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If The Moon Was Only 1 Pixel

joshworth.com

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Re: If The Moon Was Only 1 Pixel

#111

Post by Houshalter »

ezequiel-garzon wrote: post #84
sneak wrote: post #55

*were http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood

I'm not a native speaker, but I had the impression this shift to "were" happens less in the UK than in the US. Is that so?

"was" sounds correct to me (US), but everyone learns a slightly different language model.

Re: If The Moon Was Only 1 Pixel

#114

Post by aaronetz »

MattHeard wrote: post #78
zrail wrote: post #33

As I was scrolling through I started to notice a really nice, subtle star background pattern that wasn't moving. I thought that was a really nice touch. And then I touched my monitor and, turns out, it was just dust. There's a metaphor there but I have no idea what it is.

I can imagine a dead pixel would be like your spaceship.

dead pixel,

its stars are specks

of dust

Re: If The Moon Was Only 1 Pixel

#115

Post by [deleted] »

widdma wrote: post #100
mmanfrin wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the snippets mentioned Sun->Pluto was around 665~ widths, I believe; does this mean the distance from Pluto to Proxima is 10x the width of our planetary system? If so, that is much closer than I thought. I had always held the notion that the nearest solar system was magnitudes greater distance than our own planets (although I admit the distance to pluto from here is pretty damn enormous relative to the distanc…

I'm not sure where you went wrong, but your original notion was correct! http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28Distance+to+Proxima+...

[deleted]

Re: If The Moon Was Only 1 Pixel

#116

Post by mturmon »

arrrg wrote: post #57

There is a 1:1 billion scale planet path along the Rhine in Bonn. It makes for a nice Sunday walk (six kilometers from the Sun to Pluto), traversing pretty much the entire city. It seems many other places in central Europe have similar scale models of the solar system, though I’m not sure how common those are in North America.

The Sagan walk (he used to teach at Cornell) in Ithaca, NY, is pretty well-known: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagan_Planet_Walk

Re: If The Moon Was Only 1 Pixel

#117

Post by djKianoosh »

Houshalter wrote: post #111
ezequiel-garzon wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a native speaker, but I had the impression this shift to "were" happens less in the UK than in the US. Is that so?

"was" sounds correct to me (US), but everyone learns a slightly different language model.

somewhere along the way when I was young I learned "were" and I almost wish I hadn't haha. here in the northeast/midatlantic the majority of people use "was". it's only a slight nuisance now :) and i'm not even a native speaker. can't imagine how english teachers and actual writers and such feel about it.

Re: If The Moon Was Only 1 Pixel

#118

Post by ilyanep »

psychometry wrote: post #110
sneak wrote: post #55

*were http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood

Who cares? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_linguistics

Descriptive linguistics doesn't mean "whatever anyone says is correct and it should go." This ain't 'nam, there are rules, and you can still run afoul of them. The basic tenet of descriptivism is that, as people who study linguistic patterns as a science, we can't make a value judgment about a certain set of rules or what a person "should use". However, I think it's generally accepted that we try to strive for some common set of agreed upon linguistic rules when trying to formally communicate on the Internet, and many would claim that the subjunctive mood would fall into that.

I saw a really good write-up about this before and wish I could find it :(

EDIT: This one's not it, but it's very similar: http://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/descriptivi...

Re: If The Moon Was Only 1 Pixel

#120

Post by ryan »

meric wrote: post #88
zrail wrote: post #33

As I was scrolling through I started to notice a really nice, subtle star background pattern that wasn't moving. I thought that was a really nice touch. And then I touched my monitor and, turns out, it was just dust. There's a metaphor there but I have no idea what it is.

You haven't been compelled to touch the dust on your monitor until you thought they were stars.

And then you realize the dust is made of stars...
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