Highly recommend adding The Oxford Companion to the Year: An Exploration of Calendar Customs and Time-Reckoning to your reference library, as it's absolutely packed to the brim with 15 Things You Never Knew About the Year (And That's Okay) (And Here's Why)!
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 12:33 (three years ago) link
Is everyone ok with making 2020 an uncountable time, and then starting a new era after trump goes away? It will involve some Y2K—style updates to computers, but other than that we should be set
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 14:45 (three years ago) link
Old Lunch is that a peel-off desktop calendar? Like the Far Side? Because damn, that’s reminding me that I need to pick up one of those Far Side peel off calendars. brb
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 14:46 (three years ago) link
No, it's an actual book! Although Oxford really missed a trick by not releasing a page-a-day calendar version of the book.
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 14:50 (three years ago) link
Does anyone have the phone number for Oxford?
I had it, but I wrote it down on the back of one of those peel off calendar pages and recycled it. Believe it was on the back of a July page, if that helps!
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 15:15 (three years ago) link
anno Dummy
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 15:43 (three years ago) link
*yells in the direction of Oxford, from the front porch*
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 15:46 (three years ago) link
i just learned that michael keaton is beetlejuice.
holy shit
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 20:02 (three years ago) link
no you did not
― error prone wolf syndicate (Hadrian VIII), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 20:24 (three years ago) link
He only played him in the biopic, he's not the real Beetlejuice
― Covidiots from UHF (sic), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 20:28 (three years ago) link
youve said it twice now thread dont say it again
― TRANCED INTO RADIOACTIVE PUREE (Will M.), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 20:29 (three years ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/Klpo29d.jpg
Speaking of Beetlejuice.. Sylvia Sidney.
― Andy the Grasshopper, Wednesday, 21 October 2020 20:34 (three years ago) link
i...
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 20:35 (three years ago) link
noooooooooooooooooooooo you unbanned him by saying his name 3 times HE WAS SO OFFENSIVE
https://i.imgur.com/Q3Zb54F.jpg
― TRANCED INTO RADIOACTIVE PUREE (Will M.), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 20:36 (three years ago) link
hahahahaha
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 20:48 (three years ago) link
and now, clearly i know that's michael keaton. who else could that be? why did i never wonder who the actor was? he does a great job, he's fucking michael keaton! but i just thought "yeah, whoever that is, he's pretty good"
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 23:09 (three years ago) link
wait wait waitthat you can hold the spacebar down on an iPhone to move the cursor?????!
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 21 October 2020 23:38 (three years ago) link
Lol no way
― badg, Thursday, 22 October 2020 04:06 (three years ago) link
and it is in fact the best way to move the cursor??
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 22 October 2020 07:06 (three years ago) link
Given how much of a fan I've been since I was like ten, it's shocking how old I was when I just now figured out that the full four-member version of the Monkees were only a thing for a little over two years. Between six albums, a tv show, and a movie (not to mention touring, promotional appearances, etc.), I'm not sure when they slept.
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Thursday, 22 October 2020 14:59 (three years ago) link
Holy shit, the space bar thing, thank you so much TH
― Dan I., Thursday, 22 October 2020 15:13 (three years ago) link
it’s insane!
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 22 October 2020 16:07 (three years ago) link
Amazing.
― Ilxor in the streets, Scampo in the sheets (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 22 October 2020 18:32 (three years ago) link
Speaking of months, am I the only one who has to sing "30 days hath September..." in my head EVERY TIME I have to remember which months have 30 days?
― Hideous Lump, Friday, 23 October 2020 03:43 (three years ago) link
You are not the only one, HL.
If it helps: I am 49 years old, I have a degree in English, and I have been a professional writer and editor for 27 years. And yet I sill can't put things in alphabetical order without singing the song in my head.
― fretless porpentine (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 23 October 2020 03:46 (three years ago) link
Try the knuckle trick: press two fists together such that yr thumbs are touching, the knuckles are months containing 31 days, the valleys between are months containing >31 days (the space between your two index knucks do not count as a valley).
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Friday, 23 October 2020 04:02 (three years ago) link
also, the milk is the dad and the box is the mom, so milk goeth before cereal
― Un-fooled and placid (sic), Friday, 23 October 2020 04:05 (three years ago) link
The space bar thing is new in iOS 14
― American Fear of Scampos (Ed), Friday, 23 October 2020 04:59 (three years ago) link
xps i do a similar thing but with fingertips: start with your palms up. ignoring your thumbs, count the months on your fingertips and the gaps between starting from the left. so your left index fingertip is january, the neighboring gap is february, the next fingertip is march, and so on working from left hand to right. months on fingertips have 31 days, months on gaps have 30. learned this as a kid and still use it regularly.
― visiting, Friday, 23 October 2020 05:44 (three years ago) link
ahhh Ed that explains it :)
― Li'l Brexit (Tracer Hand), Friday, 23 October 2020 07:12 (three years ago) link
No! I've seen it passed around as one weird trick for much longer than that:
https://mashable.com/article/ios-12-precise-text-selection-keyboard/
― Alba, Friday, 23 October 2020 12:12 (three years ago) link
it works on my Android too, blew my mind
― Notes on "Scamp" (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 October 2020 12:14 (three years ago) link
I've never been lost about which month has how many days, etc.
Not bragging because I frequently forget what year it is.
― pplains, Friday, 23 October 2020 13:25 (three years ago) link
Ha ha - same. Months are internalised but the year sometimes calls for a bit of careful consideration.
― Alba, Friday, 23 October 2020 14:12 (three years ago) link
I actually thought a colleague was joking when he pulled out the rhyme and then felt bad for calendar-shaming him.
― Alba, Friday, 23 October 2020 14:13 (three years ago) link
― Un-fooled and placid (sic)
Oh fuck no, nononono, this video murdered me. I don't know if it got discussed anywhere on ilx, I just saw it on twitter, but it literally made my eyes bleed.
― emil.y, Friday, 23 October 2020 14:27 (three years ago) link
I just watched it. I spent 2 minutes trying to understand the metaphor then threw it on to the mental bonfire.
― Alba, Friday, 23 October 2020 14:48 (three years ago) link
THought it really weird, was expecting to see the earthen sides of a grave and there's these white tiles going down 6 feet or whatever.Maybe the soil is wrong to be planted straight into it or at least in a coffin. But it was white tiled like a shower room or something.I thought poart of the ceremony was normally to thrown the first handful of earth on top of the coffin or at least if you were the spouse or closest kin. Wondered why that wasn't happening.― Stevolende, Wednesday, April 8, 2020 1:02 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglinkCould it be that those are temporary panels for holding the dirt back so the hole maintains its shape, and they are lifted out before the hole is finally filled?― nickn, Wednesday, April 8, 2020 1:16 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglinkI vaguely understood that most USian burials take place in a concrete vault - there is no dirt-to-casket contact. the casket is lowered into the concrete box, a concrete lid goes on top of that, the dirt is filled in around said vault. Surely practices vary by location and region and funereal industry practice― cuomo money, cuomo problems (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, April 8, 2020 1:55 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink
― Stevolende, Wednesday, April 8, 2020 1:02 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink
Could it be that those are temporary panels for holding the dirt back so the hole maintains its shape, and they are lifted out before the hole is finally filled?
― nickn, Wednesday, April 8, 2020 1:16 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink
I vaguely understood that most USian burials take place in a concrete vault - there is no dirt-to-casket contact. the casket is lowered into the concrete box, a concrete lid goes on top of that, the dirt is filled in around said vault. Surely practices vary by location and region and funereal industry practice
― cuomo money, cuomo problems (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, April 8, 2020 1:55 PM (six months ago) bookmarkflaglink
As a former gravedigger, I can tell you that in the vast majority of cases of in-ground burials in the US, either a tile or concrete vault is made after the initial hole is dug. This is mostly to avoid collapsed grave walls.
What are being sold as "green burials" and also the traditional Muslim burial rites do not include such concrete vaults, and in many cases, the graves are dug by hand rather than machine because wall collapse is much less prevalent in hand-dug graves.
Anyway, I loved digging graves, tbh, and it paid quite well. Sad I can't do it anymore because of my stoma and the threat of hernia.
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Friday, 23 October 2020 15:08 (three years ago) link
Months ~feel~ either "short" or "long" to me. Like wrapped up in their name is the essence of their length.
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, 23 October 2020 15:56 (three years ago) link
Sure, you can figure it out by counting knuckles or reciting a rhyme
Or you could take out yr phone and look at a frickin calendar
― fretless porpentine (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 23 October 2020 16:36 (three years ago) link
What the hell is a colander?
― OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Friday, 23 October 2020 16:39 (three years ago) link
after the colander was invented, humans no longer had to pour boiling water through their fingers to sift out the pasta
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Friday, 23 October 2020 16:40 (three years ago) link
pre-colander hands:
https://i.imgur.com/qnLJWmU.jpg
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Friday, 23 October 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link
Where are all my pastafarians at?
― pomenitul, Friday, 23 October 2020 16:41 (three years ago) link
Just imagine what his other extremities look like.
― healthy cocaine off perfect butts (the table is the table), Friday, 23 October 2020 16:42 (three years ago) link
god i feel sorry for band-aids
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Friday, 23 October 2020 16:45 (three years ago) link
he better do a quick dick check
― Neanderthal, Friday, 23 October 2020 16:59 (three years ago) link
i'm sure he's got that thing wrapped up in a diaper down there
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Friday, 23 October 2020 17:02 (three years ago) link
y'all on fire in this thread
― Lavator Shemmelpennick, Friday, 23 October 2020 17:35 (three years ago) link