Yup. In my younger days I heard people talk about this and I just thought that this just happened to old people. I used to consume a great deal of coffee--usually a couple of double espressos followed by a pot of coffee. It never made me "feel the need to take the browns to the super bowl."
Well, I gave up caffeine for about a year and now just smelling coffee sends me running to the can with a book. Thanks for letting me share.
I always thought those "this was a joke" lines in comments seemed so unnecessary. I guess I was wrong.
Admittedly, my joke was lame. But it was a joke. Oh well.
Not to sound snotty, but I take exception with your unqualified statement that languages have grown less complex. Is complexity something that can measured and ranked on a linear scale? I don't believe so. Much as there is no linear measure of intelligence (the concept of the IQ is flawed), there is no measure of linguistic complexity.
Some languages have a stronger case system than others. Some use grammatical gender. Some have larger vocabularies than others.
But you're right about views of language superiority. I rather agree your post on the whole. I just disagree with one assertion.
You made excellent comments which I agree with for the most part. However, I have a bit of nitpicking to do:
I don't believe that this is the only reason Microsoft controls the vast majority of desktops in the world. I don't even think it's the main reason. I imagine it has more to do with it's prevalence. Most people don't choose an OS. They choose a computer. The OS is just there. If you asked the average person to name as many operating systems as they could, assuming they knew what the hell that was, you'd hear Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, etc. They aren't aware of a choice.
he showed a secretary doing her job with ease
Actually, she was a senior chairwoman. You didn't even have to RTFA to get that one. It's scarey how deeply ingrained some stereotypes are.
From the article (quote attributed to Kim Cascone):
GarageBand is snoozeware for the iPod generation who think that music comes in a small white-and-chrome can and only need be served lukewarm for public consumption.
I disagree. Yes, browsers for the desktop will still be able to handle pages written in HTML 3.2 for years to come. But in the years to come folks will be using the web without a desktop browser. There will be PDA's, phones and devices that have yet to be invented. A screen that is 230 pixels wide doesn't do well when presented with a page with a fixed width of 608 pixels. Properly coded XHTML doesn't have that problem.
Those that have a financial interest in having their content available to the widest audience possible will convert their content. Some won't. But new content and new sites will be written in XHTML (or maybe someday XML and XSLT). Are you a web developer? If so, I hope you're aware just how much easier and quicker it is to develop sites with XHTML and CSS.
All good points. I think we pretty much see things the same way. We just respond differently. And you're right - your comments will resonate with some people who would ignore mine. Just so long as they think. So many people just don't seem to care about politics. It baffles me.
Let me see if I can clarify my point. Almost everyday I see someone standing on the corner preaching about damnation and hellfire. Are this people genuinely trying to convert others? Do they honestly feel that this is the most effective way to go about it? I don't think so and it bothers me. I think they're more interested in making themselves heard than in making converts.
Your comment reminded me a lot of those people on the street corner. Don't misunderstand me - I'm angry about this. I very much want things in politics to be different, but I feel that kind of rhetoric you used to be counter-productive. I want the unwashed masses to understand that people in high places aren't necessarily looking out for the best interests of their constituents. But if they read your comment, they would most likely just think you're paranoid. That would reinforce the image in their minds that those who oppose the status quo are just paranoid or have some agenda.
And for what it's worth (admittedly, not much) I do regret the nutjob comment. I see people shouting just to shout. How should you help the matter? Write your congressman. Educate those around you. Just don't turn them off before they even hear what you have to say. You're not going to change anything by bitching about it on Slashdot. Neither am I. My post was just a knee jerk response.
Are you more threatened by the idea that the Republicans could hire a decent hacker, or that they are destroying the integrity of our government?
I think both are pretty horrible, but I don't think that our government has any integrity left.
I'm not really sure what you mean by "codependent fantasies". I must not have done a good job of making my point. What happened was not ok. Unethical behavior is not ok. I don't think we should leave this alone because it's business as usual. I feel the same outrage you do. Then why aren't I shouting about it? Because I want things to change.
I'm not calling you a bad guy (if I follow your analogy). I'm telling you that I think your comments will do nothing to help put out the fire. When people hear you shouting fire, they won't think "Oh my god, there's a fire!" They'll say, "look at this freak over here screaming about something." That was my point.
Ok. Let it be known that I am no friend of Republicans. And yes, the actions of the Republicans were unethical. But you are not helping the matter.
There was no Republican plot to crack the Democrats' servers. It looks like someone stumbled upon an unlocked door and took a peek. Unethical? Yes. Criminal? Probably
This was a dirty thing, but I don't see it as being as sinister as Watergate. I firmly believe that had the Democrats found a similar loophole, they would have used it. I'm not sure they would have leaked things to the press, though.
If I wasn't worried about being modded down I might tell you that the only people who will read your comments and not think you're a nutjob are your fellow nutjobs. But that would be wrong.
The world of politics is indeed a nasty one. I'm not so naive as to believe that either of the two major parties is above yielding to the pressure of money. Unless you're some sort of true believer, when it comes time to vote, you must realize that you're choosing between the lesser of two evils.
Although I see it as part of the problem, it's hardly surprising that voter turnout is as low as it is. Your vote is either thrown away on a third party or you make a choice that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Sorry if this was offtopic. I read the article and this was my reaction.
I appreciate that you're voting with your dollars. Lots of people talk about companies they despise yet continue to give them their money. I wish more folks thought like you.
One thing I feel that you're missing (or at least haven't mentioned) is that record companies conduct business much as they would if they were selling toasters. The problem with the music industry is that it's an industry - a factory churning out model after model hoping that adding a racing stripe to last year's model will make it sell again this year. This is music for christ's sake.
That's not funny. It's sad, really. Your joke sounds a lot like what I heard in high school... from my biology teacher!
I had always assumed that the people who spoke out against evolution were just a bunch of cousin-kissing yokels that just stayed on the farm. No sir. When I wanted to write a paper on evolution in my english class, my teacher decided to have a talk with me. She told me to write about something less controversial - like abortion. I shit you not. That's when you know that you've got to move away after graduation.
I still love Texas, but it's getting tougher and tougher to proud of this place. Religious nuts. Bush. Gun nuts. Bush. Houston (at one point it had the fattest people and the worst polution, thanks Dubya!).
You speak the truth. And it isn't just because of the holidays (at least not in the case of Wired). Wired has been steadily devoting more and more of its pages to reports about neat-o products. The articles about "technology trends" tend to be more about hipster cell phone fetishes than about actual trends in the technology world. If the magazine wasn't so damned cheap I wouldn't resubscribe. But it is so I will. I just wish the reason it's so cheap wasn't so transparent.
While I applaud your desire to educate other, I fear (heh) that you'd be perpetuating a bigger problem. I would suggest a different book - The Culture of Fear. And the author isn't a nutcase, even though he was featured in Michael Moore's psuedo-documentary "Bowling for Columbine". Pick it up. It's tremendously enlightening.
I'd have to disagree. Have you ever looked at old US currency - like Civil War era? There is a symbol on it - a "U" with an "S" on top of it. These letters stand for "United States." Draw a "U" with an "S" on top of it. What does that look like to you? Bingo - $.
Ok. But where does the word "Thaler" come from? I'll tell you - it is of German origin. The German word for valley is "Tal", which was written as "Thal" before a semi-recent orthographic reform of German.
And if I'm not mistaken (which admittedly happens), the term "Thaler" for currency comes from something like "Joachimsthal" which was an area in the present day Czech Republic known for its silver. This is all from memory so I may be getting the specifics wrong, but the point is that the word "Dollar" is Germanic.
This brings something interesting to mind:
According to jabber01 in this comment
IIRC, honeypots and intentionally misrepresenting yourself as something you're not in the digisphere, is illegal under either the DMCA or one of the Patriot Laws.
Assuming that these serial DMCA perjurers use their own web-crawlers, what are the user-agent strings? What if they're claiming to be something that they're not? Wouldn't they then be in violation of the DMCA? Just thinking out loud, er, typing, um, whatever...
Slashdot Mirror
Yup. In my younger days I heard people talk about this and I just thought that this just happened to old people. I used to consume a great deal of coffee--usually a couple of double espressos followed by a pot of coffee. It never made me "feel the need to take the browns to the super bowl." Well, I gave up caffeine for about a year and now just smelling coffee sends me running to the can with a book. Thanks for letting me share.
Civet Coffeee--made from coffe beans that have been partially digested and excreted by the Civet (of SARS fame). Read more here. Freaky.
I always thought those "this was a joke" lines in comments seemed so unnecessary. I guess I was wrong.
Admittedly, my joke was lame. But it was a joke. Oh well.
It's sinking. You shot a hole in the bottom of the boat, jackass.
Not to sound snotty, but I take exception with your unqualified statement that languages have grown less complex. Is complexity something that can measured and ranked on a linear scale? I don't believe so. Much as there is no linear measure of intelligence (the concept of the IQ is flawed), there is no measure of linguistic complexity.
Some languages have a stronger case system than others. Some use grammatical gender. Some have larger vocabularies than others.
But you're right about views of language superiority. I rather agree your post on the whole. I just disagree with one assertion.
Actually, she was a senior chairwoman. You didn't even have to RTFA to get that one. It's scarey how deeply ingrained some stereotypes are.
I disagree. Yes, browsers for the desktop will still be able to handle pages written in HTML 3.2 for years to come. But in the years to come folks will be using the web without a desktop browser. There will be PDA's, phones and devices that have yet to be invented. A screen that is 230 pixels wide doesn't do well when presented with a page with a fixed width of 608 pixels. Properly coded XHTML doesn't have that problem.
Those that have a financial interest in having their content available to the widest audience possible will convert their content. Some won't. But new content and new sites will be written in XHTML (or maybe someday XML and XSLT). Are you a web developer? If so, I hope you're aware just how much easier and quicker it is to develop sites with XHTML and CSS.
All good points. I think we pretty much see things the same way. We just respond differently. And you're right - your comments will resonate with some people who would ignore mine. Just so long as they think. So many people just don't seem to care about politics. It baffles me.
I just hope you vote.
Let me see if I can clarify my point. Almost everyday I see someone standing on the corner preaching about damnation and hellfire. Are this people genuinely trying to convert others? Do they honestly feel that this is the most effective way to go about it? I don't think so and it bothers me. I think they're more interested in making themselves heard than in making converts.
Your comment reminded me a lot of those people on the street corner. Don't misunderstand me - I'm angry about this. I very much want things in politics to be different, but I feel that kind of rhetoric you used to be counter-productive. I want the unwashed masses to understand that people in high places aren't necessarily looking out for the best interests of their constituents. But if they read your comment, they would most likely just think you're paranoid. That would reinforce the image in their minds that those who oppose the status quo are just paranoid or have some agenda.
And for what it's worth (admittedly, not much) I do regret the nutjob comment. I see people shouting just to shout. How should you help the matter? Write your congressman. Educate those around you. Just don't turn them off before they even hear what you have to say. You're not going to change anything by bitching about it on Slashdot. Neither am I. My post was just a knee jerk response.
Are you more threatened by the idea that the Republicans could hire a decent hacker, or that they are destroying the integrity of our government?
I think both are pretty horrible, but I don't think that our government has any integrity left.
I'm not really sure what you mean by "codependent fantasies". I must not have done a good job of making my point. What happened was not ok. Unethical behavior is not ok. I don't think we should leave this alone because it's business as usual. I feel the same outrage you do. Then why aren't I shouting about it? Because I want things to change.
I'm not calling you a bad guy (if I follow your analogy). I'm telling you that I think your comments will do nothing to help put out the fire. When people hear you shouting fire, they won't think "Oh my god, there's a fire!" They'll say, "look at this freak over here screaming about something." That was my point.
Ok. Let it be known that I am no friend of Republicans. And yes, the actions of the Republicans were unethical. But you are not helping the matter.
There was no Republican plot to crack the Democrats' servers. It looks like someone stumbled upon an unlocked door and took a peek. Unethical? Yes. Criminal? Probably
This was a dirty thing, but I don't see it as being as sinister as Watergate. I firmly believe that had the Democrats found a similar loophole, they would have used it. I'm not sure they would have leaked things to the press, though.
If I wasn't worried about being modded down I might tell you that the only people who will read your comments and not think you're a nutjob are your fellow nutjobs. But that would be wrong.
The world of politics is indeed a nasty one. I'm not so naive as to believe that either of the two major parties is above yielding to the pressure of money. Unless you're some sort of true believer, when it comes time to vote, you must realize that you're choosing between the lesser of two evils.
Although I see it as part of the problem, it's hardly surprising that voter turnout is as low as it is. Your vote is either thrown away on a third party or you make a choice that leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
Sorry if this was offtopic. I read the article and this was my reaction.
Oh man. I spit coffee all over my monitors. Thanks. I never have mod points when I want 'em.
Lawsuit-proof? I don't think anything is lawsuit-proof where Darl McBride is involved.
Solid state?
Have you seen an MP3 CD player with vacuum tubes?
I appreciate that you're voting with your dollars. Lots of people talk about companies they despise yet continue to give them their money. I wish more folks thought like you.
One thing I feel that you're missing (or at least haven't mentioned) is that record companies conduct business much as they would if they were selling toasters. The problem with the music industry is that it's an industry - a factory churning out model after model hoping that adding a racing stripe to last year's model will make it sell again this year. This is music for christ's sake.
That's not funny. It's sad, really. Your joke sounds a lot like what I heard in high school... from my biology teacher!
I had always assumed that the people who spoke out against evolution were just a bunch of cousin-kissing yokels that just stayed on the farm. No sir. When I wanted to write a paper on evolution in my english class, my teacher decided to have a talk with me. She told me to write about something less controversial - like abortion. I shit you not. That's when you know that you've got to move away after graduation.
I still love Texas, but it's getting tougher and tougher to proud of this place. Religious nuts. Bush. Gun nuts. Bush. Houston (at one point it had the fattest people and the worst polution, thanks Dubya!).
Sigh.You speak the truth. And it isn't just because of the holidays (at least not in the case of Wired). Wired has been steadily devoting more and more of its pages to reports about neat-o products. The articles about "technology trends" tend to be more about hipster cell phone fetishes than about actual trends in the technology world.
If the magazine wasn't so damned cheap I wouldn't resubscribe. But it is so I will. I just wish the reason it's so cheap wasn't so transparent.
While I applaud your desire to educate other, I fear (heh) that you'd be perpetuating a bigger problem. I would suggest a different book - The Culture of Fear. And the author isn't a nutcase, even though he was featured in Michael Moore's psuedo-documentary "Bowling for Columbine". Pick it up. It's tremendously enlightening.
I'd have to disagree. Have you ever looked at old US currency - like Civil War era? There is a symbol on it - a "U" with an "S" on top of it. These letters stand for "United States." Draw a "U" with an "S" on top of it. What does that look like to you? Bingo - $.
Ok. But where does the word "Thaler" come from? I'll tell you - it is of German origin. The German word for valley is "Tal", which was written as "Thal" before a semi-recent orthographic reform of German.
And if I'm not mistaken (which admittedly happens), the term "Thaler" for currency comes from something like "Joachimsthal" which was an area in the present day Czech Republic known for its silver. This is all from memory so I may be getting the specifics wrong, but the point is that the word "Dollar" is Germanic.
According to this it's build 7B85.
Ha! And this coming from someone that doesn't even know how to spell "Norrin". Sheesh.
For the humor impaired, that was a joke. Albeit a dorky one.
damn. beat me to it.
According to jabber01 in this comment
Assuming that these serial DMCA perjurers use their own web-crawlers, what are the user-agent strings? What if they're claiming to be something that they're not? Wouldn't they then be in violation of the DMCA? Just thinking out loud, er, typing, um, whatever...