MelkorDCLXVI

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TROPHY CASE


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The home stretch: Test PAC Launches TV, Direct Mail Campaigns by Bethamphetaminein testpac

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 2 points3 points ago

This stuff all looks great. I'm really impressed that TestPAC's first campaign has received so much support. This platform really has a lot of potential. /actual opinion

Despite how much I support the Occupy movement in terms of its socioeconomic platform, I cannot in good faith support its position on NATO. Please, Occupy, stick to the views that really are common to the entire 99%. by veritate_valeoin occupywallstreet

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 0 points1 point ago

Just as corporations are not people, international organizations are not people. We cannot "judge" NATO or figure out whether it is "good" or "evil". All praise and blame must go to individuals -- we cannot let the real evildoers (and saints) of the world be obscured by faceless bureaucracy and meaningless initials.

Certain people to not hangout with by suicdoin fffffffuuuuuuuuuuuu

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 3 points4 points ago

Wrong site bro

Is there any problem where u(x) = C isn't solvable? Where u is a function with x that equals a constant. by creo68in math

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 1 point2 points ago

Good Guy caks

Answers one of my most burning questions about mathematics

Apologizes for not doing it sooner

edit: Swing and a miss.

Is there any problem where u(x) = C isn't solvable? Where u is a function with x that equals a constant. by creo68in math

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 5 points6 points ago

Thank you for answering my two-month-old post! This would have been so much more helpful than the answers I got.

English used to have gendered nouns by packos130in linguistics

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 2 points3 points ago

Change does not necessarily imply simplification.

  • Pidgins - These are simpler, but once they are taught to a generation of children they become natural, complex languages. A pidgin is not a natural language and cannot be used in natural language contexts. If it can, then it is a creole and just another natural language.

  • Regularization of irregular verbs - These get "simpler", but other features of the language get "more complicated" at the same time. Regularization does not happen in a vacuum.

  • Loss of language features - Again, this does not happen in a vacuum. The language gains more features to compensate. Romance languages have fewer declensions, but much heavier use of prepositions. Classical Latin doesn't have any articles at all. I don't know enough about the other examples you mentioned over time, but I am confident that the same principles are evident.

IWA an ad agency. by pacdudein HowsYourJob

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 1 point2 points ago

Who the hell actually clicks on/responds to online ads?

What does your place think of people (like me) who use adblock?

What do you think is the best thing you've worked on so far?

Thanks!

English used to have gendered nouns by packos130in linguistics

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 2 points3 points ago

My non-scientific feeling is that English makes up for its inflectional simplicity by having 1) complex idiomatic phrases and 2) complex word ordering. Compare Spanish buscaba un libro with I was looking for a book. The Spanish version uses the unwieldy-sounding first-person singular imperfect tense, but it takes four words in English (I was looking for) to express the same concept that can be conveyed with just one in Spanish (buscaba).

English used to have gendered nouns by packos130in linguistics

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 30 points31 points ago

Yes, Old English was an inflected language, similar in this regard to modern German. However, the implication (and assertion in some of these comments) that English has gotten less grammatically complex should be avoided if it cannot be quantified. Indeed assertions that any natural language is more or less complex than another are almost always misleading.

Like by Matterplayin linguistics

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 9 points10 points ago

Yeah, the National Survey of Academic Affairs doesn't exist.

Anybody have trouble writing long essays? by cricketman27in introvert

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 31 points32 points ago

YES. This is the main reason I dread essays. I don't care that I have to write something, it's just that I can explain myself in a paragraph and have to painfully extract the remaining 3 pages from the void.

Closet introvert... by AJnsmin introvert

[–]MelkorDCLXVI 1 point2 points ago

INTP reunion!

Incoming freshman here. Can someone explain the different dorms and which one(s) I might want to choose? by MelkorDCLXVIin UWMadison

[–]MelkorDCLXVI[S] 1 point2 points ago

Sure. I'm an often introverted student who (as a first approximation) is going to 'study' rather than to 'party'. But that doesn't mean I don't want a social life.

As for academics, I have actual interest in lots of different things. (math, linguistics, physics, biochemistry, history, poly sci, comp sci). I'll probably major in math since I've taken a fair number of college classes in it already, but that doesn't preclude other studies.

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