merkitt

It's possible OP didn't realize what he was proposing would have a negative impact. Rather than assuming that, we could've just said something like: "Do NOT do that! Because of {these things}. And {these other things} will happen to you and other people."

There are plenty of ways to say politically incorrect things without being rude. One thing I like about HN (as opposed to reddit) is the information density -- it's higher because jokes and snark are frowned upon.

merkitt

12 anni fadiscuss

If you're addressing mother, then it is second person. This is exactly how I would say this to my mother (translated to English of course). Some of the kids in the newer generations use the more familiar "oya".

merkitt

12 anni fadiscuss

It is in fact a great language. For one thing, our alphabet is fully phonetic. And it's even arranged in a logical grid: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sinhala.htm

It's also a great language to tell jokes in. We have a lot of delivery-based humor that gets completely lost if only the meaning is translated (which is often the case when the destination language is English).

Some of our original deficiencies: we didn't have punctuation or even spaces before they were introduced by European colonists (Portuguese, Dutch and British, in that order). So our ancient writings LOOKEDKINDOFLIKETHISANDWENTONFORPARAGRAPHS.

merkitt

12 anni fadiscuss

Greetings from a speaker of a linguistic oddity that doesn't have a universal form of the word "you".

My native language -- Sinhalese -- has two forms: written and spoken. The written form, which has a grammar very similar to Latin, does have a universal "you", but the spoken form, which is largely grammer-less except for tense, does not. You literally cannot address someone without knowing their status/relationship to you. This leads to some difficult and sometimes hilarious situations:

- Children, family members and lovers are often addressed "oya". Using this on your boss or teacher could lead to problems. More acceptable when used by women and girls than by men.

- There's no way to informally address a superior without a salutation or a name. This leads to people repeatedly using a person's name or salutation in the same sentence. E.g. "Sir, should I have that report sir asked for on sir's desk before sir leaves for sir's doctor's appointment?"

- Some old fashioned couples have entire conversations (and sometimes marriages) without using second person pronouns because they don't have a single version they feel comfortable with.

- Male friends of roughly equal age tend to call each other "machang" -- a term that is well known to those who have known Sri Lankans, and roughly translates to "dude".

- There's no safe version of "you" that a young man can use on another that he has just met. Most risk using "machang", but could result in offense if addressing someone of higher social standing. This is solved by constructing sentences that avoid the word entirely.

- Most children, especially from my generation, do not feel comfortable using second person pronouns on their parents. They just repeat "mother/father" wherever the word "you" is supposed to appear.

- Sometimes the sentences are spoken with the word entirely omitted (like in Latin) -- "Can come over here?", "Did lock the door?"

merkitt

13 anni fadiscuss

On second thought though, technology has allowed us to share our views about this topic right now. The text medium and relative anonymity has enabled us to share a lot more than we would have a hundred years ago.

merkitt

13 anni fadiscuss

Is visible light interferometry possible with multiple small reflectors in orbit?

merkitt

13 anni fadiscuss

i just visited mashape.com. i was there just in time to see the API call counter hit exactly 1,300,000,000.

merkitt

13 anni fadiscuss

Could online peer-to-peer banking replace this whole mess someday?

merkitt

13 anni fadiscuss

He's a MacGyver. I wonder what he'll build if he is unleashed on a large American junk yard.

merkitt

13 anni fadiscuss

  $(1,1) = $(1,2) + $(1,3); // cell value ref: $(row, col)

  $('sheet1').onready(function() {
  }); // you get the picture

the spreadsheet programming and the data grid/presentation could be made separate.

replace fill handle based formula extension with parameterized formulae:

  for (int i = 0; i < $('name_range').length(); i++)
    $(1,i) = $(2,i) + $(3,i); // and so on and so forth

write as many functions as necessary.

merkitt

13 anni fadiscuss

I just looked at this childhood drawing of yours: http://www.gabrielgambetta.com/img/1986-listado.jpg

Is that BASIC CODE mixed in with bugs bunny??! Raytracer or no raytracer, this is exceedingly cool.

merkitt

13 anni fadiscuss

Sinhalese, spoken only in Sri Lanka, naturally has some of these features: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinhala_alphabet

1. Fully phonetic

2. Syllables are formed by a logical and consistent system of vowel signs that can be attached to consonant characters

3. Uses pure vowels and largely un-accentuated except for some minor stress on the first syllable of words

4. Alphabet order is logical -- a grid arranged by tongue position and nasalization

The biggest bad thing about the language: the formal grammar is very much latin-like, and equally difficult to master. Fortunately, the spoken version is largely grammar-less.

Source: I speak it.

merkitt

13 anni fadiscuss

The real issue is that it really doesn't matter that government knows your personal data unless you've something to hide. The problem is that government does not care about one person. The data becomes a threat only in large scale, when it can be used to predict and control society: https://medium.com/surveillance-state/f16655a5879f

Submissions

Anotherfox - a tabless browser UI design

How I finally (mis)understood Bitcoin

On online surveillance and psychohistory

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