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Ask HN: Teach me something new

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Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#351

Post by ZeroGravitas »

schoen wrote: post #132

In the 1800s, scholars who knew a lot of languages (including, often, several modern and ancient European languages, and increasingly also Sanskrit) started to notice some amazing patterns about similarities in words among all of these languages, including languages from very far apart and that had no visible connection at all from the point of view of their present-day speakers. As these patterns were explored, they…

Have any modern constructed languages made use of this knowledge?

A very quick Google suggest Esperanto doesn't:

https://indo-european.eu/2008/05/esperanto-other-invented-la...

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#352

Post by someweirdperson »

silisili wrote: post #63

I'm going to go a bit random...get a styptic pencil! Nobody I've met even knows what they are. I came across them years ago in the shaving section, and was blown away by their utility. They are solid pieces of some saltlike material that are super effective at stopping bleeding. We don't even have bandaids in our house anymore, the pencils are way more useful.

This is not medical advice, but...

Cyanoacrylate (also known as "Super glue").

I've been using it to cover some small clean cuts. I think today there's even variants approved for such use.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#353

Post by doubleunplussed »

agumonkey wrote: post #340
schoen wrote: post #132

In the 1800s, scholars who knew a lot of languages (including, often, several modern and ancient European languages, and increasingly also Sanskrit) started to notice some amazing patterns about similarities in words among all of these languages, including languages from very far apart and that had no visible connection at all from the point of view of their present-day speakers. As these patterns were explored, they…

I laughed thinking about British empire teaching english to indians who they inherited most the language from. etymonline.com is a nice way to rabbithole time away with fun

Well, English and most indian languages share a common ancestor, but indic languages have drifted just as far as any other from proto Indo-European that you can't really say one branch inherited anything from the other . Indic languages are our cousins, not our grandparents.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#354

Post by Pandavonium »

schoen wrote: post #132

In the 1800s, scholars who knew a lot of languages (including, often, several modern and ancient European languages, and increasingly also Sanskrit) started to notice some amazing patterns about similarities in words among all of these languages, including languages from very far apart and that had no visible connection at all from the point of view of their present-day speakers. As these patterns were explored, they…

The history of english podcast is a wonderful resource for this topic. Heck of a lot of episodes though.

https://historyofenglishpodcast.com/

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#356

Post by tromp »

scrollaway wrote: post #316

Take a few minutes to learn the NATO phonetic alphabet Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu Gotta spell anything over a voice line? Use it. No more screwing around with "B.. like Bryan, and then U, like .... under". s-c-r-o-l-l-a-w-a-y: sierra charlie romeo oscar lim…

The word "Yankee" originates in calling early Dutch colonists Jan-Kees, Jan and Kees being common Dutch male names.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#357

Post by wonderbore »

leephillips wrote: post #99

Most rape victims in the United States are men: https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/prison/report.html Caution: that’s hard, explicit, distressing reading.

Every time statistics like these are brought up in public they're twisted against men themselves.

Oh, 80% of homicides are of men? How about "men kill xyz thousand women every year?"

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#358

Post by goldenkey »

The end conditions of the universe are just as symmetrical as the beginning conditions of the universe, under various cosmological models including the popular and oft subscribed to 'Heat Death.'

This means that we are not simply connected to the past by cause and effect -- we're also coupled to the future. For any specific end to come about, our experiences must be constrained.

In differential equations, we use the boundary conditions to solve for the dynamical behavior in the time interval between them.

In analysis, we use the existing conditions in a process called 'analytic continuation' to recover the whole process.

In fractals or the physical theories surrounding them (AdS/CFT correspondence), the boundary determines the bulk. So if you have only the frame/margins of an M.C Escher tesselation, the entire inside foreground (the bulk) can be recovered by gradually painting in what's missing.

So we are more of a continuation of both the past and the future than simply a remnant of the past.

While the past may have pushed us, the future attracts us.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#359

Post by davidwihl »

scrollaway wrote: post #316

Take a few minutes to learn the NATO phonetic alphabet Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliet, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu Gotta spell anything over a voice line? Use it. No more screwing around with "B.. like Bryan, and then U, like .... under". s-c-r-o-l-l-a-w-a-y: sierra charlie romeo oscar lim…

All pilots, private and commercial, have to learn this. I taught it to my kids driving to school when they were in elementary school.

Re: Ask HN: Teach me something new

#360

Post by soneca »

ZeroGravitas wrote: post #351
schoen wrote: post #132

In the 1800s, scholars who knew a lot of languages (including, often, several modern and ancient European languages, and increasingly also Sanskrit) started to notice some amazing patterns about similarities in words among all of these languages, including languages from very far apart and that had no visible connection at all from the point of view of their present-day speakers. As these patterns were explored, they…

Have any modern constructed languages made use of this knowledge? A very quick Google suggest Esperanto doesn't: https://indo-european.eu/2008/05/esperanto-other-invented-la...

Interlingua maybe?
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