2014.02.01 01:00 - When to Scan, is to Slaughter

A little bird posted this session...

[01:18] Qt Core: Hi Wol
[01:18] Wol Euler: buongiorno, qt
[01:20] Qt Core: don't know what is sadder, the weather (third day of rain and it could go on like this for a week) or seeing the fighting (insults and more) in italian parliament...
[01:22] Wol Euler nods.
[01:22] Wol Euler: the weather is inanimate, so watching humans misbehave must be sadder :)
[01:23] Qt Core: :-) ... or not ;-)
[01:23] Wol Euler: sadder or funnier, depending on general attitude
[01:25] Qt Core: after all they are only debating about changing the electoral laws, planning on disbanding or heavily change the higher parliamentary house
[01:25] Wol Euler: sounds non-contentious :)
[01:26] Qt Core: the whole plan would have some big change to the constitution too
[01:27] Qt Core: (that in italy means two pass on both houses with six months between those and then if approved with less than 75% vote a popular ballot could be asked
[01:27] Qt Core: we like simple things

[01:29] Qt Core: and in all this the leftist party leader got the brilliant idea to politically resurrect Mr. B.
[01:29] Wol Euler: ha.
[01:31] Qt Core: making a pact with him about the electoral law... even before agreeing with all of his own party leaders
[01:32] Qt Core: (many would argue if that is or ever was a leftist party)
[01:32] Wol Euler: I personally doubt that a party which really was of the Left could support Berlusconi.
[01:32] Wol Euler: that's like vegetarians supporting slaughterhouses
[01:34] Qt Core: i was thinking more about monks supporting sex shop but that is good too ;-)
[01:35] Wol Euler: heheheheheh
[01:35] Wol Euler: well, monks ... ask Boccaccio about them
[01:35] Wol Euler grins.

[01:37] Qt Core: as most italians i only read a couple of his tales at school (probably we get the only two safe ones)
[01:37] Wol Euler: (for the benefit of non-Italian readers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Decameron )
[01:37] Wol Euler: oh, you should look it up! It's wonderful.
[01:37] Wol Euler: painfully funny, many of them; awfully sad, some of them
[01:38] Qt Core: and in the nomen omen his name, Boccaccio can be roughly translated as "badmouth" ;-)
[01:38] Wol Euler: hheheheheh
[01:39] Wol Euler: and yet Wikipedia doesn't suggest that it was a pseudonym
[01:39] Wol Euler: who knows why people do what they do ...
[01:39] Wol Euler smiles.

[01:40] Wol Euler: there's a long-distance swimmer, famous for swimming the 100 mile (!) channe between Cuba and Florida, named Diana Nyad
[01:40] Wol Euler: did the name make her take up swimming?
[01:42] Qt Core: she surely got bothered and pretty annoyed by the question early
[01:42] Wol Euler: exactly! hehehe
[01:44] Qt Core: my own surname is easily made fun of in one single way and even if not offending it get pretty boring quite early
[01:44] Wol Euler nods.

[01:47] Qt Core: even after a couple week i'm still thinking about a weird dream i had, even if i had a couple in the meantime
[01:47] Wol Euler: hmmmmm
[01:48] Wol Euler: would you care to bring it to the Dream Workshop to discuss? Tuesdays 1pm
[01:48] Wol Euler: (not logged, nobody repeats the stories outside the workshop)
[01:49] Qt Core: if i remember, maybe ;-)
[01:49] Wol Euler smiles.
[01:49] Wol Euler: I'll remind you every time I see you :)
[01:50] Qt Core: without all the dream, the funny/werd thing is that in that dream i say i'm a teacher... but no idea about what i teach or the level of my students
[01:50] Wol Euler listens.
[01:51] Qt Core: proabably i'm just disturbed about the lack of information
[01:52] Wol Euler: was the dream otherwise wierd or is this lack of context what intrigues you?

[01:53] Qt Core: it was detailed, even in a scenographical level, but some other weird situations too
[01:54] Qt Core: like having my new apartment ot the 650th (and last) floor of a building... not so high seen from the outside
[01:56] Qt Core: many say that you get lottery numbers in dreams (for italian lotto numbers) but lately i often get numbers outside the lotto numbers range... :-)
[01:56] Wol Euler grins.
[01:58] Qt Core: and i would not even know how to bet them, sometimes when i see the lotto betting areas.... it seems you need a math degree to do it
[01:58] Wol Euler smiles.
[01:59] Qt Core: there is all a jargon and such

[02:02] Qt Core: (that word, jargon remind me about an interesting and somewhat pabbish) read, The Jargon File: http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/index.html
[02:03] Qt Core: a quote if you get scared about the tech elements in it: "The reader with minimal computer background who finds some references incomprehensibly technical can safely ignore them. "
[02:03] Wol Euler: ah, yes, I know that well :)
[02:03] Wol Euler: Eric Raymond, yes?
[02:04] Wol Euler: that whole "Cathedral and Bazaar" was a formative piece of thinking.
[02:05] Qt Core: yes, quite a madman in the good way, i mean
[02:07] Qt Core: i remembered it a few days ago, when i found myself thinking about italian computer slang... and its funniest parts
[02:07] Wol Euler: oh?
[02:08] Qt Core: like the verb we use for "to scan", it should be "scansire" but we made an italian verb out the english word and we got "scannare", but that is already an italian verb meaning "to slauther"/"to cut the throat"
[02:10] Wol Euler: heheheheh

[02:10] Qt Core: so i spend part of my drive home thinking about that verb use in and out of context. ;-)
[02:10] Wol Euler: I can imagine :)
[02:12] Qt Core: i find it useful speaking a langiage different from the one from wihch, for example, all the reserved word of programming languages are taken, it make easier to talk and think about it, i think, it give you a natural meta-level
[02:13] Qt Core: then speaking/knowing english may make it easier to grasp what they do
[02:19] Wol Euler nods.
[02:19] Wol Euler: very true

[02:20] Wol Euler: if the name is literally meant, then speaking english may be a help; but if the name is metaphorical then speaking English as a first language may actually be a hindrance as you try to put the literal meaning onto a metaphor
[02:22] Qt Core: once (don't know if they do it anymore) Microsoft translated in italian the VisualBasic for Application keywords. i had to read some of it... i was almosu unable to it, even if i knew some basic Basic, it just would not engage my programming mind
[02:24] Wol Euler nods.
[02:24] Qt Core: my "italian grammar parser" was keeping screaming wrong,!wrong!
[02:26] Qt Core: (then there was the issue that those program would not work in otherly localized Office suites... and ohh, what a surprise you should use the english (original) keyword set to make it work everywhere
[02:27] Wol Euler: yeah, I love that so much when that happens :)
[02:27] Wol Euler: or they update the menus and dialogs, but not the hotkeys for the dialog buttons :)
[02:28] Wol Euler: little flashes of cognitive dissonance: the button says Abbrechen, but its hotkey is still "d" for "don't"
[02:29] Qt Core: and when the letter is in the new word one start asking why they choose the 4th letter ;-)
[02:29] Wol Euler: well, that is always the case! I never did get over my distaste for that.

[02:32] Qt Core: As my original saturday plans got disrupted (even before pab time) i should go check what to make out this rainy day
[02:33] Wol Euler smiles.
[02:33] Wol Euler: enjoy the day, dear Qt
[02:34] Qt Core: I'l try, have fun Wol
[02:34] Qt Core: bye