If you claim something exist, you must prove it. Not the other way around.
That's rationally true, but realistically false.
Religion is entrenched. It doesn't have to support its claims because it's followers don't feel it needs to (or that it already has), and they couldn't care less what "the infidels" think. They know they're right, and that's all that matters to them. You can explain why they're wrong in the most eloquent possible way, they'll dismiss what you say. You can ask them for proof, and they'll simply refuse to give it, or give a self-supporting source like their own religious texts.
Bottom line, atheists have to provide proof of god's non-existence because that's the only way theists will believe them. Otherwise, you may as well be talking to their "god", for all the good it would do. Eventually this may not be the case, religion may just die out gradually over time, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a sudden change .
Religion is a quest for truth, it cares nothing for the 'facts'. Most people think that facts and truth are the same thing, but they are distinctly different.
No, religion is a search for meaning, and doesn't seem to care much about truth or facts.
Observe what happens when there is a car accident with several witnesses. Each witness will tell a slightly different story about what happened, some of their claims will contradict one another. All of these people are telling the truth, they just saw things from a different perspective, so their observations are different. Bob says the guy in the semi crossed the median for no apparent reason, and caused the accident. Fred says the guy in the green car forced the semi onto the shoulder and across the median. Betty says the guy in the green car blew a tire, and lost control of his car, and barely missed crashing into the truck before regaining control, but the truck's driver overreacted and crossed the median. From Bob's perspective (he couldn't see the green car) the semi is at fault. From Fred's perspective (he didn't notice the blown tire), the green car is at fault. From Betty's perspective, the green car is potentially at fault, but the semi shares responsibility. Investigation determines that the green car blew it's tire when it hit a piece of debris that fell from the red pickup in front of it. That puts the fault squarely on the red pickup for failing to properly secure its load. None of the witnesses mentioned the red pickup, because they didn't recognize its importance to the situation.
None of the witnesses are lying, but none of them know the truth of what happened. You can believe something to be true, and be wrong. Ultimately, they only believe they are telling the truth, but they are not.
For example, if I believe there is an invisible pink elephant sitting in my lap, I am telling the truth when I make that claim. However, I'd be hard-pressed to come up with evidence demonstrating that said elephant does in *fact* exist. (We won't even go into a discussion of how an *invisible* animal of any sort can be *pink*.)
Again, you may believe you are telling the truth, but you are not (This assumes that there isn't really a pink elephant in your lap). Consider the following: Water is wet. Imagine a being who has never encountered water, whom has been told that water is dry. If you ask him if water is wet, he will tell you no. As far as he knows, this is true. Does that somehow make it true that water is not wet?
The intent of the law must be taken into consideration.
How's this one:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech...
Yet it is illegal to shout "fire" in a crowded theater.
Is it really though? If you do shout "fire" in a crowded theater, is that the charge? Nope. You may be charged with disorderly conduct, or disturbing the peace, or something along those lines (same as if you just started yelling Paprika at the top of your lungs to disrupt a performance), but that's pretty much all. linky
Public schools can't teach bible verses, even though they would not be "making a law respecting an establishment of religion", they'd be teaching religion, not establishing it.
Wrong again. Plenty of public schools have classes that teach religion, such as a "World Religion" class that gives a view of many religions practiced around the world. What they may not do is favour a particular religion over others.
Murder is illegal. Would "I didn't kill him, the bullet did" be a valid defense?
Now that's just silly. The bullet in your example did not act independently of the shooter. If it did (ie, accidental discharge of the weapon), than in a way, your "defense" would work though.
I bought an unopened iPod from ebay. After six months, it died. Apple refused to honor the warranty (apparently the bloke I purchased it from wasn't an official reseller, which let them weasel out of their obligation).
While that really sucks, what would you expect them to do? As I understand it, the warranty is available to the original purchaser (i.e. whomever you bought it from, since they weren't authorized resellers). In this case, it really sounds like your problem is with the ebay seller, not Apple.
I just killed a proposal from marketing to buy Mac Powerbooks for all of our salesmen -- they're getting ThinkPads instead.
Were the MacBooks the machine best suited towards your marketing department's needs? If so, and you gave them equipment that was a poor technical choice because you have a personal beef with Apple, I'm glad you don't work at my company. If the ThinkPad is just as good for what they need (but probably at half the cost per machine), why would you seriously consider the MacBooks in the first place?
Are they lazy and ignorant? OK, I guess it's hard to argue that they're not ignorant.
Ignorant? Yes, on the topic of Linux. What tends to get forgotten around here (especially when we're all patting ourselves on the backs for being geniuses), is that everyone is ignorant about something. You can have a conversation with someone who, based on his Linux knowledge, comes off looking like a rather slow 3rd grader, but in fact is a neurosurgeon, a molecular biologist, a renowned historian, etc, etc, etc. Ignorance on a particular subject != ignorant on every subject.
Soooo, you're spot on, and I think the real problem is people who just refuse to accept that just because amassing computer knowledge is a great thing to work at, not everyone has the time, need, or inclination to do so. Hell, I think I'd rather have my heart-surgeon more interested in medicine than computers in the end.....
A ton of other people have already responded about being able to play iTunes videos on a computer, but another option is plugging the ipod into the TV, which is what I do. The video quality is fine (I don't have hi-def or anything particularly hi end, just a basic CRT TV, so YMMV). All it takes is an additional cable (about $15) with a 1/8' jack on one end, and video/audio RCA on the other.
he pigs will CALEA all over this as soon as deployment becomes widespread. If they haven't already.
Becomes widespread? Can you even get a cellphone that isn't GPS enabled in the U.S. any more? AFAIK, all cellphones here have GPS to provide location data for e911, and I know Sprint already offers a service where the owner of a cellular account can get current position information on any phone he/she owns.
Also, what does CALEA have to do with this? While I'm sure there is/will be some precedent allowing law-enforcement to access this data, CALEA only seems to deal with wiretapping, not tracking or remotely controlling phones (or OnStar).
And even better for Apple, the moment one of these gets stolen with a credit card number on it (I'm assuming here that all that information is stored on the device, they are not making the user enter it in each time they buy a song), they will quickly max it out on iTunes music.
I don't think that would happen. I believe the actual CC information is stored at the iTunes store, I enter my password to log on when making a purchase, and they use the info that's put on file when the account was created. It shouldn't add any more risk than already exists.
Public hate speech has no more protection under freedom of speech laws (or their analogue) than shouting âoefire!â in a crowded theater.
I don't know where you're posting from, but that could make all the difference. In the U.S., hate groups (Neo-Nazis, the KKK, etc) can and do hold public rallies and demonstrations. They are not arrested for spewing vile racist messages, and as a matter of fact, often have a permit to do so (the permit is for holding a public event, not for the content of the event).
As I understand it, if you're in Germany or France, this isn't the case. I offer no comment on which way is better, only that I prefer the former.
That is something I hate about USA people. I do not like to generalise so the disclaimer is that this might not be true for all of them and I might be very lucky to always manage to find the bad americans.
Wow, it's too bad you don't like to generalize. You seem to be really good at it, and you must have really suffered through writing this post....
The issue is that every non english spoken country I have been (Mexico, France, Germany and even UK) I always manage to find an American who is tried to be "noted" in the bad way. They get to this country and try to make everyone serve them and expect everyone to speak their language. It happened a lot of times in Mexico (I am from there), lots of americans go there on vacation without knowing A WORD of spanish, and they get ANGRY when you dont speak them in English or when you dont understand them.
And should I rant about the number of Mexicans who actually move to the U.S. without speaking English? Careful with those stones neighbor, your house looks kinda glasslike.
Living near N.Y.C., I run into many tourists, and a fair number of them don't seem to speak any/much English. Should I take the opinion that they shouldn't be welcome here?
Then, in Paris, I went to a McDonalds and although I dont speak french I tried to ask for a hamburger with "Je voudre un...", of course the girl at the till did not understand me and she answered "Sorry?", then I repeated in english and Voila!. Just at my side (at the same moment) an american (yes after 2 years in UK I can identify the accent of an american, australian [my supevisor is australian] and british) lady just went to the next ill and said "I'd like 2 big macs and 2 cokes and large fries for them", in some *strange* way assuming that the girl at the till spoke english (no, she didnt hear my conversation with the other girl). The girl at the till just stayed with a WHAT? face and answered "Sorry?" in french and the american got angry and started to yell again IN ENGLISH.
And some time after that I went to the Madam Tussade wax museum (in London) and while we were enjoying all the artists etc, suddenly a big fat guy with its "New York Cabs" (or whichever baseball team) cap started yelling something like "OMG what is this, terrible terrible, are they crazy, get out people".
Okay, so you found a few Americans who behaved badly. Do things like that happen? Of course they do. Do Americans have that market completely cornered? I don't think so. Traveling through Europe and the Caribbean with a few friends who, between them, speak Russian, German, French, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish (plus a few others that I'm forgetting) was pretty eye opening for me. It's amazing the things you find out people are saying when they don't think they'll be understood by those around them. Of that group, I think Japanese is the only language I've yet to hear (first hand) obnoxious behaviour in.
I know not all americans are like that, I met an american lady who was doing a masters here who is really nice (still maintain contact with her and she might come visit in November) and just now the guy at the desk in my side (at my PhD office) is an American who bought Corn Flour for Tortillas (pretty difficult to find that in UK) and we had a great chat talking about food and we might join to make tortillas:).
Interesting, two specific stories about people behaving badly, and two about ones you like, yet ultimately your opinion is that most Americans are like the former.
But the majority of people in USA seem to be really annoying.
Okay, and thanks for not generalizing.
Here's a little experiment though. Try sharing that opinion with the nice guy sitting next to you. Don't be surprised if he doesn't bring you any more corn flour though. Does he know your low opinion of his homeland? Would you be okay with him having an equally low opinion of Mexico?
Kebab shops, are not owned by multinational companies. They are locally owned, locally managed small businesses, and help the local economy by proving jobs etc.
I can't claim intimate knowledge of the global workings of fast food chains, but aren't most of the individual resterants franchises? If so, boycotting/burning/whatever is probably hurting local small business people more than it hurts the corporation....
Your murder rate per capita is 2.8 times higher than ours.
And your death-by-alligator rate is higher than ours, big deal. What I said is that the situation is over-stated. Most people here spend their entire life not seeing a murder, not knowing anyone who is murdered, and not being murdered.
And the rudeness that started this, was fitting of the stereotype. Stereotypes are not always without a foundation of reality.
Nonsense. If you felt he was being rude, then your problem is with him. That excuse is exactly how most racists and nationalists justify themselves. Blacks must be lazy, the Irish must be shiftless drunks, Jews must be greedy, by that logic. Really want to travel down that road?
I was not talking about you, I was talking about the typical obnoxious American.
You are talking to me, and I consider myself a fairly typical American.
I'm refering to the quality not being an accurate gauge, but it certainly stands out so much that there is meaning behind it. And as I said, it reflects the attitudes of people I have met.
See above about stereotypes. Just because a lot of people say it, doesn't make a reasonable position.
We are not laying around constantly thinking about hating Americans. We just get along with our lives. However like so many other nations, we see the US invade a nation based on a pack of lies, with lots of innocent people getting killed and many of us can't help but hate the US for that.
Ah, so you hate all Americans, even though the number of Americans who are against the war probably outnumbers the entire population of Australia several times over. The war in Iraq is a mess, and you're right, it's based almost entirely on lies and distortions. I have news for you though, there are an awful lot of people here, who are average Americans, who are against it. Hating the people is very different than hating the government, especially when the population is split on the issue as closely as ours was when it began. Also, if all of Australia is in agreement with your moral outrage, why have they done nothing about it? Where are the sanctions against the U.S., the public condemnations and severing of diplomatic ties? Nowhere. Because when you get down to it, your government is no more interested in your position on the war than my government is in my position on it.
I said "falls somewhere between dislike and hatred". That does not show the percentage of Australians which HATE the US. But could you blame anyone hating the US when the US tramples on the World in the name of "freedom"? Sorry arsehole, but right now, with what the USA is doing in Iraq, people can be excused for hating the USA.
I know full well your opinion doesn't show the percentage of Australians that hate the U.S.. The Australians I know would probably be disgusted by your ranting. And yes, I can blame people for hating the U.S. and Americans in general. Hate the current administration all you want, be furious with those who support it, but hating almost half the population for what the other half thinks strikes me as short sighted and naive, rather like hating all the French during WWII because of the actions of the Vichy gov't.
Good job with the name calling though. Hint, it doesn't make you seem very mature or reasonable.
I'm okay with that. I've known and worked with a great number of people from all around the World and on the whole they've been great people to be around. In other words, they were nothing like typical Americans.
I doubt that. I don't think you even know what a "typical" American is.
I was refering to news (shootings so very often, for example) and the negative culture being perpetuated in music. I was not refering to adverts with that or sitcoms.
The Steve Irwin tragedy was a once off. Americans killing each other is most certainly not.
Do we have shootings? Yes, but the "culture of fear" is over-stated. I don't know anyone who's overcome with terror, I don't know anyone who's been randomly murdered, and I think you're making a mistake if you think you have a realistic idea of life in the US from watching T.V..
It has everything to do with this. The point is that for many people, Cockney is as foreign as Gaelic. Regardless of the fact that one is slang and the other a full language distinct from English. That is the point.
No, it isn't. The discussion is about English. Saying he wouldn't understand Gaelic is as relevant as saying he wouldn't understand Swahili. The way you worded it made it seem you were suggesting that Gaelic is an accent, not a language.
Here is an education for you... a massive chunk of the World despises the USA. Including the likes of Australians, and huge chunks of Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and South America.
And here is an education for you, rudeness is rudeness regardless of who is doing it. It's been publicized lately that there are about 300 million US citizens. Unless you're prepared to prove that every single one of them are "offensive", the statement is nothing more than a rude generalization.
There is a reason for that. You come across as loud, obnoxious and disrespectful and invade countries to push your own agenda.
You've never met me sir, and you have no idea how I "come across". Stupid stereotypes are the last refuge of a lazy mind.
Obviously I realise that this does not provide quality results. But it should make some people think. That disparity is a reflection of how I, a peace loving anglo Australian happily living in a capatalist, democratic society, see the attitude to the USA from other good, reasonable people.
You realize that it doesn't provide quality results, but you're happy to throw it in there anyway. All I've heard so far from these comments is that you're happy, and layed-back and wonderful and you HATE 300 million people that you've never met. Interesting.
Almost everyone I know, from all ethnic backgrounds, have an attitude of America and Americans which falls somewhere between dislike and hatred and this has been the case long before the 9/11 "green light to kick ass".
A multi-cultural hate-group, how novel. Congratulations. Is this part of the happy, go-lucky Australian lifestyle?
Personally, I'm happy to say I've known and worked with a great number of Australians, and on the whole they've been great people to be around. In other words, they were nothing like you.
It's no wonder you're posting AC. I wouldn't want comments like those following me around either.
First, I agree that Australian English is really no more difficult to understand than British English, Canadian English, or American English. Of course it has it's own "local" slang terms and quirks, all branches of English do.
All I need to do is put on the Yank news or a music video show to see lots of Americans who are feeling negative or scared and often expressing it with some very foreign US lingo. Meanwhile, we Aussies are pretty happy. Our lingo tends to be positive or humorous. Which is even often the case for the slang which translates to something negative overall.
Oh c'mon, this can be said of anyone in any culture, if you're selective. Or do you really feel palpable fear radiating from the people in the latest "Bowling for Soup" video or in episodes of Seinfeld? Seems like the big news out of Australia that I see on TV is Steve Irwin's unfortunate demise. Should I conclude that Australians are all sitting around crying and unable to function because that's what was on "World News Tonight" recently?
You probably wouldn't understand Cockney, let alone Gaelic.
Okay, Cockney accents can be rough, but what does Gaelic have to do with anything? It's an entirely different language. Yes, it's spoken by a sizable number of people in the U.K., but aside from that, so what? Spanish is spoken by a sizable portion of the population in the U.S., that isn't relevant to the conversation either.
Oh so that means we Aussies are not normal then? You are the arse-hole who cannot seem to understand or respect local diversity. How very fucking American. You Americans are amazing. From the tourists to the President, you offend and typically don't even realise it. And it's all our fault, right?
sigh, yeah, it's only Americans who make offensive statements. And luckily, if you're not an American, it's perfectly okay to make statements like these, because they aren't the least bit offensive to anyone.
The first generation or two of immigrants (legal and illegal) tend to have a high birthrate. Then, after they've been corrupted by American culture, the birthrate falls drastically.
Corrupted by, or assimilated into? If it's the former, perhaps this isn't the place they should have chosen to move to....
Some people pop out kids for social acceptance, others do it for intrinsic cultural values that often come from religion (Catholicism being but one of them).
I think you left one reason out....some people actually just like kids. I know, it's hard to believe that anyone would actually want to drag around another person who not only can't write their own shell scripts, but can't even wipe their own butts, but it does actually happen. (Hmm, my definition of child seems to match my definition of management, weird....)
A noticeable trend appears to be that child rearing is most often inversely proportional to income and intelligence, which is bad news. Of course there are always exceptions.
I think I'd word that a little differently.....the trend towards raising large numbers of children seems often to be inversely proportional to income and education. Affluent, well-educated people are still having kids; they just seem to come in pairs instead of six-packs;)
2. While the particular technique shown won't work the idea of phreaking a pay phone to make free calls (redboxing) is not far-fetched.
Actually, we could do almost exactly this from a pay-phone where a friend worked well into the early '90's. We used a paper-clip that we'd straightened, and would touch one end to the chrome front of the phone, the other to the metal in the lower part of the receiver. The phone would click, and you could make your call. I have no idea what was happening "behind the scenes", or if it only worked on certain models of pay-phone, but it worked consistently for us for years.....
Slashdot Mirror
That's rationally true, but realistically false.
Religion is entrenched. It doesn't have to support its claims because it's followers don't feel it needs to (or that it already has), and they couldn't care less what "the infidels" think. They know they're right, and that's all that matters to them. You can explain why they're wrong in the most eloquent possible way, they'll dismiss what you say. You can ask them for proof, and they'll simply refuse to give it, or give a self-supporting source like their own religious texts.
Bottom line, atheists have to provide proof of god's non-existence because that's the only way theists will believe them. Otherwise, you may as well be talking to their "god", for all the good it would do. Eventually this may not be the case, religion may just die out gradually over time, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a sudden change .
No, religion is a search for meaning, and doesn't seem to care much about truth or facts.
None of the witnesses are lying, but none of them know the truth of what happened. You can believe something to be true, and be wrong. Ultimately, they only believe they are telling the truth, but they are not.
Again, you may believe you are telling the truth, but you are not (This assumes that there isn't really a pink elephant in your lap). Consider the following: Water is wet. Imagine a being who has never encountered water, whom has been told that water is dry. If you ask him if water is wet, he will tell you no. As far as he knows, this is true. Does that somehow make it true that water is not wet?
Is it really though? If you do shout "fire" in a crowded theater, is that the charge? Nope. You may be charged with disorderly conduct, or disturbing the peace, or something along those lines (same as if you just started yelling Paprika at the top of your lungs to disrupt a performance), but that's pretty much all. linky
Wrong again. Plenty of public schools have classes that teach religion, such as a "World Religion" class that gives a view of many religions practiced around the world. What they may not do is favour a particular religion over others.
Now that's just silly. The bullet in your example did not act independently of the shooter. If it did (ie, accidental discharge of the weapon), than in a way, your "defense" would work though.
You could, but why would you really want to?
While that really sucks, what would you expect them to do? As I understand it, the warranty is available to the original purchaser (i.e. whomever you bought it from, since they weren't authorized resellers). In this case, it really sounds like your problem is with the ebay seller, not Apple.
Were the MacBooks the machine best suited towards your marketing department's needs? If so, and you gave them equipment that was a poor technical choice because you have a personal beef with Apple, I'm glad you don't work at my company. If the ThinkPad is just as good for what they need (but probably at half the cost per machine), why would you seriously consider the MacBooks in the first place?
Ignorant? Yes, on the topic of Linux. What tends to get forgotten around here (especially when we're all patting ourselves on the backs for being geniuses), is that everyone is ignorant about something. You can have a conversation with someone who, based on his Linux knowledge, comes off looking like a rather slow 3rd grader, but in fact is a neurosurgeon, a molecular biologist, a renowned historian, etc, etc, etc. Ignorance on a particular subject != ignorant on every subject.
Soooo, you're spot on, and I think the real problem is people who just refuse to accept that just because amassing computer knowledge is a great thing to work at, not everyone has the time, need, or inclination to do so. Hell, I think I'd rather have my heart-surgeon more interested in medicine than computers in the end.....
A ton of other people have already responded about being able to play iTunes videos on a computer, but another option is plugging the ipod into the TV, which is what I do. The video quality is fine (I don't have hi-def or anything particularly hi end, just a basic CRT TV, so YMMV). All it takes is an additional cable (about $15) with a 1/8' jack on one end, and video/audio RCA on the other.
You forgot to tell us durn kids to get off your lawn.
Becomes widespread? Can you even get a cellphone that isn't GPS enabled in the U.S. any more? AFAIK, all cellphones here have GPS to provide location data for e911, and I know Sprint already offers a service where the owner of a cellular account can get current position information on any phone he/she owns.
Also, what does CALEA have to do with this? While I'm sure there is/will be some precedent allowing law-enforcement to access this data, CALEA only seems to deal with wiretapping, not tracking or remotely controlling phones (or OnStar).
I don't think that would happen. I believe the actual CC information is stored at the iTunes store, I enter my password to log on when making a purchase, and they use the info that's put on file when the account was created. It shouldn't add any more risk than already exists.
As I understand it, if you're in Germany or France, this isn't the case. I offer no comment on which way is better, only that I prefer the former.
That is something I hate about USA people. I do not like to generalise so the disclaimer is that this might not be true for all of them and I might be very lucky to always manage to find the bad americans.
...", of course the girl at the till did not understand me and she answered "Sorry?", then I repeated in english and Voila!. Just at my side (at the same moment) an american (yes after 2 years in UK I can identify the accent of an american, australian [my supevisor is australian] and british) lady just went to the next ill and said "I'd like 2 big macs and 2 cokes and large fries for them", in some *strange* way assuming that the girl at the till spoke english (no, she didnt hear my conversation with the other girl). The girl at the till just stayed with a WHAT? face and answered "Sorry?" in french and the american got angry and started to yell again IN ENGLISH.
:).
Wow, it's too bad you don't like to generalize. You seem to be really good at it, and you must have really suffered through writing this post....
The issue is that every non english spoken country I have been (Mexico, France, Germany and even UK) I always manage to find an American who is tried to be "noted" in the bad way. They get to this country and try to make everyone serve them and expect everyone to speak their language. It happened a lot of times in Mexico (I am from there), lots of americans go there on vacation without knowing A WORD of spanish, and they get ANGRY when you dont speak them in English or when you dont understand them.
And should I rant about the number of Mexicans who actually move to the U.S. without speaking English? Careful with those stones neighbor, your house looks kinda glasslike. Living near N.Y.C., I run into many tourists, and a fair number of them don't seem to speak any/much English. Should I take the opinion that they shouldn't be welcome here?
Then, in Paris, I went to a McDonalds and although I dont speak french I tried to ask for a hamburger with "Je voudre un
And some time after that I went to the Madam Tussade wax museum (in London) and while we were enjoying all the artists etc, suddenly a big fat guy with its "New York Cabs" (or whichever baseball team) cap started yelling something like "OMG what is this, terrible terrible, are they crazy, get out people".
Okay, so you found a few Americans who behaved badly. Do things like that happen? Of course they do. Do Americans have that market completely cornered? I don't think so. Traveling through Europe and the Caribbean with a few friends who, between them, speak Russian, German, French, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish (plus a few others that I'm forgetting) was pretty eye opening for me. It's amazing the things you find out people are saying when they don't think they'll be understood by those around them. Of that group, I think Japanese is the only language I've yet to hear (first hand) obnoxious behaviour in.
I know not all americans are like that, I met an american lady who was doing a masters here who is really nice (still maintain contact with her and she might come visit in November) and just now the guy at the desk in my side (at my PhD office) is an American who bought Corn Flour for Tortillas (pretty difficult to find that in UK) and we had a great chat talking about food and we might join to make tortillas
Interesting, two specific stories about people behaving badly, and two about ones you like, yet ultimately your opinion is that most Americans are like the former.
But the majority of people in USA seem to be really annoying.
Okay, and thanks for not generalizing.
Here's a little experiment though. Try sharing that opinion with the nice guy sitting next to you. Don't be surprised if he doesn't bring you any more corn flour though. Does he know your low opinion of his homeland? Would you be okay with him having an equally low opinion of Mexico?
Kebab shops, are not owned by multinational companies. They are locally owned, locally managed small businesses, and help the local economy by proving jobs etc.
I can't claim intimate knowledge of the global workings of fast food chains, but aren't most of the individual resterants franchises? If so, boycotting/burning/whatever is probably hurting local small business people more than it hurts the corporation....
Your murder rate per capita is 2.8 times higher than ours.
And your death-by-alligator rate is higher than ours, big deal. What I said is that the situation is over-stated. Most people here spend their entire life not seeing a murder, not knowing anyone who is murdered, and not being murdered.
And the rudeness that started this, was fitting of the stereotype. Stereotypes are not always without a foundation of reality.
Nonsense. If you felt he was being rude, then your problem is with him. That excuse is exactly how most racists and nationalists justify themselves. Blacks must be lazy, the Irish must be shiftless drunks, Jews must be greedy, by that logic. Really want to travel down that road?
I was not talking about you, I was talking about the typical obnoxious American.
You are talking to me, and I consider myself a fairly typical American.
I'm refering to the quality not being an accurate gauge, but it certainly stands out so much that there is meaning behind it. And as I said, it reflects the attitudes of people I have met.
See above about stereotypes. Just because a lot of people say it, doesn't make a reasonable position.
We are not laying around constantly thinking about hating Americans. We just get along with our lives. However like so many other nations, we see the US invade a nation based on a pack of lies, with lots of innocent people getting killed and many of us can't help but hate the US for that.
Ah, so you hate all Americans, even though the number of Americans who are against the war probably outnumbers the entire population of Australia several times over. The war in Iraq is a mess, and you're right, it's based almost entirely on lies and distortions. I have news for you though, there are an awful lot of people here, who are average Americans, who are against it. Hating the people is very different than hating the government, especially when the population is split on the issue as closely as ours was when it began. Also, if all of Australia is in agreement with your moral outrage, why have they done nothing about it? Where are the sanctions against the U.S., the public condemnations and severing of diplomatic ties? Nowhere. Because when you get down to it, your government is no more interested in your position on the war than my government is in my position on it.
I said "falls somewhere between dislike and hatred". That does not show the percentage of Australians which HATE the US. But could you blame anyone hating the US when the US tramples on the World in the name of "freedom"? Sorry arsehole, but right now, with what the USA is doing in Iraq, people can be excused for hating the USA.
I know full well your opinion doesn't show the percentage of Australians that hate the U.S.. The Australians I know would probably be disgusted by your ranting. And yes, I can blame people for hating the U.S. and Americans in general. Hate the current administration all you want, be furious with those who support it, but hating almost half the population for what the other half thinks strikes me as short sighted and naive, rather like hating all the French during WWII because of the actions of the Vichy gov't. Good job with the name calling though. Hint, it doesn't make you seem very mature or reasonable.
I'm okay with that. I've known and worked with a great number of people from all around the World and on the whole they've been great people to be around. In other words, they were nothing like typical Americans.
I doubt that. I don't think you even know what a "typical" American is.
How on earth is this flamebait? If I had points I'd mod you up, hopefully someone else will do it though.
I was refering to news (shootings so very often, for example) and the negative culture being perpetuated in music. I was not refering to adverts with that or sitcoms.
The Steve Irwin tragedy was a once off. Americans killing each other is most certainly not.
Do we have shootings? Yes, but the "culture of fear" is over-stated. I don't know anyone who's overcome with terror, I don't know anyone who's been randomly murdered, and I think you're making a mistake if you think you have a realistic idea of life in the US from watching T.V..
It has everything to do with this. The point is that for many people, Cockney is as foreign as Gaelic. Regardless of the fact that one is slang and the other a full language distinct from English. That is the point.
No, it isn't. The discussion is about English. Saying he wouldn't understand Gaelic is as relevant as saying he wouldn't understand Swahili. The way you worded it made it seem you were suggesting that Gaelic is an accent, not a language.
Here is an education for you... a massive chunk of the World despises the USA. Including the likes of Australians, and huge chunks of Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East and South America.
And here is an education for you, rudeness is rudeness regardless of who is doing it. It's been publicized lately that there are about 300 million US citizens. Unless you're prepared to prove that every single one of them are "offensive", the statement is nothing more than a rude generalization.
There is a reason for that. You come across as loud, obnoxious and disrespectful and invade countries to push your own agenda.
You've never met me sir, and you have no idea how I "come across". Stupid stereotypes are the last refuge of a lazy mind.
Obviously I realise that this does not provide quality results. But it should make some people think. That disparity is a reflection of how I, a peace loving anglo Australian happily living in a capatalist, democratic society, see the attitude to the USA from other good, reasonable people.
You realize that it doesn't provide quality results, but you're happy to throw it in there anyway. All I've heard so far from these comments is that you're happy, and layed-back and wonderful and you HATE 300 million people that you've never met. Interesting.
Almost everyone I know, from all ethnic backgrounds, have an attitude of America and Americans which falls somewhere between dislike and hatred and this has been the case long before the 9/11 "green light to kick ass".
A multi-cultural hate-group, how novel. Congratulations. Is this part of the happy, go-lucky Australian lifestyle?
Personally, I'm happy to say I've known and worked with a great number of Australians, and on the whole they've been great people to be around. In other words, they were nothing like you.
It's no wonder you're posting AC. I wouldn't want comments like those following me around either.
First, I agree that Australian English is really no more difficult to understand than British English, Canadian English, or American English. Of course it has it's own "local" slang terms and quirks, all branches of English do.
All I need to do is put on the Yank news or a music video show to see lots of Americans who are feeling negative or scared and often expressing it with some very foreign US lingo. Meanwhile, we Aussies are pretty happy. Our lingo tends to be positive or humorous. Which is even often the case for the slang which translates to something negative overall.
Oh c'mon, this can be said of anyone in any culture, if you're selective. Or do you really feel palpable fear radiating from the people in the latest "Bowling for Soup" video or in episodes of Seinfeld? Seems like the big news out of Australia that I see on TV is Steve Irwin's unfortunate demise. Should I conclude that Australians are all sitting around crying and unable to function because that's what was on "World News Tonight" recently?
You probably wouldn't understand Cockney, let alone Gaelic.
Okay, Cockney accents can be rough, but what does Gaelic have to do with anything? It's an entirely different language. Yes, it's spoken by a sizable number of people in the U.K., but aside from that, so what? Spanish is spoken by a sizable portion of the population in the U.S., that isn't relevant to the conversation either.
Oh so that means we Aussies are not normal then? You are the arse-hole who cannot seem to understand or respect local diversity. How very fucking American.
You Americans are amazing. From the tourists to the President, you offend and typically don't even realise it. And it's all our fault, right?
sigh, yeah, it's only Americans who make offensive statements. And luckily, if you're not an American, it's perfectly okay to make statements like these, because they aren't the least bit offensive to anyone.
That thing was so incredibly bloody awful, if I were CBS I'd want to remove all evidence of its existence as well.
The first generation or two of immigrants (legal and illegal) tend to have a high birthrate. Then, after they've been corrupted by American culture, the birthrate falls drastically.
Corrupted by, or assimilated into? If it's the former, perhaps this isn't the place they should have chosen to move to....
Some people pop out kids for social acceptance, others do it for intrinsic cultural values that often come from religion (Catholicism being but one of them).
;)
I think you left one reason out....some people actually just like kids. I know, it's hard to believe that anyone would actually want to drag around another person who not only can't write their own shell scripts, but can't even wipe their own butts, but it does actually happen. (Hmm, my definition of child seems to match my definition of management, weird....)
A noticeable trend appears to be that child rearing is most often inversely proportional to income and intelligence, which is bad news. Of course there are always exceptions.
I think I'd word that a little differently.....the trend towards raising large numbers of children seems often to be inversely proportional to income and education. Affluent, well-educated people are still having kids; they just seem to come in pairs instead of six-packs
2. While the particular technique shown won't work the idea of phreaking a pay phone to make free calls (redboxing) is not far-fetched.
Actually, we could do almost exactly this from a pay-phone where a friend worked well into the early '90's. We used a paper-clip that we'd straightened, and would touch one end to the chrome front of the phone, the other to the metal in the lower part of the receiver. The phone would click, and you could make your call. I have no idea what was happening "behind the scenes", or if it only worked on certain models of pay-phone, but it worked consistently for us for years.....
My wife went from not knowing what YouTube was - to being a YouTuber in about two seconds.
;)
YouTuber....the next evolution of a Couch Potato.
put on 'secret hold' using a procedure that does not appear to be mentioned in the Constitution
Actually, it is, but it's a secret. It's printed on the back, in invisible ink, next to the map....
As you wish......
Sanskrit
Latin
Klingon
Well, maybe if it was buffet style, and all the chairs were put away in a safe place.....
Fire away, I deserve everything I get for that stupid mistake. I know perfectly well what the term is, and I have no excuse for how I did that.
:)
In short, ladies and gentlemen, I am an ass.