Happy Things Thread

[linguoboy]

Thread unlocked. Further bickering will be deleted.

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[jal]

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Thanks. I'll be in ignore-sirdanolot-mode from now on (at least in this thread).

As a happy thing, it's gonna be decent whether tomorrow. Time to bring a cold Coke out!


JAL

[linguoboy]

Here it's grey and rainy, but that actually fits my mood. I was actually annoyed that it was so mild and sunny over the weekend because I wanted an excuse for staying indoors and not doing anything.

[alynnidalar]

On a different note:

It is such a sad thing to see Jako Gorenc looking for numbers for his site.

So I had an idea of a way to help him.

And so I created the Random Numerals Generator. Enjoy!
(Each refresh generates a new conlang sketch with a set of numerals.)

1. hïv
2. viï
3. þþþiiïi
4. çþiþþþviþþþ
5. ha
6. aiþþþ
7. þþþiþ
8. þþþiþ-hïv
9. þþþiþ-viï
10. þþþiþ-þþþiiïi
11. þiïç
20. þiïç þþþiþ-viï

Beautiful.

[Pole, the]

1. hïv
2. viï
3. þþþiiïi
4. çþiþþþviþþþ
5. ha
6. aiþþþ
7. þþþiþ
8. þþþiþ-hïv
9. þþþiþ-viï
10. þþþiþ-þþþiiïi
11. þiïç
20. þiïç þþþiþ-viï

Beautiful.

Ha.

(Also. The Polish roads are the worst in the world. 30 million Poles will agree with me. )

[vampireshark]

Thinking of road conditions, it's always funny how divergent and wildly variable road quality is from state to state here in the US. For example, the roads here in Ohio aren't very nice, especially compared to those back in my part of NC; the Ohio Turnpike is acceptable, but perpetually under construction, but I-77 south is rather poor. On the other hand, crossing from OH to Indiana is going from bad to worse (especially on the Indiana Toll Road, which, you know, is a toll road and should be of a higher quality, one would think).

However, the worst roads I've encountered were in Arkansas. Dear lord...

Anyways, as for happy things, I'll be going to a conference in Pittsburgh, PA, in the middle of June for some of my research. Seems like it's going to be pretty awesome.

In further happy things, I got a season pass for Cedar Point for this upcoming summer, so I guess I know what I'll be doing a lot.

[Viktor77]

If I counted only counties that I've been in, as opposed to counties where I've taken a photo of something (which then excludes a lot of interstate counties), then my progress in Illinois and the Midwest is pretty awesome given I've been living here 6 months.



This is my actual progress, ie. the counties where I have taken a photo of something to prove I was there. Usually it's a county courthouse or some natural or historical monument.

[linguoboy]

What do you have against Eddy and my's hometown, huh?

[sirdanilot]

Why are the counties so square-shaped? In Europe they are usually determined by geographical barriers such as rivers, or by random willy-nilly political historical borders.

[linguoboy]

Why are the counties so square-shaped? In Europe they are usually determined by geographical barriers such as rivers, or by random willy-nilly political historical borders.

The answer is contained in your question.

[sirdanilot]

So who decided that the counties should be so square in America? As it seems quite unlikely to me that all rivers, hills and mountain ranges are perfectly perpendicular to each other in America now does it.

Even borders that aren't clearly struggling with geographical boundaries in Europe are often squigly, go look at the region around Baarle Nassau in Holland, where Belgium has all sorts of enclaves and exclaves and enclaves-in-exclaves. Yet there are no clear geographical reasons for this.

Not that I think these squigley borders are necessarily better (it was not so fun to live in Baarle Nassau before the euro and open borders were a thing in Europe) but they do look more natural to me.

[ęzo]

So who decided that the counties should be so square in America?

The fact that much of the US was surveyed in a giant grid, often before the territories in question were even settled, might have something to do with this.

[linguoboy]

So who decided that the counties should be so square in America? As it seems quite unlikely to me that all rivers, hills and mountain ranges are perfectly perpendicular to each other in America now does it.

Take a closer look at the map. You'll see a lot of squiggly borders in the lower portion. To the west is a region called the Ozark Plateau, consisting of highly eroded limestone hills. To the east is the Mississippi Plateau. North of those is a prairie once known as the Great American Desert, the southern extension of a glacial plain stretching all the way to Canada. There's really not much in the way of natural barriers here. Actual rivers do form the boundaries of counties and states. You can clearly trace the paths of major waterways like the Missouri, Mississippi, Illinois, and Ohio Rivers on that map. (One thing the map does not show is how many inclaves and exclaves exist along those rivers, since a change in course doesn't necessarily lead to a redrawing of county boundaries.)

Another thing to consider is that these boundaries were drawn with the benefit of proper surveying equipment, something your mediaeval Dutch ancestors didn't have access to. I'm not sure they could've drawn straight lines extending for leagues and leagues even if they'd wanted to. They used features like creeks and such because they simply didn't have other options.

[Viktor77]

What do you have against Eddy and my's hometown, huh?

Are you from Paris, Illinois haha? The one county I somehow skipped.

But in seriousness I think you two are from STL, right? Because I've been to STL, though I want to return again before I leave here. If you're from a suburb it's just that I'm not overall enthralled by county collecting in Missouri right now since the last time I went, which was to Northeast Missouri, the only cool thing was Hannibal, and the rest was really downhill. Lots of small towns, smaller even than in Illinois, often quite run down. In some of them I couldn't even find the county courthouse. I had the impression that quite a number of them were methtowns. Heck, I thought at least Kirksville with the university would be something of interest, but I was even disappointed there. So I'm not likely to return to that region for a while, at least not until I see other places with a bit more picturesque countryside/small towns (which is something I'm noting in Southern Illinois, also there's Galena in NW Illinois which everyone raves about).

[Risla]

What do you have against Eddy and my's hometown, huh?

I mean, it does contain Eddy.

[Salmoneus]

What do you have against Eddy and my's hometown, huh?

I mean, it does contain Eddy.

I thought he'd moved to Seattle now?

Viktor: I'm not sure how, according to your map, the question "have I taken a photography here" has no fewer than four possible answers. Dialetheist logic?

[Viktor77]

Viktor: I'm not sure how, according to your map, the question "have I taken a photography here" has no fewer than four possible answers. Dialetheist logic?

You're right. I never specified it but it as follows, dark blue-complete, light blue-I drove through this county but didn't stop to take a photograph of something, green-I visited this county before I decided that I need to take a photograph in every county so I must return, white-never been.

[sirdanilot]

Actually I think it's quite a fun idea to make a map of where in the country you've been. However, if I'd do it in Holland I run into the problem of the scale. If I would colour in all provinces I've been then I would color in everything except the two most northern provinces of Holland (though incidentally I'm going to Frisia (Friesland or Fryslân) the day after tomorrow so only Groningen will be left for me to visit for the first time). If I would colour in all municipalities I've been in, it would take forever as the municipalities in Holland are quite small-scaled. Though the larger cities have a larger municipality, there are also singleton villages which form one tiny municipality and I'd have to use paint's bucket tool for every single one of them.

And what would count, places I have visited, places I've travelled through by car or train? Because the latter would include the majority of municipalities in the south, west and center of the country.

[Dewrad]

So who decided that the counties should be so square in America? As it seems quite unlikely to me that all rivers, hills and mountain ranges are perfectly perpendicular to each other in America now does it.

Fucking hell, it's because Americans didn't go through that whole "creating natural boundaries" thing that we did in Europe: our subdivisions are basically due to whose cows were pasturing on which side of the river circa 415 CE. In the US they just drew a bunch of parallel lines on a map. How do you not know this?

Also, Viktor: explain why we should care. I have lived in the UK all my life and you know, out of however many counties there are on this godforsaken island (it's probably less than sixty), I have no fucking idea how many of them I happen to have travelled through. I once took a piss in Berkshire, should I have taken a quick snap of the cottage I drained the snake in for posterity? Is this an American thing or am I just going to have to ask "what the fuck is wrong with you?" At least our counties tend to have their own identities, rather than just being identifiable by their "county halls"? Fuck you people are strange.

[Viktor77]

Also, Viktor: explain why we should care. I have lived in the UK all my life and you know, out of however many counties there are on this godforsaken island (it's probably less than sixty), I have no fucking idea how many of them I happen to have travelled through. I once took a piss in Berkshire, should I have taken a quick snap of the cottage I drained the snake in for posterity? Is this an American thing or am I just going to have to ask "what the fuck is wrong with you?" At least our counties tend to have their own identities, rather than just being identifiable by their "county halls"? Fuck you people are strange.

You don't have to care. I do it because counties are a good scale for seeing every part of this country which is my goal. One step up from counties are states, and a lot of people use states to mark where they've been, but states are huge and just because you visited say New York City to me gives you no right to say you've seen New York. It gives you the right to say you've been to New York City. Geographically you've been to New York, but what do you know about it except New York City? That's why I visit counties. At the county scale I can justify that I truly have seen a state from corner to corner. I have a solid picture of what that state looks like and evidence for myself (because no one is going to care but me about that). That's my goal, I want to know what's in every part of this country. You find some incredible things in places no one visits. A lot of counties are boring, but after you visit every county in Southwestern Iowa, you finally have a picture of what Southwestern Iowa is like, and you can't comment on Southwestern Iowa if you only visited Des Moines, only on Des Moines. Maybe someday I will visit all of the counties of England, who knows. At least in England the countryside would be dotted with country houses and I could never tire of country houses.

[Pole, the]

What do you have against Eddy and my's hometown, huh?

I mean, it does contain Eddy.

Is the fact that America does contain Eddy a sufficient reason never to visit USA?

[finlay]

It's Victor's slightly nerdy goal. I have some similar ones, like drawing the lines on scribble maps to show where I've been, which is way more obsessive and didn't receive the same level of vitriol.

Here's my one for Japan, anyway:

[linguoboy]

Are you from Paris, Illinois haha? The one county I somehow skipped.

But in seriousness I think you two are from STL, right?

We relocated a number of times within the same general area. I think of Mid St Louis County as my Heimat, because if you add up all the years I had a Missouri address, that's where I spent most of them. Also, my mother's family has a history there, and she and my siblings live there still. But I did spend six long years out in Lincoln County, and that should count for something. (To be honest, I don't really think of Eddy as a St Louisan because he grew up between Lincoln County and St Charles County and rarely ever came into the city. But that's just snobbery speaking, same as when someone calls themselves a "Chicagoan" but lives out in Crystal Lake or Palos Hills or someplace even more godforsaken.)

[Risla]

It's Victor's slightly nerdy goal. I have some similar ones, like drawing the lines on scribble maps to show where I've been, which is way more obsessive and didn't receive the same level of vitriol.

Here's my one for Japan, anyway:
[snip]

Should turn Hyogo blue at some point (after I'm settled in).

[sirdanilot]

Why is Hokkaido only one prefecture while the others are smaller?

Anyway here's a map then of Dutch municipalities I've been. Red is where I've lived, blue is where I visited regulary (or still do), green is where I visited occasionally. The yellow lines are major thoroughfares I have used frequently (train or bus or car). Click a couple of times for a bigger map.

As you can see there's quite a few gaps still, such as the entire northern portion of the country, the central area with the major rivers (nothing to see there), large swaths of the east of the country (also little to see there) and some parts of Limburg and Brabant. Incidentally, the southernmost corner of Limburg (way down south) is a major thoroughfare if you drive to Germany so I have been there more than in the other parts of limburg. It's also a very nice and touristy area.