You are absolutely correct. Thank you for clarifying. My point wasn't that we shouldn't try to standardize language, but that when people start freaking out because no one seems to be following x, y, and z rules anymore it is absurd because in all likelihood those rules have been modified and the documentation just hasn't caught up. It is obviously best if people can understand each-other without struggling, but does it really matter if error occurs as long a everyone can easily understand the point? Heck, most people would do a double take if you asked them who they were going somewhere with in "proper" English: "With whom are you going?" - I would guess that virtually no native speakers talk like that!
Asexual reproduction fits into the definition I gave just fine. As for individual animals, I was talking about *species*. Of course there will be individual outliers, but there are people who are raised who cannot communicate too. There is a difference between not fitting in with what academia says is correct and having an impairment ("bad" versus none). Anyhow, yes, it is an over simplified definition because it was used as an analogy and in getting absurdly technical it would have lost the point.
When I see bad English I assume the author is either stupid, lazy, doesn't care, or is trying to make some kind of point. Bad English is also hard to read.
Last time I checked making an assumption based on first appearance without regard for considering the facts IS a judgment; prejudice to be precise. By your own definition you would consider many great English writers "stupid" and "lazy". Maybe they are, but suspect there are a great number of people who have a say in creating English standardization texts that would disagree.
So effectively we are all speaking different languages, and just happen to understand each other? This isn't such a ridiculous statement, in the same way that we are essentially all a different species, that happen to be able to reproduce with each other.
No, we are all speaking the same language. There are dialectical differences in word choice and grammar, but it is all close enough that we can understand each-other which is the definition of language! Strangely enough being able to reproduce (and actually doing it "in nature") is what defines a species, so the ability to interact is the scientific litmus test for relatedness in both of these cases.
While you might be able to judge a person's abilities by how they talk or write it is just a measure of their usefulness to you. "More conformity == better" is just your personal bias for better or for worse.
Ever think maybe that had something to do more with the absurd terms of service and not the actual demand for the technology? I'd really like a vacation to space, but the current company wants $1 million + to do it. If the price came down to near that of an airline ticket i'd be all over it. I also don't have a data plan for similar reasons (absurdly high cost, usage restrictions, bad coverage, and horrible contract lock-in).
That said I know a few people that have tried a certain wireless internet service that they have come to affectionately call "Crapwire" due to its unreliability. Then again, getting some more bandwidth and towers might fix that problem too.
It isn't that students and other don't understand "proper" grammar, it is that "proper" grammar only exists in books and actually isn't correct at all (though it might have been at one point). Languages are dynamic, and as English evolves the old rules of grammar become modified.
Differences between British English, American English, and Indian English are all just a matter of colloquialisms and preferences. heck you could say the same thing about the differences between Bostonian, Southern, and Midwestern dialects within the United States (such as vowel pronunciation in Boston, second person plural use in the south, and regional vocabulary for carbonated beverages in the midwest).
As the influence of global relations (trade, culture and otherwise) expand the differences in usage will likely decrease in public publications and media but increase within subcultures as the psychological need to create a individual/social identity becomes increasingly difficult in an ever more homogeneous world culture.
This doesn't mean anyone is talking "wrong". Unless you are trying to be silly, you can't really speak your native tongue in any way but the right one!
I'm with you there... I read the summary and said "huh??" Forget kissing and falling asleep, someone's been hitting the sauce in the statistics department.
I agree 100%. Programs can be badly written, but a good OS should be able to deal with the problem using process management. BeOS was great at this in its day, as is OSX is too in general (with the exception of Java being almost completely broken on OSX). Java programs grind the entire OS to a screeching halt on OSX. I blame Apple for this - it is their implementation and handling of java that is messed up since the same programs work fine on similar systems with another OS.
The same should be applied to Vista. If Vista responsiveness slows because you are running poorly written programs the responsibility is ultimately that of Microsoft.
A slow program is the programmer's fault but it shouldn't make the whole system unusable.
Sorry, I got lost in your post. What problem do you have with Habeas Corpus again?
I know several countries where it never did exist if you would prefer, but personally I like my rights: what is so wrong with the Legislature reaffirming them?
Personally I find it rather disturbing that anyone would vote against this. If someone is in the U.S. they should be subject to U.S. law. The good and the bad. After all, laws were made to protect the public. It is unfair to expect people to be accountable for actions without holding up our (collective) end of the bargain.
Please get your facts straight before commenting. I work for an independent newspaper that had journalists at this event, and let me tell you that although there is just about a consensus that he was seeking attention the reaction of the police was over the top.
The mistakes of the police: not removing him sooner, taking him THROUGH the crowd instead of around it. Not handcuffing him when they first got him into custody (this is what allowed him to "escape" back toward the forum). They also waited until 6 officers were holding him on the ground by his hands and feet before they tasered him. Was he annoying - yes! Was he really a threat to anyone's life - no! Especially after the was being held down. Tasers are not "non-lethal" they are categorized as "less-lethal" which means that they won't kill people as often as shooting them will. Although some may wish to change the law, being annoying is not currently an offense where a potentially lethal force should be used.
This is also a freedom of speech issue. Many students were not allowed to ask questions of Kerry - the same students whose funds were used to bring him to campus! I understand there are time restraints, but a forum should be just that - a place where students can ask questions. His microphone was turned off not just because he was over time, but because he was considered annoying by those in charge. I found his questions irrelevant and his demeanor annoying too, but others may find them pertinent. It is not our place to judge whether a question is "worthy" of being asked even if we don't agree with it. This is extremely important and is why we have freedom of speech.
I also found it disturbing and telling that Kerry began answering his first questions as he was being hauled away and tasered. Why didn't Kerry ask that he leave peacefully or wait until he was removed before commenting? His reaction was very unbecoming of a Senator.
what do you do with the plants once they are full of selenium? This has always been a problem for me. I know cattail can breakdown roadway chems, but that was the problem. Then they found some fungi can actually break down waste. What do these plants do - just trap the selenium or actually turn it into something else?
Sounds fair to me. You want access to the market you follow the rules of that market's culture. Don't like it, do business elsewhere and we will either ignore your product or make it domestically instead. it is called protectionism, and despite it having a bad rap it is done everywhere to dome extent.
They play the game according to the rules that the governments of the world set. If you dont like the rules then blame some of those governments for allowing themselves to be duped.
The problem is those in power keep changing the rules, and I have no problem blaming those governments who are allowed to be duped; often the people do too. Apparently the people of Argentina did. Although the government signed them up, the people revolted. They knew a scam when they saw one. Unfortunately not all countries educate their citizens about politics and economics.
If those countries choose to borrow from the IMF and or its member nations and by extension us then is it unreasonable for us their creditors to insist upon the adoption or abandonment of certain policies which caused the borrows to be in a position where a loan was needed in the first place?
There is a difference between "choose" and coerced. Basically these countries were told to fix their economy or no more trade. If China did to us what we have done to many developing nations we would be worse than Russia after the Soviet collapse. The only reason they don't is it would hurt their economy as well. Super powers have a different standing because of their exceptional production and consumption. Developing nations are easier to replace.
(they are essentially borrowing from European and American taxpayers)
No, they aren't. They are borrowing from private bankers that live in those countries. Those bankers have a racket. They also have money bet on a bunch of multinational corporations. The U.S. tax payers don't have any money to lend - it is all going to pay the interest on the national debt!
suppose that the high wage earner "paid" for social services for three other people who were unemployed through taxes. How is it any different for him if he is paid less, but pays less tax
The problem is that they aren't paying less tax. They are just making less. The extra money goes to repaying the debt. So less services, more work, less pay. For instance: Ethiopia was forced to sell "excess" grains while their people starved. The grain was then sold back to them at an inflated rate from the "free market" to feed the starving masses. The higher rate meant they needed more loans to buy it back. Not only could they not afford to buy it, but some of it was purchased on the market and never even got back. Net result - dead people that could have been fed by domestically grown food.
(you cannot consume what you do not have after all, no matter how much paper money you print).
No? Then how exactly are we keeping our lights on in the U.S.? I live in the county. My taxes went up 400% but we are still facing a deficit. The State is running a deficit. The Federal government has a deficit in the Trillions. How come other countries get called on it in the millions but we can run negative in deficit at all levels of government without repercussions?
Please re-read the chapter on trade in you economics textbook, trade is a good thing, it alows all of us to produce and consume more then we could have otherwise without the trade. Do you want everyone to share equally in their misery or do you want to distribute wealth? Protectionism gives you the former while trade delivers the later.
Crass consumption is idiotic. It isn't a matter of "misery for the masses" or "distribution" it is an issue of how much can I steal before the peasants rise up. I'm no communist, but the fact is the rich are after power not subsistence. There can be enough to go around while those willing to work harder are still allowed to enjoy luxury.
Why is it that Liberals are always so against the IMF and the World Bank?
Couldn't tell you, go ask someone that identifies as "liberal".
Multinationals use international trade regulations to their advantage. By aligning with lending groups like the IMF, multinationals use national debt recovery to force laws through that require full employment and cuts to social welfare systems so that taxes can be levied and surplus budgets can be made to repay international debt. The result: the poor are forced into indentured servitude because they can no longer get social services and those that had higher wages and supported the poor through their taxes end up with reduced pay because the employer is "forced" to employ more people with the same amount of money (which is the actual multinational goal). Since they have more work for the same investment in labor they have a higher output and greater profit margin as a result. This is widespread and systematic and replaces American jobs with foreign servitude, and the trend goes all the way to the top of management - labor goes overseas and the management eventually does too.
Sources: The IMF rulings and restructuring agreements in Argentina (IMF 1999-2001) "Crisis Leads to Salary Plunge" (Siam Future / The Nation)
It has two wire shelves that are not adjustable. There is no light when you open the door. It doesn't get particularly cold and there is no ice-maker, but if you fill the ice tray it might actually freeze if you turn it to coldest and keep it closed for 24 hours. The door has no built in shelving, and it has a place on the handle where you can put a lock. It is 4.1 Cubic Feet and commonly found in hotel rooms with little itsy bitsy alice-in-wonderland size bottles of things to drink in it that will quadruple your hotel bill in one night.
thanks for the suggestion... my main computer is running osx right now (so let the compiling begin! - i'll check it out as soon as it finishes.), it is also good to have a better readily available alternative on my linux computers. the winamp style programs all have a 90s feel that seems dated and lacking. Winamp was a great program, but it is time to move on features-wise (for me at least).
what bothers you about the interface (other than some buttons being tiny), and why is it bad at managing the music collection (are you letting it arrange the actual files or are you just referring to playlists?)
In all seriousness, why do you call itunes "dreadful"? I know plenty of other people that don't like it for various reasons (such as saying the file size is too large and they don't like it running an agent in the background that uses resources), but i'm curious about it because I haven't found a program that is better (less crap like iTMS and bugs) but with similar features.
and marital status of course is public information in most states and in most cases since it typically becomes a matter of court records which are public.
Put the computer in a public area. Remove the ram everytime you aren't going to be in that public area. Install all the limitations you can on the user account in whatever operating system you are using so settings can't be changed and run everything through a proxy server with a filter list that is also updated from a third party service with a block list.
Seriously though - this is rather extreme. How about just having the parent talk to the kid about why they think porn is bad and put the computer in a public place.
What's he wearing red and white stripes? Seriously though, this is a pretty cool tool even if it is a bit ridiculous considering all the missing persons there are out there who get no attention...
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You are absolutely correct. Thank you for clarifying. My point wasn't that we shouldn't try to standardize language, but that when people start freaking out because no one seems to be following x, y, and z rules anymore it is absurd because in all likelihood those rules have been modified and the documentation just hasn't caught up. It is obviously best if people can understand each-other without struggling, but does it really matter if error occurs as long a everyone can easily understand the point? Heck, most people would do a double take if you asked them who they were going somewhere with in "proper" English: "With whom are you going?" - I would guess that virtually no native speakers talk like that!
When I see bad English I assume the author is either stupid, lazy, doesn't care, or is trying to make some kind of point. Bad English is also hard to read.
Last time I checked making an assumption based on first appearance without regard for considering the facts IS a judgment; prejudice to be precise. By your own definition you would consider many great English writers "stupid" and "lazy". Maybe they are, but suspect there are a great number of people who have a say in creating English standardization texts that would disagree.
No, we are all speaking the same language. There are dialectical differences in word choice and grammar, but it is all close enough that we can understand each-other which is the definition of language! Strangely enough being able to reproduce (and actually doing it "in nature") is what defines a species, so the ability to interact is the scientific litmus test for relatedness in both of these cases.
While you might be able to judge a person's abilities by how they talk or write it is just a measure of their usefulness to you. "More conformity == better" is just your personal bias for better or for worse.
Learn English man!
Ever think maybe that had something to do more with the absurd terms of service and not the actual demand for the technology? I'd really like a vacation to space, but the current company wants $1 million + to do it. If the price came down to near that of an airline ticket i'd be all over it. I also don't have a data plan for similar reasons (absurdly high cost, usage restrictions, bad coverage, and horrible contract lock-in).
That said I know a few people that have tried a certain wireless internet service that they have come to affectionately call "Crapwire" due to its unreliability. Then again, getting some more bandwidth and towers might fix that problem too.
It isn't that students and other don't understand "proper" grammar, it is that "proper" grammar only exists in books and actually isn't correct at all (though it might have been at one point). Languages are dynamic, and as English evolves the old rules of grammar become modified.
Differences between British English, American English, and Indian English are all just a matter of colloquialisms and preferences. heck you could say the same thing about the differences between Bostonian, Southern, and Midwestern dialects within the United States (such as vowel pronunciation in Boston, second person plural use in the south, and regional vocabulary for carbonated beverages in the midwest).
As the influence of global relations (trade, culture and otherwise) expand the differences in usage will likely decrease in public publications and media but increase within subcultures as the psychological need to create a individual/social identity becomes increasingly difficult in an ever more homogeneous world culture.
This doesn't mean anyone is talking "wrong". Unless you are trying to be silly, you can't really speak your native tongue in any way but the right one!
I'm with you there... I read the summary and said "huh??" Forget kissing and falling asleep, someone's been hitting the sauce in the statistics department.
Does this remind anyone else of the short fiction story I don't know, Timmy, Being God is a Big Responsibility?
I have 2 gigs of ram. My machine should be able to run java as well as a similar machine running xp with 512 MB ram.
I'm sorry but the handling of Java on OSX is inexcusable.
I agree 100%. Programs can be badly written, but a good OS should be able to deal with the problem using process management. BeOS was great at this in its day, as is OSX is too in general (with the exception of Java being almost completely broken on OSX). Java programs grind the entire OS to a screeching halt on OSX. I blame Apple for this - it is their implementation and handling of java that is messed up since the same programs work fine on similar systems with another OS.
The same should be applied to Vista. If Vista responsiveness slows because you are running poorly written programs the responsibility is ultimately that of Microsoft.
A slow program is the programmer's fault but it shouldn't make the whole system unusable.
Sorry, I got lost in your post. What problem do you have with Habeas Corpus again?
I know several countries where it never did exist if you would prefer, but personally I like my rights: what is so wrong with the Legislature reaffirming them?
Personally I find it rather disturbing that anyone would vote against this. If someone is in the U.S. they should be subject to U.S. law. The good and the bad. After all, laws were made to protect the public. It is unfair to expect people to be accountable for actions without holding up our (collective) end of the bargain.
Please get your facts straight before commenting. I work for an independent newspaper that had journalists at this event, and let me tell you that although there is just about a consensus that he was seeking attention the reaction of the police was over the top. The mistakes of the police: not removing him sooner, taking him THROUGH the crowd instead of around it. Not handcuffing him when they first got him into custody (this is what allowed him to "escape" back toward the forum). They also waited until 6 officers were holding him on the ground by his hands and feet before they tasered him. Was he annoying - yes! Was he really a threat to anyone's life - no! Especially after the was being held down. Tasers are not "non-lethal" they are categorized as "less-lethal" which means that they won't kill people as often as shooting them will. Although some may wish to change the law, being annoying is not currently an offense where a potentially lethal force should be used. This is also a freedom of speech issue. Many students were not allowed to ask questions of Kerry - the same students whose funds were used to bring him to campus! I understand there are time restraints, but a forum should be just that - a place where students can ask questions. His microphone was turned off not just because he was over time, but because he was considered annoying by those in charge. I found his questions irrelevant and his demeanor annoying too, but others may find them pertinent. It is not our place to judge whether a question is "worthy" of being asked even if we don't agree with it. This is extremely important and is why we have freedom of speech. I also found it disturbing and telling that Kerry began answering his first questions as he was being hauled away and tasered. Why didn't Kerry ask that he leave peacefully or wait until he was removed before commenting? His reaction was very unbecoming of a Senator.
As someone who works in production for a print newspaper and does website design for several larger blogs I say amen to that!
oops.. I meant cattail can absorb but not breakdown roadway chems which meant that when they died the problem was there again.
what do you do with the plants once they are full of selenium? This has always been a problem for me. I know cattail can breakdown roadway chems, but that was the problem. Then they found some fungi can actually break down waste. What do these plants do - just trap the selenium or actually turn it into something else?
Sounds fair to me. You want access to the market you follow the rules of that market's culture. Don't like it, do business elsewhere and we will either ignore your product or make it domestically instead. it is called protectionism, and despite it having a bad rap it is done everywhere to dome extent.
They play the game according to the rules that the governments of the world set. If you dont like the rules then blame some of those governments for allowing themselves to be duped.
The problem is those in power keep changing the rules, and I have no problem blaming those governments who are allowed to be duped; often the people do too. Apparently the people of Argentina did. Although the government signed them up, the people revolted. They knew a scam when they saw one. Unfortunately not all countries educate their citizens about politics and economics.
If those countries choose to borrow from the IMF and or its member nations and by extension us then is it unreasonable for us their creditors to insist upon the adoption or abandonment of certain policies which caused the borrows to be in a position where a loan was needed in the first place?
There is a difference between "choose" and coerced. Basically these countries were told to fix their economy or no more trade. If China did to us what we have done to many developing nations we would be worse than Russia after the Soviet collapse. The only reason they don't is it would hurt their economy as well. Super powers have a different standing because of their exceptional production and consumption. Developing nations are easier to replace.
(they are essentially borrowing from European and American taxpayers)
No, they aren't. They are borrowing from private bankers that live in those countries. Those bankers have a racket. They also have money bet on a bunch of multinational corporations. The U.S. tax payers don't have any money to lend - it is all going to pay the interest on the national debt!
suppose that the high wage earner "paid" for social services for three other people who were unemployed through taxes. How is it any different for him if he is paid less, but pays less tax
The problem is that they aren't paying less tax. They are just making less. The extra money goes to repaying the debt. So less services, more work, less pay. For instance: Ethiopia was forced to sell "excess" grains while their people starved. The grain was then sold back to them at an inflated rate from the "free market" to feed the starving masses. The higher rate meant they needed more loans to buy it back. Not only could they not afford to buy it, but some of it was purchased on the market and never even got back. Net result - dead people that could have been fed by domestically grown food.
(you cannot consume what you do not have after all, no matter how much paper money you print).
No? Then how exactly are we keeping our lights on in the U.S.? I live in the county. My taxes went up 400% but we are still facing a deficit. The State is running a deficit. The Federal government has a deficit in the Trillions. How come other countries get called on it in the millions but we can run negative in deficit at all levels of government without repercussions?
Please re-read the chapter on trade in you economics textbook, trade is a good thing, it alows all of us to produce and consume more then we could have otherwise without the trade. Do you want everyone to share equally in their misery or do you want to distribute wealth? Protectionism gives you the former while trade delivers the later.
Crass consumption is idiotic. It isn't a matter of "misery for the masses" or "distribution" it is an issue of how much can I steal before the peasants rise up. I'm no communist, but the fact is the rich are after power not subsistence. There can be enough to go around while those willing to work harder are still allowed to enjoy luxury.
Why is it that Liberals are always so against the IMF and the World Bank?
Couldn't tell you, go ask someone that identifies as "liberal".
No offense, but where is your data?
Multinationals use international trade regulations to their advantage. By aligning with lending groups like the IMF, multinationals use national debt recovery to force laws through that require full employment and cuts to social welfare systems so that taxes can be levied and surplus budgets can be made to repay international debt. The result: the poor are forced into indentured servitude because they can no longer get social services and those that had higher wages and supported the poor through their taxes end up with reduced pay because the employer is "forced" to employ more people with the same amount of money (which is the actual multinational goal). Since they have more work for the same investment in labor they have a higher output and greater profit margin as a result. This is widespread and systematic and replaces American jobs with foreign servitude, and the trend goes all the way to the top of management - labor goes overseas and the management eventually does too.
Sources:
The IMF rulings and restructuring agreements in Argentina (IMF 1999-2001)
"Crisis Leads to Salary Plunge" (Siam Future / The Nation)
It has two wire shelves that are not adjustable. There is no light when you open the door. It doesn't get particularly cold and there is no ice-maker, but if you fill the ice tray it might actually freeze if you turn it to coldest and keep it closed for 24 hours. The door has no built in shelving, and it has a place on the handle where you can put a lock. It is 4.1 Cubic Feet and commonly found in hotel rooms with little itsy bitsy alice-in-wonderland size bottles of things to drink in it that will quadruple your hotel bill in one night.
Now you know.
It's not global warming, it's intelligent defrosting. Oh, and in Soviet Russia the Northwest Passage melts YOU!
thanks for the suggestion... my main computer is running osx right now (so let the compiling begin! - i'll check it out as soon as it finishes.), it is also good to have a better readily available alternative on my linux computers. the winamp style programs all have a 90s feel that seems dated and lacking. Winamp was a great program, but it is time to move on features-wise (for me at least).
what bothers you about the interface (other than some buttons being tiny), and why is it bad at managing the music collection (are you letting it arrange the actual files or are you just referring to playlists?)
In all seriousness, why do you call itunes "dreadful"? I know plenty of other people that don't like it for various reasons (such as saying the file size is too large and they don't like it running an agent in the background that uses resources), but i'm curious about it because I haven't found a program that is better (less crap like iTMS and bugs) but with similar features.
and marital status of course is public information in most states and in most cases since it typically becomes a matter of court records which are public.
Put the computer in a public area. Remove the ram everytime you aren't going to be in that public area. Install all the limitations you can on the user account in whatever operating system you are using so settings can't be changed and run everything through a proxy server with a filter list that is also updated from a third party service with a block list. Seriously though - this is rather extreme. How about just having the parent talk to the kid about why they think porn is bad and put the computer in a public place.
What's he wearing red and white stripes? Seriously though, this is a pretty cool tool even if it is a bit ridiculous considering all the missing persons there are out there who get no attention...