Saturday, December 29, 2018

Line of the Day: 2018-12-29

I'm going to give it without context, because, really, it just applies.

I mean, this is like if some asshole starts tearing up your house and, as you're pitching him out the door, he starts naming conditions under which he'd be willing to leave quietly.
     -- Roy Edroso

(h/t: #jonswift2018)

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

I don't even have a bluff answer

Wish I'd had the presence of mind to take a screenshot of this tweet before I clicked the link, which said "Translate this tweet." In any case, this is the result of clicking that link:


I have no idea which machine-learning system (?) thinks any of that tweet needed translating (not counting from English to something else, of course), much less from Portuguese.

And granted I'm running Windows, but why is Microsoft handling trying to perform translation services on Twitter, being viewed through Firefox?

See, this is how conspiracy theories get started.

Also, cattle mutilations are up.


(?)

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Way cool, Wikipedia

You know how the pronunciation guide used on Wikipedia, among other sites, is not the one you grew up with (if you're of a certain age)? It features many more characters and some different conventions. It's hard for me to make the effort to learn this new language, as it were, and so I am, from time to time, frustrated when I want to know how to pronounce something.

However, help is here!

I don't know how long this feature has been around on Wikipedia, but I just noticed it today: you can hover over an individual character in the phonetic spelling of a given word or name, and a tooltip will pop up, showing you what that particular character means!

Here's an example screenshot:


My life just got measurably better. Shoutout and many thanks to the Wikipedians who made this happen.


Evidently, the money is being put to good use! ;)

Saturday, December 08, 2018

Deep Thought

It has long fascinated me that our mouths are simulataneously one of the most horrible sources of infection and about the most rapidly healing part of the body I can name.

Pro tip: just because you blow once or twice on a hunk of potato you just boiled and repeat that for a ladelful of a reheating stew [1] that seemed to need a little extra starch doesn't mean you aren't going to burn the roof of your mouth.

You'd almost think I'd've figured that out by now.

Anyway, let the healing begin! (Dousing with rioja [2] seems to be helping.)


[1] Spiced Chickpea Stew With Coconut and Turmeric

[2] Spanish wine with a South Asian-ish dish? Yeah. I'm a savage. Or a multiculturalist. One of those.

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