Today I learned...

[Kraco]

It's certainly true in spoken language both orders are present, also over here, but there are lots of things that are always done following a fixed way in writing and however suits the speaker and the occasion when spoken aloud. Spoken language is usually less formal than written language (in Finland exceedingly so), and I personally think it's better to consider the written language as the norm, not the other way around, partially because the spoken language changes faster and varies more between regions.

In short, even if you usually say it month first, day second, doesn't mean it should be written in that order as well. However, I don't expect it to ever change. After all, you never got rid of the feet, miles, and pounds either.

[Ryllharu]

After all, you never got rid of the feet, miles, and pounds either.

We're not the only one. Great Britain still uses miles, pints, stones, and non-metric threads on fasteners.

[Xelbair]

Well over here is is DD/MM/YYYY in spoken language too.
Months can be either written using Arabic or Roman numbers

[Buffalobiian]

DD/MM/YYYY is the convention here, more commonly shortened to DD/MM/YY.

I personally think saying MM/DD sounds more elegant, but due to the way we write it, I've given up on saying it like that and just say DD of MM like everyone else. Pausing to convert is, to all intents and purposes, rather pointless.

[darkshadow]

We may be one the few countries to use it, but it isn't stupid. It's quite sensible when you think about it.

It's the more common way one verbalizes the date. 02/03/2010 becomes "February 3rd, 2010." The European way is, "The 3rd of February, 2010." It is rarer (and more formalized) to use the latter way in speech.

That's silly, now you are comparing the "European way" to everyone speaking english.
There is no "The DD of MM, YY" in my native language, it's just "3 february 2010". Sounds a bit weird in English, but perfectly fine otherwise, in fact it sounds much much weirder if anyone here would say MM/DD/YY.

Also it is stupid in the sense that MM/DD/YY has a very messed up order of magnitude. It's like having a timer that goes HH/SS/MM.

[Ryllharu]

DS's next issue: Right-hand drive is superior to left-hand drive. Left-hand drive declared inefficient and illogical

[darkshadow]

You continue to make no sense what so ever.

[XanBcoo]

Also it is stupid in the sense that MM/DD/YY has a very messed up order of magnitude. It's like having a timer that goes HH/SS/MM.

This is what bugs me most about it. I used to get frustrated and confused when I was moving back and forth between England when I was little because of this difference. The DD/MM/YY makes more sense to me, despite the fact that I never use it.

[Ryllharu]

You continue to make no sense what so ever.

Your ability to not comprehend anything other than absolutes continues to baffle me.

I suppose I could have been more blunt and referred to your future graduate thesis on bread buttered on top versus bread buttered on bottom. It's just another inane difference like the comma versus period question that began this whole comparison conversations.

I only refuted Kraco's statement that MM/DD was silly. They're both perfectly valid. One is order of magnitude and the other is traditional English verbal order. It's not a matter of better or worse.

[darkshadow]

My ability to comprehend? Or your silly assumption that I would prefer right-hand drive? ( I don't even know wtf that has to do with the order of magnitute in dates....but whatever.)

Seriously why don't you just at least try to have a normal discussion, instead of silly enigma's that make no sense at all.
Well no, I guess they make sense....to you.

[Buffalobiian]

I learned that a firearm silencer is a pretty misleading name.

This video makes an excellent comparison.

[Kraco]

Yeah, it's for a reason it's called a sound suppressor over here, not a silencer. There're so many things in a firearm causing various sounds. The only silent gun is a gun not fired. Still, guns are damn noisy things in general so if you can make it so somebody a kilometer away won't hear it anymore, it will have its uses.

[Xelbair]

plus add the fact that silencer, or sound suppressor works as fire suppressor - there is no light when you fire the weapon, so it is way harder to find you, even when they heard you.

[Animeniax]

It's also called a flash-suppressor. Plus it removes the typical sound of gunfire so you're not even sure if shots are being fired.

[Psyke]

As far as I know, flash suppressors are usually part of the standard configuration for assaut rifles. It doesn't completely eliminates the flash, but it makes it much less obvious and hence harder to detect. It also doesn't influence the sound at all, since it has no relations to the bolt and the firing mechanism. I've never used a sound suppressor so I'm not sure how helpful it would be.

[Animeniax]

True true, though the silencer also acts to stifle any remaining flash that the built-in flash suppressor allows to escape. Most of the sound from a gun shot comes from the exit of the round from the muzzle (according to wikipedia), so a silencer muffles that, though perhaps you meant the flash suppressor doesn't affect the sound, though I meant a suppressor that suppresses flash and sound.

[Buffalobiian]

Kicking in freestyle isn't about kicking as hard or fast as you can.

http://www.swimsmooth.com/kick.html

I have never paid attention to timing. Kick fast, arms fast.

[Death BOO Z]

today I learned how R2D2 got his name..
I was looking through one of my psychology books, and one of the examples was about a robot who's function was to survive, and it was called robot-relevant-deducer.

obviously, the book was from after the starwars movie came out (although, not by much, the example is from 1984), so I got curios.

long story short: the answer

[Ryllharu]

Today I learned about ski jumping in the summer.

Slide down a porcelain or plastic track (has nubs on it), and land on wet Astroturf. Pretty clever.

[Buffalobiian]

Exiting out of Private Browsing mode of Firefox erases all of your tracks and data during that session including anything currently stored on the clipboard that was coppied during that session.

Example scenario:

1) Start private browsing
2) Visit banking website or similar
3) Receive a receipt number for the transaction
4) "Copy" the receipt number
5) Exit private browsing mode
6) Paste receipt number in notepad etc

You will find in step 6 that you will paste nothing.