Official "Science News" Thread

[retina]

Originally Posted by LaurV

... fabulation (why is this underlined red?) ...

Fabrication?

Originally Posted by LaurV

... unuseful ...

Useless?

Well you did ask. Normally I wouldn't say anything.

As for the content of your post, I agree. Use it or lose it.

[kladner]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabulation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_realism
http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/fabulation
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fabulation
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fabulation

LaurV- The word is underlined in red because your spell checker is an ignorant and narrow-minded bit of software.

[LaurV]

Hehe, thanks, I checked the word (fabulation) in the dictionary before giving voice to my wonder, I didn't want to look silly. However, he got me with "unuseful", this word seems so common to me, I even didn't see it underlined... I know "useless" but it doesn't sound so strong as "not useful", in my mind. Therefore I was using "unuseful" for ages, and some other people pulled my sleeve about it, before Retina did. But bad habits die hard. The problem with me is that I know a lot of English words (former scrabble player, remember?) for which I don't really know the meaning, I learned them "by list", and I am guessing the meaning due to similarities to Romanian (common Latin roots, for example, like in this case) or I "know" some meaning which I guessed from other contexts where I met those words, but never checked the real meaning. So, my "guess" has high chances to be wrong..

[xilman]

Originally Posted by LaurV

The problem with me is that I know a lot of English words (former scrabble player, remember?) for which I don't really know the meaning..

Same here, though also from decades of solving crossword puzzles and browsing dictionaries as well as through playing Scrabble.

[retina]

Originally Posted by LaurV

The problem with me is that I know a lot of English words (former scrabble player, remember?) for which I don't really know the meaning, I learned them "by list", and I am guessing the meaning due to similarities to Romanian (common Latin roots, for example, like in this case) or I "know" some meaning which I guessed from other contexts where I met those words, but never checked the real meaning. So, my "guess" has high chances to be wrong..

Your location suggests that you are living in the same country as two world champions of English Scrabble. I wonder how much understanding those world champions have of English? And indeed it depends upon how you define "know" in this context. Is it that you know how to properly conjugate many words and can make well formed sentences with them, or merely that you know that certain letter sequences are valid for play in Scrabble? Because there is a big difference there. I find that rote learning is much easier than actual understanding. I know from rote learning far too many decimal digits of pi than is ever going to be useful in a practical situation, but the understanding of how those digits are obtained, and why they are what they are, is something I'm sure I only know a little of.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by retina

[I] know that certain letter sequences are valid for play in Scrabble [especially "heavy" letters]

I never claimed otherwise. Scrabble is easy to learn, you can do it in 4 easy steps:
1. Learn the rules of the game (need 5 minutes)
2. Learn the list of 2,3, and 4 letter words (those are very useful, and a must if you want to win)
3. Learn heavy words, as many as you can. These are found on special lists, an helpful to make good points when playing.
4. Learn the rest of the words...

[retina]

Originally Posted by LaurV

I never claimed otherwise. Scrabble is easy to learn, you can do it in 4 easy steps:
1. Learn the rules of the game (need 5 minutes)
2. Learn the list of 2,3, and 4 letter words (those are very useful, and a must if you want to win)
3. Learn heavy words, as many as you can. These are found on special lists, an helpful to make good points when playing.
4. Learn the rest of the words...

Then I claim that you do not actually "know" the words. I do, however, concede that you may "know" very many letter sequences that happen to be listed as part of the English language.

Obviously you do know enough English words to communicate here (and probably more know than I do) but I think that learning "words" for Scrabble is not really that, it is just learning sequences of things which might just as well be listed as colours instead of letters for all the difference it would make to understanding the underlying meaning.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by retina

it is just learning sequences of things which might just as well be listed as colours instead of letters for all the difference it would make to nderstanding the underlying meaning.

--- .-. -- --- .-. ... . -.-. --- -.. . ..--..

.--. .- ..- .-..

[LaurV]

-.-- --- ..- / --. ..- -.-- ... / .- .-. . / .- -- .- --.. .. -. --. --..-- / .... .- .... .-

[cheesehead]

"Paleontologist Presents Origin of Life Theory"
http://today.ttu.edu/2013/10/paleont...f-life-theory/

[kladner]

Originally Posted by cheesehead

"Paleontologist Presents Origin of Life Theory"
http://today.ttu.edu/2013/10/paleont...f-life-theory/

Very interesting indeed, not least because of side links to the proposed Shiva crater adjacent to the Deccan Traps, and the Chicxulub meteorite strike.