rd95 here. I’m probably gonna be on here very sparsely still, but I had to make a new account due some glitches after reactivating the last one. mk was more than kind enough to try and hammer them down for me, which is wonderful for him. But to be honest, for one thing, I don’t want him to go through that much trouble for me. For another, I’m used to scrubbing accounts and starting over every six months or so. That said, the mechanics of this site are kind of incompatible with that type of behavior. With that account being over a thousand days old though, I figure this is a good excuse to retire it and start a new one and letting you all know would be a good way to keep continuity. I don’t want to just pop in and says “HEY! IT’S ME GUYS!” so here’s a little mini rant a and a little mini project I have in mind. The selection of the local branch of our library is kind of lame. They don’t have classics like The Odyssey or Frankenstein or Don Quixote. Their comparative religion section has only two books worth looking at, one of which is ironically The God Delusion, and the rest of it is feel good pop spirituality and books by televangelists. Their art section is weirdly full of comics, antique guides, and books on home crafts, and very, very little actual art. They literally have only one book in their mythology section and it may or may not have something to do with Bigfoot. On and on I could go, but you get the idea. I know that Dala and I have a pretty concentrated and focused collection, but I feel like when we have more quality books squeezed into our bookshelves than this branch has, it kind of makes me feel like writing a letter to the branch manager. I’m gonna try something first though. The other week we returned some books that we had to special order from a different branch. This weekend, I’m going to go to our branch and see if they were put on the shelves there or sent back to their branch of origin. If they were put on the shelves at our branch though, I’m going to systematically start ordering random books from other branches, thumb through them for a week or so because hey, free books, and then return them. As an aside, I’m gonna be using a lot of the past bookthreads as shopping lists because man, you guys are some high brow readers. Who knows? After a few months, maybe the shelves at this library will look a bit different. If they don’t restock books ordered from other branches though? I think I might write a letter to the local branch telling them how disappointed I am in their selection and ask to talk to someone about maybe buffering it somehow.
It's good seeing you bro. I was just thinking about you the other day actually. Nothing major happened. Just hanging out on the computer/internet isn't really for me any more. I deleted my account to fight the temptation of being on here on a semi-regular basis, but you know how it is. Old habits die hard, especially when that habit is talking to cool people on Hubski.
Inter library loan dawg. But you may be an immediate gratification person like me. There are two copies of this in the Georgia public library system. Both are available so I should probably just try to get it but I only used inter library loan in college really. I don't know if they're going to drive a book two hours for me in a technically unrelated library system. I feel you though. Me and the author are sorta Twitter buddies maybe I should just beg for a copy
It's HOT. 23 Celsius outside, which is enough to make most Irish people melt. I'm going to go for a walk to get some vitamin D - it's a shame how much of life is spent indoors. I'm developing a wicked farmer tan lately, though. Brown just above the elbows, milky white at the shoulders. Getting ready for this Ten Peaks thing in a couple of weeks. I think my feet are about ready, but I'm more worried about my legs than anything else. I was instructed to update the poster with a picture of my face and a little blurb, which I found a bit embarrassing. Have a gander:
I had to get Google to do the conversion, the result being As someone from the southern U.S., LOL But on a more serious note, I do feel the pain of pale skin. The day my wife and I started dating, we had a conversation for about 45 minutes in our school's parking lot, which is surrounded my trees. We both got sunburn anyway. A couple of years later during a power outage, as an experiment my wife shone a flashlight on her bear stomach. The room got brighter.It's HOT. 23 Celsius outside,
73.4 Fahrenheit
But then again The Khmer empire was a big deal... and it's oppressively hot and humid there. I don't think I've ever been that hot in my entire life. I'd wake up in the middle of the night to stand under the shower and then lie spread eagle under the fan so I can cool down for 5 minutes. I drank 3L of water in 3 hours, without even needing to go to the bathroom when visiting Angkor Temples. When it's 45 degrees in the shadow and you see construction workers digging a ditch, you realize you're just a pussy westerner and you have no right to complain about the heat ever again. How they build a massive empire there is beyond my understanding. And it's not like they were building the pyramids in a temperate climate either.
I’m in Toulouse right now, and it’s a different fucking planet
I assumed it was actually hot. I used Google to translate some of our temperatures for perspective to the northern Europeans. In Georgia 35 C is a pretty regular high temp where I live in the same region. 40 C would not be unheard of but it's rare What do you reckon an average humidity down here is? I don't pay that close attention and just use my own personal misery index
Average? In the worst of the summer up where I am (Richmond is right at sea level and on a river), 90%+ humidity is far from unusual. An almanac I found has the average morning humidity at 85% or so for June, July, and August. Our average high is 30 C in June, 32.2 C in July, and 30.6 C in August (and 27.2 C in September).
Yeah, the climate here is typically very mild, and we don't cope well with extremes. Two inches of snow is enough to grind the country to a halt, and anything above the high teens makes us melt into sticky puddles. Still, I'm not one to complain! It's not often we get it.
You're not far from the Atlanta reaction to snow then. A few years ago we had a snowstorm during a work day and people were trapped on the interstate for 24 hours in some cases. But being a laughing stock to the rest of the country is sort of our thing. The airport lost power and had to ground all flights. A semi truck full of cows flipped over on the interstate last month. Some survived and were wandering around the road. We suck.
Quote from memory by Conan Obrien about being pale I joke in good fun. If you have a tan he's way paler than youI'm Irish so I'm genetically programmed to be working in a peat bog. If I go to the beach I have to wear SPF 1000. You open the tube and a sweater literally comes out.
There are actually some rather swarthy people in the west of Ireland who tan surprisingly well - supposedly from Spanish genes inherited back in the day when the western ports conducted a thriving trade. I don't know where I got mine, but it's the constant envy of my sisters, who resemble ghosts most of the year and lobsters if they go out under the sun.
Thank you for doing this. Mental health and suicide prevention is a cause I feel very strongly about. I'll make a donation once I'm home.
Much appreciated, Eng! Yeah, people are starting to wake up to how prevalent and debilitating mental health problems are. It's not long since depression and suidice in Ireland were in the category of "things that don't happen, and if they do we don't talk about them". Someone dying by suicide was a dark stain on a family, and talking about problems like that would probably end in your ostracisation. I feel like things are starting to get better, though, and people are becoming more open about things like this.
Your updates are always fascinating to read, ten in ten days is intense. Is there one that you're particularly looking forward to hiking? Also, you've got a new Instagram follower!
It's not just you. I really like Instagram, but it can be a double-edged sword, especially with nature photos. "Oh, this looks sweet and easy!!!". And then you go and do because you get hurt from being under prepared. It doesn't always accurately represent the conditioning or other barriers to entry for harder hikes and climbs. There's a recent article on this specific to the 14ers in Colorado. But, as a whole, for what I use it for, it is a great social media platform and tool for finding places to go or possibly even meeting people.
FTFY. I dunno. I hate Facebook and ads enough to keep me off there. But maybe I'm missing out... I do like to take artsy pics from time to time.It doesn't always accurately represent the conditioning or other barriers to entry for harder hikes and climbs. ... it is a great social media platform and tool for finding places to go or possibly even meeting people.
Do you have a link to that article? The double edged sword in the Adirondacks is the easy, amazing hikes are crowded on nice weekends, and then new hikers get in over their heads on the harder hikes. Crowding was discussed on the main High Peaks forum, and I realized I was alone on the summits of some of the most popular peaks. It turns out if you do them midweek in the off season, you can have the whole wilderness to yourself.
I do! It's here: There's at least two other, related articles I'll be posting in the next week.
I'll have to be more active on Instagram! I've never been great with social media, but I've also tended to focus on FB at the expense of Instagram and Twitter. I'm looking forward to all of them in some way, though particularly Carrauntoohil because it's the tallest mountain in Ireland. Many would scoff at calling it a mountain at just over 1000m, but hey, that's what we have! And with almost all of our mountains being on our near the coast, most of them are climbed from near sea level, so the views can be very dramatic. I'm very much looking forward to climbing Sawel Mountain in the north, it's a quick climb but it's in the middle of nowhere. But the Irish name carries a certain significance that I find hilarious. My friend/base camp/driver is named Méidhbhín, a diminutive of Méabh, who was a central character in one of our legends - the Táin Bó Cuailgne, or The Cattle Raid of Cooley. You might've heard of the hero Cú Chulainn; this is one of the stories in which he features. Anyway, the name "Sawel" comes from Samhail Phite Méabha, meaning "the likeness of Méabh's vulva". There's apparently a gorge up there that was involved in the tale somehow, and it looks like a...
Very poor seeing and we need to clean the optics, seal and grease some gears, rebalance the main optical tube, resolve a finicky tracking error and then I have to git gud with the processing and cleaning of images. First Mars of the 2018 opposition. Hoorah.
I'm effectively done with my first and only Art class. It was excruciating. I hated nearly everything about it. But fuckin' hell you throw a grid on a photo and flip it upside down and any monkey can render it in fuckin' charcoal. This class drove out of me any notions of doing some sort of certificate program. No, fuck you I'm not doing InDesign at your shitty college. No fuck you I'm not doing art fucking history at your shitty college. No fuck you I'm not studying "art business" at your shitty college because the swap meets are awash in the detritus of your failed students. I'm doing my jewelry shit and that's it. You know why everyone thinks college kids are babies these days? Because we treat them like babies. Fuckin' massages in the hallways during finals week. Free pizza and tutors until 2am in the library. Call this number if you need a friend. Call that number if you need help lifting a box. Here we're throwing you another prom. Is it guilt over having to hang active shooter instructional protocols all over the goddamn place? Is it because your response to this jackass yelling with a megaphone at the muslim student club is an easel talking about free speech zones? "Sorry kids we fucked it all up here's a coupon for $2 off an espresso?" There's a guy trying to sell me a pen machine. It does guilloche a dozen pens at a time. It used to belong to Cartier. It costs more than a Toyota Yaris. One of the very pens it made back in the '90s is on eBay right now for $2300. Ain't nobody gonna buy pens from me for $2300. But they might buy 'em for more than $23. My MasterCAM rig came yesterday. 17" 4k 6-core Xeon Quadro P3200. It weighs less than the 13" Thinkpad I used to do CAD on back in '07. Now I gotta figure out if I can make it talk to a 24-year-old French CNC machine that runs single-phase 220. 26 credits makes you so very, very tired.
You know, I don't think I do. The short answer is I intend to start a luxury brand - where "luxury" means "thinks you don't need" not "things you can't afford." The slightly longer answer is that I want to make watches but if you're going to make watches (and do it right) you end up with the kit and expertise to do a bunch of other stuff. So I'm envisioning something kind of like Montblanc, but not nearly so masculine. Maybe more like a smaller, much cheaper Cartier, although neither of those examples are anywhere near my style. 100% American made, small production stuff. Watches, writing instruments, money clips, women's jewelry, whatever else an intrepid metalsmith with a bunch of CNC machinery and a penchant for well-engineered metal goods can turn out at a profit.
Typical semester degree is 120 credit hours, right? Typical quarter degree is 180. Across 4 years that's 12 quarters is fifteen credits per quarter. 120 credit hours across 4 years is 8 semesters is also fifteen credits per quarter. 26 credits is 16 credits (full load) at one school and 10 credits (2/3rds load) at another school with a 30-minute commute between the two. it isn't quite two semesters at once but it's close. 30 credits a quarter is two semesters at once. And I've done that. And my wife made a habit of it. And it still took her five years.
If it's a real class it's fairly fucking insane. Fortunately this was 26 credits of votech so it's mostly just time consuming. But it hasn't been atypical to drive 45 minutes, spend 5hours on my feet operating a CNC mill, drive half an hour, spend 3 hours on my feet using a jeweler's torch, drive 45 minutes, make dinner for the family and then spend 3 hours hunched over a workbench disassembling and reassembling a pocketwatch.
I've been reading the Pub, but haven't written in a while. I've been back from my travels for some weeks now and it was hectic catching up with life in the beginning. Not sure if I've shared the coolest day of our trip on here: So this summer, we have decided to give Speakeasy Bar tours with my friend through AirBNB: https://www.airbnb.ca/experiences/185329 It's been going REALLY well, but I'm under no illusion it's gonna die down at the end of the season. It's been fun, challenging and I've had a number of crazy experiences already that keep it from becoming boring. Last week, a group of 5 cousins win the crown. I had a 60 year old lady flash her boobs 3 times (before we started drinking mind you), she also mistakenly invited her recovering alcoholic cousin and her claustrophobic sister that could not go down to the basement bars. It was a shitshow, but so much fun! The "free drink" is the last thing left to figure out. The first place has 18$ drinks on the menu and it's been killing the profits. We gotta make a deal with a nice terrasse somehow, but finding who to talk to has been a challenge. Any tips on how to approach this? You guys are my favourite secret Pub ❤️
I had to deal with this exact thing when I was doing tours. There were two "tricks" to it: 1. Come in during a slow time of day. They pay their bartenders to be there the whole time. So if you can bring patrons in during a dead time of day, they will be MUCH happier to see you! 2. Have a special short standard drink you offer for free. Give them a tumbler of beer (as opposed to a pint) for free. Make it something simple, cheap, and local. Half the patrons will go for the freebie, and others will "upgrade" and buy their own drink instead. This gives the bar more income. Have a fixed price you pay for the shortie... like $1 each. Also, you don't want drunk people on your tour... so giving them a shortie drink helps keep them from getting too trashed during the tour. (My tour used to stop at several bars, so this could be a problem. Pound a shot at one bar; pound a shot at the second; pound a shot at the third... and all hell breaks loose.) It's also good form to have some cool info about the space/pub/club/building you are bringing people to. Tell them about the place. Get them interested in the architecture or history of the establishment. After all, they are tourists, and don't know any place else in town. So if you make THIS place seem interesting, then they are more likely to come back AFTER the tour and buy more drinks, food, strippers, whatever. Finally, get to know the people behind the bar. When you bring tours in, always go to the same part of the room to give them the story/spiel, away from the bar. As you walk in, make eye contact with the bartender, say hi, and direct your crowd to The Story Spot. This way the bartender knows who you are, and what is going on, and doesn't have to deal with you until you come to them. Once story-time is over, walk your group to the bar, introduce them to the bartender, and tell them they get to try the local FancyLocalBrewName beer for free, or can buy their own drink. Remind them to tip the bartender. This is you showing respect to the business, the business owner, and their staff. That way they will always be happy to see you come back in. The "free drink" is the last thing left to figure out.
Great tips, thanks! I'll try to read up a bit more about the places we visit. I usually have a little spiel about the prohibition and how it relates to Montreal but I keep it short since most people on my tour are Americans. Didn't know you used to run tours like this. You really did a lot of different things eh!? We've been running the tour for a while, so the bartenders know us already and are great sports about it. If they can, they try to keep an open seated spot for us :) However, to get a "specialty" drink or even a smaller version of a drink, they can't really do much about it. I need to speak to a manager for that. I'm going to ask the bartenders tonight if they would consider splitting a cocktail into 7 "shots". This way, we'd be paying for 4 drinks (we visit 4 bars) instead of 7 and the people would get a taste of the signature drink at every place. It's more work for them, but even if we tip generously we come up on top expense-wise. You have any wild stories from your tour guide days? Where was that? I'm guessing somewhere in the UK?
Yes. Talk to the Manager. They want more business, and want to incentivize you to bring people in to their place of business. The bartenders? You are just more work. They don't make more money if you come in, and then you take your patrons away to another bar. They have little motivation to do more than the minimum for you. So you need to have an official arrangement with the manager, and the manager needs to tell the bartenders how to meet the arrangement you have with the manager. ---- I used to be a Ghost Tour Guide in Pike Place Market in Seattle, and also did the affiliated Lust Tour. (Here's some proof. And More Proof under a different name, and me again.) I walked people around the market after closing hours, and told them ghost stories and the gory history of our city. (Like Dr Linda Hazzard, the "Starvation Doctor", active hauntings that still happen almost weekly in a bar called Kells, that is where the mortuary used to be. The brothel that used to operate in the Market, and what would happen when the navy fleets of thousands of men came to a brothel that employed 30 women... The ghost of Chief Sealth's daughter, "Princess Angeline", which is still seen in the Market sometimes today... etc.) The Lust Tour was a seriously dirty/sexy/gross history of Seattle's 1st Ave, which used to have the highest density of porn shops anywhere in the world. Fun tour...
No longer than two hours ago I passed my last university exam. Now I'm planning what to do with my few days of leisure before next week's defences. I hope that this time the board gaming weekend will happen without any last minute problems or call-offs. A wholesome night of scheming with/against friends and accusing each other of being Cylons is the exact kind of chilling the fuck out I need right now. I'm at that point with long-term stress where I can't tell if it has made me hyperaware and serene or if I'm about to collapse.
Determining, both theoretically and experimentally, the optical and conductive properties of compounds made from graphene encased, covering, built on or sandwiched in various boron nitride structures.
Right. You told me that a bunch of times before, and I either keep forgetting or keep assuming that it's a different thing this time. You know, one major thing I learned in the uni is that every kind of scientific research is science, and not a "blah blah waste of time". What to me, a layman, seems meaningless (because I have no clue what's even happening in your research), is to science a step forward. This is not me telling you "Hey, I dunno what you're doing, but good job!". This is me telling you "Hey, good job (even if I don't really know what you're doing) 'cause science is bitching".
In layman's terms, I was modelling how light and electric currents behave in the above-mentioned compound materials when there are external fields present. Frankly, I prefer this version over 'glamorous to the max' representation it would get via MIT-grade finance and marketing departments. You know, like this: On a more serious note, undergrad level research is rarely fascinating. It's mostly about showing that you can conduct any (reasonably independent) research at all and won't break any equipment that has real value. In comparison to most MSc topics form this year's lists it's almost a night and day situation.A breakthrough in metamaterials research developed by a brilliant undergraduate from a prestigious university which will bring the following very speculative technologies of which you'll never hear about again to your home within the next few years. "I bet that it, like, totes improves keggers!" remarked our science correspondent from Arizona State U.
Monday and Tuesday I was looking forward to a nice pubski vent session. I don't know that I've exactly said what I've been through since March 25. Housing insecurity/homelessness. Again. For the most part today I've been my usual smartass self as I have been since March 25. I'm too beat to vent. I do have a place now. Forty some days after I mentioned it in another pubski. And I'm technically still homeless because it's a tempo government housing program. The legal definition of homelessness is seriously fucked. I'll elaborate when I'm not so beat to shit Things really aren't any better now. I do have an address so I can look for a job. There are a few improvements. And tomorrow will be once more unto the breach. I'm so tired. But I know it will get better and I can use the experience to help others. Cause I have a srrident sense of morality and I'm pissed the fuck off that people are treated this way and will hopefully channel that into some justified righteous outrage one day
As I said in the book thread, Johann Hari's point in Lost Connctions is that the more disconnected we are from normal and human cravings like a stable income, friends & community, a sense of purpose and meaningful work, the likelier it is that we become depressed and anxious. Which made me reflect on how disconnected I feel from the things I value. Leading to the wonderful conclusion that I don't. It's been a long and uphill battle to get here. I haven't forgotten that five, ten years ago I did feel alone and directionless. And I still have more than enough flaws that I'm working on. But that a book on disconnection cheers me up instead of resonating with my problems speaks volumes to me.
Last night was amazing. There's a really large Facebook group (95k members) dedicated to the outdoors which I am a semi active part of. Sometimes socials occur around the Puget Sound, and we finally had a South Sound meet up not far from my house. Every single person I met was fun to talk to and down to earth. A couple of people are willing to help me develop some outdoor skills, met some photographers, a writer, you name it. Drinks were has, karaoke was sang, and then a small group of us bounced to a different bar. It was great being able to put faces and voices to names. The entire time I couldn't help but think that these are my people. Man, was I happy last night.
That sounds wonderful. I ought to work on finding a group like that in my area.
Spent the first few days of vacation learning about CAD workflows. Before this week, shit worked but was horrendously unmanageable. I'm getting better! This doggie bag holder is largely driven by parameters, and optimizes itself for printing based on the input nozzle width of the 3d printer. It'll be getting thrown up on thingiverse/github as public domain once I'm satisfied with it. __________
So, my lady friend got back together with an ex. Before I knew, I came around to express my feelings to her in attempts to move forward romantically. Clearly, they weren't as mutual as I led myself to believe. So, I set a shitty boundary for myself of "I don't want to be providing emotional support for her, when that's what she's seeking from her boyfriend. So, I will exit this relationship save from spaces we both already coexist in." Which, in and of itself isn't too shitty, imo. The part that bothered me is how this was more an excuse to effectively cut her out of my life despite enjoying the time we spend together. That is something I'd like to do to fully avoid the issue, but what this boils down to is: 1) Do I want to give myself both the space and time to grieve the reality of the situation before moving forward with our friendship. Or 2) Do I want to give myself just time to grieve the reality of the situation while moving forward with our friendship. And what that would mean is getting a bit clearer with how I'm willing to show up with her (e.g. reciprocative processing shit around families, working out, finding past times in the city) and not (e.g. not willing to be her go to if/when there are troubles in her current relationship, not third wheeling, etc.) Tl;dr realizing I can choose to enjoy the friendship I have with her. Plus, I don't want to let the fact that I didn't get what I want to get in the way of having a dank friend - is what I'm sorta coming to terms with.
Is that a real possibility? Would you be able to enjoy it? I know I can't. I fall out with people who didn't reciprocate my appreciation of their company. It's difficult for me to process, because it hits hard. Both time and space are necessary. Figure this part out.before moving forward with our friendship.
I have examples of past relationships where we have mutual attraction we don't act on. For my own reasons, part of me decided to turn this dynamic into an all-or-nothing situation to replicate how some of them went wrong. It took me this long (and some kind people reminding me) to see these dynamics are going to happen throughout life. I have a feeling if I set those boundaries right, and stick to them, there's no reason why I can't choose to enjoy our time. FOR THIS EXACT REASON, I think I can make the former work out. The moment I knew she was back with her ex, I began to find arguments for how I wasn't being appreciated. When, in reality, I've kinda been dead fucking wrong. I helped her move, and she offered her services as a masseuse as payment. It's not uncommon for one to pay for the other when we don't split bills. etc. It's kinda rough to get out of my head on this, but the fact I can see the other side of this gives me hope I can do this right.Is that a real possibility?
Would you be able to enjoy it?
I fall out with people who didn't reciprocate my appreciation of their company.
Well that sucks, dude. It's a tough predicament, too, being friends with someone like that. Sometimes it can work after a bit of time, sometimes you just need to walk away. A tough call.
My best reasoning at this point is this is an opportunity to test out finding a middle ground in this all. Where I can still enjoy my new friend in a way that doesn't look like she was out of my life from the start. Latter sentence doesn't exactly sound right to me, but I don't know how else to put it atm.Sometimes it can work after a bit of time, sometimes you just need to walk away. A tough call.
OK, real update: Had 2 more meetings re: transferring. Getting credit in the German department here looks pretty rough, so if I stuck with that as my major I'd probably need an extra 1-1.5 years beyond next year to get my diploma. Which is kinda shitty. However-- getting credit looks rough because our German program is basically far inferior to the program here (duh). Which speaks for transferring in 2 ways: 1 I would be getting a better education 2 If I were to go back now, finish my degree, and then apply for master's programs in Germany, like a few people have suggested, my chances would be pretty shit. At the uni I'm at right now, I wouldn't even be allowed to apply-- I'd need another bachelor with a more diverse range of courses. So if I were to go back, my options for master's programs would be restricted to the US (not happening) or inter-cultural literature programs (there's one here called "European Languages and Literatures," which has much looser admissions requirements in relation to German studies). This brings in another possibility: switching majors and studying English in Germany. The school I'm at has one of the best English programs in the country, and their placement rate for PhD students is the best in Germany. With an English degree, then, I could easily apply to inter-cultural master's programs, without the unpleasantness of another year in the US. And since I'm a native speaker with so much coursework in English, it would only be 1-2 extra semesters (beyond next year) to get my degree. OR I could even go into a master's program in pure English, at which point I'd be in a great position to become an English professor in Germany. (Compare with German studies-- in English, my native language is beneficial; in German, it's a handicap.) So at this point, it's basically no longer a question of transferring or not transferring. All the disadvantages of transferring are tied to advantages that compensate (German disadvantage: takes longer, advantage: master's in German; English disadvantage: no master in German, advantage: in Germany, and it barely even takes longer). It's a question of English or German-- what do I want to do in the future? Will keep you guys updated. Oh, and if I stay here, I might even have a job already: I've befriended the head of IT :)
Slowly getting back into the swing of things. Did my first drawing session in months this past weekend, and I can feel what I've learned coming back. Also getting back into language learning. The vaguely-annoying thing about Coptic compared to Greek is that there are fewer standardized texts out there (but thankfully no shortage of grammars/textbooks). Spelling/phonology in general is just harder, too. For example, there's still a fair amount of disagreement over how certain letters were pronounced. It also loves some conosonant clusters, and frequently has what are technically vowel-less syllables (think about how we'd pronounce the last syllable of "tunnel" in English; Coptic does this all the time, and with many other consonants). Diphthongs are a pain, since we think some letters could be either a consonant or vowel. Ellision happens a lot, since Coptic uses prefixes and suffixes for most grammatical things (including articles, subject pronouns, possession, et al.). And all this on top of the fact that native speakers themselves weren't always consistent. (The good news, at least, is that they did often use a bar at the top of a word to indicate breaks.) Still, it's a fascinating language, and I'm enjoying it. I'm going to compile a grammar reference for myself as I go through the various textbooks and grammar references that I have, since they're all organized a little differently and explain things in different ways. Here's what John 1:1 looks like in Sahidic (the dialect from which we have the most, as well as the primary one for the New Testament translations): (See page 228 of this PDF if the text doesn't render). A rough transliteration would be: A couple notes. The ' indicates a glottal stop, so in nefsho'op, you pronounce the two O's as separate syllables. Dots in the middle of words represent a syllable break (but not a stop). Finally, * is one of those letters whose pronunciation isn't fully agreed upon. I've seen various theories, including j like in judge, dz, tü, or ch (the book that uses this last one uses the sound ky (say "kyee" and take off the "ee") for what I rendered as "ch" above). Good times.ϩⲛ ⲧⲉϩⲟⲩⲉⲓⲧⲉ ⲛⲉϥϣⲟⲟⲡ ⲛϭⲓ ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ ⲛⲉϥϣⲟⲟⲡ ⲛⲛⲁϩⲣⲙ ⲡⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲁⲩⲱ ⲛⲉⲩⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ ⲡⲉ ⲡϣⲁϫⲉ
Hn tehoite nefsho'op n.chi p.sha*e auo p.sha*e nefsho'op n'nahrm pnoote auo neunoote pe p.sha*e
Fascinating. I wish I had discovered the interesting complexities of language earlier in life. German class in high school just didn't resonate with me. It wasn't until I moved to Budapest and started learning Hungarian, and talking with people who study linguistics, that I figured out these are the greatest detective stories in the world! So much crazy complexity and beautiful artistry and foibles of human understanding... they're all laid bare when you study language. Maybe if I'd found linguistics earlier I would have ... well ... made far less money as an academic, studying dusty texts covered with psychedelic molds... ...hmmmm...
Your description is a perfect one for why I love this stuff. I was fortunate in that I have a gift for learning language, and so it was far less frustrating for me than for many of my classmates. This in turn meant that I could see the things you talked about. I've also come to realize more and more that I'm a systems person: I'm most interested in those things where it's a matter of watching interlocking parts.
For those curious, that "tunnel" can have no vowel in the last syllable, or it can have a vowel that has no representation in the language, and yet, is abundantly common: the schwa.and frequently has what are technically vowel-less syllables (think about how we'd pronounce the last syllable of "tunnel" in English
Early pubski, nice. How’s everyone’s reading for #scificlub coming? Should I post the discussion thread today?
Middle of a long week twerkin. I am excited for next week though, I met a girl online about 7 months ago and she's coming to visit, I'm quite enamored with her despite not having met her in person. It's an odd feeling to be planning a little long term with someone I haven't met in person yet, although via using webcam and being able to talk whenever throughout the day I guess the distance is closed more than it would be with a pen pal. Otherwise, I'm looking to get a motorcycle soon, considering something for the closer work trips, if it's got a sissy bar on the back i can strap a duffel bag too i'll be happy with it. It needs to be reliable though so a cheap Harley is out of the question. Gonna be my first bike of my own so considering a Honda Shadow, or CB. We'll see what's available when I finish getting money together i guess haha.
Surviving... decently well. Trying hard to escape into my hobby projects. Wish I could do those for a living right about now. Doing anything better would require radically changing my daily regimen, habits and attitudes. Flipping the script. It's hard. It's scary. It needs to be done. If you don't hear from me for a while, it's because I'm busy. If you see a lot of posts from me, it's because I'm really working. EDIT: Actually, there is something I wanted to tell people: Dota 2 is making me a worse person. You subscribe to the standards of the group you spend a lot of time with. The Dota community, immature that it often is, made me less respectful and less patient. It offers quick rewards and barely any punishment for claiming to having slept with someone's mother (whether they're allies or enemies). If I were to tell you the kinds of things I hear every day while playing, even your ears would fold onto themselves. This isn't a good environment for mindfulness and the better side of humanity. Neither Dota 2 nor its community foster or encourage virtues. It takes effort to power through the vile and the infuriating to get to something productive. I used to think I was growing thicker skin because of the exposure. I think I did grow some: out-of-the-blue insults usually invoke laughter rather than dysphoria. Now, I also think it pushes me towards my worse, viler instincts. I enjoy the game. I like the gameplay and I know it pretty well. Motivation plus experience equals a flow-like process of gaming. I wonder if there's a better way to enjoy it and to encourage communication and teamplay.
I briefly flirted with a League of Legends addiction a few years ago, and my life improved significantly when I kicked it. I realized that I was dedicating a tremendous amount of mental energy to the game--MOBAs are really information-dense, which (imo) makes them so fun and interesting. That said, I think one could have a fun and still healthy experience with the game if one played with a dedicated team. If you had a group of five people who were serious about improving their skills, developing coherent gameplans, and sharpening their minds, it could even be useful for one's cognitive processes. For my money, other hobbies are much more useful and fulfilling in the long run. Good luck with everything.
That would be the way to go to enjoy gaming, wouldn't it? Group activities with someone you care about are always exciting and enjoyable. Thank you.If you had a group of five people who were serious about improving their skills, developing coherent gameplans, and sharpening their minds, it could even be useful for one's cognitive processes.
Good luck with everything.
I started a blog thing. Bilingual. Check it out if you feel like it :)
I made a prototype of the design I had in mind for multi-lingual multi-column.
But they're just old light, they're just old light Regina Spektor, Samson It's a bit silly but I think the gist of it is she's leaving a guy. Don't look to the stars for inspiration. They photographs of things long deadBeneath the stars came fallin' on our heads
One of my favorites of hers. I feel that it's one of her most emotional performances from after her first album.
Yeah. I might just sing along off key on the way home when I'm done with this comment For the record I was trying to be encouraging to galen without spouting platitudes and being a mature adult about such things. I think I came off as kind of a dick after I thought about it later. It was early