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Comment Re:Fucking cowards (Score 2) 166

War has pretty much always been a tradeoff and tech development to kill the other guy while not getting killed myself. That's why they started using armor, and ranged weapons, and landmines, and war elephants, and oh so many other things. This is really just a new twist on an old concept, but at least this time, it's controversial before it's been developed.

Comment Re:What the hell is going on a the USPTO? (Score 1) 58

What about Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the electronic television?
No, wait, RCA employed an entire department to find ways around his patents to screw him, and the most money he got out of that invention was the $80 and a carton of cigarettes he won for stumping the panel on "I've got a secret". Yes, it's apparently true that they gave cigarettes as prizes back in the 50s.

Comment Re: Pot vs. Kettle (Score 1) 100

Guys (or Girls, it doesn't matter), this isn't the thread for an Apple Fan vs Hater "discussion".
Besides, to properly list the various activities involved, it would take way more space than anyone else cares to scroll through.
On top of that, the Haters aren't going to become fans no matter how much you disagree, and the Fans aren't going to see past their apple colored glasses and agree with the haters.
Thanks, now please get back to the task at hand of declaring microsoft evil for doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, or whatever flavor of corp bashing is in this week.

Comment Re:Terrorism brought to you by the FBI (Score 1) 297

Anyone who passed high school science (or grade school if you're a bit older), or is literate and has access to the internet can figure out how to make bombs.
Sure the more powerful ones are either unstable, or more difficult to make, but often you can make up for a weaker explosive with a greater quantity.
This ain't rocket science, though it did lead to it eventually. :P

Comment Re:Dinos (Score 4, Interesting) 298

Maybe because the US, Liberia, and Myanmar are the only 3 countries in the ENTIRE WORLD that have not officially converted to metric.
Oh, and if you're curious, I'm an American who's completed all my schooling exclusively in the USA, and I was only taught metric.
I had to learn to use that old imperial system to interact with you stubborn old fossils clinging to an incomprehensible hodgepodge.
Perhaps I should add that I graduated in 1984.

Comment One Word (Score 1) 626

Popular.

Ok, there are a lot of synthetic or constructed languages. Many people here have already pointed out Esperanto.
Too bad there are significantly more people that speak Klingon than Esperanto. Esperanto is a failure.

What would it take other than being popular? Making it common, useful, or even important. Require it to be taught for school children and free classes available for adults. Then make things people want or need only available in that language. Some options include government services, others might be 2/3s of a media stations programming, get creative. Preferably, do it in many countries, especially 1st world nations, at the same time.
Would people rebel against that? Oh hell yes! Just look at metrics in the US. Most people still have no freaking clue how many centimeters are in a meter (here's a hint, the metric system is based on 10s, with decimeter being between centimeter and meter) and they were teaching that thing to school kids since the 60s that I know of! Most of the world, and all of the other 1st world nations, have already officially switched to metrics, even the UK. In fact most sources are only listing 3 countries that haven't officially switched yet.
To put some perspective on that, the metric system is reported to have been created in 1799... That's around TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN YEARS! And that's only a measuring system, not something even vaguely as significant and large as a language.

So yes, the only way to get a new language adopted is either find some way to make it so totally popular everyone wants to know it so bad they'd skip their own birthdays and sex to take even one class. Or to force everyone to learn and use it while giving it some modicum of popularity and usefulness.

So anyhow, good bloody luck with that.

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