Member Occupation

[hanabi]

and how very well you do it too! !

[Chrisdice]

Post #53 is still current for me too.

[hanabi]

Sigh........

and I'm STILL doing what I was doing in Posts #68 and #136

You know....

I was hoping some of our newer members might like to tell us what they do for a living?

[Meathead]

Police officer. On the beat for 14 years, then Internal Affairs for 3. Now I'm back on the streets, starting year 19.

It goes way too fast (the time, not my car).

[H20Dreams]

And you play with Pachislos in CA. I like it.

[luckydog]

I'm still retired

[Meathead]

And you play with Pachislos in CA. I like it.

SSSSHHHHH! (I don't know what you're talking about....)

[Trey314159]

I am a computational linguist, which means I try to make computers "understand" (or at least pull useful information out of) natural human language. Machine learning is fun.

I worked for a search engine company before search engines were cool, or online. I worked for an artificial intelligence company for a while. I designed name-matching algorithms for the US federal government (and to demonstrate how your tax-payer dollars are used, we would have denied the 9/11 hijackers entry into the country--they used their real names and passports--but the intelligence service folks didn't share data with the folks who issue visas).

I now work on a system that extracts information from doctor's notes and assigns codes for the diagnosis and procedures performed--I never knew there was this gigantic industry of humans doing exactly that, by hand, and now I help them do it faster and more accurately.

I've been doing this kind of stuff for 14 years; I've been at my current job for 2 years, and the longest I ever worked anywhere was only 5 years, at my first job--I can't imagine working anywhere for 20 years. Not that I'd mind, but t never works out that way. Statistically, I'm due for a new job any day now--but I may try to hold out for a few more years and see if there's an IPO and I can retire. So many other fun-loving retirees on here make it sound so nice.

In my spare time (of which there is precious little), I edit, publish, and sometimes write for Speculative Grammarian, the "premier journal in the neglected field of satirical linguistics." It's like the Journal of Irreproducible Results, or The Onion, but for linguistics--which means there are only 37 people in the world who find it funny--but they find it really, really funny.

Also, I'm a Dad.. and my son is looking over my shoulder now, so I have to add this: and this . Okay, that's done.

[dattia]

Oh boy! You must LOVE reading some of our posts...hopefully you find our errors charming.

[Trey314159]

Oh boy! You must LOVE reading some of our posts...hopefully you find our errors charming.

Nah.. most linguists don't pay attention to grammar "rules" (and neither do most people who push those rules if you carefully read what they write). If you care waaaaaay too much, look up "Linguistic Prescription" in Wikipedia. That leaves typos (I'm not a good typist, so I cast no stones), spelling mistakes (English has the worst spelling system of any major language), and Sid (who in fact is quite charming. though I can't always follow where he's going--which is half the fun).

[luckydog]

Sid thinks out of the box

[Trey314159]

Sid thinks out of the box

That's true! I unpacked him and right there, out of the box, he was thinkin'. Works great, just like a Mac!

(apparently I am more tired than I thought, and it's only 11:30!)

[revmondo]

Paramedic for 8 years, late 80's to early 90's. After one particularly bad shift I got of the ambulance and nver looked back. So now I'm a Home Automation Technician / Project Manager / Designer / Programmer working for a global design-build firm formerly out of a little known (to the rest of the world, but well known to most here at PachiTalk thanks to Gaku) town in Texas known as Conroe. I travel the world installing and programming systems for lighting control, Audio Visual Systems, and profession in home cinemas. As a matter of fact I will be heading back out at the end of the month for another 2 weeks in Bermuda. Unfortunately its too expensive to take my pachinko with me. I keep hoping for a new member on the island to pop up. Tulsa, please keep me informed if any new recruits in Bermuda join us.

[Sid]

Nah.. most linguists don't pay attention to grammar "rules" (and neither do most people who push those rules if you carefully read what they write). If you care waaaaaay too much, look up "Linguistic Prescription" in Wikipedia. That leaves typos (I'm not a good typist, so I cast no stones), spelling mistakes (English has the worst spelling system of any major language), and Sid (who in fact is quite charming. though I can't always follow where he's going--which is half the fun).

thats ok.. Half the time i dont know where im going either...

off the record ive always found the "rules" of language to be a bit annoying..just another bunch of people telling you how you say what you want to say.. really a damper to creativity.. but anyway.. thats another topic... e e cummings

Sid thinks out of the box

what box

[Trey314159]

off the record ive always found the "rules" of language to be a bit annoying..just another bunch of people telling you how you say what you want to say.. really a damper to creativity.. but anyway.. thats another topic... e e cummings

I agree whole heartedly! My favorite response, attributed to Churchill, about not ending sentences with prepositions: "This is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put!"

[hanabi]

Personally, I've always liked the way Yoda constructs his sentences ! !

"Named must your fear be before banish it you can.”
"bored of this I am"
"put me down you will"
"Powerful you have become, the dark side I sense in you"
"Not if anything to say about it I have"

Yoda-isms! !

[deano]

no change for me stiilll someone toilets or drains to unblock bussiness is pooooo and i dont smell of roses eihter

[RandomTask]

I can't say what I do or where I work for security purposes, but prior to my current situation, I worked in deep-sea ecology for 7 years; mainly dealing with tubeworms at hydrothermal vents and "cold seeps," "black smokers," diving in little subs, etc. My degree is in Microbiology.

[grommit]

Im a stand-up comic /entertainer/singer/musician, and have been for 34 years joined a band when I was 17 as guitarist, when I left school i workng on litho printing machines for a small family print firm for 2 years then when into clothing retail managed a lot of different stores up and down the country till I was 35, when I opened my owns musical instrument outlet selling guitars , amp , keyboards , P.A. ect had that for 7 years which was great fun, but trying to get a growing share of a shrinking market was not for me, at the same time I have been an entertainer for 34 years, I run a small recording studio from my home but I primarily concentrate on my standup comedy and musical career doing shows up and down the UK , Spain , Germany, In pubs, clubs, theatres, Hotels and occasionally cruise ships, Im 51 now and having more fun than when I was kid

[alstonj1]

well lets see i started in the air force was booted out for 2 ulcers .Then went to work at the Budd company as a 2nd class wireman building passenger trains (a job they told me I'd retire from ) 6yrs later the company was sold to the Germans and closed .Then I went to new York rail and did rehabbing of n.j. path trains for a year as a wireman got laid off then went to work for Delaware car (a collision repair facility for rail car . fire damaged ,collision damaged, rehab,modification and prototype work to name a few) as their head electrician 7yrs later left to go work for the Federal Railroad Administration inspecting rail .got caught in a budget cut 5 months later and ended up working for the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority as as a 1st class general mechanic 5 yrs later i went into supervision 7years later I'm still a manager running a rail yard in Philadelphia .I'm aspiring to become just like lucky dog .......to do as little as possible if i make it to retirement .......