1,451 Reply by William

(9 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

Yes, some computer software only allows that. That is because of how it has been programmed.

The new Unicode specification has fileds given and given2 and each can have more than one name in each of them, with spaces between them.

So now there is the opportunity for computer systems to get the job done properly. If there does not develop a practice among people applying the specification of only using the first character of the given2 field as "middle initial" rather than using the first character of given2 and the next character after each space character in given2 to provide one or more initials after the first given name.

Not only the items that you name. Also, for example, car insurance document.

I have never had to do it, but imagine needing to produce driving licence and insurance document at a police station and them not both having identically the same name on them.

I say "I'm William Overington".

I am surprised that more males do not have three given names, with names one each from the three nearest male ancestors.

William

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1,452 Reply by William

(9 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

I have never suggested that having three given names is in any way some indication of my worth.

That concept had never occurred to me.

You writing that comes as a surprise.

Perhaps some people think that I think that.

Thank you for the compliment that you included, much appreciated.

It is just that it is my name.

My three given names are one each from each of my nearest male ancestors.

My three given names are integral to my identity as a person.

Perhaps that is part of why I feel upset inside when people unilaterally choose to omit one of them.

William

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1,453 Reply by William

(9 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

A lot of people take that attitude.

An edited version of a person's name is not identifying a person.

It is fundamentally wrong thinking.

A person has a name. Names are important.

Nobody has the right to start deeming that an edited version is to be used.

Computers are programmed by people. So the widespread use of one and only one so-called 'middle' initial being used is just something that some of the people programming computer systems have chosen to do.

But the practice of only using the first two initials of somebody else's name, therefore being unwilling to copy a name correctly from one document to another, was often in use before the widespread use of computers, in typed correspondence and such. I wonder why people do it. It seems arrogant and aggressive to me, that they are going to do what they choose to do and that's that.

It is discrimination.

In practice, I always ask if there is not a facility to include all three initials to just use the first one, not the first two. Using just the first one looks fine, using just the first two always seems wrong to me, as if it is referring to somebody else, not referring to me.

William

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1,454 Topic by William

(9 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

https://corp.unicode.org/pipermail/unic … 09944.html

William

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1,455 Reply by William

(6 replies, posted in General Discussion)

GB wrote:

William, are you saying you are only now learning the word  "quoth"?

No. I had known of the word 'quoth' before.

I did learn things about its origin and use that I did not know before and also that 'cw' was used in Anglo-Saxon for the sound for which we use 'qu' today.

William

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1,456 Reply by William

(6 replies, posted in General Discussion)

jackneve wrote:

Re: The word 'quoth'

What about it?

There comes a point where trivia is trivia.

Some people enjoy picking up bits of knowledge here and there and some people do not.

There is a saying "Never grumble away your opportunities".

I have found that learning things is often useful many years later in some situation, as well as there being the satisfaction of learning something.

William

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1,457 Topic by William

(1 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

https://news.sky.com/story/most-extreme … n-12541824

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great … f_Kanagawa

William

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1,458 Topic by William

(0 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/technol … ar-AATL9ka

William

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1,459 Topic by William

(6 replies, posted in General Discussion)

https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-th … 022-02-13/

William

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1,460 Reply by William

(1 replies, posted in General Discussion)

The pictures have survived, not ended up in landfill or incinerated.

William

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1,461 Topic by William

(1 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Have you seen the MOBA website?

http://museumofbadart.org/

Actually, some of the pictures are very interesting.

Who gave the paintings the titles?

Would they be regraded diiferently if they had different titles?

For example,

what if

After the Apocalyse

had the title

Dawn Redwoods in winter

?

Also, are some of them attempts by people to convey an idea, yet the physical realization of the idea is not right, but nevertheless the idea is there?

For example,

Two Trees in Love

William

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1,462 Topic by William

(0 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Quite by chance I noticed this video on the BBC iplayer channel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b … t-and-loss

First of a two-part series available for three months.

From 2015.

I have only watched a small part thus far.

Very amazing.

It starts with the records of who got what in the 1830s.

William

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1,463 Reply by William

(58 replies, posted in General Discussion)

Alfred wrote:
William wrote:

Rather poignant, the bit about the fenster.

Do you mean the following line? https://punster.me/images/ears.gif

Jetzt sehen fremde Menschen aus den Fenstern

Yes.

https://lyricstranslate.com/en/erich-na … yrics.html

https://translate.google.com/

William

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1,464 Reply by William

(58 replies, posted in General Discussion)

A lovely song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVJDKlhM78U

I found the lyrics online and I got a translation.

Rather poignant, the bit about the fenster.

William

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1,465 Reply by William

(6 replies, posted in General Discussion)

What wording would you suggest such that the effect that you perceive is not present?

William

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1,466 Reply by William

(6 replies, posted in General Discussion)

But you have missed out the preposition "to" before the word "people" so you are treating the word "people" as in the nominative case, whereas the word "to" in the original text puts it in the dative case.

William

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1,467 Reply by William

(32 replies, posted in General Discussion)

So can we have an Art category please?

Not "the arts", just Art please.

My recent post

Sculpture in the city

could be moved there as could some other threads.

William

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1,468 Topic by William

(6 replies, posted in General Discussion)

https://walksonhampsteadheath.co.uk/scu … -the-city/

William

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1,469 Reply by William

(29 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

An interesting thing about the phasing out of non-barcoded stamps (except for special issue stamps other than Christmas stamps) is that everyday stamps and Christmas stamps are to be barcoded, and so 2022 will likely have a mix of the new barcoded stamps and the obsolescent non-barcoded stamps. Yet all of the 2022 Christmas stamps will be barcoded, so that is likely to be when consumers are likely to experience barcoded stamps a lot. So the phasing out of non-barcoded everyday stamps being at the end of January 2023 is an elegant timing.

William

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1,470 Reply by William

(29 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

Regarding the Royal Mail app that is being advertised.

https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps

https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcode-stamps/videos

I don't usually use a smartphone or a tablet computer, but I have a basic smartphone, an IMO Q2 smartphone and a 7 inch Archos tablet, both of which use Android, and I got the smartphone to experience using the smartphone and the Archos tablet as a back up for ordering grocery and to learn about tablets.

So to have a go at trying to get the Royal Mail app working I first need to charge the batteries on the devices and to relearn how to use them.

Has anyone tried downloading the Royal Mail app please?

If so, did you get it working?

If so, can the Shaun the Sheep video be accessed by using the computer screen image of one of the four new barcoded stamps or does one need to use a real postage stamp to get it to work?

William

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1,471 Topic by William

(1 replies, posted in General Discussion)

There have been reports that food prices are about to rise by 5%.

This has been reported as that the cost of a person's weekly shop will rise by 5%.

Yet does that follow?

It seems to me quite possible that many people will try to reduce the effect.

For example, by not getting some luxuries and choosing supermarket own label products rather than branded products.

What effect will that have?

For example, what if most of the people who might now buy a bunch of flowers when thet get their shopping decide that due to the increasing cost of food that they will not buy the flowers?

Will it last?

A filling station owner where I used to get petrol back in the 1980s told me, a while after a time when petrol prices went up dramatically, that at first lots of people bought less petrol, just what was needed to get to work, cutting out going on leisure trips at the weekend, but that after a month or so, they had missed going out so went back to buying as much petrol as before.

One thing that has emerged is that the rising cost of gas and electricity, so often expressed as how it affects a person's gas and electricity bill, will also affect businesses, not only in production but also in heating supermarkets and in powering in-store refrigerators.

William

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1,472 Reply by William

(29 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

https://www.allaboutstamps.co.uk/news/d … -barcodes/

William

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1,473 Reply by William

(328 replies, posted in General Discussion)

I have  been in tuition.

I had a feeling about it.

William

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1,474 Reply by William

(29 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

Alfred wrote:
William wrote:

Looking at

https://shop.royalmail.com/barcoded-nvis-stamp-set

is that a type 29 barcode or a new format?

William

It fits the spec for Type 29 (16 x 48 modules). What makes you wonder whether it might be a new format? https://punster.me/images/unsure.gif

I don't quite know, a combination of dfferences of size, orientation, colour, display size on the computer screen, having seen a black and white one printed on an envelope, and not knowing at the time that it is based on an ISO standard and not some Royal Mail proprietary format, and an underlying cautious approach such that I do not say "oh oh oh they must be the same".

William

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1,475 Reply by William

(29 replies, posted in Mathematics & Science)

I have found the following.

https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso … ed-2:v1:en

Only a part is available free but I mention the link in case it might be helpful.

I have not studied it yet.

William

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