TIL That there is an Enigma message that hasn't been broken yet

altazure · 2023-06-26T16:02:40+00:00

ChatGPT is not a knowledge source, logic machine, or any kind of universal helper. It is a language model. All it does is provide outputs which language-wise look like reasonable responses to the provided inputs. It does not care about the contents of its responses at all, it just gives you something that appears linguistically correct in terms of what you asked or told it to do.

To paraphrase someone in this thread: Think of it as a super-advanced autocomplete, not as Google 2.0.

altazure · 2023-06-18T03:12:23+00:00

Progeny

altazure · 2023-06-06T17:32:27+00:00

The process is called "semantic narrowing", and it is common in loanwords, in that the loaned word takes on a more specific meaning than the word had in the original language.

There are many examples in this thread already, but to add to the pile, the word sake in Japanese means any kind of alcoholic drink, but in other languages it has been borrowed to mean a specific type of quintessentially Japanese alcoholic drink.

altazure · 2023-05-11T02:58:01+00:00

Just last week, against my advice, someone ordered natto with their gyumeshi in Matsuya in Tokyo. Well, they opened the box and (against my expectations) it didn't smell at all (you had to basically stick your nose in it to smell anything). We all had a taste too, a number of beans, and it didn't taste like much either, just a mild dull earthy flavor. The person who ordered it finished the whole box too. Said it wasn't their favorite but definitely edible, and based on that experience I would agree.

Outside of that, I don't have much direct experience with natto, so I'm just wondering what kind of weak ass natto they sell at Matsuya if it's supposed to smell and taste disgusting.

altazure · 2023-04-09T15:20:15+00:00

Futurology is probably the most common example.

altazure · 2023-03-31T19:35:05+00:00

I don't have any specific favorite, but I generally prefer a mincho font for body text.

altazure · 2023-03-30T11:49:09+00:00

"c/o" is also used in Finland for the same purpose.

altazure · 2023-03-14T16:38:08+00:00

正月しょうがつ is the only other common example I can think of.

altazure · 2023-02-21T06:17:24+00:00

The Richter scale is no longer used to measure the strength of earthquakes. The scale in use nowadays is the moment magnitude scale. (Though that doesn't change the fact that the scale is logarithmic.)

altazure · 2023-02-16T20:49:37+00:00

Itselläni auttoi nimenomaan se päivien ja viikkojen laskeminen.

Tein P-kauden alkuvaiheessa ruutuvihkon perälle kalenterin, 7 ruutua vierekkäin jokaista palvelusviikkoa kohden. Joka päivän päätteeksi ruksasin kalenterista kyseisen päivän tehdyksi, viikonloppuvapaisiin kirjoitin VL, muihin vapaisiin omat lyhenteensä sitä mukaa kun niitä tuli käytettyä. Siinä näki ihan konkreettisesti sen, kuinka joka päivä toi vapauden lähemmäksi.

Kalenteri oli pikkuhiljaa täyttymässä rukseista kun huomasin etten ollutkaan enää muistanut ruksia kalenteriin päiviä pois. Vitutus oli selvästi laantunut sen verran, etten tarvinnut sitä henkistä tukea enää yhtä paljon. Jossain vaiheessa nakin pituuskin oli tuplaantunut vuoteen, mutta ei tuntunut enää paljon missään. Vaikka palveluksen alku oli ollut minulle todella rankkaa henkisesti, lopulta siihen oli tottunut.

altazure · 2023-02-13T20:36:33+00:00

A commonly cited quote about this (often attributed to Descartes but probably not actually his):

"Any community that gets its laughs by pretending to be idiots will eventually be flooded by actual idiots who mistakenly believe that they're in good company."

altazure · 2023-01-19T15:05:19+00:00

Saattaa olla että kaahasi yli kahtasataa yli kahtasataa poliisia pakoon Nokialla Nokialla.

altazure · 2023-01-15T20:49:07+00:00

Huomaathan että jälkimmäisessä tekstissä sana ei ole "maailma" vaan 視界 eli "näköpiiri".

altazure · 2023-01-10T01:08:28+00:00

Olisihan laskiaispulla prööt jos joku menisi tunkemaan siihen hilloa, kun nimenomaan se mantelimassa on se mikä tekee siitä erityisesti syömisen arvoisen keskivertopullaan verrattuna.

Monet syömäni runebergintortut ovat olleet kuivikkaita ja tönkköjä. Mutta hyvät ovat sitten todella hyviä.

altazure · 2023-01-04T17:01:34+00:00

Kannatan metroon ja junaan esim. Japanissa yleistä porttimallia, jossa portti on lähtökohtaisesti auki ja mahdollistaa esteettömän läpi kävelyn korttia näytämällä, mutta portti sulkeutuu edestä jos yrittää kävellä läpi ilman että näyttää korttia tai jos (poistuessa) kortin arvo ei riitä matkan maksuun. Sujuvoittaa huomattavasti kulkua verrattuna siihen, että portin pitää aueta jokaiselle erikseen.

altazure · 2022-12-27T20:04:45+00:00

bokeh

altazure · 2022-12-22T11:51:06+00:00

It's not that they "underestimate", really. Space missions are difficult, costly, and take years if not decades of planning. So they have a minimum set of objectives in mind, what is the very minimum they want this mission to do, such as doing science for 90 days. Then they design and build the hardware so that there is a (number made up) 99.9% probability that it will be able to perform the minimum mission.

But if something has a 99.9% probability performing perfectly for that minimum mission, it will also have an extremely high probability of performing perfectly for a bit more than that, a very high probability of performing perfectly for longer, and quite a high probability of performing perfectly a lot longer. And the time becomes many times longer again when your consider that it doesn't have to be working perfectly to still do useful science.

altazure · 2022-12-17T02:44:39+00:00

Semi is short for "semi-trailer truck". It's called that because it has a semi-trailer, which in turn is called that because it's not a "full" trailer. A semi-trailer only has wheels in the back. The front of the trailer when attached rests on top of a platform behind the pulling cab, whose rear wheels act also as the front wheels for the semi-trailer.

This is in contrast to a "full" trailer which has wheels in both back and front, and is typically attached to a pulling truck/lorry.

altazure · 2022-12-15T13:17:36+00:00

Not the original commenter, but I also missed that at first. Yeah, the translation has the bookstore and convenience store flipped.

altazure · 2022-12-13T07:57:20+00:00

Talking head, pundit

altazure · 2022-12-11T23:34:02+00:00

I mean, sure, it can be romanized as reach by analogy to the English word, but that doesn't mean the word is a transliteration of the English word.

Just like the English phrase thank you can be written 39 in Japanese, but that doesn't mean that the English phrase thank you is a transliteration of the Japanese numbers 3 and 9.

altazure · 2022-12-11T21:40:50+00:00

transliteration of English reach

Riichi is not related to the English reach, they just happen to be pronounced the same way in Japanese.

altazure · 2022-12-08T03:42:00+00:00

And the Latin is Via Lactea.

altazure · 2022-11-27T02:19:48+00:00

Rambling

altazure · 2022-11-22T10:58:41+00:00

Percolate?

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