natharvey
Mar 30, 05:45 PM
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)
I agree, I just want dome minor UI changes. nothing too major. can't wait for Lion!
I agree, I just want dome minor UI changes. nothing too major. can't wait for Lion!
dj2mc
Nov 28, 12:51 AM
awful program
locked up my mac multiple times and possibly was the cause of my bootcamp partition getting completely ruined
was working fine until i ran this
TBH, probably wasn't the AV.. when you dual boot there are so many bugs that go on w/ OSX. I never dual boot anymore because it would always lock my Mac up..
I saw a lady today at the Apple Store, and goes to the Genius Bar.. and the first thing she says "Hi, I am having troubles with my iMac, I dual booted through Boot Camp w/ Windows 7, and it crashed my Mac." I LOL'd and the genius's confirmed it was the cause of dual boot. I don't trust it... not one bit.
locked up my mac multiple times and possibly was the cause of my bootcamp partition getting completely ruined
was working fine until i ran this
TBH, probably wasn't the AV.. when you dual boot there are so many bugs that go on w/ OSX. I never dual boot anymore because it would always lock my Mac up..
I saw a lady today at the Apple Store, and goes to the Genius Bar.. and the first thing she says "Hi, I am having troubles with my iMac, I dual booted through Boot Camp w/ Windows 7, and it crashed my Mac." I LOL'd and the genius's confirmed it was the cause of dual boot. I don't trust it... not one bit.
boncellis
Jul 23, 06:35 PM
Personally, i'd love Apple releasing a intermediate desktop solution (between iMac and Mac Pro) sporting a not-yet-released 3.2GHz Conroe porcessor. That would be my dream machine BUT this is unlikely as its clocked higher than the top Woodcrest chip which tops out at 3.0GHz.
I might just get a windows box and dump linux on it....after all i already own a mac (PowerBook) with lots of life left. So if i miss Mac OS X i'll simply use my PB.
Other alternative would be to buy any conroe machine and just swap out the CPU with the 3.2 GHz chip launches. Too bad conroes will most likely be launching on iMacs though.
Don't do it man! You deserve better!
I might just get a windows box and dump linux on it....after all i already own a mac (PowerBook) with lots of life left. So if i miss Mac OS X i'll simply use my PB.
Other alternative would be to buy any conroe machine and just swap out the CPU with the 3.2 GHz chip launches. Too bad conroes will most likely be launching on iMacs though.
Don't do it man! You deserve better!
Lesser Evets
May 4, 02:45 PM
I'm outraged.
OK, not really, just wary of not having an OS disk in case of problems. It'd have to be followed by the merest physical back-up device in the mail, just in case. The current packaging of OSX is ridiculous; it might be good for the noobs, but I throw away everything but the disk the moment the box opens. I'd rather get a tiny USB key in a plain, brown rapper.
OK, not really, just wary of not having an OS disk in case of problems. It'd have to be followed by the merest physical back-up device in the mail, just in case. The current packaging of OSX is ridiculous; it might be good for the noobs, but I throw away everything but the disk the moment the box opens. I'd rather get a tiny USB key in a plain, brown rapper.
techfreak85
Apr 23, 04:34 PM
Would this mainly be for notebooks? I assume it would be too expensive to achieve a high enough PPI on a 22inch+ display, no?
Popeye206
Apr 7, 10:20 AM
Good for Apple for being smart enough to secure production. Very smart.
Also... just saw... another Japan Earthquake about 10 mins ago. 7.4.
Not good for Japan!
Also... just saw... another Japan Earthquake about 10 mins ago. 7.4.
Not good for Japan!
MikeTheC
Nov 25, 08:56 PM
Other than confusing everyone with too many options, no.
If you're a teenage girl, your phone has to have a camera on it, meaning you'll have to go to Apple.com to custom-order it. That's complicated.
If you're a hiker, maybe you're going to want a phone with GPS, meaning you'll have to go to Apple.com to custom-order it. That's complicated.
If you're a huge multitasker, you're going to want PDA-functionality, meaning you'll have to go to Apple.com to custom-order it. That's complicated.
Very few people, I feel, will want a bare-bones phone... meaning most will have to go to Apple.com to custom-order it. That's too complicated for most people to do.
So in short, no, I don't think that'll work. Good idea, though. That way you'd get a phone with the features you want without the crap that you don't want. Unfortunately, as far as a particular model of phone goes, it's either all or nothing... and I don't think Apple will want to release 18 different models of phone, each with different capabilities... that's worse than BTO.
-Clive
I agree with you totally on this one, Clive.
The problem with "the masses" out there (especially in the U.S.) is that they are so uneducated, unsophisticated, unsavvy, and generally lazy, that ANY solution that isn't served up to them, lock stock and barrel, on a silver platter, automatically will wind up excluding probably a bit north of 70% of the population, and that might simply be me being a bit generous.
Heck, in this country, people don't even educate themselves enough to know not to put scorchingly-hot coffee between their legs in a fast-food drive-through. And having had five years' experience as tech support at Sony Electronics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_CISC) I can tell you that most people don't know -- and don't want to know -- anything about the devices they use. They've grown up and been raised to simply hand the keys to their lives over to someone else. Otherwise, if they had to actually use their minds and *think* something through, well, they don't have time for all that.
Sorry to rant here a bit, but it's the truth. Heck, I've dealt with that at every retail company I've ever worked at, at least to some extent.
If you're a teenage girl, your phone has to have a camera on it, meaning you'll have to go to Apple.com to custom-order it. That's complicated.
If you're a hiker, maybe you're going to want a phone with GPS, meaning you'll have to go to Apple.com to custom-order it. That's complicated.
If you're a huge multitasker, you're going to want PDA-functionality, meaning you'll have to go to Apple.com to custom-order it. That's complicated.
Very few people, I feel, will want a bare-bones phone... meaning most will have to go to Apple.com to custom-order it. That's too complicated for most people to do.
So in short, no, I don't think that'll work. Good idea, though. That way you'd get a phone with the features you want without the crap that you don't want. Unfortunately, as far as a particular model of phone goes, it's either all or nothing... and I don't think Apple will want to release 18 different models of phone, each with different capabilities... that's worse than BTO.
-Clive
I agree with you totally on this one, Clive.
The problem with "the masses" out there (especially in the U.S.) is that they are so uneducated, unsophisticated, unsavvy, and generally lazy, that ANY solution that isn't served up to them, lock stock and barrel, on a silver platter, automatically will wind up excluding probably a bit north of 70% of the population, and that might simply be me being a bit generous.
Heck, in this country, people don't even educate themselves enough to know not to put scorchingly-hot coffee between their legs in a fast-food drive-through. And having had five years' experience as tech support at Sony Electronics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_CISC) I can tell you that most people don't know -- and don't want to know -- anything about the devices they use. They've grown up and been raised to simply hand the keys to their lives over to someone else. Otherwise, if they had to actually use their minds and *think* something through, well, they don't have time for all that.
Sorry to rant here a bit, but it's the truth. Heck, I've dealt with that at every retail company I've ever worked at, at least to some extent.
levitynyc
Apr 25, 08:50 AM
"We don't track anyone."
Sent from your backyard.
Sent from your backyard.
wangagat
Jul 21, 03:35 PM
Remind us about what? Please be a little less cryptic because some people are tired here :p
lol sorry... just saying that products dont necessarily have to wait the 6 month grace period before bein upgraded.
iMac was drastically upgraded from G5 to Core Duo after just 3 months.
Could be the same with the current line-up.
lol sorry... just saying that products dont necessarily have to wait the 6 month grace period before bein upgraded.
iMac was drastically upgraded from G5 to Core Duo after just 3 months.
Could be the same with the current line-up.
ProfessorApple
Apr 5, 07:39 PM
I wonder why Apple gives a hoot? This couldn't be hurting them could it?:confused:
Xtremehkr
Apr 7, 09:35 AM
RIM was the smartphone market for a brief period of time, they really should be doing better than what they are right now.
RIM didn't have any vision, though, and were eclipsed by Apple and Google.
I owned a BB Storm and it was a piece of junk, the Torch fell flat and now the Playbook has been delayed.
I wonder who is going to buy RIM out, they are in desperate need of a hit product. RIM needs a halo product as badly as Apple did before the iPod came out.
RIM didn't have any vision, though, and were eclipsed by Apple and Google.
I owned a BB Storm and it was a piece of junk, the Torch fell flat and now the Playbook has been delayed.
I wonder who is going to buy RIM out, they are in desperate need of a hit product. RIM needs a halo product as badly as Apple did before the iPod came out.
iliketyla
Mar 29, 01:59 PM
At 10% unemployment, I don't know many people who would scoff at a job these days.
And, it isn't that illegal immigrants do jobs that people "wouldn't be caught dead doing" -- it's that they do jobs that people wouldn't be caught dead doing for below minimum wage. There are plenty of Americans who would pick fruit or clean buildings for a fair wage -- they just don't get the opportunity because an immigrant will do the job for cash at poverty wages.
Yeah, that's true.
What's the solution though? Living in Arizona I hear about this issue ALL THE TIME on the news, and it seems like there are many different pros and cons to any potential solution they come up with.
And, it isn't that illegal immigrants do jobs that people "wouldn't be caught dead doing" -- it's that they do jobs that people wouldn't be caught dead doing for below minimum wage. There are plenty of Americans who would pick fruit or clean buildings for a fair wage -- they just don't get the opportunity because an immigrant will do the job for cash at poverty wages.
Yeah, that's true.
What's the solution though? Living in Arizona I hear about this issue ALL THE TIME on the news, and it seems like there are many different pros and cons to any potential solution they come up with.
peharri
Aug 2, 03:29 PM
"So, with the new Core 2 Duo based Xserve, and Leopard's November release, this is going to be the best year for Macintosh ever. One last thing. I'd like you to take a look at this."
As Steve says this, a flunky wheels a large object covered by a black sheet onto the stage, and then departs. Steve smiles at the crowd, winks, and then lifts the sheet off with the flair of a magician. The audience goes "Woo" at what appears to be a huge, glowing, apple.
"It's really neat isn't it? The surface isn't glass, it's actually solid man-made diamond. That's right. Diamond. The light inside is generated by passing electricity through a gas field generating plasma."
Sparks appear to fly from the center of the apple - four feet high excluding stem and just as wide - to the sides, while the center flows different colours... red, blue, red again, green, white, bright bright white, the apple suddenly "turns off" but then begins to glow red again. The apple hums and occasionally crackles.
"Now, the stem of the apple is actually titanium plated, and you can reposition it in any direction you want. And, of course, it's low power, the entire apple uses less electricity than a night light. It's controlled using Airport. Let me demonstrate."
Steve walks to the computer console while the audience begins to get puzzled and restless.
"You can make the entire thing green just by clicking on a button... there"
The apple turns green, varying the shades between the very dark and the black. Lightning continues to spark from the center to the sides.
"Good for you who like granny-smiths. We can also make a golden delicious..."
...the apple turns yellow. There's a crackling noise, but it's somehow comforting.
"...or even go for red."
The apple flashes red, and then changes back to random colours. Finally, a click of a mouse, and the colours line up into stripes, reminding everyone of the classic Apple logo. There is confused applause from the audience.
"We have these in a variety of sizes. You can get this four foot model for just $399, from the Apple Store right now. Yes, we're selling it today, in sizes of 3 feet, four feet, and eight feet. Thanks for coming to see us today, see you next year!"
With that, the master salesman leaves the stage, his audience stunned.
Within minutes, the entire first run of 1,500,000 4' apples is completely sold out.
By Christmas, the entire country will have huge glowing apples in every home.
By July, apples will be exchanged as a symbol of peace. Iraqis will proudly have huge glowing apples placed on every home, symbolising the return to tranquility in that forsaken region.
In Apple will withdraw the iPod. Nobody needs it any more. Nobody wants it. A huge, useless, glowing apple will be all anyone will want.
As Steve says this, a flunky wheels a large object covered by a black sheet onto the stage, and then departs. Steve smiles at the crowd, winks, and then lifts the sheet off with the flair of a magician. The audience goes "Woo" at what appears to be a huge, glowing, apple.
"It's really neat isn't it? The surface isn't glass, it's actually solid man-made diamond. That's right. Diamond. The light inside is generated by passing electricity through a gas field generating plasma."
Sparks appear to fly from the center of the apple - four feet high excluding stem and just as wide - to the sides, while the center flows different colours... red, blue, red again, green, white, bright bright white, the apple suddenly "turns off" but then begins to glow red again. The apple hums and occasionally crackles.
"Now, the stem of the apple is actually titanium plated, and you can reposition it in any direction you want. And, of course, it's low power, the entire apple uses less electricity than a night light. It's controlled using Airport. Let me demonstrate."
Steve walks to the computer console while the audience begins to get puzzled and restless.
"You can make the entire thing green just by clicking on a button... there"
The apple turns green, varying the shades between the very dark and the black. Lightning continues to spark from the center to the sides.
"Good for you who like granny-smiths. We can also make a golden delicious..."
...the apple turns yellow. There's a crackling noise, but it's somehow comforting.
"...or even go for red."
The apple flashes red, and then changes back to random colours. Finally, a click of a mouse, and the colours line up into stripes, reminding everyone of the classic Apple logo. There is confused applause from the audience.
"We have these in a variety of sizes. You can get this four foot model for just $399, from the Apple Store right now. Yes, we're selling it today, in sizes of 3 feet, four feet, and eight feet. Thanks for coming to see us today, see you next year!"
With that, the master salesman leaves the stage, his audience stunned.
Within minutes, the entire first run of 1,500,000 4' apples is completely sold out.
By Christmas, the entire country will have huge glowing apples in every home.
By July, apples will be exchanged as a symbol of peace. Iraqis will proudly have huge glowing apples placed on every home, symbolising the return to tranquility in that forsaken region.
In Apple will withdraw the iPod. Nobody needs it any more. Nobody wants it. A huge, useless, glowing apple will be all anyone will want.
0010101
Nov 27, 12:28 AM
NEWS:
November 23, 2006 CNN
NEW YORK (AP) -- Cell phone owners will be allowed to break software locks on their handsets in order to use them with competing carriers under new copyright rules announced Wednesday.
Given the above news, NO cellphone company may soon be subsidizing ANY phones.
Sure they will. They give you the phone at a discounted rate, or free, if you sign a service contract for X number of years.. which is how they get their money back.
The new rules are intended for people who buy the phones at full price, or decide to move to a competing carrier after they have fulfilled their obligations under their service contract/agreement.
The people this might sting would be outfits like Virgin Mobile, TracPhone, and other 'pre-paid' wireless companies, who often sell their phones at or below cost because they'll make up the money in sold airtime.
They hook you with the low price and no contract or monthly fee, but then sock you with .25 cents a minute or more airtime charges.
November 23, 2006 CNN
NEW YORK (AP) -- Cell phone owners will be allowed to break software locks on their handsets in order to use them with competing carriers under new copyright rules announced Wednesday.
Given the above news, NO cellphone company may soon be subsidizing ANY phones.
Sure they will. They give you the phone at a discounted rate, or free, if you sign a service contract for X number of years.. which is how they get their money back.
The new rules are intended for people who buy the phones at full price, or decide to move to a competing carrier after they have fulfilled their obligations under their service contract/agreement.
The people this might sting would be outfits like Virgin Mobile, TracPhone, and other 'pre-paid' wireless companies, who often sell their phones at or below cost because they'll make up the money in sold airtime.
They hook you with the low price and no contract or monthly fee, but then sock you with .25 cents a minute or more airtime charges.
NAG
Apr 7, 10:47 AM
lol. Poor RIM. You'll get onto the market one of these days.
At least they're trying to get in the market. Microsoft is still running around telling people they need Windows 7 Slates because it can run Adobe Creative Suite. You'd think they would get a clue when HP abandoned ship.
At least they're trying to get in the market. Microsoft is still running around telling people they need Windows 7 Slates because it can run Adobe Creative Suite. You'd think they would get a clue when HP abandoned ship.
Benjy91
Apr 25, 10:10 AM
Your context is incorrect. I was referring to the website that supposedly has a lot of information about you, not the location database.
Thank you for the demonstration as to how almost everyone here is acting irrationally, though.
I dont know if its intentional, but your Signature link is broken, it has 1 too many h's. It begins hhttps ;)
Thank you for the demonstration as to how almost everyone here is acting irrationally, though.
I dont know if its intentional, but your Signature link is broken, it has 1 too many h's. It begins hhttps ;)
Full of Win
Apr 25, 09:23 AM
Nothing to see here...just the unabashed evilness of Apple shining through. I'm sure Apple will 'flash the wad' to the right people and make this issue go away...sad :( We are nothing more than chattel to Apple Consumer Electronics, where we are tracked and monitored like open range livestock. This is how they view us, as THEIR herd to do with as they please.
Welcome to the future guys. :mad:
Welcome to the future guys. :mad:
BlizzardBomb
Aug 11, 10:27 AM
Quad Xeons in the MacBook Pro, pretty please. After all, it is Apple's professional notebook line.
Hehe, that's the funniest thing I've read this week :p :D
Hopefully we'll see the MBP hit 2.33 GHz and the iMac get the 2.4 GHz Conroe.
Hehe, that's the funniest thing I've read this week :p :D
Hopefully we'll see the MBP hit 2.33 GHz and the iMac get the 2.4 GHz Conroe.
Dr Kevorkian94
May 4, 08:02 PM
Doing it through the app store mares it more advertised and more users will be able to just upgrade. Whereas before u had to somehow hear about it and then take a drive to the store. Now it's easier and more advertised but you now have these "problems". So it will probably be available in the app store but u can burn it to a disc if u want, or purchase it from a apple store. But apple wants the primary distribution point to be the app store.
scoobydoo99
Apr 25, 11:31 AM
Besides if you encrypt your backup, nothing can happen. Thank you, have a good day.
Puhleeeeze. We are not concerned about your average criminal or private investigator. We are concerned about the us government, homeland security, cia, nsa, fbi, etc.
To say "nothing can happen" is absurdly naive.
Puhleeeeze. We are not concerned about your average criminal or private investigator. We are concerned about the us government, homeland security, cia, nsa, fbi, etc.
To say "nothing can happen" is absurdly naive.
wd89
Apr 23, 04:24 PM
I hope this means an increase in resolution of iTunes artwork. I know it's unrelated to the OS but one can hope!
Jeaz
Mar 28, 10:30 AM
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; sv-se) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)
In many ways, besides updating the performance hardware there's not a whole lot you'd expect from an update today. I mean, if Apple don't feel they don't have anything spectacular to add they might hold out until they do (remember 3Gs yawn) and focus on iOS development.
I believe that iOS instead will be the biggest evolution of iOS since 2.0 and the introductions of apps.
Contrary to what may most competitors seems to believe, apple customers don't come back for the hardware but rather the amazing software.
In many ways, besides updating the performance hardware there's not a whole lot you'd expect from an update today. I mean, if Apple don't feel they don't have anything spectacular to add they might hold out until they do (remember 3Gs yawn) and focus on iOS development.
I believe that iOS instead will be the biggest evolution of iOS since 2.0 and the introductions of apps.
Contrary to what may most competitors seems to believe, apple customers don't come back for the hardware but rather the amazing software.
CalBoy
May 5, 02:27 PM
Sorry it took so long to respond to this; I assure you it took only a second to Google (this is just the first result I found):
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/pays-off.html
All of that is about the private sector switching to save money on their bottom line, something which I already mentioned should happen (and will without intervention).
The question is if the government mandated the metric system for EVERYTHING, from speed limits on the roads to the measurements on a box of Betty Crocker brownies. Many of these things won't actually lead to any increased economic efficiency because certain products can only be produced locally (say weather reports) and consumed locally. The cost of these industries switching would be quite expensive with no real economic gain because the products and services can't be exported or imported.
Is that wink a small admission of how silly your system really is? :) Sure, the math was simple, but how meaningful are all these crazy fractions? If I actually had to try and picture what these fractions represent, I'd want to convert the denominator into a multiple of 10 first in order to try and picture it. I might note that twice 48 is roughly 100, so I know we're dealing with a bit over 26%. Other fractions could prove more difficult. With the metric system, you never have to do this. You're always dealing with base-10, which is something we all understand and can picture, without having to memorise particular fractions and what they represent.
No the wink was just to say that 1) I would use a calculator, and 2) even if I couldn't, multiplying fractions is not hard at all.
Well, we could certainly argue that international communication would be a LOT simpler if there was only one language � and it would be! However, the reality is, we have a world with not only a diversity of language, but a diversity of culture, and the two are intricately linked. That makes the world a very interesting place, and being able to speak multiple languages would be a wonderful skill to have when travelling and engaging in other cultures. People are generally proud of their heritage, culture and language, and there aren't too many people suggesting the world should lose all of that richness in the interest of conformity. (Well, there are such people, but I think we can agree they're generally pretty scary.)
This is off topic, but language is but one part of culture. Customs, celebrations, and even measures, are all marks of a culture. In the process of colonization and free trade, we've actively destroyed many languages, customs, celebrations, and measures. I think we typically don't consider the loss of a measurement system to be too catastrophic because of the many conveniences that can be had from uniformity. But the same is true for language as well. I think the real reason we tend to gloss over measures is because they are typically easier to learn than a new language. Anthropologically speaking, however, they are very valuable in exploring a culture.
What is different about the US that it can't do likewise? I honestly find it perplexing. Be honest now� Is it because the French invented it?
Ultimately I think it comes down to the fact that the US is one of the few countries that had a great deal of popular sovereignty determine the outcome of whether or not we should switch to the metric system. Most other countries enacted policy through a quiet parliamentary action that was later carried out by agencies or at a time when most people weren't active in politics. Still others had theirs done at the point of a gun.
In the US there are a lot of veto points in the legislative process, making any significant change hard to do. Americans also tend not to have a great deal of respect for the sciences (scientific literacy is appallingly low) so it makes it a tougher pitch to the everyday person. Then there's also the issue that to most it's a solution for a problem that doesn't exist; why should they care about a measurement system when the one they are using right now is working for them?
You're not stepping out onto the moon this time. Just about every other country on the planet (and there are quite a few of them!) have gone before you, and it worked out just fine. Sure, it takes some time, but not as long as you might like to imagine. Let me come back to my own experience� I was born in the 70s, around the time Australia was just starting to transition to the metric system. The older folk may well have had a difficult time with it, but if so I was blissfully unaware of it. I came to learn what an inch was, since most rulers had inches on one side and mm/cm on the other, and people still, to this day, casually talk about their height in feet and the weight of newborn babies in pounds. (Yes, some old habits die hard.) But these sort of things are the exceptions. The transition to metric was so efficient, I, as a first generation growing up with it, didn't even notice there was a transition happening.
Seriously, you should be looking to Australia and other countries with successful transitions and learning from them, instead of just perpetuating all these fanciful stories of how terrible it's going to be to change.
The issue goes beyond just the prescribed time period to shift, however. As I mentioned above, there are a lot of infrastructure concerns. Not to mention that Australia in the 1970s was 13 million people, or about 24 times smaller than the current US population. The only other countries that were on this scale were India and China when they transitioned, and both had much less infrastructure and an already illiterate population that could be trained from the ground up.
Any realistic transition for the US would take decades.
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/pays-off.html
All of that is about the private sector switching to save money on their bottom line, something which I already mentioned should happen (and will without intervention).
The question is if the government mandated the metric system for EVERYTHING, from speed limits on the roads to the measurements on a box of Betty Crocker brownies. Many of these things won't actually lead to any increased economic efficiency because certain products can only be produced locally (say weather reports) and consumed locally. The cost of these industries switching would be quite expensive with no real economic gain because the products and services can't be exported or imported.
Is that wink a small admission of how silly your system really is? :) Sure, the math was simple, but how meaningful are all these crazy fractions? If I actually had to try and picture what these fractions represent, I'd want to convert the denominator into a multiple of 10 first in order to try and picture it. I might note that twice 48 is roughly 100, so I know we're dealing with a bit over 26%. Other fractions could prove more difficult. With the metric system, you never have to do this. You're always dealing with base-10, which is something we all understand and can picture, without having to memorise particular fractions and what they represent.
No the wink was just to say that 1) I would use a calculator, and 2) even if I couldn't, multiplying fractions is not hard at all.
Well, we could certainly argue that international communication would be a LOT simpler if there was only one language � and it would be! However, the reality is, we have a world with not only a diversity of language, but a diversity of culture, and the two are intricately linked. That makes the world a very interesting place, and being able to speak multiple languages would be a wonderful skill to have when travelling and engaging in other cultures. People are generally proud of their heritage, culture and language, and there aren't too many people suggesting the world should lose all of that richness in the interest of conformity. (Well, there are such people, but I think we can agree they're generally pretty scary.)
This is off topic, but language is but one part of culture. Customs, celebrations, and even measures, are all marks of a culture. In the process of colonization and free trade, we've actively destroyed many languages, customs, celebrations, and measures. I think we typically don't consider the loss of a measurement system to be too catastrophic because of the many conveniences that can be had from uniformity. But the same is true for language as well. I think the real reason we tend to gloss over measures is because they are typically easier to learn than a new language. Anthropologically speaking, however, they are very valuable in exploring a culture.
What is different about the US that it can't do likewise? I honestly find it perplexing. Be honest now� Is it because the French invented it?
Ultimately I think it comes down to the fact that the US is one of the few countries that had a great deal of popular sovereignty determine the outcome of whether or not we should switch to the metric system. Most other countries enacted policy through a quiet parliamentary action that was later carried out by agencies or at a time when most people weren't active in politics. Still others had theirs done at the point of a gun.
In the US there are a lot of veto points in the legislative process, making any significant change hard to do. Americans also tend not to have a great deal of respect for the sciences (scientific literacy is appallingly low) so it makes it a tougher pitch to the everyday person. Then there's also the issue that to most it's a solution for a problem that doesn't exist; why should they care about a measurement system when the one they are using right now is working for them?
You're not stepping out onto the moon this time. Just about every other country on the planet (and there are quite a few of them!) have gone before you, and it worked out just fine. Sure, it takes some time, but not as long as you might like to imagine. Let me come back to my own experience� I was born in the 70s, around the time Australia was just starting to transition to the metric system. The older folk may well have had a difficult time with it, but if so I was blissfully unaware of it. I came to learn what an inch was, since most rulers had inches on one side and mm/cm on the other, and people still, to this day, casually talk about their height in feet and the weight of newborn babies in pounds. (Yes, some old habits die hard.) But these sort of things are the exceptions. The transition to metric was so efficient, I, as a first generation growing up with it, didn't even notice there was a transition happening.
Seriously, you should be looking to Australia and other countries with successful transitions and learning from them, instead of just perpetuating all these fanciful stories of how terrible it's going to be to change.
The issue goes beyond just the prescribed time period to shift, however. As I mentioned above, there are a lot of infrastructure concerns. Not to mention that Australia in the 1970s was 13 million people, or about 24 times smaller than the current US population. The only other countries that were on this scale were India and China when they transitioned, and both had much less infrastructure and an already illiterate population that could be trained from the ground up.
Any realistic transition for the US would take decades.
Jape
Dec 3, 02:18 PM
Jape,
did you ever hear back from BLT??
I have heard nothing but didn't send email to them. Will do that today.
No I haven't heard back, I sent them another email this morning but they haven't replied
did you ever hear back from BLT??
I have heard nothing but didn't send email to them. Will do that today.
No I haven't heard back, I sent them another email this morning but they haven't replied