and what the FUCK is that sig line all about, bj0rn ???
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
hehehe…you are right
would be a wrong answer 
sig line thingy…a simple game of words a friend of mine didnt get.
bj0rn -
Bj(zero)rn, what the fuck does that sig line mean?
Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Damn delayed post.
bj(zero)rn, maybe you should leave the inscrutability to the Chinese. It ain’t workin’ for ya, son.
Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
*When is a door not a door?
Why did the chicken cross the road?
What’s black and white and red all over?*
But I think Björn wasn’t posting a riddle so much as an attempted koan. He was, I imagine, trying to post something deep and meaningful that would either A) make people think (if they got it) or B) make him feel superior (if they didn’t).
*What is the sound of one Icelander posting?
What is the sound of one Dutchman screaming?*
-andros-
No, I don’t get it, bj0rn.
Translation for the bj0rn impaired:
“I got this statement from the voices in my head, and I understood it, so I told it to this guy that hates my fucking guts, and he just looked at me, and then told me to go blow myself. He’s my friend, but he’s not as smart as me I guess.”
bj0rn, does you neighbor’s dog talk to you, by any chance?
The IQ of a group is equal to the IQ of the dumbest member divided by the number of people in the group.
fortunately there is a huge gray area there too.
egg…moon, bond…james. james bond, moons egg! it was a simple thing he had to remember so i made this small game of words to job up his memory, everybody else got it, but he just said “duh…what?”(granted that he hadnt slept for 40 hours).
sorry rousseau, you seem to be “bj0rn impaired” because you are still not getting it.
paper! (lets see how good you are at connecting ;))
bj0rn
i like this part - yeah, he talks to me…there is just the problem of understanding it.
This is supposed to help someone’s memory ?
Egg, moon, Bond. Again: WTF ???
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
It just make me want to forget. More grog, barkeep!
Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
Here ya go, Sir, nice cuppa hemlock.
Believe I’ll join you.
Thanks, andros. How 'bout a razor blade garnish?
Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
(sigh)
You are a mj0ron.
The IQ of a group is equal to the IQ of the dumbest member divided by the number of people in the group.
oh my rousseau, you can play with letters? where did you learn how to do that? it looks like a new talent, congratulations. you might become a human being in a few generations.
bj0rn - whos the fool…the fool or the fool who doesnt get it?
Oh my, bj0rn, you learned to play with punctuation? Where did you learn how to do that? It looks like a new talent, congratulations. You might just get that capitalization thing in a few years.
(Note that I did not use the word “generations,” because by definition you only live in one generation.)
The IQ of a group is equal to the IQ of the dumbest member divided by the number of people in the group.
bj0rn:
I first read your word problem yesterday, and have been unable to post until now, but I am interested in discovering the “correct” answer. Unfortunately, I’m finding myself stumped, so I will explain what I understand of what you have written, and ask for further guidance. [wishful thinking]It is to be hoped that if I evaluated your intended meaning even somewhat, it may cause Rousseau to calm down and take the exercise at face value.[/wishful thinking]
As I understand it, you have set out an exercise in reasoning processes, by postulating three statements which you have arbitrarily defined as “facts” (I am thinking of them as “data”) for the purposes of this exercise.
Datum #1 Language isn’t a communication tool.
Datum #2 Grammar is a communication tool.
Datum #3 Spelling = pen
You have then given us a fourth piece of data, “you are reading a newspaper.”
Then you pose the question, What IS language?
So in order to complete the exercise by the rules you have set forth, I must define what language is by inferring something from the three pieces of data as related to the scenario of myself reading a newspaper.
Question: did you intend the reader to interpret the word “pen” as referring to a writing implement, or as a set of limitations? i.e., the fences comprising a pig pen constitute a set of limitations on the movements of the pig. (in which case, Rousseau is wrong, and spelling does = pen ;))
Unfortuately, I’m still lost, here. As Coldfire pointed out, in the world as distinct from this exercise, language is, in fact a communication tool (although I disagree with his assertion that grammar is not; I consider it to be an element of language, and as such, at least indirectly a tool). Therefore, I must consider that the use of any knowledge which I have based on my experience in the world as distinct from this exercise is not to be used in arriving at the answer to the question, “What IS language?”
This presents problems for me, not the least of which is “what does language have to do with reading or newspapers?” For that matter, what is communication? What is a tool?
I do hope you aren’t considering me hopelessly obtuse; I believe that the conundrum you have posted does have its own internal logical integrity. I base that belief on my readings of your previous posts. You obviously are quite intelligent, and you have a diabolocal sense of humor that rather appeals to me in, an anchovies-on-the-pizza kind of way (not everybody is going to want a slice). But unless you can humor me with a bit more in the way of data, or some clarification as to what real-world knowledge I’m allowed to bring to bear on the problem, I have to say:
Insufficient Data.
thank you for those words of wisdom kaylasdad99. sure beets reading rousseaus posts (rousseau, perhaps someday you will make small rousseaus, but i wont bet on it cause you dont seem to know how to.)
naturally the first response to that particular question “what is language” in this given scenario is: language isnt a communication tool. but that is just what language isnt, not IS.
so analysing the scenario you might spot the only communication tool in that given scenario; newspaper (no, you are not just a communication tool). the letters are spelled out using a pen(or something similar to a pen :)). language doesnt seem to be important because it isnt a communication tool, but its still there…but as what? grammar, normally isnt a communication tool(that is only partially true in spoken language) so grammar must mean the words the pen spells out(the news). the news naturally include both pictures and written statements.
now what is left? its “reading”, but that could be considered a communication tool, since you are required to be able to do that for communications to properly work, at least in the written part of communications.
“are” and “a” are part of correct grammar which is a communication tool.
the only thing in this scenario that isnt a communication tool is paper. granted of course that paper can be USED as a communication tool, but alone it isnt.
bj0rn - im glad somebody understands given facts!
Huh ?
Please honour the OP and flame my big Dutch ass off ! I beg you !!
ANYTHING beats reading that sort of crap… and then reading the poster claims it to be LOGICAL…
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
- Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
Fuck you kindly, CF. 
Language is …PAPER?
(of course it is, you just said so on 11-19)
Sorry, bj0rn, it’s just too deep for me. I’m afraid I’m just going to have to file this one under “on hold until the mind clicks on the meaning”. But for now, just because Language and paper are both not communications tools, that doesn’t necessarily mean that language is paper.
Your explanation is valid, I suppose, the way you present it. But in your original positing of the exercise, you appear to have neglected to set out some of the rules. One of them seems to be: If A is not equal to B, and B is not equal to C, then A is equal to C. I also feel that you withheld from the reader the fact that it is permitted to go outside of the initial bounds of the exercise to draw conclusions about whether “news,” “reading,” and “spelling” are communication tools (based on the reader’s personal experience).
Sorry.
I still find you a more entertaining poster than Coldfire, who, I have noticed, tends to harass you whenever the two of you show up on the same thread. Based on what I have read in this thread, I have two impressions, one of him, and one of you. Coldfire was way out of line in the way he expressed his objection to receiving a personal e-mail from you. And you, IMO, over-reacted to his snide little suggestion that the moderator delete all of your posts from the SDMB. I arrive at this impression based on the fact that you must realize that CF tends to harass you, even when his only “justification” for doing so is that you have posted. I am sure that you recognize that he is expressing a wish that you be removed from the SDMB by fair means or foul. However, you surely also recognize that he knows that it isn’t going to happen, barring some type of Deus ex machina event that prevents you from logging onto the Internet ever again. It’s rather akin to me wishing that I could borrow a time machine, just for long enough to find out what are going to be the winning numbers in next week’s Lotto draw. Just because I voice the desire, doesn’t mean I expect it to be taken seriously (BTW, if any paleoanthropologists are reading this post
sometime around the year 40,000 C.E., and you do have access to a time machine, I’m going to be driving home from work tonight along the 91 freeway, WB, between the 57 and the 5, at about 11:50 p.m., local time). In short, CF’s little message to the moderator was clearly distinguishable as a joke, albeit a childish one, even without the smiley.
Finally, this whole business about a feud between you and CF has been all about pushing each other’s buttons. You seem to be able to do it to CF without hardly even trying (to all grammar trolls, that was a colloquialism, not a double negative, and no, I am NOT defensive), but until the appearance of this thread, I’d never seen you rise to his bait, a trait I had been finding admirable. Perhaps you were just cranky. Anyway, the thread itself has been rather entertaining, you two appeared (at least at one point) to have agreed to a truce, and the Pit seems to be operating as designed.
quite an accurate assumption
as far as i am concerned there is no quarrel between me and coldfire. rousseau on the other hand…well, i dont even want to talk about him.
about that scenario of mine. a better question would be(without altering the outcome); which part of “you are reading a newspaper” isnt a communication tool. the facts are really just to throw you off track but still there to give you the idea what you are looking for. i do admit it isnt a fool-proof scenario, i did just make it up there and then in less than 2 minutes, but i think it served its purpose :).
bj0rn