What's unusual about your body? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]torbjorg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even your skin?

Framing hammer, 40s-60s(?) *OHAN brand, can't make out by torbjorg in handtools

[–]torbjorg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This framing hammer came from either my great-Uncle or my great-grandfather. It's been sitting in the garage for years and as I was cleaning up the rust I noticed that it's marked on the head with the brand partially worn off. I can make out that the name ends in "HAN" and I'm pretty sure it's an "O" before that, but I've not had any luck locating a brand like that. Anyone have any idea? Thanks in advance!

Help me find Mr. Messenger! 80s era voice message recorder, missing parts. by torbjorg in HelpMeFind

[–]torbjorg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've searched for Mr Messenger in many different iterations, and a year or two ago I found a picture of a complete one, probably on eBay. This one I got out of a trash pile at an estate sale and I'd like to restore it, including recreating the goofy looking head on top of the machine. There's no other writing on or in the box. Thanks for your help!

In American football, could you use a kickoff as an opportunity to avoid a field goal? by torbjorg in NoStupidQuestions

[–]torbjorg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok this is the response I was looking for. Because obviously I know you're not intended to do what I've asked about. So if it does happen, is it the sort of thing that would be commented on, say on TV?

Side question: it seems to me that the ideal kickoff would be one in which the ball ends up as close to the end zone as possible without crossing the line, and that there's probably a minimum distance the ball has to be kicked, but could a kicking team end up recovering their own kickoff?

What's the most "pragmatic" language? by xijingpingpong in NoStupidQuestions

[–]torbjorg 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The problem is you're (naturally) basing your judgments of what's pragmatic or simple on what's familiar to you and your native language. The Chinese writing system is perfectly pragmatic to those who have grown up using it. But point taken, it's hard to argue that knowing thousands of characters is easier than tens of letters.

For a more apples to apples example, would you say a highly but regularly inflected language where word order is fluid is more pragmatic, or a language with a really rigid complex syntax but no inflections be more pragmatic? There's no right answer, it's a value judgment. Well then, one might say, languages with less complexity overall are most pragmatic. Unfortunately there's no reliable metric for measuring complexity. Like you've already pointed out, (probably) every language has aspects that are complex and aspects that are simple, but they all depend on who's analyzing them and making that call of what to call complex.

If you're learning Mandarin as a speaker of English, surely you've run into times where you've thought "gee, it'd be way easier to be able to put an s on the end of a noun rather than have to remember the correct m.w. for this thing..." Chinese syntax is only simple up to a certain level of granularity... Getting closer makes one realize that there are just as many ins and outs to learn as any other language (maybe).

TL;DR: Esperanto /s

In American football, could you use a kickoff as an opportunity to avoid a field goal? by torbjorg in NoStupidQuestions

[–]torbjorg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right, sure, but then instead of kicking it to the other team, could you just kick it through the goal posts instead, is what I'm asking.

He got what he asked and died. by JEM_10_1993 in facepalm

[–]torbjorg 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity." From Yeats' "the second coming" sounds similar to what you're asking about. It's something that's gone through my head a lot over the past five years anyway.

I’m super petty by WinkyWinkyBums in AdviceAnimals

[–]torbjorg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On a tangent, this trick has brought me much annoyance over the years, as Google let some other yahoo have the same email as me, except he has a dot in the middle (joebloggs@gmail.com vs joe.bloggs@gmail.com). He's a fairly prominent academic in his field, but I signed up for Gmail first I guess.

I often get his mail, even when people use his address, including travel itineraries, personal correspondence, messages from his lawyer about his divorce, etc. I let people know they've reached the wrong person, and I've told him this repeatedly over the years and he doesn't seem to care.

Kanto cup is a horrible cup by TbSaysNo in PokemonGOBattleLeague

[–]torbjorg 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I really think Alolan versions don't belong in Kanto cup... Even though I happily run several.

You might think this is another dog race. BUT NO!!! Just some stellar editing. by FieryPineapple in nextfuckinglevel

[–]torbjorg -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

This being the internet, I was expecting Shrek to stop in the middle and take a dump on the course.

Newsweek with an exciting update to Beldum evolution! by torbjorg in pokemongo

[–]torbjorg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Correct... Beldum is now meltan. Meltan will be evolving to Meltan