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Halfbakery: Meeting
Halfbakery Zoom virtual Meetup   (+12)  [vote for, against]
Be like the Borg

I would suggest something of the typical global meetup time, like noon Eastern to give the Londoners and West Coasters some workable time. Maybe another time for the Aussies?
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2020

Meeting Invite link https://us04web.zoo...GRSeWRneW04QlNUdz09
Zoom link. [RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2020]

Time Zones https://en.wikipedi..._Time_Zones_Map.png
Proving once again that each country has its name printed across its middle latitude. In asphalt, perhaps? [whatrock, Aug 08 2020]

https://www.researc...uman_semantic_space Writing shared in the last meeting, for info and peer review. [Mindey, Sep 25 2020]

Six honest serving-men https://www.destina...em-analysis-method/
Some prior art for Mindey [pertinax, Sep 25 2020]

// borg //

Sp. Borg.

(We're keeping track of all these little digs, jibes and insults, you know)

Chosing a time for the Kiwis to join will be , since NZ's still stuck in the 1950's ....
-- 8th of 7, Mar 28 2020


Yes, we know. We have to give your OCD counting nanobots something to do, or they get testy.

We don't capitalize human, tribble, or beetle, so species-specific arbitrary capitalization seems strange.

We'll make an exception for Vulcans, though.
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2020


I'm in.
-- blissmiss, Mar 28 2020


So, what time / day would be good? I’m still working somewhat conventional hours so I’d suggest a weekend, say Sunday at noon Eastern Daylight, 11 Central, 4 pm Greenwich?
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2020


//We don't capitalize human, tribble, or beetle, //

... but you do capitalize Americans, Venezuelans, Jews, Greeks and Inuit ?*

In German, all proper nouns are capitalized.

Americans, Venezuelans and Greeks are national groups; Jews are adherents to a specific belief system; Inuit are a racial group spread across several geographically- defined national areas.

You're not very consistent about this, are you?

*but not the french. Never the french ... even the Belgians, gods help them, deserve their "B"; but not the french.
-- 8th of 7, Mar 28 2020


I'm super positive about this idea, children of the Borg.

When is this happening, tomorrow?

// a weekend, say Sunday at noon Eastern Daylight, 11 Central, 4 pm Greenwich

Sounds good to me.
-- Mindey, Mar 28 2020


Tomorrow works for me.

If my Audi is any indication, German consistency isn't all its cracked up to be.

Why would a species be a proper noun, unless it were named after another already-existing proper noun item, like the Vulcans, or Darwin's finches?
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2020


Wait, I'd have to get up, showered and dressed? ON A SUNDAY???
-- blissmiss, Mar 28 2020


Only from the waist up...
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2020


4pm tomorrow UK time - be careful of the clock change; I no longer know if the US and Europe synchronises these things any more.
-- DenholmRicshaw, Mar 28 2020


Meeting ID: 941 146 079 Password: 002373
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2020


// Why would a species be a proper noun //

Because the grammatical conventions are inconsistent.

For example, the species Salmonella enterica gets a capital "S"; as you point out "Darwin's finch" is a distinct species, but "finch" is not. The Boa constrictor has no common name (other than "common boa") and is also capitalized, but Boa (often used as a short form) is not a species but a genus.

Now, we are not a distinct species. We are an aggressive hegemonizing swarm, bent on ruthless conquest and domination. We could be considered as a nation (which would deserve capitalization) or possibly a race, although that second one is debatable.

But mostly you should be polite and use "Borg" because if you don't, we will come round to your house and break all your windows. Including the ones in your car.
-- 8th of 7, Mar 28 2020


That’s good, I would love to replace these with different ones, and the car is due, too. I trust the b.ORG have good hazard insurance, perhaps backed by Lloyd’s?
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2020


Well, we have accident ensurance - that is, we can certainly ensure that you have an "accident", and a rather nasty one at that.

It isn't backed by Lloyds, but by another organisation with a fine tradition of delivering the customer's requirements at very high velocities - Krupp GmbH. Oh, some say projectile weapons are old-fashioned, but many like the more traditional personalized* approach.

*"One shot, one kill".
-- 8th of 7, Mar 28 2020


Only from the waist up... — RayfordSteele, Mar 28 2020

Well, that's a damn good thing too, since I'll be joining from The Church of No Pants.
-- blissmiss, Mar 29 2020


Precisely!

Krupp can bring it. I do happen to work for a company that can bring a lot more firepower.
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 29 2020


I have a work meeting scheduled to finish at 4pm but it will likely over-run... I'll drop by on my way home if I am able.
-- pocmloc, Mar 29 2020


So, by borg time, it's scheduled for 1585497600? In or in Python,

from datetime import datetime
from pytz import timezone, utc
z = timezone('GMT')
t = z.localize( datetime(2020, 3, 29, 16, 0, 0))
t.astimezone(utc).timestamp()
-- Mindey, Mar 29 2020


Just rejoin using the same link. :) Zoom has 1 hour limit, but after that same rooms can be rejoined.
-- Mindey, Mar 29 2020


// Well, we have accident ensurance //

Has the Borg indeed bought out Dial-a-Smite?
-- whatrock, Mar 29 2020


Sorry it timed out...
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 29 2020


Shall w do it again sometime?
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 29 2020


// Has the Borg indeed bought out Dial-a-Smite? //

Gr. "Have the Borg ..." (We are many).

Either "Have the Borg ..." (pl.) or "Has the Borg Collective ..." (sing.) can be used.

And the answer is "yes". We can even add it to your right-click options ...
-- 8th of 7, Mar 29 2020


What an awesome experience to have Sunday brunch with two handsome and VERY intelligent half bakers. Must do it again soon. Putting faces to baker's names is such fun. Sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to you, Brian, but we will talk again soon.

Love to all and stay safe.
-- blissmiss, Mar 29 2020


// And the answer is "yes". We can even add it to your right-click options ...

Yes! :) A way for the Borg children to socialize, while locked in quarantines.
-- Mindey, Mar 29 2020


Thanks blissy.

We should make the next one for an hour. I had it set for a half-hour and apparently it allows you to go over by 10 minutes.

On the iPad it was one person viewing at a time. Maybe I'll try it on the laptop; my son was able to view multiple people simultaneously.
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 29 2020


My book club had 11 people yesterday. I couldn't see everyone at once but four or five folks.
-- blissmiss, Mar 29 2020


My work meeting today on zoom had 18 people all visible at once! And overran by hours! And I've no idea what it was about!
-- pocmloc, Mar 29 2020


"No change there, then ..."
-- 8th of 7, Mar 29 2020


Sorry I couldn't make it (it was in the middle of the night, and I have work this morning).
-- pertinax, Mar 30 2020


I forgot til an hour after it ended sorry!
-- 21 Quest, Mar 30 2020


Ah, I forgot this was happening...
-- hippo, Mar 30 2020


All are forgiven but missed A three-person piss-up is hard to sustain. Unless we were in person together at a pub or something, but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

I just thought about that. The culture of the UK is pub based meaning your neighborhood gathering spot, or is that something that occurred in a different generation?

Where do you live, Pert? We were quite international with Mindey joining in.
-- blissmiss, Mar 30 2020


Western Australia (GMT+8 - like Outer Mongolia, but with better beaches)
-- pertinax, Mar 30 2020


// I forgot til an hour after it ended sorry! // // Ah, I forgot this was happening... //

It's all right. Really, it's all right. Shhhh ...

Do you want to be wheeled out onto the verandah so you can sit in the sunshine with [CH] and talk to each other (or rather, talk to yourselves) about how much better things were in The Good Old Days ?

<Sniffs/>

Good, no-one seems to need their nappy changing at the moment.

// Where do you live, Pert? // // Western Australia //

You do realise that you're on the same physical land mass as [UnaBubba] ? There's no ocean in between ? Reckless, we call that.

Also, small point, but our understanding of the technicalities is that you can't "live" in Australia, only "exist" there. If you want to "live" then you have to go somewhere civilised.

Why not give Antarctica a try ?
-- 8th of 7, Mar 30 2020


Less good beaches, I hear.
-- pertinax, Mar 30 2020


You're never short of ice for your drink, though.

Well, at the moment ...
-- 8th of 7, Mar 30 2020


Next time, we can do next weekend? With, maybe a calendar link in advance?
-- Inyuki, Mar 31 2020


Calendar link, using... ?
-- RayfordSteele, Mar 31 2020


An agreed, usually numerical or symbolic, system that shows the interrelationship between diurnal cycles and planetary orbital position around the primary.

Next question ?
-- 8th of 7, Mar 31 2020


Is there going to be another one?

Was it recorded?

Could we have a recorded one for history?
-- pashute, Aug 06 2020


I don't remember if I could record or not as a non-paying zoomie.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 06 2020


Shall we have another of these two weeks tomorrow, Sunday 23rd August?

1400 GMT would be good for me, which would be 2200 where I am, 1500 BST and, I think, 1100 in New York and 0800 in Vancouver.
-- pertinax, Aug 07 2020


So 10:00am in the middle of nowhere, I mean, Springfield, Il. The land of Lincoln. Asking for a friend, of course.
-- blissmiss, Aug 07 2020


9am then. Thanks for the link. [whatrock]
-- blissmiss, Aug 08 2020


Same bat time, same bat channel? (same/new Zoom code?)
-- Sgt Teacup, Aug 08 2020


Well, [marked] anyway
-- reensure, Aug 08 2020


OK, regarding the session *next* weekend, Sunday 23rd August 1400 GMT, I propose to be at

Meeting ID: 731 8149 6932 Passcode: 3xRJxd (For some reason, zoom doesn't seem to allow me a null passcode)

If no-one else shows up, I'll put it down to social distancing.
-- pertinax, Aug 16 2020


if I can get the bl**dy thing to work!
-- po, Aug 17 2020


What po said.
-- blissmiss, Aug 17 2020


^ So... what was your moniker before this one? Don't tell me it was [evilpickles].
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 18 2020


Nah. kdf is a fellow Michigander.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 18 2020


//things to do with a cat//
[8th of 7] would never get close enough to a cat to be considered "with". Doing things TO a cat, on the other hand, (from a distance) is to be expected (although not encouraged...).
-- neutrinos_shadow, Aug 18 2020


//1400 GMT would be good for me, which would be 2200 where I am?//

Thanks for doing the Time Calculations for me Pertinax. I'll book it in.
-- AusCan531, Aug 19 2020


:-(
I was planning to join in (despite the 1am start...), but Zoom doesn't like my tablet (it's only 7 years old...) & the Zoom app seemed a little dodgy anyway. So have a good meet, the rest of you!
-- neutrinos_shadow, Aug 23 2020


Go out and borrow one from a friend. Or a stranger, or better yet, build one. You'll be missed, neut.
-- blissmiss, Aug 23 2020


due to start at 3pm GMT?
-- po, Aug 23 2020


1400 GMT is 2pm, but that's 3pm BST. So, in about three quarters of an hour from now.
-- pertinax, Aug 23 2020


I gotta hurry and get my glam squad in here to make me up like a young pretty sophisticated lady. hahaha

Glam Squad=Frisco the Cat
-- blissmiss, Aug 23 2020


I'm here with my dog, and someone's already joined us in the form of a pigeon.
-- pertinax, Aug 23 2020


{Taps mic} Is this thing on? Zoom says it's not :( [po] sent sos sms
-- Dub, Aug 23 2020


Waiting at the door to be let in.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 23 2020


Post the link for me, someone
-- blissmiss, Aug 23 2020


G'day from Perth - online and waiting to be let into the big kid's room.
-- AusCan531, Aug 23 2020


Pass code. It's asking me for a pass code.
-- blissmiss, Aug 23 2020


3xRJxd is the Passcode
-- AusCan531, Aug 23 2020


I'm knocking on the door but no one is answering.
-- blissmiss, Aug 23 2020


Well heck, this isn't working out I guess. I've got chores to do and a bike to ride. So long, fellow bakers.
-- blissmiss, Aug 23 2020


Wow, very cool. We are an amazing tribe.
-- blissmiss, Aug 23 2020


Sorry about the waiting room experience - I'm glad you all came!

Next time, I'll make sure there are some old magazines to read, or something.
-- pertinax, Aug 23 2020


From our conversation, I did finally think of something I made that I'm somewhat proud of, my lego pendulum clock. It's a bit dodgy in the escapement mechanism at the moment and I haven't touched it in years, but it does basically work.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 23 2020


thanks [pert] you're a great host.
-- po, Aug 23 2020


I would like to participate in the next one if there's room.

Never done that before... hmmm
<calls to wife in other room>

"Honey... Do you know how does this zoom thingy works?"
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 24 2020


//Do you know how does this zoom thingy works//
No-one knows how it works... the internet has become deep magic.
-- neutrinos_shadow, Aug 24 2020


//No-one knows how it works... the internet has become deep magic.//

Yeah... kinda sucks. Everyone's a wannabe magi now. I like real magic better.

... no manual required, you either is or you ain't
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 24 2020


Thanks everybody who attended. Thanks to also to Pertinax - nice to finally meet you although we only live about 35kms apart.
-- AusCan531, Aug 24 2020


Oops - forgot this was happening yesterday!
-- hippo, Aug 24 2020


well I downloaded zoom to my iPad for a possible meeting at another day. Did anyone find out a phone or a PC is better or it all works the same? I tried reading most of This and it seems there were some problems but it would be great to join a virtual meeting. Thank you
-- xandram, Aug 24 2020


Yes, we need more ladies. Xandra, I would be so happy to have you present. I feel rather like an alien with mostly males and some quite young. I've forgotten all that and am just playing around in the moment. We are Facebook buddies so I will remember to advertise there when next we meet.

It was awesome to put faces to names and to get a sense of what's REALLY going on in the World. Firsthand.
-- blissmiss, Aug 24 2020


the internet has become deep magic. — neutrinos_shadow, Aug 24 2020

Does that make those of us in the US part of The Deep State???
-- blissmiss, Aug 24 2020


OK, I was thinking maybe try dabbling more in the Pacific Basin for the next one.

0300 GMT on Sunday 20th September is Saturday evening in North America. I can offer you an imaginary backyard barbecue lunch, since it will be 1100 where I am, and we might (if we're good) score a New Zealander or two (because it will be, I think, 3pm there).
-- pertinax, Aug 25 2020


thanks [blissy] i’m sure it would be fun. I have attended 2 real life halfcons, But seems so long ago now! it’s amazing that everyone is a real person! Ha ha Yes let me know. Thanks again
-- xandram, Aug 25 2020


thanks [blissy] i’m sure it would be fun. I have attended 2 real life halfcons, But seems so long ago now! it’s amazing that everyone is a real person! Ha ha Yes let me know. Thanks again
-- xandram, Aug 25 2020


another thought… If this zoom doesn’t work so great messenger chats work fine but only can see eight people at once and then when someone leaves another comes in
-- xandram, Aug 25 2020


Our iPad works better than our laptop, but that's because the laptop is very old with a slow camera refresh rate. Generally you have more options with a good laptop. The son's school chromebook did a good job when we had them available.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 25 2020


Top of the morning (1400 GMT). I checked into Zoom to see if anyone was as habitual as I. Now I see a suggested meeting for 0300 GMT on Sunday 20th Sept. Sat eve cuts into my bingo night, but will stand by and monitor the posts here.
-- reensure, Aug 30 2020


// 0300 GMT on Sunday 20th September is Saturday evening in North America.

2020-09-20T03:00Z, noted. Likely will be able to see a starry night here.
-- Mindey, Sep 09 2020


{clears throat}

Meeting ID: 720 2665 2481 Passcode: 3B9Pcn

0300 GMT on Sunday 20th September

I switched off the "waiting room" feature, so everyone can just come straight in.
-- pertinax, Sep 16 2020


It was fun last time. Come and join fellow bakers. Bring your best joke or story. It will be great.

Or we can just announce what we have recently done, or received. Or even maybe how we are all doing with this insane planet right now. Kiddos welcome and even encouraged.
-- blissmiss, Sep 16 2020


// I switched off the "waiting room"

I see, so the Borg cube is open.
-- Mindey, Sep 20 2020


My question was ...

Does anyone have enough electrical engineering knowledge to explain why it's difficult to maintain the voltage of a power grid when demand is low?
-- pertinax, Sep 20 2020


Try spinning generator at lower rpm :) For normal voltage, the generator revolution speed has to be close to 50Hz.
-- Mindey, Sep 20 2020


Hope it was a good meet-up. I intended to join but 'real life' got in the way. Anyway, when one door closes another door opens - other than that, it's a pretty good car.
-- AusCan531, Sep 21 2020


It was good. It was [Mindey], [neutrinos_shadow] and [jutta], and the Morning Star as seen from Vilnius (you had to be there).

My mic died near the end, when I was trying to present some stuff about Australian power grids, but I'll let the others decide whether that was a bad thing or a good thing.
-- pertinax, Sep 21 2020


Sorry I have to check out at 0200 GMT these days.
-- RayfordSteele, Sep 21 2020


// Six honest serving-men //

[pertinax], definitely fun, but this does not mention or elaborate on the relationship of the men with the functional equation model.

// [neutrinos_shadow] and [jutta], and the Morning Star as seen from Vilnius (you had to be there).

Remains a very good memory indeed!
-- Mindey, Sep 25 2020


Some more thoughts on your paper, [Mindey]:

Your mapping of "why" corresponds only to the "Aristotelian final cause" sense of "why", and not to the Humean "why". Perhaps this is a language issue, reflecting different semantic patterns in Lithuanian?

More seriously, your mapping of "who", placing it with "how" and apart from "what", "where" and "when", reflects a "who" considered as an agent. Once a "who" is rendered into a database, however, it is likely to be modelled and treated very like a "what", "where" or "when"; the "who" with agency is the person *using* the database and sublating its contents.

This will be a problem for the intended application of your mappings to mark up database objects.
-- pertinax, Sep 27 2020


(I know basically nothing about this philosophical stuff... or language either...)
I feel that [Mindey]s idea should be "beyond" (or "above" or "before" or something...) language; working at a very conceptual level. BUT, does the language a person speaks affect the way they think about the world? (See the movie "Arrival" for a sci-fi extreme version of language affecting thought processes.) Europeans, more accustomed to interacting with speakers of various languages, would have a better feel for this than me.
So, the system itself is independent of language, but how a particular person interacts with it IS dependent on their language.
-- neutrinos_shadow, Sep 27 2020


// Your mapping of "why" corresponds only to the "Aristotelian final cause" sense of "why", and not to the Humean "why"

[pertinax], both. When we ask "Why?" in Lithuanian, it is about both the purpose and the cause. I thought this is also the spectrum of senses that the English "Why?" encompasses: predicting future and "post-dicting" the past, "pursuit" and.... "pre-suit?" :) as the intentionality and causal propensity are closely related.

// Once a "who" is rendered into a database, however, it is likely to be modelled and treated very like a "what", "where" or "when"; the "who" with agency is the person *using* the database and sublating its contents.

Yes indeed. Due to recursive and self-referential nature of our minds (world's model in our minds, that includes the model of our own minds as part of the world), anything can be nounized (e.g., actor can be treated as thing), and referred to as "what". In this model, the closest approximations of non-question concepts, that categorize answers to the six-men questions, is:

Y:
WHY axis: "Causes" (intents and reasons)

X:
HOW axis: "Methods"
WHO axis: "Subjects" (effect originators)

F:
WHAT axis: "Objects" (effect receivers)
WHEN axis: "Times"
WHERE axis: "Locations"

Where, "Subjects" and "Objects" are of grammatical senses.

The pragmatic implications are that we would want to reserve the "WHO" label to those entities that generate authorized operations in data systems. For example, if financial transactions or laser cutting machine operations are generated by an OAuth2 identity, that identity would naturally be labeled as "WHO".

// I feel that [Mindey]s idea should be "beyond" (or "above" or "before" or something...) language; working at a very conceptual level. [...] So, the system itself is independent of language, but how a particular person interacts with it IS dependent on their language.

[neutrinos_shadow]: Well, it's a less abstract than an idea of "polycontext metasymbol" (google it), which I consider to be a concept that is beyond "patterns" (so, perhaps beyond language). This equation relation with general categories or human questions is quite concrete, and while language-independent, may have different specific words that people have in their cultures for these categories. For example, in Lithuanian, there's no separation between "Who?" and "What?" (=what doer?) questions, but there is a separation between "What?" (=what subject?) and "What?" (=what object?"). :) In Chinese, it's yet again different, in that many questions are simply "What + Concept" (e.g., "What + Time" = "When?").
-- Mindey, Sep 28 2020



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