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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jun 30, 2020 22:54:46 GMT
I think it is my turn to start the month. Today is the feast day of Saint Veep for whom the village of St Veep in the Cornish county of England (and of which I had never heard until twenty minutes ago) is apparently named. Today is also the 182nd day of this year (by the Gregorian calendar). 182 is an odious number which is apparently a nonnegative number that has an odd number of 1s in its binary expansion. 182 is also a pronic number, oblong number or a heteromecic number which is a number which is the product of two consecutive integers (13 × 14). Moreover, 182 Elsa is an S-type asteroid discovered in 1878. Should you really wish to do so, you can read all about it here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/182_Elsa .
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Post by Verbivore on Jun 30, 2020 23:15:21 GMT
Thanks, LJH, for starting the month with a load of (sorta) interesting factoids. :-)
My first achievement for the month is a successful conclusion to yet another attempt to make clotted cream! (Half a dozen former attempts failed.) Now I shall make scones on which to consume the bounty.
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Post by Twoddle on Jul 1, 2020 10:58:14 GMT
LJH, 182 is 10110110 in binary notation, so you're right about the odd number of 1s. For my final few years at work I used to count-down the number of days remaining to my retirement using binary notation, so I'm quite au fait with it. That could have been because I was so reluctant to leave, or because I was so keen to do so; you may make up your own minds.
Today would have been Diana, Princess of Wales's 59th birthday. I'm not a royalist but I remember that fact because I'm exactly ten years older than she.
Verbivore, Tone would have taken you to task for your use of the word "factoids". He was always adamant that a factoid was a false fact, not a small fact. I remain neutral on the subject. On the matter of the clotted cream, I long ago adopted the maxim (was it Spike Milligan's originally?) that if at first you don't succeed you should try, try and try again. And then give up.
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Post by Twoddle on Jul 1, 2020 11:11:00 GMT
My mention of Tone led to me to wonder how long it was since he died. More than a year! He died on 14th June last year. Christ, how time's flying past!
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Post by Dave Miller on Jul 1, 2020 16:04:20 GMT
Gosh, is it really a year?
I think he would have been pleased that you said “died”, though (twice).
I have evey intention of dying, one day. Not yet, of course, but when I do, I shall be very disappointed if anyone says I’ve “passed away” or - even worse - “passed”. Ugly, and downright disrespectful to the person concerned.
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Post by Twoddle on Jul 1, 2020 21:30:21 GMT
Gosh, is it really a year? I think he would have been pleased that you said “died”, though (twice). I have every intention of dying, one day. Not yet, of course, but when I do, I shall be very disappointed if anyone says I’ve “passed away” or - even worse - “passed”. Ugly, and downright disrespectful to the person concerned. Quite so! I will not have passed, passed away, passed on, passed through the veil, passed wind, or passed anywhere else. I'll have died, I'll be dead, and I'll be damned annoyed if anyone says otherwise. In the meantime my New Year's resolution will remain as always: to live forever or die in the attempt.
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 1, 2020 22:25:33 GMT
It's with dismay that I noticed the newspaper I used to work for now prints death euphemisms, including that godawful passed. When I noticed, I sent a curt note to my replacement. I hope that makes a difference.
People have been warned. If they:
* euphemise my death, * hagiographise me afterward, or * make any mention – no matter how subtle – of god/s at my wake (there'll be no funeral),
I shall arise from my ashes and haunt them till they're dead.
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Post by Twoddle on Jul 1, 2020 22:58:31 GMT
People have been warned. If they: * euphemise my death, * hagiographise me afterward, or * make any mention – no matter how subtle – of god/s at my wake (there'll be no funeral), I shall arise from my ashes and haunt them till they're dead. Hear, hear! A few years ago the Contessa decided that we should (eventually) have woodland burials so that our mortal remains could be recycled by nature. (I'd have been happy with a cremation or any other form of disposal, but what do I know?) We had to fill in (not "fill out") forms that included questions about our various requirements and we both added, "Strictly no religion". Funerals are complete wastes of money and total rip-offs, serving only to make people feel sadder and to make undertakers richer. Probably won't be anyone at mine, anyway. Mind you, woodland burials are bloody expensive too.
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 1, 2020 23:59:35 GMT
Hear, hear! A few years ago the Contessa decided that we should (eventually) have woodland burials so that our mortal remains could be recycled by nature. (I'd have been happy with a cremation or any other form of disposal, but what do I know?) We had to fill in (not "fill out") forms that included questions about our various requirements and we both added, "Strictly no religion". Funerals are a complete wastes of money and total rip-offs, serving only to make people feel sadder and to make undertakers richer. Probably won't be anyone at mine, anyway. Mind you, woodland burials are bloody expensive too. I've discussed the woodland-burial idea with my undertaker, but in my part of the world there are very few suitable sites or facilities yet developed; only one local cemetery makes such provision, and their allocated space is already booked out a decade in advance, so my prepaid cremation remains the default unless the natural-burial situation improves (and comes down considerably in cost). Furthermore: no silly, expensive box. A simple shroud will do (and is now legal here).
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jul 2, 2020 10:17:47 GMT
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Post by Dave Miller on Jul 2, 2020 17:19:48 GMT
Thanks for that LJH, I enjoyed it. (Stunning dress, too!)
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Post by Twoddle on Jul 2, 2020 22:16:35 GMT
Thanks, LJH, that was very interesting. It brought to the surface of my memory a couple of stories that I heard or read many years ago. The first concerned a tribe of native Australians who'd never found the need to count further than three, so anything larger than that number was "many" (in their language). The second concerned the African way of thinking. When an African was asked whether he'd dropped a fragile object that lay broken on the floor his reply was a definite, "No. I let go of it and it fell by itself".
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 3, 2020 23:43:25 GMT
forking motor flicker“[…] swearing at a fly is like playing cards against a gherkin — even if you win, it doesn't count.”
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Post by Dave Miller on Jul 4, 2020 6:32:05 GMT
forking motor flicker“[…] swearing at a fly is like playing cards against a gherkin — even if you win, it doesn't count.” I (and, I suspect, most Brits) think of swearing as swearing. An “oath” is what you say in court, or is a rarely used and quaint euphemism for swearing - which sits strangely in an overt conversation about swearing. More strongly, “cursing” (or “cussing” to give it more of a country yee-ha flavour) misses the point for me - most swear words have none of the supposed negative effect on the future of someone that a curse might bring.
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 4, 2020 9:25:51 GMT
I am a frequent listener to TED talks. Here is one by Lera Boroditsky about how language shapes the way we think. [...] Excellent infotainment LJH. Thank you. I've had numerous occupations that involved inducing behaviour change through language. Fascinating stuff.
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