You're confusing a spelling mistake with languages having dissimilar vowel sounds. Frankly if you want to see people butchering a language listen to French words carried over into German.

Demonstrative vulnerability. If the system can't be made to do something, something that another system finds very easy, and something that people want it to do, it lacks functionality.

Or I guess I could just say "woosh".

Some would argue that means Linux lacks functionality.

"In the US it is the most popular recreational sport for both male & female competitors."

"No it isn't"

Perhaps your Karma is bad because you're illiterate.

The UN doesn't allow Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales to all participate separately. Perhaps the lower burden of countryhood is why they have more member?

If we allowed all the US states to be separate members of some sports organization they would have more members than the EU, but the point that I was trying to get at is that there are other ways to measure things than number of members.

I do like that people took an obvious final jab at the "World Series" of Baseball and similarly named American events and took me as a soccer hater.

The sad reality is that honestly, there isn't any market for equipment beyond a certain capacity. Yes there are people with no computers, but they actually don't want 486s, in the developed world it's because a 486 still can't run modern software or provide what they consider a satisfactory experience, in the developing world it's frequently a matter of infrastructure. People with no drinking water and no stable electrical grid don't see 486s with Linux as a solution to their problems and frankly with the glut of PIII/Athlon machines that were long since throw into corporate storage closets there's no point for even the stingiest of non-profits to buy up old 486 for charity because for pennies more they could have machines five times as capable.

I work in electronics recycling and resale, and frankly we go through this every day looking at old CRTs and PCs that still function, but quite frankly no one wants them, and even if they did the expected lifespan (especially on monitors) is so short that one has to ask the question "We can recycle this responsibly now, or we can send it to someone for 1 year and pray that they'll do the right thing".

I work in electronic recycling and I can tell you that there are a great number of recyclers who are doing just this, however the profitability of such operations is always in a bit of flux.

Commodity prices do not in fact cover the cost of the labor needed to break down most consumer electronics into recoverable waste streams. The cost of labor and the yield is simply not cost effective on most products without the added revenue of charging the producer/consumer or optional resale.

The price of shipping something to China however, is practically negligible, and once they're rid of it the disposal companies could care less what's done with it.

Doesn't it count for anything that it's not really a popular sport in China, India, or the US(not top 5 at least) which comprise almost 50% of the worlds population?

Not saying we need to get into a pissing match or anything, but I think it's always best to take "World" or "Universe" or whatever with more than a grain of salt whenever it's used.

The French have actually gotten a lot better between being in Paris with a high school group almost a decade ago and returning a few times in the past year. I think they finally figured out that they make more money catering to tourists than browbeating them.

That's why a large number of Europeans are learning English as a second (or more) language, because if they all agree on that they don't have to learn the seven languages of their neighbors.

Of course as a traveler I'm still an asshole because even though I can communicate with everyone I should learn all 27 EU languages as a show of good faith I guess.

Is Sukhumi close enough? You know the one the military wont stop you from trying to get to as picture taking tourist.

The Georgians are certainly not without blame in the situation, but I do give a bit of credence to their claims that the Russians are instigating the entire affair given that neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia actually want "independence" any more than Nagorno-Karbakh wants it. Throw in Transnistria and I think Russia has a pretty established track record that can either be seen as "aiding independence movements" or "really fucking up the maps by creating bizarre satellite states all over the former Soviet Union".

I think their economy has plenty of room for stable growth. They've made very successful connections with both the US and EU for development aid, government corruption is down, and their tourism industry is only beginning to ramp up though the draw and infrastructure are already in place.

If they can avoid being bombed long enough to get themselves off of the state department warning lists I see a fairly positive future for them.

True story.

I spent two of the best weeks of my life in Georgia last summer. Fabulous people, great food, beautiful country. The only real problem I could identify is that whole "being repeatedly blown up and slowly hacked away at by the Russians" thing.

They're still repairing parts of Gori.

There's two ways to judge how good a person is. One could look at the quality of your character, your relationships with others, the difference you've made in people's lives (subjective); or we could just look at an aggregate score of how much money you have and how many friends you have on Facebook (financial and personal objective scores).

I haven't even seen Hurt Locker, so I can't tell you, but I can say that short of excellent cinematography Avatar is probably the worst movie I've ever paid money to see.

Considering the percentage of those 47 Million who make over $100,000 a year? Note that she was on a Blackberry, got a lawyer, and is clearly dumb as a post.

Pretty likely.