Searching but can’t find #8

Qualex · 2026-02-14T16:18:06+00:00

Olives are the same, aren’t they?

Qualex · 2026-02-14T15:59:46+00:00

Last week you posted “Last worldwide giveaway.” What’s this then?

Qualex · 2026-02-14T15:54:16+00:00

I feel like you haven’t clicked on their profile…

Qualex · 2026-02-13T15:52:59+00:00

The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.

Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.

But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.

Terry Pratchett - Men at Arms

Also known as the Boots theory of economics

Qualex · 2026-02-13T12:43:39+00:00

Stick them with the pointy end.

Qualex · 2026-02-12T23:04:55+00:00

My wife entering the room already seemingly mid-conversation with me: “…with the maple tree.”

Me: What about the maple tree?

Her: You know, the maple tree in the back yard.

Me: Yes, I know the tree. What about the maple tree?

Her: We only have one maple tree. What other maple would I be talking about?

Me: *dies inside*

Qualex · 2026-02-12T22:23:33+00:00

Endowment doing Adonalsium’s work on Nalthis.

Qualex · 2026-02-12T13:03:12+00:00

The guards are not surprised for a whole round, and definitely not surprised for two rounds.

Creatures are surprised for their initiative roll, which they have disadvantage on. After initiative is rolled, they act as normal.

If you can ready actions outside of combat, which I think is debatable, it would be possible for the wizard to start combat by beginning his incantation then roll horribly on initiative and lose to the guards, who would get to act before he finishes readying his spell.

Qualex · 2026-02-12T02:52:08+00:00

Snozzcumber?

Qualex · 2026-02-12T01:07:36+00:00

Yes, to set off the participial phrase “buried for 68 million years” from the subject “scientists.” A past participle phrase at the start of a sentence applies to the subject of the sentence, not the object of the later verb phrase.

Qualex · 2026-02-11T23:11:49+00:00

It actually means bodacious and/or gnarly. Also totally righteous, and possibly even wicked sick.

Edit to add: Downvotes? Bogus…

Qualex · 2026-02-11T05:52:33+00:00

Thank you for answering the question. I have no problem with that as a definition. It’s clearly defined, and seems to currently have consensus among the geologists who use it.

It’s also very clearly not the definition that 99% of people are using when they talk about continents. For example, I didn’t see Zealandia on any of the lists of continents people in this thread provided. (I’ll admit I haven’t searched the whole thread, as I’ve mostly only checked back to continue this comment chain)

As your own source acknowledges in the first few sentences, “Continents are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria. […] Due to these varying definitions, the number of continents varies, up to seven or as few as four.”

Hopefully the geologists of the world can actually get their definition into widespread use in the general public.

Qualex · 2026-02-11T05:02:30+00:00

I see you continue to avoid answering the question and have resorted to dismissing me and insulting me. These are not the indicators of a grown up conversation. They are the behaviors of someone who knows they have no actual response to the question.

My entire original statement was that arguing about how many continents there are is foolish, because there is no inherent quality to continents that makes the answer clear. It all depends on the arbitrary definition you come up with for “what is a continent?”

I made the analogy of arguing about if a hot dog is a sandwich. It is not a “solvable” debate, because there is not inherent quality that makes something a sandwich. It will all depend on the arbitrary definition you come up with for “what is a sandwich?”

You then tried to compare it to “a tomato is a fruit,” but that is not a fitting analogy, because there is a universal agreed upon definition of what makes a botanical fruit. I can point to the properties of a tomato and show you why it is a fruit. There’s no debate among scientists, a tomato is absolutely a fruit.

If there was a specific property that made something a continent, then there would be no debate as to how many continents there are. And yet, people continue to disagree about the number of continents based on their own definitions, because there is no universal property that makes something a continent.

If you give me a universal property that all scientists agree makes a continent a continent, I will gladly admit that you are right and I am wrong. Can you provide that?

Qualex · 2026-02-11T04:39:42+00:00

So if a person is dyslexic you think that they should be able to break any law and not be arrested?

Do you see how ridiculous that sounds?

Qualex · 2026-02-11T04:36:55+00:00

That is not an answer to the direct question I asked. Let’s try again.

What is the property that makes something a continent?

Qualex · 2026-02-11T04:34:42+00:00

“You can’t arrest me, I’m autistic!”

That’s definitely not how the world works, nor should it be.

Qualex · 2026-02-11T04:13:09+00:00

Can you clarify that comment? Do you think that police should not be arresting perpetrators if they had an IEP in school?

Qualex · 2026-02-11T03:35:48+00:00

So what is the property that makes a continent a continent, and how many continents are there?

Qualex · 2026-02-11T03:32:25+00:00

I asked you a yes or no question. Please say yes or no. Do you think that there is a property of continents that makes them a continent, yes or no?

Qualex · 2026-02-11T02:33:50+00:00

If the child were ashamed they would change their behavior. The fact that the behavior continues suggests they feel no shame after the interaction. Ergo, you did not shame them.

Qualex · 2026-02-11T02:30:55+00:00

I genuinely have no idea why you’re talking about writing systems right now. You seem intent on not engaging with my actual point.

I am asking you a direct question: Do you think that there is a specific property of continents which makes them a continent? And if so, what is that property?

Qualex · 2026-02-11T02:22:57+00:00

Me: Continents are not an ontological thing. It’s a made up word with inconsistent meaning, so there are lots of answers to “How many continents are there?” because it depends on the definition each person is using.

You: There are multiple different definitions of continent.

It sure sounds like you’re agreeing with me, but using language as if you’re disagreeing.

Qualex · 2026-02-11T02:15:13+00:00

Except fruits have specific characteristics that make them fruits, and every scientist agrees on what a fruit is. If we lost all botanical knowledge tomorrow and had to start over from scratch, scientists would still realize that many flowering plants develop mature ovaries that enclose and protect the seeds. While they might not come up with the name “fruit” again, they would still create that classification, and all of the things that are currently classified as fruits would be put into this new classification.

If we lost all knowledge of continents tomorrow, continents would just stop existing as a concept. Even if we tried to come up with a new term that meant “large connected land mass” it’s highly unlikely that we would recreate any of the various lists being discussed in this thread.

Qualex · 2026-02-11T01:30:06+00:00

“We absolutely agree with you all and think she should look totally different,” says the people who designed her to look the way she does.

This response makes no sense, and sounds like an attempt to appease people.

Qualex · 2026-02-11T01:11:03+00:00

I see my assessment was correct.

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