c4countdown

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2024 7:50 am

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2024 9:57 pm

Thomas Cappleman wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2019 2:12 pm

https://www.audiolinks.com/blog/mike-vs-mic/

As I suspected, mike is the preferred grammatically, particularly when used as a verb, but the shift to mic is likely due to abbreviations on actual equipment, where the extra letter takes more space and adds no clarity.

By the way, if I see "mic" I read it in my head as "mick".

It's probably as as simple as on a cassette player there is only enough space for 3 letters next to the microphone jack but apart from using it as a word in Scrabble I wouldn't use it as an abbreviarltion unless I have limited characters left on a form or message

Philip A wrote: ↑Mon Jun 17, 2024 4:23 pm Why is a golf score of 3 strokes under par known as a double eagle across the Atlantic? Surely a double eagle would be 4 stokes under par (2 strokes times 2).

Mark James wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 4:26 pm Saw this on twitter but it was a good question and I have thought about it before. You know how, sometimes, you miss your exit on a roundabout and have to go around again? How long can you keep driving around a roundabout, not taking any exits before some sort of law enforcement would intervene? Presumably, everyone else is driving off the roundabout so would anyone really notice that you've been on it an inordinate amount of time?

Mark James wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 4:26 pm Saw this on twitter but it was a good question and I have thought about it before. You know how, sometimes, you miss your exit on a roundabout and have to go around again? How long can you keep driving around a roundabout, not taking any exits before some sort of law enforcement would intervene? Presumably, everyone else is driving off the roundabout so would anyone really notice that you've been on it an inordinate amount of time?

Mark James wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 4:26 pm Saw this on twitter but it was a good question and I have thought about it before. You know how, sometimes, you miss your exit on a roundabout and have to go around again? How long can you keep driving around a roundabout, not taking any exits before some sort of law enforcement would intervene? Presumably, everyone else is driving off the roundabout so would anyone really notice that you've been on it an inordinate amount of time?

Callum Todd wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 5:40 pm

Mark James wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 4:26 pm Saw this on twitter but it was a good question and I have thought about it before. You know how, sometimes, you miss your exit on a roundabout and have to go around again? How long can you keep driving around a roundabout, not taking any exits before some sort of law enforcement would intervene? Presumably, everyone else is driving off the roundabout so would anyone really notice that you've been on it an inordinate amount of time?

A related one: let's say you're approaching a roundabout but the left turn lane is queueing a lot, while the right lane (for straight on or turn right) is empty. Is it dodgy to take the right lane, go all the way around the about (about 450 degrees) and then come off at the 'first' exit on your second pass of it, effectively overtaking most of the queue you would have been in if you had taken the left lane to take first exit normally?

I confess I have done this a few times before and consider it a life hack. As far as I know it's perfectly legal but I may be mistaken. You are the (road) ref.

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 7:12 pm The Origins of ID.
I as in I and D as in Dentification (Norm McDonald in case anyone accuses me of plagiarism).

Mark James wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 11:27 pm

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 7:12 pm The Origins of ID.
I as in I and D as in Dentification (Norm McDonald in case anyone accuses me of plagiarism).

As much as I love Norm and that joke in particular, where else could you make the cut-off? IT, IF, IC, IA?

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Wed Jun 19, 2024 8:38 am

Mark James wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 11:27 pm

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2024 7:12 pm The Origins of ID.
I as in I and D as in Dentification (Norm McDonald in case anyone accuses me of plagiarism).

As much as I love Norm and that joke in particular, where else could you make the cut-off? IT, IF, IC, IA?

Another very funny joke/story is when they gave each state a 2 letter code starting with AL for Alabama then you get Alaska .....don't think that was Norm though

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2024 11:15 pm Is Duo Lingo actually a good way to learn a language? I've never used it, but I know loads of people who have been using it for ages and I'm not convinced any of them can do anything more than ask for bread or the way to the station.

Callum Todd wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 6:28 am

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2024 11:15 pm Is Duo Lingo actually a good way to learn a language? I've never used it, but I know loads of people who have been using it for ages and I'm not convinced any of them can do anything more than ask for bread or the way to the station.

I haven't used it too intensively but the impression I get is that by using Duolingo regularly you can indeed get very good at... Duolingo. I think the returns of that skill in real-world conversation are very low.

Matt Rutherford wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 6:58 pm

Callum Todd wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 6:28 am

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2024 11:15 pm Is Duo Lingo actually a good way to learn a language? I've never used it, but I know loads of people who have been using it for ages and I'm not convinced any of them can do anything more than ask for bread or the way to the station.

I haven't used it too intensively but the impression I get is that by using Duolingo regularly you can indeed get very good at... Duolingo. I think the returns of that skill in real-world conversation are very low.

Flashcard vocab in the same way you flashcard anagrams. Learn the vocab, then find a way to use it. If you have a convo partner, that can help.

Think about kids. They learn words first, then how to string them together with grammar by usage. Know the vocab, then go far Grammar. And Duolingo has all the usefulness of Rishi Sunak in a food bank

Matt Rutherford wrote: ↑Sun Jul 07, 2024 6:58 pm Think about kids. They learn words first, then how to string them together with grammar by usage. Know the vocab, then go far Grammar.

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 1:59 pm Who paid cowboys?

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Mon Jul 08, 2024 1:59 pm Who paid cowboys?

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 12:06 pm It's to do with air currents and stuff. The air temperature is not purely down to the sun's radiation - not directly anyway. Wind can blow from different directions and some places are hotter than others etc.

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 10:01 am So, that day last year when it got to like 42 degrees - how? It's not like the sun got any nearer. I don't understand weather.

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Sun Aug 04, 2024 12:46 am Does anyone else regularly do just one hiccup, on its own? And if so, do you also find that your mouth seems to open especially for the occasion, no matter how shut it was before?

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Sun Aug 04, 2024 6:11 pm I'm teettoal and you're talking out of your arse. (Sorry, but, I actually am.)

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Sun Aug 04, 2024 12:46 am Does anyone else regularly do just one hiccup, on its own? And if so, do you also find that your mouth seems to open especially for the occasion, no matter how shut it was before?

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 7:32 pm Of all the human behaviours I don't understand, not putting the shopping trolley back is one of the most baffling. Why wouldn't you put the trolley back? Not only is it the right thing to do, since you made the mess in the first place, but also, you get to do that thing where you put one trolley in another trolley, and then maybe another trolley, and then gather them all up like some sort of trolley snake shepherd train. Choo choo, you bastards.

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 7:32 pm Of all the human behaviours I don't understand, not putting the shopping trolley back is one of the most baffling. Why wouldn't you put the trolley back? Not only is it the right thing to do, since you made the mess in the first place, but also, you get to do that thing where you put one trolley in another trolley, and then maybe another trolley, and then gather them all up like some sort of trolley snake shepherd train. Choo choo, you bastards.

Andres Sanchez wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 7:39 pm

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Mon Aug 12, 2024 7:32 pm Of all the human behaviours I don't understand, not putting the shopping trolley back is one of the most baffling. Why wouldn't you put the trolley back? Not only is it the right thing to do, since you made the mess in the first place, but also, you get to do that thing where you put one trolley in another trolley, and then maybe another trolley, and then gather them all up like some sort of trolley snake shepherd train. Choo choo, you bastards.

As someone that works AT a grocery store, I have so many fucking peeves as a cashier. This is one of them, and not only that but I've seen people leave the cart IN THE CASHIER AISLE, leaving such an obstruction. We have a corral for carts in about 3 different spots and I love the people that use them correctly.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Dec 11, 2021 9:09 pm How did "Banksy" - aka Robin Gunningham - become a thing? The media just decided that he was and started reporting on him. This didn't come from the general public appreciating his work. There was no public consultation about this and no questioning about the quality of his work. I can only imagine that he had a friend that worked for The Guardian or something and it all went from there.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2024 1:36 pm

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Sat Dec 11, 2021 9:09 pm How did "Banksy" - aka Robin Gunningham - become a thing? The media just decided that he was and started reporting on him. This didn't come from the general public appreciating his work. There was no public consultation about this and no questioning about the quality of his work. I can only imagine that he had a friend that worked for The Guardian or something and it all went from there.

On the Banksy thing then - you will probably have noticed that he's been quite active recently and therefore in the news. And one of his pieces of graffiti was defaced! I mean, he's a graffiti artist. Everything he does is "defacing".

Graffiti is supposed to be transient and if you remove it from its context to "save" it, it's lost a lot of its point. Just like when people make elaborate ice sculptures or sand castles, they're not there to last.

Plus as graffiti, it's just as illegal as any other. But it's been decided for us (by e.g. the BBC and the Guardian) that he's the guy we should be revering. He has no more right than anyone to graffiti places, including people who decide to "enhance" his work. Whether he likes it or not, he's firmly part of the establishment now, protected by society's powers that be. I think it's slightly sinister and I can quite understand those small acts of rebellion against it.

Fiona T wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2024 2:10 pm I think that's kinda the point. Throughout the history of art, artists have been questioning what art is, from impressionists to cubists, to modern artists. Why is a pile of bricks in the tate modern any different to me arranging bricks in my garden?

There is fantastic graffiti in the Leake Street tunnels by waterloo station - well worth a visit if you're in the area, which you might be for Co:Lon in a couple of weeks!

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2024 4:12 pm

Fiona T wrote: ↑Tue Aug 13, 2024 2:10 pm I think that's kinda the point. Throughout the history of art, artists have been questioning what art is, from impressionists to cubists, to modern artists. Why is a pile of bricks in the tate modern any different to me arranging bricks in my garden?

There is fantastic graffiti in the Leake Street tunnels by waterloo station - well worth a visit if you're in the area, which you might be for Co:Lon in a couple of weeks!

Maybe I will have a look.

But anyway, with art, I think the problem is that what gets decided to be good or great art is decided by this small shadowy elite. With e.g. modern music, although radio stations and Spotify can push certain songs, ultimately what is good music is decided by the masses who choose to listen to it or not. It's much more democratic. I've said previously that if you didn't already know that the Mona Lisa was this great piece of art, you probably wouldn't decide that it was. Why don't people have copies of the Mona Lisa on their wall like they listen to The Beatles?

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Aug 15, 2024 5:12 pm Apologies if it's been mentioned elsewhere but what is the fastest swimmer with limbs.
Someone said a Platypus but I'm not convinced

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Aug 15, 2024 5:12 pm Apologies if it's been mentioned elsewhere but what is the fastest swimmer with limbs.
Someone said a Platypus but I'm not convinced

Fiona T wrote: ↑Thu Aug 15, 2024 10:10 pm

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Aug 15, 2024 5:12 pm Apologies if it's been mentioned elsewhere but what is the fastest swimmer with limbs.
Someone said a Platypus but I'm not convinced

I think you first need to define a limb.

Is a flipper a limb?

I suspect that if platypuses do swim fast, it's more their tails than limbs.

What about beavers? (in the context of this question, not inviting more general musings...)

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Wed Aug 21, 2024 12:49 pm Those of you that drive - do you also have recurring dreams about speed cameras going off even when you weren't speeding, or cars that never stand completely still no matter how hard you moosh the brakes, or is it just me?

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Wed Aug 21, 2024 12:49 pm Those of you that drive - do you also have recurring dreams about speed cameras going off even when you weren't speeding, or cars that never stand completely still no matter how hard you moosh the brakes, or is it just me?

Fiona T wrote: ↑Wed Aug 21, 2024 3:07 pm

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Wed Aug 21, 2024 12:49 pm Those of you that drive - do you also have recurring dreams about speed cameras going off even when you weren't speeding, or cars that never stand completely still no matter how hard you moosh the brakes, or is it just me?

I have lots of horrible driving dreams. Sometimes I'm driving but I'm in the back seat (the front seats are missing) and have to lie down to reach the pedals and can't see out. Other times I'm hurtling down a winding hill steering wildly and unable to slow the car down, bumping into stuff all round me. Basically in all of them it's fair to say I'm not in control of the vehicle!

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2024 12:30 pm Why do car boots take place so bloody early? Just passed a sign for one that said 7am to 12pm. Well then I'm not bloody g down in the morning its easier to canceloing to your bloody thing, am I? Why can't they be like 9-3?

Mark Deeks wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2024 12:30 pm Why do car boots take place so bloody early? Just passed a sign for one that said 7am to 12pm. Well then I'm not bloody going to your bloody thing, am I? Why can't they be like 9-3?