And yet your point still stands, kind of. The whole premise that The Princess Bride was abridged is basically a gimmick that allowed the author to write "just the good bits" for the reader and skip over anything either he didn't feel like writing or thought the reader wouldn't enjoy reading.
a Prius may get "up to" 58 MPG, but here in the real world...
You just reminded me of an ad I recently got saying "Save up to $800 on items starting at $398". There's a point where that technically-legal wording gets kind of ridiculous, because I'm sure they weren't going to pay me to take any of their products.
I'm pretty sure they say it's "to save paper" while really meaning "we're sick of emptying the trash can all the time" or possibly "we think it's less expensive because the electric budget goes somewhere else".
Error messages have to be focused on correcting the problem, not accusing the users of being "morons" and making a mistake, and not leaving them fearing punishment.
I'm reminded of a recent experience on the "support" site for a television I'd recently bought. The TV had a bug where it would turn itself on once per day, based on a timer that could not be turned off. I figured a firmware update might fix things, so I go to the site, which has almost nothing on it except for a prompt for model number of the TV. I type in the model number and hit enter:
"Wrong number!" says the error page, prompting me again to enter the serial number.
And that's it. I'm just wrong, and I need to keep trying until I get it right. Except I've checked the box, I've checked the back of the TV, and it's the exact same number in all cases. Except upon input it's "Wrong number!"
There's no other way to interface with the site. I can't browse through a tree, I can't search, there isn't even a nudge for the correct formatting of the model, in case I'm supposed to add or remove dashes, or drop the leading letters, or anything. Let me tell you, that was frustrating.
There's also this psychological tendency to discover a band and find that while you like everything in their current discography, all of their new music that comes out afterward just doesn't seem as good to you. So to get the most enjoyment, it only makes sense to discover bands after they've got a pretty hefty catalog, because once you do you're tarnishing their future releases.
Well, it's a crackpot theory, but I've heard too many people say it to dismiss it entirely.
This, by the way, is why a lot of people in other countries like to VPN to get US based Netflix instead of having to subscribe to multiple services...
The first thing I thought of when reading this article was Netflix, and how it doesn't have everything, so we're also subscribing to Amazon Prime (mostly for the shipping, but also we've got access to movies) and Hulu Plus, and an additional Starz membership... and we still don't have everything, or know where to find what. I have to ask my four-year-old which video service has the show she wants to watch.
The idea of inflicting the same issue on myself for music is unappealing, to say the least. If I like it, I'd still rather buy it and have it for keeps.
I see a lot of hate for Trump, too. Personally, I see more of than than for Hillary, but it may depend a lot on your social circles, so I'm going to assume it's anecdotal. But I don't think you can call the election based on Hillary hate alone.
I get your point, but a black hole with a mass of 21 billion suns is a decent fraction of the mass of a galaxy, isn't it? Last I checked they said there were around 100 billion stars in the Milky Way and/or it weighs around 100 billion solar masses. So a smaller galaxy with a black hole that massive has put quite a bit of its mass in one place.
This doesn't justify the grandparent's claim, which is off by several orders of magnitude, but the general idea that a supermassive black hole may have consumed a big chunk of a small galaxy doesn't seem like a wrong way to describe this situation.
I get annoyed when people don't put a readme.txt in the root.
Hm. Honestly, it had never occurred to me to do this, but that's a good idea. Back in the day of floppies, I'd regularly put contact info on the label in case I lost it, but I never really translated it to USB sticks. I'm more prone to breaking them than losing them, so maybe it doesn't matter anyway, but it's still a good suggestion.
It told me it was somewhat longer than my small intestine, and somewhat shorter than my daily commute. In between, I'm not sure I'm really impressed/concerned/informed by knowing the sum length of my neurons.
If a minority pride parade was illegal, you could get rid of the oppression by striking down that law, leaving all pride parades legal. To get so far as to be oppressing the majority, you'd need to actually outlaw majority pride parades.
Note that this is orthogonal to what the media or popular opinion might say about a "majority pride" parade. You are correct you'd get ripped to shreds, but that's completely unrelated to whether or not minority pride parades are repressed or allowed. The reason you'd get ripped to shreds is because 1) majority pride is pretty pointless, and 2) majority pride is badly tainted by the fact that many who earnestly clamor for them are strongly and un-subtly anti-minority. (Not all: some may have a strong sense of irony or balance that makes the idea appeal to them, but it's really tough to shake off the taint.) Regardless, the negative reaction to a majority pride parade is not on par with the oppression of outlawing minority pride -- public distaste is not the same is outlawing something. Also, since it is a reaction that would happen independent of an oppressive anti-law, I still think my point stands: repealing oppression on a minority does not inflict oppression on the majority.
"Are you ok to oppress 50% of the population to make 1% happy? You really want to stand by that?"
I think this is a false dichotomy. Transitioning from oppressing a minority to not oppressing a minority doesn't automatically oppress the majority. It's like the war on Christmas stuff, where anyone acknowledging there may be more than one winter holiday is accused of oppressing the majority by not being full-bore Christmas only.
Trying to answer your question, even in an extreme case where 99.9% of the population was oppressing 0.1% of the population, I would be in favor of forcing that 99.9% to stop oppressing the 0.1%, because stopping oppression is the right thing to do. The thing is, I think you can stop oppression without going over to reverse-oppression, but you're apparently not allowing that as an option. If you stop 50 kids from bullying 1 kid, are you now bullying the 50 kids?
I remember with the old logo sometimes seeing it upside down and wondering what a DY was. This one is still susceptible to that, in addition to looking like a fence, or the rain, or someone being beamed up to a space ship.
That would require someone to actually call the phone. Most phones are used for text, messaging,etc., and rarely for phone calls.
If I lost my phone and suspected someone else might have it, it seems like a no-brainer to call the phone rather than text in order to get the finder to pick up. What phones "mostly" do is irrelevant in this specific situation. If there are two options and one isn't viable, the intelligent person picks the only option that is viable.
You make a good case for not locking down the phone so that it can't accept calls. But I'd still personally put a basic lock on it, just not that advanced lock. To prevent butt dials, if nothing else.
I've been hearing the same thing all my life. At 20 a friend said he couldn't imagine living past 40. At 30 a different friend said the same thing about 50. These days 70 is still pretty vigorous, for a lot of people. My dad at 66 is still doing carpentry. He manages more than he does the manual labor, but he can hang drywall or build a deck if he wants. I know at 70 my grandparents were still playing golf and tennis, and they may have been into their 80's.
The trick to aging is the degeneration is a slow process, and you find ways to replace some of the things lost with other perks. So yeah, if you're 30 and a suit makes you suddenly blind and unable to walk, it's nearly crippling. But if it creeps up on you over half a century, it may still be frustrating but you've got a lot more time to adjust. It's still a slow creep of pain and indignities, but it's not like hitting a brick wall.
Or, as the saying goes, it may suck getting older, but for most people it still beats the alternative.
Besides, locking your phone, at least to me, seems counterproductive. If it's locked, how is someone supposed to know who to return it to if you lost it?
If a phone is locked, you can still take calls. So if you find a locked phone you can answer and see if it's the owner looking for it, or someone who knows the owner and can point you back.
I've had four or five flops, a squeaker, and a viable loss, not in that order. So, just four more business and I'll be onto something? Sadly I'm running out of time and energy, and the day job, while not on the path to make me ridiculously wealthy, keeps giving me sweet murmurings of a long, slow road that would eventually make me comfortable enough that it's hard to let my focus wander any further afield.
Do you want reliable software, or do you want us to be lax about spelling and grammar errors?
Based on personal experience, I'd say that's not a true dilemma. The answer is many programmers tend to go for yes and yes, respectively. Some of the most egregious spelling and grammar errors I've ever seen have come from software. Error messages, logs, instructions, etc. There is nothing keeping people who write reliable software from also having massive blind spots when it comes to trying to use English coherently.
Of course, there are many different types. Some are exacting about everything. Some care about code but can't spell. I also know plenty who are precise with their language, but can't put together useful code.
I've been a proofreader/copy editor for around 60 books. I must be one of the world's biggest jerks. On the plus side, at least I got paid for noticing the mistakes, rather than just making a hobby out of it.
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And yet your point still stands, kind of. The whole premise that The Princess Bride was abridged is basically a gimmick that allowed the author to write "just the good bits" for the reader and skip over anything either he didn't feel like writing or thought the reader wouldn't enjoy reading.
a Prius may get "up to" 58 MPG, but here in the real world...
You just reminded me of an ad I recently got saying "Save up to $800 on items starting at $398". There's a point where that technically-legal wording gets kind of ridiculous, because I'm sure they weren't going to pay me to take any of their products.
I'm pretty sure they say it's "to save paper" while really meaning "we're sick of emptying the trash can all the time" or possibly "we think it's less expensive because the electric budget goes somewhere else".
Dry, cold, and as soon as you turn and open the door handle without a paper towel, re-contaminated. Plus you're half deaf from the noise.
Kafka in this case being RCA.
Error messages have to be focused on correcting the problem, not accusing the users of being "morons" and making a mistake, and not leaving them fearing punishment.
I'm reminded of a recent experience on the "support" site for a television I'd recently bought. The TV had a bug where it would turn itself on once per day, based on a timer that could not be turned off. I figured a firmware update might fix things, so I go to the site, which has almost nothing on it except for a prompt for model number of the TV. I type in the model number and hit enter:
"Wrong number!" says the error page, prompting me again to enter the serial number.
And that's it. I'm just wrong, and I need to keep trying until I get it right. Except I've checked the box, I've checked the back of the TV, and it's the exact same number in all cases. Except upon input it's "Wrong number!"
There's no other way to interface with the site. I can't browse through a tree, I can't search, there isn't even a nudge for the correct formatting of the model, in case I'm supposed to add or remove dashes, or drop the leading letters, or anything. Let me tell you, that was frustrating.
There's also this psychological tendency to discover a band and find that while you like everything in their current discography, all of their new music that comes out afterward just doesn't seem as good to you. So to get the most enjoyment, it only makes sense to discover bands after they've got a pretty hefty catalog, because once you do you're tarnishing their future releases.
Well, it's a crackpot theory, but I've heard too many people say it to dismiss it entirely.
This, by the way, is why a lot of people in other countries like to VPN to get US based Netflix instead of having to subscribe to multiple services...
The first thing I thought of when reading this article was Netflix, and how it doesn't have everything, so we're also subscribing to Amazon Prime (mostly for the shipping, but also we've got access to movies) and Hulu Plus, and an additional Starz membership ... and we still don't have everything, or know where to find what. I have to ask my four-year-old which video service has the show she wants to watch.
The idea of inflicting the same issue on myself for music is unappealing, to say the least. If I like it, I'd still rather buy it and have it for keeps.
I see a lot of hate for Trump, too. Personally, I see more of than than for Hillary, but it may depend a lot on your social circles, so I'm going to assume it's anecdotal. But I don't think you can call the election based on Hillary hate alone.
I get your point, but a black hole with a mass of 21 billion suns is a decent fraction of the mass of a galaxy, isn't it? Last I checked they said there were around 100 billion stars in the Milky Way and/or it weighs around 100 billion solar masses. So a smaller galaxy with a black hole that massive has put quite a bit of its mass in one place.
This doesn't justify the grandparent's claim, which is off by several orders of magnitude, but the general idea that a supermassive black hole may have consumed a big chunk of a small galaxy doesn't seem like a wrong way to describe this situation.
I get annoyed when people don't put a readme.txt in the root.
Hm. Honestly, it had never occurred to me to do this, but that's a good idea. Back in the day of floppies, I'd regularly put contact info on the label in case I lost it, but I never really translated it to USB sticks. I'm more prone to breaking them than losing them, so maybe it doesn't matter anyway, but it's still a good suggestion.
It told me it was somewhat longer than my small intestine, and somewhat shorter than my daily commute. In between, I'm not sure I'm really impressed/concerned/informed by knowing the sum length of my neurons.
1) A rock that hasn't had all that yucky life stuff on it for the last 3 billion years.
OR
2) Long odds that it'll crack open and reveal it's a space egg, so you can be the first human to be eaten by alien life.
I think your analogies are getting scrambled.
If a minority pride parade was illegal, you could get rid of the oppression by striking down that law, leaving all pride parades legal. To get so far as to be oppressing the majority, you'd need to actually outlaw majority pride parades.
Note that this is orthogonal to what the media or popular opinion might say about a "majority pride" parade. You are correct you'd get ripped to shreds, but that's completely unrelated to whether or not minority pride parades are repressed or allowed. The reason you'd get ripped to shreds is because 1) majority pride is pretty pointless, and 2) majority pride is badly tainted by the fact that many who earnestly clamor for them are strongly and un-subtly anti-minority. (Not all: some may have a strong sense of irony or balance that makes the idea appeal to them, but it's really tough to shake off the taint.) Regardless, the negative reaction to a majority pride parade is not on par with the oppression of outlawing minority pride -- public distaste is not the same is outlawing something. Also, since it is a reaction that would happen independent of an oppressive anti-law, I still think my point stands: repealing oppression on a minority does not inflict oppression on the majority.
"Are you ok to oppress 50% of the population to make 1% happy? You really want to stand by that?"
I think this is a false dichotomy. Transitioning from oppressing a minority to not oppressing a minority doesn't automatically oppress the majority. It's like the war on Christmas stuff, where anyone acknowledging there may be more than one winter holiday is accused of oppressing the majority by not being full-bore Christmas only.
Trying to answer your question, even in an extreme case where 99.9% of the population was oppressing 0.1% of the population, I would be in favor of forcing that 99.9% to stop oppressing the 0.1%, because stopping oppression is the right thing to do. The thing is, I think you can stop oppression without going over to reverse-oppression, but you're apparently not allowing that as an option. If you stop 50 kids from bullying 1 kid, are you now bullying the 50 kids?
I remember with the old logo sometimes seeing it upside down and wondering what a DY was. This one is still susceptible to that, in addition to looking like a fence, or the rain, or someone being beamed up to a space ship.
That would require someone to actually call the phone. Most phones are used for text, messaging,etc., and rarely for phone calls.
If I lost my phone and suspected someone else might have it, it seems like a no-brainer to call the phone rather than text in order to get the finder to pick up. What phones "mostly" do is irrelevant in this specific situation. If there are two options and one isn't viable, the intelligent person picks the only option that is viable.
You make a good case for not locking down the phone so that it can't accept calls. But I'd still personally put a basic lock on it, just not that advanced lock. To prevent butt dials, if nothing else.
Anything that can go wrong will go worng?
I've been hearing the same thing all my life. At 20 a friend said he couldn't imagine living past 40. At 30 a different friend said the same thing about 50. These days 70 is still pretty vigorous, for a lot of people. My dad at 66 is still doing carpentry. He manages more than he does the manual labor, but he can hang drywall or build a deck if he wants. I know at 70 my grandparents were still playing golf and tennis, and they may have been into their 80's.
The trick to aging is the degeneration is a slow process, and you find ways to replace some of the things lost with other perks. So yeah, if you're 30 and a suit makes you suddenly blind and unable to walk, it's nearly crippling. But if it creeps up on you over half a century, it may still be frustrating but you've got a lot more time to adjust. It's still a slow creep of pain and indignities, but it's not like hitting a brick wall.
Or, as the saying goes, it may suck getting older, but for most people it still beats the alternative.
Besides, locking your phone, at least to me, seems counterproductive. If it's locked, how is someone supposed to know who to return it to if you lost it?
If a phone is locked, you can still take calls. So if you find a locked phone you can answer and see if it's the owner looking for it, or someone who knows the owner and can point you back.
I've had four or five flops, a squeaker, and a viable loss, not in that order. So, just four more business and I'll be onto something? Sadly I'm running out of time and energy, and the day job, while not on the path to make me ridiculously wealthy, keeps giving me sweet murmurings of a long, slow road that would eventually make me comfortable enough that it's hard to let my focus wander any further afield.
It was going well tilde very end. Then, bang!, he made a hash of it. Lesson learned: when it comes to doctors, never put your asterisk.
Do you want reliable software, or do you want us to be lax about spelling and grammar errors?
Based on personal experience, I'd say that's not a true dilemma. The answer is many programmers tend to go for yes and yes, respectively. Some of the most egregious spelling and grammar errors I've ever seen have come from software. Error messages, logs, instructions, etc. There is nothing keeping people who write reliable software from also having massive blind spots when it comes to trying to use English coherently.
Of course, there are many different types. Some are exacting about everything. Some care about code but can't spell. I also know plenty who are precise with their language, but can't put together useful code.
I've been a proofreader/copy editor for around 60 books. I must be one of the world's biggest jerks. On the plus side, at least I got paid for noticing the mistakes, rather than just making a hobby out of it.
I don't think I've ever metamoderated, and I get mod points every week or two.