BRFR Cake Stop 'breaking news' miscellany

[briantrumpet]

Stop overthinking it. It's just talking FGS.

 

[Psamathe]

Don't you end up having 2 phones to check and charge? I'd feel like a drug dealer if I had a burner phone I had to keep checking.

How you do it depends on why you do it. eg if you're "county lines" then yes, you need two(+) phones. But if you're doing it for privacy and discardability (as I am) then use multiple SIMs on your phone (eg ESIMS) - authorities can still track you but others can't and you can bin the number routinely.

In some countries it's standard practice to carry 3 phones. Locals hold them together with elastic bands - reason: 3 main networks and very cheap to call phones on same network but very expensive to call numbers on a different network so taxis, hotels, etc. publish 3 numbers, one on each network and everyone knows which prefixes are on the network they use so dial that number eg Cambodia.

 

[PurplePenguin]

I'd suspect that his written messages would also be coherent, if his spoken messages are. There is enormous skill - actually beyond my skillset - so be able to improvise a well-structured oral utterance of more than a few sentences. Even a few sentences requires a clear idea already in your head (before you start out on the first few words) of what idea/information you want to convey, and then good enough working memory and control of vocabulary and grammar to be able to structure an utterance that gets that across to the addressee. It's why even very clever people generally have to write out talks/speeches. I genuinely am not sure if I've ever witnessed a fluent and persuasive oral utterance that's been created from scratch on the spur of the moment. Sure, I've heard impressive speeches, but I think they've all been written and rehearsed/memorised beforehand.

Once you get beyond something of more than a few sentences and vaguely mundane subjects, the challenge on the human brain is just immense. It's so much easier in writing, as you can read back over what you've written, and see where your grammar/syntax has failed to convey what you intended to.

And even if you have got a such a brilliant brain that you can do that orally, it's still usually easier to comprehend quickly and accurately when it's written down, as the reader is having to reverse the process, and the same challenges to the human brain are present (working memory, etc.).

Are you trying to prove it's possible to waffle in written English as well? Or is that the joke?

 

[briantrumpet]

Are you trying to prove it's possible to waffle in written English as well? Or is that the joke?

It's the start of my draft PhD, so don't mock.

 

[First Aspect]

What is a draft PhD?

 

[briantrumpet]

What is a draft PhD?

I'll figure that out later.

I do actually know someone who's been doing his PhD 'full time' for six years now, has started writing up his thesis, but still isn't entirely sure what his argument is going to be.

 

[C R]

It's the start of my draft PhD, so don't mock.

Don't you mean daft?

 

[briantrumpet]

Don't you mean daft?

Try this for size then. (Swearing is actually deeply interesting in academic terms).

https://kar.kent.ac.uk/100018/

"The aim of this thesis is to examine discourse on swearing by exploring the language used in two UK newspapers The Mirror and The Express between 2008 and 2009. In particular, the focal point became two national anti-swearing campaigns that developed after an incident on BBC Radio 2 known as Sachsgate. This was followed by the publication of several polls and reports that appeared to contradict the reasoning for the two campaigns. The discourse used in news reports, editorials and letters pages regarding swearing at this time was closely reviewed within two theoretical frameworks. Firstly, the study drew from Conceptual Metaphor Theory, as outlined by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (2003). Secondly, it used a Moral Panic Theory framework, derived from Stanley Cohen's (2002) original thesis.

The primary findings from this investigation demonstrated a significant correlation between swearing and three clusters of conceptual metaphors: Religiosity, Hygiene and Invasion. It is suggested that there is a blurring between the literal and non-literal that has resulted in swearing being stereotyped as something filthy, irreligious and a threat to the social and moral norms of the Self. The study continued to examine whether the discourse constituted a moral panic, finding that the narrative was presented in the stylised and stereotypical manner indicative of a moral panic and that this intensified the social issue of swearing as a deviant behaviour. This interdisciplinary study has provided evidence as to how (negative) attitudes towards swearing become defined and sustained."

Fuck yeah.

 

[First Aspect]

I'll figure that out later.

I do actually know someone who's been doing his PhD 'full time' for six years now, has started writing up his thesis, but still isn't entirely sure what his argument is going to be.

Took me 6 years. Because I actually had to teach 14 hours a week in terms time and write a thesis rather than 3 years' work like they do here. Friend of mine took 7. Quickest in memory at the time was 5.

British PhDs are outliers. Or they used to be at least.

 

[briantrumpet]

Took me 6 years. Because I actually had to teach 14 hours a week in terms time and write a thesis rather than 3 years' work like they do here. Friend of mine took 7. Quickest in memory at the time was 5.

British PhDs are outliers. Or they used to be at least.

In the days when they published all the thesis titles in the graduation programmes, I used to play a kind of game of bingo, with some titles being incomprehensible because of the specificity and technicality of the subject, some being incomprehensible because of the woolly jargon masking what seemed to be complete absence of actual coherent thought beyond circular language that had no external reference points, and the few that I'd go "Oh, that sounds interesting". Oh, and several I'd go "OK, but just, erm, why??"

If I'd done one, it would probably be in the last category, but might just sneak into the penultimate one for a few sad musical nerds.

 

[Ian H]

This is why the IgNobels were created.

 

[Mr Celine]

I had a flatmate whose PhD appeared to be never ending. On being threatened with the immediate award of a masters he knuckled down and finished it, at least partly due to his surname being Bates.

 

[First Aspect]

In the days when they published all the thesis titles in the graduation programmes, I used to play a kind of game of bingo, with some titles being incomprehensible because of the specificity and technicality of the subject, some being incomprehensible because of the woolly jargon masking what seemed to be complete absence of actual coherent thought beyond circular language that had no external reference points, and the few that I'd go "Oh, that sounds interesting". Oh, and several I'd go "OK, but just, erm, why??"

If I'd done one, it would probably be in the last category, but might just sneak into the penultimate one for a few sad musical nerds.

I would tell you mine, but then I'd have to kill you.

 

[briantrumpet]

I would tell you mine, but then I'd have to kill you.

I'm a bit surprised that Exeter Uni don't reveal to PhD students that they are subject to Brian's PhD Bingo ranking. Much more meaningful than any viva.

 

[First Aspect]

I'm a bit surprised that Exeter Uni don't reveal to PhD students that they are subject to Brian's PhD Bingo ranking. Much more meaningful than any viva.

Mine has "quantum" in the title. That is surely on the list.