No one wants to hear about *Nix and BSD? Show them how widely those are used, from smartphones to routers to e-readers. Let them know that the only reason people don't hear about Linux et al is because it is not heavily advertised (i.e. hardly ever see "LINUX" written in big, bold letters on a product, let alone on a billboard).
Choosing the right kernel options? Sounds like you build your own kernels. I asked that question because I also happen to own a machine that doesn't support PAE, and I was curious as to which distros (in its latest iteration) still offer non-PAE kernels.
I'm using Manjaro partially because of that, by the way.
[...] the old IBM T42 non-pae clunker that I am writing this on is still very usable
Out of curiosity, which distro do you run on that machine? I'm asking this question because distros that do not have PAE as a requirements are rare birds, so to speak.
So, you're telling me that a Latin word that can mean "connection" or "binding" has nothing to do with a phone called "Nexus"? A phone is a tool that we use to connect to each other, right? I find it hard to believe that the people behind that brand just made up a name that exactly looks like an English word — that stems from Latin — when this sort of coincidence arises.
At any rate, that doesn't really matter. I was merely pointing out to the grandparent poster that, if he wishes to use a Latin plural, he should try to at least do it properly. Why bother going through the hassle of using irregular stuff that is optional, anyway? This the mental picture I get when I see such a thing happen: exception handling everywhere in your code — except the error messages don't mean a thing.
I recently acquired a Nexus 4 (yay for the Nexus 5 creating a more vibrant market in second hand Nexi) ans was slightly surprised about the lack of apps already installed compared to my old Samsung phone.
The plural of "nexus" in Latin in "nexûs." (Actually, the diacritic on the 'u' should be a macron, but alas, Slashdot won't display that character.)
Wait... So you're telling me there's no way to tell there's an intersection? Like, no signs? No white paint on the road? That screams defective by design.
That's gotta be one of the weirdest thing I've read. Well, I realize— WOAH, man! That's a brilliant palindrome you've got in your signature. Briliant and awesome.
So yeah, I realize that, despite having a bachelor's in English, I don't know much about it outside of its American and British dialects.
Congratulations for having surprised the old, blasé dog that I am.
You're completely right. Whether we use a or an depends on what sound comes after it. The letter itself doesn't matter, because a letter that is a vowel can sill begin with a consonant sound-wise, and vice versa.
E.g. : "a university" but "an umbrella"
Remember: language is first and foremost spoken. Letters are scriptural elements, and as such, weigh much less in the language balance.
Chez Henri" is pronounced "Shay Enri", which would normally be correct for each word but, when taken together it should be pronounced more like a single word "ShayzEnri"
It annoys you because you're not familiar with what the letter h actually does in French. Sometimes — remember, this is French, so you'll always have a nice list of exceptions to cram into your brain —, words that begin with an h (1) will mean that there is a glottal stop, word initially.
Try comparing the phrases "sept amis" and "sept héros" and you'll understand what I'm talking about. It's impossible for a native speaker to pronounce the latter "saitero" No, sir, they'll always say "sait'ero".(2)
That weird question mark-looking symbol is the glottal stop I mentioned above. Basically, you block the air going through your throat with your glottis, generating what is called a plosion in linguistics.
If that is still obscure, try comparing with how some English speakers pronounce the word "mutton." While most will say/muh-tn/, some speakers say/muh'n/. You'll know what I'm talking about if you've paid attention to the way British people speak.
I know... French is like, impossible to learn for foreigners. Good thin I'm a native speaker.:D
(1) Quite funny, huh? "An h..." no one would ever want to say "a h."
(2) Because I can't seem to make IPA work in the comments, Ichose to represent the glottal stop with an apostrophe.
From what I've seen France really sucks at integrating immigrants.
You're totally right there. For a long time, we have been completely ignoring migration waves.
By that, I mean that no measures were taken for migrants to be fully integrated in society. It's fine not to take care of integration while immigration is low, but when it happens en masse, you have to regulate. Instead, we decided that it was okay to let people enter our country without much regulation, which led to the creation of ghettos.
If what you say is true, I stand corrected. I probably didn't have that option because I had been upgrading since 11.04 or so and, as we all know, OS upgrades tend to break stuff.
I should really give you a mod point, but there's something I need to get off my chest about Ubuntu.
I mean... No fallback mode when graphic acceleration is missing? Seriously???
So here's the story. There's an HD 4670 in my dad's PC. Because of AMD (so the root of the problem isn't Ubuntu, but please bear with me), there are issues with using the legacy version of the Catalyst drivers. That's on Ubuntu 13.04. First, I added a well-known PPA to circumvent the problem (that is, get back 3D acceleration), but it reappeared a while ago.
Now, I know I could use the non-proprietary drivers. But that's not what I'm complaining about. My complaint against Ubuntu is — like I said above —, it doesn't offer you a fallback mode when graphic acceleration fails. That kind of thing is standard across all operating systems. You ought to be able to continue to use your machine when some superfluous feature suddenly stops working (unless said use requires said feature, of course).
I was a bit reluctant to install Manjaro on my dad's PC then, thinking that the constant upgrades — yes, it's a rolling-release distro — would break something sooner or later. No, sir... it's been running like a charm ever since.
If you don't care, you shouldn't be trying to make a point.
If you read the quote in the grandparent post, you'll see that the wording makes you think the i3 matches the A4's power consumption while in games. Perhaps you're as good in English as you are in math.
... and that's exactly why AMD's CPU's power consumption in this article is lower. Now tell me, were you always this bad at math, or did it occur after an accident?
What defined set of rules? English does not have any agency claiming to be the definitive controlling authority. The rules, such as they are are descriptive, not prescriptive and are compiled by many separate organisations. They do not always agree.
Well, that's what science is about, isn't it? It's always something like theory A, which seems to be right at first. Then someone comes up with theory B, that invalidates theory. After that, yet another guy finds out that his theory, B+, only partially invalidates B, and validates some of the points that theory A made in the beginning, but only in a different referential. And the quest for the best model goes on... Well, I'm sure you got the point already: it's an ongoing process, and we will never come up with something perfect.
I think we do need a scientific approach to understand what should and shouldn't be linguistically speaking. That's why I was talking about a set of rules in my previous post. Of course, we have to alleviate big agencies à la French academy — they come up with real shitty stuff at times.
But anyway, you already agree on needing rules while not interfering usage too much, so I don't need to go on.
My main gripe with "virii" is that it's a bad example. Supporting that word means adding complexity to the language. This is a definite case of good cause (simplifying/modernizing language), wrong argument (example is actually an exception).
P.S.: I think people who whine about split infinitives don't know that English is a Germanic language. That or they're delusional, infatuated elitists.
But before I the actual argument, here is a fact: even if we all agreed on "virus" being a second declension, masculine Latin word, it'd still be "viri" in the plural. Now, that kind of discredits people who think we should use "virii", doesn't it?
On the one hand, you've got a bunch of illiterate people. On the other hand, you have people who have studied languages (not just their own native language) for several years. It isn't far-fetched to think that the latter group, possessing not only practical but also theoretical linguistics skills, would be better-trained to abide by the rules.
Besides, if you throw the whole globalization thing into the mix, it's obvious that adhering to a defined set of rules benefits us. Language is a communication tool. If we stray off defined standards too much, we're hindering communication. Back when people were illiterate, communication was slow, so it was okay not to be so efficient. The same cannot be said in today's globalized world.
We didn't start talking about viruses until very recently — moreso when it comes to computer viruses.
Quite interestingly, this makes me think about the very topic of this article: what if every and each Linux distribution out there decided that the standard procedures as a whole are too weird? That things aren't systematic enough? What if, as a result, they all decided to make their own package format?
tl;dr While it is unreasonable, nowadays, to expect people to try and correct the whole of their language's vocab (which is in part very old), expecting said people to correct recent, misunderstood words isn't unreasonable.
P.S.: I don't think descriptive grammar (i.e. common use) is good enough. If you decide to solely go down that road, you'll end up with something even harder to conceive than English as it is now. I think a mix between prescriptive and descriptive is the best, as it is the best of both worlds: the theoretical aspect and its pragmatical counterpart.
Slashdot Mirror
No one wants to hear about *Nix and BSD? Show them how widely those are used, from smartphones to routers to e-readers. Let them know that the only reason people don't hear about Linux et al is because it is not heavily advertised (i.e. hardly ever see "LINUX" written in big, bold letters on a product, let alone on a billboard).
Care to provide quotations for that?
Choosing the right kernel options? Sounds like you build your own kernels. I asked that question because I also happen to own a machine that doesn't support PAE, and I was curious as to which distros (in its latest iteration) still offer non-PAE kernels.
I'm using Manjaro partially because of that, by the way.
[...] the old IBM T42 non-pae clunker that I am writing this on is still very usable
Out of curiosity, which distro do you run on that machine? I'm asking this question because distros that do not have PAE as a requirements are rare birds, so to speak.
So, you're telling me that a Latin word that can mean "connection" or "binding" has nothing to do with a phone called "Nexus"? A phone is a tool that we use to connect to each other, right? I find it hard to believe that the people behind that brand just made up a name that exactly looks like an English word — that stems from Latin — when this sort of coincidence arises.
At any rate, that doesn't really matter. I was merely pointing out to the grandparent poster that, if he wishes to use a Latin plural, he should try to at least do it properly. Why bother going through the hassle of using irregular stuff that is optional, anyway? This the mental picture I get when I see such a thing happen: exception handling everywhere in your code — except the error messages don't mean a thing.
Any case beside the nominative in never used, except when using Latin phrases.
So, you're right, but case is irrelevant here.
I recently acquired a Nexus 4 (yay for the Nexus 5 creating a more vibrant market in second hand Nexi) ans was slightly surprised about the lack of apps already installed compared to my old Samsung phone.
The plural of "nexus" in Latin in "nexûs." (Actually, the diacritic on the 'u' should be a macron, but alas, Slashdot won't display that character.)
My €0.02.
Today, Americans fear terrorism.
A few decades ago, it was communism.
Before the fear of communism, was the fear of black people.
Before the abolition of slavery, was the fear of the wilderness (what lied beyond the American frontier).
Finally, before the fear of the wilderness, was the fear of tyranny — i.e. from the English crown.
I suppose that fear is quite simply an integral part of American society's fabric.
(Note that those events sometimes overlap. I did not imply that, for a given one event to start, the ongoing one needs to stop.)
P.S. : I can't remember where I read or heard this. It was most likely during American civilization class.
[Citation needed]
(...) because your 6 month old distro release (using a year old kernel) probably won't have the drivers for your newer hardware.
Ever heard of rolling release distros ?
Yes, because you absolutely have to use Ubuntu. There are no other distros out there, no sir.
Wait... So you're telling me there's no way to tell there's an intersection? Like, no signs? No white paint on the road? That screams defective by design.
That's gotta be one of the weirdest thing I've read. Well, I realize— WOAH, man! That's a brilliant palindrome you've got in your signature. Briliant and awesome.
So yeah, I realize that, despite having a bachelor's in English, I don't know much about it outside of its American and British dialects.
Congratulations for having surprised the old, blasé dog that I am.
You're completely right. Whether we use a or an depends on what sound comes after it. The letter itself doesn't matter, because a letter that is a vowel can sill begin with a consonant sound-wise, and vice versa.
E.g. : "a university" but "an umbrella"
Remember: language is first and foremost spoken. Letters are scriptural elements, and as such, weigh much less in the language balance.
Chez Henri" is pronounced "Shay Enri", which would normally be correct for each word but, when taken together it should be pronounced more like a single word "ShayzEnri"
It annoys you because you're not familiar with what the letter h actually does in French. Sometimes — remember, this is French, so you'll always have a nice list of exceptions to cram into your brain —, words that begin with an h (1) will mean that there is a glottal stop, word initially.
/muh-tn/, some speakers say /muh'n/. You'll know what I'm talking about if you've paid attention to the way British people speak.
:D
Try comparing the phrases "sept amis" and "sept héros" and you'll understand what I'm talking about. It's impossible for a native speaker to pronounce the latter "saitero" No, sir, they'll always say "sait'ero".(2)
That weird question mark-looking symbol is the glottal stop I mentioned above. Basically, you block the air going through your throat with your glottis, generating what is called a plosion in linguistics.
If that is still obscure, try comparing with how some English speakers pronounce the word "mutton." While most will say
I know... French is like, impossible to learn for foreigners. Good thin I'm a native speaker.
(1) Quite funny, huh? "An h..." no one would ever want to say "a h."
(2) Because I can't seem to make IPA work in the comments, Ichose to represent the glottal stop with an apostrophe.
From what I've seen France really sucks at integrating immigrants.
You're totally right there. For a long time, we have been completely ignoring migration waves.
By that, I mean that no measures were taken for migrants to be fully integrated in society. It's fine not to take care of integration while immigration is low, but when it happens en masse, you have to regulate. Instead, we decided that it was okay to let people enter our country without much regulation, which led to the creation of ghettos.
Basically, we're reaping what we once sowed.
Ever heard about semantic drift? http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/saboter#Verbe.C2.A01
No, you cannot disagree. I'm a native speaker, as well as a language graduate.
So, basically, this is a spiritual continuation of "let's teach those fiendish left-handed kids to be right-handed instead."
Thank you for your insightful post. I had no idea what autism really was about up until now.
If what you say is true, I stand corrected. I probably didn't have that option because I had been upgrading since 11.04 or so and, as we all know, OS upgrades tend to break stuff.
I should really give you a mod point, but there's something I need to get off my chest about Ubuntu.
I mean... No fallback mode when graphic acceleration is missing? Seriously???
So here's the story. There's an HD 4670 in my dad's PC. Because of AMD (so the root of the problem isn't Ubuntu, but please bear with me), there are issues with using the legacy version of the Catalyst drivers. That's on Ubuntu 13.04. First, I added a well-known PPA to circumvent the problem (that is, get back 3D acceleration), but it reappeared a while ago.
Now, I know I could use the non-proprietary drivers. But that's not what I'm complaining about. My complaint against Ubuntu is — like I said above —, it doesn't offer you a fallback mode when graphic acceleration fails. That kind of thing is standard across all operating systems. You ought to be able to continue to use your machine when some superfluous feature suddenly stops working (unless said use requires said feature, of course).
I was a bit reluctant to install Manjaro on my dad's PC then, thinking that the constant upgrades — yes, it's a rolling-release distro — would break something sooner or later. No, sir... it's been running like a charm ever since.
My €0.02.
"While gaming"....sigh. Who cares.
If you don't care, you shouldn't be trying to make a point.
If you read the quote in the grandparent post, you'll see that the wording makes you think the i3 matches the A4's power consumption while in games. Perhaps you're as good in English as you are in math.
amd cant compete on power consumption
... and that's exactly why AMD's CPU's power consumption in this article is lower. Now tell me, were you always this bad at math, or did it occur after an accident?
What's more, the Core-i3 matches the A4-5000 in power efficiency while its HD 4000 graphics completely outpace the APU.
Sure. Unless you're using the damn CPU at full speed.
What I'd be more interested to know though, is how expensive A4 5000 CPUs are. Do they cost as much as the Core i3 3271u?
What defined set of rules? English does not have any agency claiming to be the definitive controlling authority. The rules, such as they are are descriptive, not prescriptive and are compiled by many separate organisations. They do not always agree.
Well, that's what science is about, isn't it? It's always something like theory A, which seems to be right at first. Then someone comes up with theory B, that invalidates theory. After that, yet another guy finds out that his theory, B+, only partially invalidates B, and validates some of the points that theory A made in the beginning, but only in a different referential. And the quest for the best model goes on... Well, I'm sure you got the point already: it's an ongoing process, and we will never come up with something perfect.
I think we do need a scientific approach to understand what should and shouldn't be linguistically speaking. That's why I was talking about a set of rules in my previous post. Of course, we have to alleviate big agencies à la French academy — they come up with real shitty stuff at times.
But anyway, you already agree on needing rules while not interfering usage too much, so I don't need to go on.
My main gripe with "virii" is that it's a bad example. Supporting that word means adding complexity to the language. This is a definite case of good cause (simplifying/modernizing language), wrong argument (example is actually an exception).
P.S.: I think people who whine about split infinitives don't know that English is a Germanic language. That or they're delusional, infatuated elitists.
Compare what is comparable.
But before I the actual argument, here is a fact: even if we all agreed on "virus" being a second declension, masculine Latin word, it'd still be "viri" in the plural. Now, that kind of discredits people who think we should use "virii", doesn't it?
On the one hand, you've got a bunch of illiterate people. On the other hand, you have people who have studied languages (not just their own native language) for several years. It isn't far-fetched to think that the latter group, possessing not only practical but also theoretical linguistics skills, would be better-trained to abide by the rules.
Besides, if you throw the whole globalization thing into the mix, it's obvious that adhering to a defined set of rules benefits us. Language is a communication tool. If we stray off defined standards too much, we're hindering communication. Back when people were illiterate, communication was slow, so it was okay not to be so efficient. The same cannot be said in today's globalized world.
We didn't start talking about viruses until very recently — moreso when it comes to computer viruses.
Quite interestingly, this makes me think about the very topic of this article: what if every and each Linux distribution out there decided that the standard procedures as a whole are too weird? That things aren't systematic enough? What if, as a result, they all decided to make their own package format?
tl;dr While it is unreasonable, nowadays, to expect people to try and correct the whole of their language's vocab (which is in part very old), expecting said people to correct recent, misunderstood words isn't unreasonable.
P.S.: I don't think descriptive grammar (i.e. common use) is good enough. If you decide to solely go down that road, you'll end up with something even harder to conceive than English as it is now. I think a mix between prescriptive and descriptive is the best, as it is the best of both worlds: the theoretical aspect and its pragmatical counterpart.