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Random Q & A Thread - PART 2

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02:20 / 18.08.04

Fingerprints: how and why? I've got a bad case of Street Fighter thumb at the moment and, having popped the impressive blister that appeared a couple of days ago, notice that my thumb print is slowly starting to return. So: how and why? And, more importantly, how so they do it while maintaining their uniqueness?

13:58 / 18.08.04

I need to make a report from MS Access. Easy enough - it's from one query, doesn't need grouping, only alphabetical sorting. BUT: how do I prevent the field names appearing in the report? I only want the data to appear. Can't seem to manage it. Very frustrated. Any help appreciated.

Also - if some records have data in fewer fields than others, how do I close up the gaps so that records don't contain blank spaces and are equally spaced? Is this best done after exporting the thing into Word?

14:32 / 18.08.04

1 If anyone has any ideas about the network thing I asked about in the middle of the steering wheel thing last page, please chime in!

2 E. Randy: the standard evolutionary explanation for fingerprints is that they're like tread on tires -- without them, it's hard for that tougher skin on our fingers and toes to get a firm grip on slippery surfaces.

I'm not sure why they should be unique, although I think if you toddle over to the Straight Dope and do a search, you'll find some interesting information about that.

15:27 / 18.08.04

Smoothly Weaving's problem:

Indicator stalks - stalks, see, growing from the ground like plants. Instinct is to see them as vertical structures rising from a horizontal surface (like most of the things around us, including people. Gravity, see - objects resting on a flat plane). So, take yer indicator mounted on the left of the steering column, turn it 90 degrees so it becomes the vertical stick we instinctively see. What was down is now left. What was up is now right. Take yer indicator mounted on the right of the steering column. Turn 90 degrees counter-clockwise. What was up is now left, etc.

Steering wheel - gravity again. Imagine a small shelf built into the steering wheel, which lies flat when the wheel is centered. A ball rests on the shelf. Turn the wheel clockwise. The ball falls to the right. Turn the wheel counter-clockwise. The ball - oh, hang on, pick the ball up off the floor and put it back on the plank. The ball falls left.

Okay, bit iffy that last one, but that's how I sees it.

18:46 / 18.08.04

Hmmm. Thanks, Sav. There is something that feels right to me about considering gravity. It does chime in with my gut feeling somehow, and maybe it is the factor that breaks the symmetry.
But I'm not sure about the stalk thing. I tend to think that, as others suggested, the indictor follows the steering wheel (even if this ultimately begs the question). Why it should be more automatic to associate a horizontal stalk with a stem rather than a dangly frond, I don't know. Afterall, if it's our sense of gravitation that's at work, I'd think it would be more natural to picture it succumbing gravity rather than resiting it. But I dunno, maybe there's more to it.

On the steering wheel - anti-clockwise=left, clockwise=right - part, I'm not totally convinced about the marble. I mean, replace the marble shelf with a spirit level, and you have the opposite response. And that's still gravity.

This does feel like something that'll have a satisfying, Doh! answer; but I still can't see it. Grrrr.

04:52 / 19.08.04

can you help me settle an argument with some mates??

check out councillor eileen kinnear, harrow on the hill, conservative. is she wearing glasses or not?

pointless and uncalled for

06:04 / 19.08.04

Sorry, it's very hard to say with all of this milk coming out of my nose.

10:06 / 19.08.04

What is the German for progress? (I'm referring to Walter Benjamin's critique of progress, if that helps anyone pin the right term down - you know, if German has five words for progress or whatever.)

10:11 / 19.08.04

Fortschritt.

10:41 / 19.08.04

Thank you! And now, um... what does that mean? 'Fort' like 'fort' and 'da', presumably, so 'over there' (because 'da' must mean 'here' because of Dasein) and 'schritt', like... ? It's not *hoping wildly* related to walking in any way, is it?

Hee hee. You can tell where I get my German from, can't you?

10:46 / 19.08.04

hey deva, there's babelfish and then there's:

the best online german english dictionary

10:47 / 19.08.04

OK, Fortschritt breaks down like this:

1. Fort: Beyond, Far (as in far away), Away.

2. Schritt: Step, Crotch, style of walking/marching.

So yes, Fortschritt is related to walking, in a way. The word is meant to convey a sense of movement forwards, and the most obvious movement is walking.

And no, I have no clue where you get your German from...enlighten me.

11:16 / 19.08.04

Woohoo! Walking and marching! That makes my PhD make much more sense. Unless it really does only mean 'moving', which is less good - off to look at online dictionaries (for which many thanks!)

(I get my German from reading Freud and Heidegger in translation, which is why the only words I know are 'fort/da' and 'dasein'.)

14:34 / 20.08.04

Cheers for that, grant. It seems that fingerprints are unique to each person simply because each person's childhood development is different. I hadn't even considered that.

New question: Why can't I run properly in dreams? Whenever a dream requires me to run, I always notice that I can't remember how to work my legs the right way. Walking's not a problem - at least, I presume it isn't, because it's not something I ever notice that I'm doing, or remember on waking - but running... I'll often end up doing a strange cross between the Tina Turner marching dance thing and low-gravity moonwalking, with the result that I get nowhere fast but lift my knees very, very high indeed.

15:45 / 21.08.04

How do you use galangal in Thai noodle soup?
And what other flavours might work with a garlic, ginger, fish sauce, soya, chilli, splash of grapefruit juice mixture? Coz it's reeaaaally close to being tasty but is just missing that one thing?

wembley can change in 28 days

16:51 / 21.08.04

Randy --
I get the dreams where I'm running through air the consistency of molasses, it seems... and the harder I try, the slower I get. I punched your text into this interpreter (it picked up on some irrelevancies like "can" and "work"), and check it out.

"Running is a common dream theme because of a survival instinct we developed in a long ago, much more primitive time - the instinct of fleeing predators. Nowadays, we mostly only exercise this instinct in your dreams. Our body is made to run. In running, we sense strength and vitality. But again, nowadays, dreams are the only place many of us actually run and the only place to experience the mental well-being associated with running.
Running away or being chased is a different kind of dream from simply running. It is a warning about a danger that is about to catch up with you. Fear is a very intense emotion associated with this kind of dreams. You are running away from either a specific problem or the general pressure in life.
The night terror of trying to run away from danger but can't move your feet has to do with the actual paralysis took place during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage of the sleep."

08:08 / 23.08.04

Galangal is a v similar root to ginger, so I imagine you use it in the same way as ginger (but not at the same time)...

21:12 / 23.08.04

And what other flavours might work with a garlic, ginger, fish sauce, soya, chilli, splash of grapefruit juice mixture? Coz it's reeaaaally close to being tasty but is just missing that one thing?

Maybe lemongrass, maybe a pinch of sugar.

22:09 / 23.08.04

waxy dan and grant: you need something's flesh.

pointless and uncalled for

07:43 / 24.08.04

I had a quick thumb through my Thai recipie book last night and it seems as if galangal is preferble in soups and savouries whereas ginger is favoured for sauces and sweets.

If presented with galangal and asked to cook with it without recourse to recipies (i.e. typing this off the top of my head) I would chop it fine and mix it with coriander, shredded chillies, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, a bit of brown sugar, finely chopped muchrooms, finely chopped peanuts, julienne carrots and then stuff chicken breasts (skin on), tie and bake for 20mins at 200oC. Make the skin nice and crisp by brushing with butther and serve on noodles with some steamed broccoli.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

17:25 / 24.08.04

How do I explain the difference in meaning between "Looks" and "Looks like" to a group of elementary-level Engish-as-a-second-language speakers? I can explain the general form ("looks" + adjective, "looks like" + noun) but how do I explain the meaning?

17:28 / 24.08.04

Not very helpful, but... just get them to drill it repetitively, via an exercise, and hope that the difference in meaning crystallizes in their heads through using the two over and over again? I know you probably need to be able to explain the difference as well, but I've found in learning languages that practice actually does help with grasping abstract stuff as well as usage.

17:50 / 24.08.04

Lemongrass, sugar, coriander, mushrooms, probably strips of fried beef. Righto.. off to the cupboard.. cheers!

18:54 / 24.08.04

Mordant -- to me, both your "looks" are quite similar; the word "appear" could be a rough synonym for both.

Are your students confusing these two uses of the word look/appear with a third, that of look/observe? They may be assuming, e.g. "she looks like an owl" means that she scans the ground searching for prey.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

04:18 / 25.08.04

They haven't had a chance to confuse anything yet--I'm teaching them "looks" for the first time today. My trainer insists that there's a difference and she's the one grading me, so...

04:38 / 25.08.04

Do you mean 'looks' as in "Sally looks at a butterfly" or as in "Sally has the looks of a criminal"?

And it seems to me there *is* a difference between 'looks' and 'looks like'. In the former example above, "Sally looks at a butterfly" is vastly different from "Sally looks like a butterfly."

08:57 / 25.08.04

I assume Mordant's talking about the difference between 'Smoothly looks happy' and 'Smoothly looks like a Cheshire Cat'.

Maybe the difference could be explained via simile, or the idea of comparison. If you are simply describing something (ie. using an adjective), you just use 'look'. If you're comparing something to another thing (noun), you need to add 'like'.
The idea of lookalikes, might be handy.

Dunno if that's much help, or if that's what you mean by 'meaning'.

pointless and uncalled for

09:06 / 25.08.04

Looks is a more definite statement.

Looks like is statement that indicates similarities but leaves room for interpretation or alternative.

ONLY NICE THINGS

10:11 / 25.08.04

Well, no. But maybe we can start with definite statements? So:

The man is happy. A definite statement.

The man is a businessman. Another definite statement.

The man looks happy/The man is a businessman. He is definitely a businessman (perhaps we have just had a business meeting with him), but his happiness is an assumption based on the fact that he is smiling.

The man is happy/The man looks like a stockbroker. He is defintely happy, but we can only assume that he is a stockbroker because he has a suit on.

Then go into similes.

If we are talking about actual meanings of the word "look", I fear your supervisor is wrong. They are both intransitive usages, with the meaning "have the appearance or give the impression of being". The only difference is that one is followed by a simile. Is there a Spanish equivalent you could use? Like "he eats quickly" (adverb rather than adjective, but you see the point) and "he eats like a bird"?

14:52 / 25.08.04

I tried posting this yesterday, but got eaten by MySQL errors. And Haus gives such a good intro now....

MC: I think the word "como" is what you need, since the one sense of "looks" is more of a simile thing (resembles) rather than a direct description (which I *think* would be "aparacer" for "appear").

"Como" is sort of that kind of a thing, I think -- used in saying how a thing is in relation to another thing.

The expression "soy como soy" means "I am like I am," the same sense as when Popeye says "I am what I am."

Not positive that'll help, but it might.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

19:20 / 25.08.04

Thxs, everyone, I appreciate it, but sadly a) I'm not supposed to use L1 (the mother tongue) in the classroom and b) The lesson was a complete washout for unrelated reasons.

But I'll know for next time. Ta.

06:37 / 26.08.04

Hello all. I need to buy some green soybeans this afternoon in London (for Edamame). Does anyone know of any specialist shops (Thai?) who sell these Soya Beans?

pointless and uncalled for

06:45 / 26.08.04

If you have the chance, go to China Town and rummage through the supermarkets there.

If you don't fancy the daunting task of bizarrely arrange shops there then head north onto Brewer Street. About a hundred yards west of the crossroads of porn there's a Japanese shop and the people in there are quite helpfula nd it's not as busy as China Town.

06:59 / 26.08.04

Just what I was looking for, ta muchly. I go to Loon Fung on Gerrard Street a fair bit, but have never seen them, in there; and to be honest, that street is a bit too hectic when you're stoned!

Will try the Japanese thing today and hope they have them. Cheers.

10:26 / 26.08.04

Also....

What the hell is "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty all about? Yeah, yeah, I've read the lyrics. Some boy works in the city, bit fucked off with the rat race.... is that it?

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