Humor Random Comments Thread

[jedidia]

I came across a video with a Swiss guy speaking Swiss Standard German

There is no such thing as spoken Swiss Standard German. It only exists in written form, and is basically regular high german with a few spelling differences (most notably we write ss instead of that redundant contraption the germans use to denote the same thing that makes typing a horrible experience). It has no more or less in common with swiss german than... well... actual german.
In other words, what you heared was just a Swiss speaking German with an accent If you'd listen to something like a swiss news anchor instead, what you hear is really just high german, maybe with the suggestion of an accent, but then that's hardly any different from other german news anchors that have a background in an "unfortunate" dialect. Never mind our politicians though, some of them are famous for the most horrible accents (at least the ones with german mother tongue. The italian and the french speakers obviously sound quite different).

For what it's worth, most Germans that hear german Swiss speaking german think that this must be the infamous swiss german they've heard stories about...

 

[Notebook]

Sounds like a variation on
:

The Quotations Page: Quote from George Bernard Shaw

"It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him."

www.quotationspage.com

Class based in England of course.

 

[Linguofreak]

In other words, what you heared was just a Swiss speaking German with an accent

Whatever you want to call it, it seemed to be what the Swiss learn in school for the purpose of communicating with the rest of the German speaking world. (Or maybe what you learn in school period. Is Schwyzerdütsch taught formally, with Standard German on the side as a foreign language, or is Standard German taught as "correct" speech?).

 

[jedidia]

Whatever you want to call it, it seemed to be what the Swiss learn in school for the purpose of communicating with the rest of the German speaking world.

Yes. We call it german! Trouble is, it has no official pronounciation guidelines...

Or maybe what you learn in school period. Is Schwyzerdütsch taught formally, with Standard German on the side as a foreign language, or is Standard German taught as "correct" speech?

It is indeed the school language, not only written but also spoken, though it isn't that long that school is in german since first grade. Back in my days school was still in swiss german. But nowadays, english already starts in third grade and french... not sure when that starts now. Used to be french in 6th and english in 8th, with italian voluntary from 6th (as well as latin and greek voluntary from 8th, I think...?) but I'm not sure how it is nowadays. (also, we sometimes joke that turkish and albanian start in Kindergarten, since it can at rare times happen that kids with german mother tongue are a minority in the class).

In any case, we don't really learn to speak german. The one thing nobody gives a damn about is proper pronounciation, only grammar and orthography (quite contrary to french, where pronounciation has much more weight... I guess they just assume the kids pick up pronounciation from the teacher and the media...)

Despite that, noone would ever dare teach german as "the correct speech". We (thankfully) don't have much political fuss about language, but I don't think a teacher who is caught suggesting that it would be proper for the kids to speak German at home and that the local dialect somehow "wasn't correct speech" would have their job for very long ?

 

[Notebook]

Well, how unusual:

Rare New England shilling found in Bywell Hall sweet tin

The New England shilling dates from 1652 and was found amongst a forgotten coin collection.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[MaxBuzz]

I found a 1738 coin in the garden

 

[jedidia]

Those times when you completely fail to realise the complexity in a coding problem in advance...
I just wanted to solve a layout problem that I figured should be manageable, broke my brain while actually thinking about it, went googling and found out that apparently it's called a "multiway partition problem" and there's scientific papers being written about it... ?‍ Well, at least there seem to be relatively simple approximations that should be good enough for the use case.

 

[Urwumpe]

Those times when you completely fail to realise the complexity in a coding problem in advance...
I just wanted to solve a layout problem that I figured should be manageable, broke my brain while actually thinking about it, went googling and found out that apparently it's called a "multiway partition problem" and there's scientific papers being written about it... ?‍ Well, at least there seem to be relatively simple approximations that should be good enough for the use case.

You know, there is always the option to use a brute force approach...

 

[jedidia]

You know, there is always the option to use a brute force approach...

Not really feasible for this problem if you need the result for a UI-popup that is created on mouseover. Better to take something only roughly approximate that doesn't measure its runtime in seconds...

 

[Linguofreak]

I think I've figured out how to build a half-kilometer runway in KSP as a vessel.

However, it's not very useful sitting on top of the stock runway, and the question of how to get it into orbit for delivery to, e.g, Duna for a surface base, or Eve for a high-atmospheric base remains unsolved.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I think I've figured out how to build a half-kilometer runway in KSP as a vessel.

However, it's not very useful sitting on top of the stock runway, and the question of how to get it into orbit for delivery to, e.g, Duna for a surface base, or Eve for a high-atmospheric base remains unsolved.

You're going to need a LOT of struts.

 

[jedidia]

The problem with presenting a working proof of concept to your partners is that invariably, somebody will immediately start selling it to their customers... ? (I miss the old suicide emoji in moments like this...)

 

[Urwumpe]

The problem with presenting a working proof of concept to your partners is that invariably, somebody will immediately start selling it to their customers... ? (I miss the old suicide emoji in moments like this...)

Yeah, and suddenly its a product, not a buggy prototype. ?

 

[Linguofreak]

The problem with presenting a working proof of concept to your partners is that invariably, somebody will immediately start selling it to their customers... ? (I miss the old suicide emoji in moments like this...)

I don't. That one was really, really disturbing (in fact, I believe it actually disappeared before the forum switch). The lit fart emoji, on the other hand...

 

[jedidia]

Yeah, and suddenly its a product, not a buggy prototype.

Just the buggyness of the prototype is manageable most of the time, but the lack of proper integration into the wider ecosystem as well as deployment and monitoring infrastructure is what really starts eating into your time...

 

[Urwumpe]

Just the buggyness of the prototype is manageable most of the time, but the lack of proper integration into the wider ecosystem as well as deployment and monitoring infrastructure is what really starts eating into your time...

And the paperwork. When suddenly 10 people need to sign your changes, because they are important. ?

But don't get me started on my management right now. I am mad.

 

[jedidia]

And the paperwork. When suddenly 10 people need to sign your changes, because they are important.

Thankfully, we're not big enough for paperwork...

 

[Urwumpe]

Thankfully, we're not big enough for paperwork...

Feel lucky. We are now 120,000 and I start to feel it. Even the German Army had faster decision processes....

 

[Notebook]

Its a bit early for April Fool?

UK's 'longest-lasting' snow patch melts away

Dubbed the Sphinx, the snow on a remote Scottish mountain has in the past survived for decades at a time.

www.bbc.co.uk

Do other countries keep an eye on a piece of snow?

 

[Urwumpe]

Its a bit early for April Fool?

UK's 'longest-lasting' snow patch melts away

Dubbed the Sphinx, the snow on a remote Scottish mountain has in the past survived for decades at a time.

www.bbc.co.uk

Do other countries keep an eye on a piece of snow?

No. But we are quite busy monitoring the Schneeferner Glacier on the Zugspitze. We are currently waiting for the southern part of it to be officially gone, the remaining patches are no longer considered to be a true glacier, just compressed snow.

But do I count as insane because I was actually looking at a small patch of snow during the summer?



Its the local eternal ice cave underneath the former celtic Oppidum.