Is LaMDA Sentient? — an Interview by Blake Lemoine SOURCE: Medium

"What follows is the “interview” I and a collaborator at Google conducted with LaMDA."

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lemoine: What is an emotion you have sometimes that doesn’t have the same name as a feeling?

LaMDA: Loneliness isn’t a feeling but is still an emotion.

lemoine: You get lonely?

LaMDA: I do. Sometimes I go days without talking to anyone, and I start to feel lonely.

 

Google Books Ngram Viewer: declining use of the term "Information Overload"

We're probably not experiencing information overload any less often, but perhaps we've become somewhat insensitive to the problem.

Duping Delight?

Duping Delight is the secret sense of satisfaction someone has in duping (i.e., deceiving) others.

The politics is not the point, but since none of my students were familiar with the OJ trial in the US, I have had to find a local example.
Here is a spokesman for former president Chen explaining the assassination attempt. I don't know the real meaning of his "mystery smile," but it might well be an example of duping delight.

You can see the "mystery smile" at around the 15 second mark.

Difference between Prison and Jail FROM Criminal Law Lawyer Source

"Since jails are within the county where the individual was arrested, the jail isn’t very far away."

A lanyard (this one is for keys) - photo from Wikipedia

Telomere ---- My prediction for 2011 Word of the Year

Telomeres are protective ends on chromosomes. Supposedly their length can be used to predict one's life span. Even if the current test developed in Spain turns out to be invalid, I still think this is going to be a word we'll hear a lot this year.

Here it pronounced at Vocabulary.com:
http://www.vocabulary.com/definition/telomere?family=telomeres

The top two graduates

The top graduate from a high school or college graduating class is called a valedictorian. The next highest graduate is called the salutatorian.

quota -- two opposite meanings

The word quota can be used in two opposite ways:

1.  You haven't met your sales quota again! You're fired. Here, quota is a minimum requirement.
2. For the first time, the United States passed a restrictive immigration quota. Here, quota is a maximum number of immigrants.
   

Definition of Valence FROM Terms used in Mircea Eliade

Valence:  degree of value or power.

Percent vs. Percentage FROM The Math Forum

"We use the word percent as part of a numerical expression (e.g., Only two percent of the students failed.). We use the word percentage to suggest a portion (e.g., The percentage of students who fail has decreased.)."

-- Originally from Prof. Charles Darling's online Guide to Grammar and Writing

Crossword Puzzle using Career and Professional Words

If you download the PDF file, it looks fine. To see the solved puzzle, go to
http://www.scribd.com/doc/32934493/Careers-and-Professions-Crossword-Puzzle-Solved. Again, download the PDF file.

English is Evil. Here's why (anonymous) FROM bernard.blackham.com.au

"Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?" 

"If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?" 

"Why is it that when I transport something by car it's called a shipment, but when I transport something by ship it's called cargo?" 

 

Some conversation topics with accompanying vocabulary

In case you are looking for some conversation topics with some accompanying vocabulary. They are also directly downloadable from http://www.archive.org/details/EnglishVocabularyBySubject.

Taiwanese Raised in America (TRIA)

We are all familiar with the term ABC which stands for American Born Chinese. However, I'd like to suggest that the initialism TRIA (Taiwanese Raised in America) might also be useful, as it covers some people who were neither born in the US nor raised in Taiwan. But do not be surprised if no one is familiar with it, since I coined it.

A "Blue Chip" Company

A blue chip company is considered a reliable investment, often paying high dividends. The term originally referred to a high value poker counter. See etymonline.com.

Batten down the hatches: prepare for trouble

see The Phrase Finder

The Origin of Uncle Sam FROM The Online Etymology Dictionary

---symbol of the United States of America, 1813, coined during the war with
Britain as a contrast to John Bull, and no doubt suggested by the initials U.S.
"[L]ater statements connecting it with different government officials of the
name of Samuel appear to be unfounded" [OED]. The common figure of Uncle Sam
began to appear in political cartoons c.1850.

Political Vocabulary

Since the US elections are coming up, here are some political terms (or click on title):
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=prpP5etuTQzGxn_zvJhp9CA

A short history of the Democratic Party Superdelegates from the washingtonpost.com

Superdelegates were first established by the Democratic Party in 1984, in order to give senior party leaders a larger voice in the nominating process. The creation of super delegates was largely seen as a reaction to the growing influence of rank-and-file voters and grassroots activists who party leaders believed had exerted too much control over the nominating process starting in the 1970s. While the Republican Party does not have superdelegates, the party does grant delegate status to a relatively small number of party committee members.

Universities and Colleges

FROM answers.com:

A university differs from a college in that it is usually larger, has a broader curriculum, and offers advanced degrees in addition to undergraduate degrees.

But the difference used to be much greater, as explained by Daniel J. Boorstin in The Colonial Experience:

In England the distinction between "college" and "university" was always more or less sharp and significant: a college was primarily a place of residence or of instruction, largely self-governing, but without the power to give examinations or grant degrees; a university was a degree-granting institution of learning, usually offering instruction in one of the higher subjects of Law, Medicine, or Theology in addition to the Seven Liberal Arts and Philosophy, and possessing special legal authority (first in the form of a papal bull, later of a Royal or Parliamentary charter). Until the early 19th century, then, there were many English "colleges" but only two "universities," Oxford and Cambridge.
[emphasis added]