Why are water heaters 40G, 50G, 80G, etc. Why not 150liters?
(Ooops! Make that 100 liters cuz 150 is such an "odd" number!)

I've never heard a water heater called any of those things.

150,000 milliliters

[snip]

How many inches are in a light year? (you don't have to answer if you
think a 'light year' is time)

372500000000000000.

--
Q. What's hairy on the outside, wet on the inside, begins with a "C" and ends with a "T"?
A. A coconut.

On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 03:25:46 -0000, Mark Lloyd wrote:

On 03/13/2016 07:06 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 03/13/2016 03:45 PM, Mr Macaw wrote:

That's the official name, but I've never heard anyone actually use it in
everyday language.

0x23 ascii. Programmers get a little strange in their everyday language.

I always preferred $23 (On the Commodore-64 hex was indicated by a
leading '$').

As to language, I was once looking at the source code for a program. One
of the error messages was "not enough memory to execute child". It made
perfect sense to me, just not anything like what it would mean to a
"normal" person.

Memory isn't needed to execute a child, you just need bleach or a knife.

--
What's a birth control pill?
The OTHER thing a woman can put in her mouth to keep from becoming pregnant.

On Mon, 14 Mar 2016 04:12:48 -0000, Don Y wrote:

On 3/13/2016 8:25 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 03/13/2016 07:06 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 03/13/2016 03:45 PM, Mr Macaw wrote:

That's the official name, but I've never heard anyone actually use it in
everyday language.

0x23 ascii. Programmers get a little strange in their everyday language.

I always preferred $23 (On the Commodore-64 hex was indicated by a leading '$').

Limbo uses the XrR notation (i.e., 23r16) as it allows any radix to be
indicated in a consistent syntax.

As to language, I was once looking at the source code for a program. One of the
error messages was "not enough memory to execute child". It made perfect sense
to me, just not anything like what it would mean to a "normal" person..

"Keyboard not found. Press F1 to continue."

"Bad magic"

"You can tune a filesystem, but you cant tuna fish"

The Amiga would often spit up diagnostic data prefaced with "Guru Meditation"

I remember that. Do you know why they used those words?

--
What's the fastest thing in Wales?
A virgin sheep.

On 03/16/2016 05:05 PM, Mr Macaw wrote:

[snip]

BTW, 1/60 of a second is called a third.

WTF? Why?!?


Subdivision of the hour.

First is the minute (MI-NOOT).
Second is the second.
Third is the third.

Also, 1/18.2 of a second is a "tick" (not the parasitic animal kind).

IIRC, there was also 'solidus'

As in erection?


I don't know about that, but I remember a "South Park" where a man was
yelling about not having an erection. His kid hears this and goes to
church where he hears about a res-erection. He thinks he can get one and
give it to his dad.

and 'virgule', names for a slash /.

No, a virgule is a comma. Like this: ,


A comma is the deep sleep you fall into when you get hit on the head :-)



--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange
protein. It rejects it." [P.B. Medawar]

On 03/16/2016 05:19 PM, Mr Macaw wrote:
Q. What's hairy on the outside, wet on the inside, begins with a "C" and
ends with a "T"?
A. A coconut.

I like that kind of thing. Somewhere I remember about a school kid saying:

What starts with "F", ends with "K", and is a whole lot of fun?

The teacher was a lot less upset when she heard that the answer was
"firetruck".


There was this at the bottom of a page in "Reader's Digest":

I'm about 8 inches long, hairy at one end and with a hole in the other
end. I go in and out all day, and when I come out I'm covered in white goo.

Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm a toothbrush.

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange
protein. It rejects it." [P.B. Medawar]

On 3/16/2016 8:49 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:

BTW, 1/60 of a second is called a third.

WTF? Why?!?

Subdivision of the hour.

First is the minute (MI-NOOT).
Second is the second.
Third is the third.

Also, 1/18.2 of a second is a "tick" (not the parasitic animal kind).

A "jiffy" tends to be about 10ms; a shake, 10ns.

An OhNoSecond is slightly shorter -- or longer, depending on your
personal reaction time!

If you do much fixed point math, you'd know that a Furman is 1/65536-th of
a revolution.

Beauty is measured in Helens while magic is measured in Thaums.

And, of course, everyone knows that a Smoot is 67".

IIRC, there was also 'solidus'

As in erection?


I don't know about that, but I remember a "South Park" where a man was yelling
about not having an erection. His kid hears this and goes to church where he
hears about a res-erection. He thinks he can get one and give it to his dad.

and 'virgule', names for a slash /.

No, a virgule is a comma. Like this: ,


A comma is the deep sleep you fall into when you get hit on the head :-)