Really? Let's vote.
Country
Population
____
Australia
19,731,984
New Zealand
3,951,307
Canada
32,207,113
United Kingdom
60,094,648
Ireland
3,924,140
Total "pro":
119,909,192
____
United States
290,342,554
Total "prah":
290,342,554
____
We win. So nyah nyah on you.
(Source data: Wikipedia)
(This part is to feed the lameness filter...This part is to feed the lameness filter...This part is to feed the lameness filter...Stupid lack of HTML tables in comments...This part is to feed the lameness filter...Stupid lack of HTML tables in comments...Stupid lack of HTML tables in comments...Stupid lack of HTML tables in comments...)
Most of us Americans know (we do, don't we?) that Canadians pronounce been the same way we pronounce bean, and about to (almost) rhyme with our boot (likewise for other similar words like house). Also, the "...eh?" thing. You will, however, run into other, lesser-known pronunciation oddities. For instance, process (which you will hear a lot in an office setting, particularly an IT one) will have the same first syllable as proton.
One that chimes in with "Why don't we just turn off the {TV|computer} and go outside for a change, huh, huh?? Lazy-asses!", that is.
How come no one ever says you should stop reading and go outside? Or stop knitting? Or stop listening to music?
Answer: because those things are warm and fuzzy and old-fashioned. TVs and comptuers are techy and shiny and new-fangled. Therefore, they are evil and empty and fit only for the -- ugh -- ovine commoners.
I don't know about you, but I don't turn my brain off just because I'm watching TV -- why should I? In fact, the extra stimulation (data rate, if you will) gives it more to chew on: Could such a thing ever happen?...Was that scene stupid?...What ulterior motives might the producers have for what I just saw?...How much did Pepsi have to pay to get that soda can in the scene?
"If some unemployed punk in New Jersey can get a cassette to make love to Elle McPherson for $19.95, this [pleasure-unit robot] stuff is going to make crack look like Sanka." --Dennis Miller, doctored to be relevant to the discussion
I think you'll find that anyone who's too sloppy with spelling, syntax, or grammar (except intentionally) will be a pretty piss-poor programmer. Computers sometimes like to crash if you do as little wrong as misspell a variable name (much less misspecify an entire interface). If you can't even get the loose standards of human language right, what chance do you have with a computer?
Also, was enough technology around early enough in Egypt for people to be chronically annoyed that their printers had no true descenders, and so, mangled the name of the country when printed?
You wouldn't believe what you have to go through to get a Minesweeper or Klondike game onto a phone that doesn't have it preinstalled, without paying $5 for the privilege. (Stupid Motorola...motorcycle racing?? Thanks, dorks!)
And never mind saving stuff off when your memory's full.
Trust me, you can never -- never -- have enough RAM, disk, or CPU when doing this. And people need to do this; home movies/videos are painfully boring unless chopped down to the interesting bits.
(I just dread the period we'll inevitably go through with video editing analogous to the DTP (remember DTP?) "use all the fonts!" era. It'll be the same thing, only 100 times as annoying.)
I'm serious. Get on any commuter train or bus, and you'll no doubt be subjected to the tinny sound of some dumbass's (or several dumbasses') music spilling from their headphones -- audible even over the sound of the vehicle. Give them ultrasonic directed-sound headphones and they can destroy their hearing to their hearts' content without annoying me.
(And don't get me started about the double-dumbasses who get on with their laptop or one of those portable DVD players and cranks something up on regular speakers, never mind headphones.)
Slashdot Mirror
Type so quickly the key-releases interfere with the key-presses.
Dunno if that'll work -- but typing quickly also helps against shoulder-surfing, particularly with longer passwords.
Mmmm, smell that? Smells like flamewar!
We win. So nyah nyah on you.
(Source data: Wikipedia)
(This part is to feed the lameness filter...This part is to feed the lameness filter...This part is to feed the lameness filter...Stupid lack of HTML tables in comments...This part is to feed the lameness filter...Stupid lack of HTML tables in comments...Stupid lack of HTML tables in comments...Stupid lack of HTML tables in comments...)
...get used to hearing them differently.
Most of us Americans know (we do, don't we?) that Canadians pronounce been the same way we pronounce bean, and about to (almost) rhyme with our boot (likewise for other similar words like house). Also, the "...eh?" thing. You will, however, run into other, lesser-known pronunciation oddities. For instance, process (which you will hear a lot in an office setting, particularly an IT one) will have the same first syllable as proton.
One that chimes in with "Why don't we just turn off the {TV|computer} and go outside for a change, huh, huh?? Lazy-asses!", that is.
How come no one ever says you should stop reading and go outside? Or stop knitting? Or stop listening to music?
Answer: because those things are warm and fuzzy and old-fashioned. TVs and comptuers are techy and shiny and new-fangled. Therefore, they are evil and empty and fit only for the -- ugh -- ovine commoners.
I don't know about you, but I don't turn my brain off just because I'm watching TV -- why should I? In fact, the extra stimulation (data rate, if you will) gives it more to chew on: Could such a thing ever happen?...Was that scene stupid?...What ulterior motives might the producers have for what I just saw?...How much did Pepsi have to pay to get that soda can in the scene?
In conclusion, click on this obligatory link (which no longer works because The Onion has sold out).
You heard me.
Moving to LA? Feh. Thanks for ruining the only foothold San Francisco had in TV land, Comcast.
"UP NEXT: the link between breast implants and computer chips! We'll explain right after this."
Nah. That smacks of effort.
Consumers have adopted a system by which multiple redundant backups are constantly made and remade.
It's called P2P.
"If some unemployed punk in New Jersey can get a cassette to make love to Elle McPherson for $19.95, this [pleasure-unit robot] stuff is going to make crack look like Sanka."
--Dennis Miller, doctored to be relevant to the discussion
Nano-bot that eats my fat cells.
"Robolipophage"
I think you'll find that anyone who's too sloppy with spelling, syntax, or grammar (except intentionally) will be a pretty piss-poor programmer. Computers sometimes like to crash if you do as little wrong as misspell a variable name (much less misspecify an entire interface). If you can't even get the loose standards of human language right, what chance do you have with a computer?
(Very carefully proofread text...aaaaand submit!)
Specifically, adversarial marketing.
Linux: Slashdot article linking to story about how a public library switched to Linux
Mac: smarmy, self-satisfied TV ads with the word/sentence/slogan "Switch."
Microsoft: Magazine ads yammering about TCO and pointing to suspicious studies
Draw your own conclusions.
Is there an Arabic equivalent to 1337 5p34k?
And if people practice it (except for irony), do they get their keyboards cut off?
Please?
Also, was enough technology around early enough in Egypt for people to be chronically annoyed that their printers had no true descenders, and so, mangled the name of the country when printed?
Oh yes, video editors love using Macs.
You wouldn't believe what you have to go through to get a Minesweeper or Klondike game onto a phone that doesn't have it preinstalled, without paying $5 for the privilege. (Stupid Motorola...motorcycle racing?? Thanks, dorks!)
And never mind saving stuff off when your memory's full.
...or he'll be spinning in his grave.
At an exonentially-increasing RPM, no doubt.
Video editing.
Trust me, you can never -- never -- have enough RAM, disk, or CPU when doing this. And people need to do this; home movies/videos are painfully boring unless chopped down to the interesting bits.
(I just dread the period we'll inevitably go through with video editing analogous to the DTP (remember DTP?) "use all the fonts!" era. It'll be the same thing, only 100 times as annoying.)
...and when you step on the brakes, the sound of a dessicated skull being crushed beneath the titanium foot of a T-1000.
Or how about that droning sound the Recognizers in Tron make?
Yes, as I said..."long time coming".
Make no mistake, for decades, Intel was the 800-lb gorilla of the CPU world. Looks like that time is slowly but surely coming to an end.
Upstarts can overtake the entrenched Powers That Be!
It's so beautiful...[wipes away tear]
I'm serious. Get on any commuter train or bus, and you'll no doubt be subjected to the tinny sound of some dumbass's (or several dumbasses') music spilling from their headphones -- audible even over the sound of the vehicle. Give them ultrasonic directed-sound headphones and they can destroy their hearing to their hearts' content without annoying me.
(And don't get me started about the double-dumbasses who get on with their laptop or one of those portable DVD players and cranks something up on regular speakers, never mind headphones.)
...they sure have eye-pain-inducing text in their graphs.
People, please. Can we turn the friggin' ClearType off?
Especially within applications (I'm looking at you, Adobe PhotoShop Album 2).
Makes me feel like I have chlorine in my eyes. Agh!
Unm...a really really good one?
(One operating on a frequency of 8GHz or more?)