The Chat Thread

[Henk]

The annoying thing about this forum sofware we are running on, is that it doesn't give a notification when someone responded to something you wrote. It makes you feel asocial, which could be a reason to leave this boards. You have to look frequently to stay connected.

[EigenUser]

Nate
Yes many times. I was a TA in Engineering physics for a summer (I was in neither physics nor engineering but impressed the prof), and in math and Computer science as a grad student during regular term.
Grading papers, running tutorial sections, giving the class lectures on a few occasions, helping mark exams.

Cool! TA'ing is fun. It sounds cliched and even corny to say, but teaching really fills a void for me. I'm not sure what it is, but I love it. The machine design-ers have an exam Wednesday that I have to finish making. The professor asked me to put a few questions on it and then told me to add whatever I think is worthwhile. I feel so powerful!  (<--- that's an evil laugh!). I also have to prepare a review session for Monday.

I was playing Ravel's orchestral Valses Nobles et Sentimentals in my office hours the other day and I was so tempted to give someone an extra point after saying "That music is so peaceful!"

[Ken B]

Cool! TA'ing is fun. It sounds cliched and even corny to say, but teaching really fills a void for me. I'm not sure what it is, but I love it. The machine design-ers have an exam Wednesday that I have to finish making. The professor asked me to put a few questions on it and then told me to add whatever I think is worthwhile. I feel so powerful!  (<--- that's an evil laugh!). I also have to prepare a review session for Monday.

I was playing Ravel's orchestral Valses Nobles et Sentimentals in my office hours the other day and I was so tempted to give someone an extra point after saying "That music is so peaceful!"

On days you don't want to be disturbed, play Des Canyons aux Etoiles.

[EigenUser]

On days you don't want to be disturbed, play Des Canyons aux Etoiles.

The student lounge in the mechanical engineering building has a really good sound system that people can use with their computers/phones/etc. Since I usually get there really early (when no one else is there) on days I have to be there for TA stuff, I actually have played sections from Des Canyons aux Etoiles a few times. Usually I play L'Ascenson, though.

[ibanezmonster]

I have a question for anyone who knows Chinese. Is every single character, by itself, a meaningful word?

Not sure why I'm only asking this now, but I was wondering, because from what I observed a few years ago, it seemed like this was the case with the handful of words that I learned.
If this is true, then that's quite a difference from Japanese. For example, 開 is not an actual word by itself, but has the general meaning "open" (for example, 開ける　means to "open"). (But there are still many characters that are full words by themself, for example: 机 "desk.")

[ibanezmonster]

Wrong thread to be asking my previous question? 

So, you know how there's usually a story behind last names? Smith, Miller, or my last name, etc. for example, often had something to do with their profession. Sometimes it may be another reason. So... I had a packet of honey and saw the name of the company- it looked like a last name. Dickinson. I wonder what the story behind that last name was.

[kishnevi]

Wrong thread to be asking my previous question? 

So, you know how there's usually a story behind last names? Smith, Miller, or my last name, etc. for example, often had something to do with their profession. Sometimes it may be another reason. So... I had a packet of honey and saw the name of the company- it looked like a last name. Dickinson. I wonder what the story behind that last name was.

Most likely it started out with a man whose father was generally referred to as Dick or Dickon: son of Dickon.  That is the usual reason behind names that in -son.  And remember that well into the 17th century spelling was not standardized, so a name could be spelled several ways.  Dickin=Dickon=Dicken.

Which is why the author of A Christmas Carol might easily have been named Charles Dickinson.

[ibanezmonster]

Most likely it started out with a man whose father was generally referred to as Dick or Dickon: son of Dickon.  That is the usual reason behind names that in -son.  And remember that well into the 17th century spelling was not standardized, so a name could be spelled several ways.  Dickin=Dickon=Dicken.

Dick = Dickin... well. That would explain the 'in.'

Which is why the author of A Christmas Carol might easily have been named Charles Dickinson.

Ah! Thought the name was familiar, just could not remember where from...

[kishnevi]

Dick = Dickin... well. That would explain the 'in.'

Ah! Thought the name was familiar, just could not remember where from...

More likely your brain was latching onto poetess Emily.

[ibanezmonster]

It's hilarious watching certain guys at the gym constantly checking themselves out in the mirror or lifting their shirt up for no reason. I feel like one of these days telling them, "Brah! You look soooooooooooo good. Sooooooo good." And then I'd whisper into their ear, "You know I mean it. Lemme get some of that, brah."

[Ken B]

I quit my job yesterday, more or less. I am a consultant, and my employer rents me to a client. Recently my employer cancelled my benefits (without telling me). Now I work at the client, and they want to keep me. So next week we will see if my contract can be transitioned to another consulting company. If so I will stay, otherwise I will move on.
Now my employer is simply trying to defraud me of their copays on all benefits. But their business model is pretty odd. They have lost a contractor who has been with the company 16 years and pissed off their most important client in Michigan. My project is quite high profile, and twice this year my work has solved emergency problems that were discussed at the vice president level at the client (a Fortune 10 company). The client, whose needs my employer seem to not care about, like me a lot. Twice in recent years there have been across the board rate cuts for consultants at the client, and each time I have been exempted at the insistence of my managers. Plus my departure will set back schedules on a project with a budget of over 25 million dollars. My managers at the client are displeased. An odd way to run a consulting company.
So next week I'll either have a new employer or will start moving back to Toronto.

[Karl Henning]

Good luck!

[Henk]

The temptation to check MI's posts is how can I call it, "disgusting"? I know he doesn't deserve such a qualification, but I think I should stop doing that, only it's a kind of addiction. Other ones with this problem? 

[Todd]

So, for Halloween, I bought three full boxes of full size candy bars to hand out to kids, but it ended up raining heavy early in the evening and we ended up getting only a couple dozen kids ringing our doorbell.  I was handing out two and three at a time, but I still have gobs of Snickers and Milky Ways left.  Now, those happen to be my favorite candy bars, but it is purely coincidental that I overbought these particular treats.  I hate the idea of wasting food.  What am I to do?

[North Star]

Ration.

[Brian]

Mail them to me.

[mn dave]

This just in...

[ibanezmonster]

https://www.youtube.com/v/SHv3-U9VPAs

There's a culture that has a language that is only 8 vowels and 3 consonants, does not use numbers and does not believe in a creationist story of the world.

[Karl Henning]

How do they feel about manga?

[Ken B]

I had a meeting today with a PM from another project. I wandered up to his desk and said Knock knock. He replied "Who's there?" and asked if I had a good knock knock joke for him. So I said "Philip Glass"
"Philip Glass who?"
"knock knock"
and he got it!

Some day I will try my Shostakovich joke on him.