When you communicate you should take account of your audience Alex. How many people on this board do you think understand what "High Lawson criterium nuclear fusion plasma" is? Let alone what the implications of stably exceeding the thermal energy break-even point is."? And I'm not even going to get started on what "CFD/Magneto Hydrodynamic design of a fusion reactor within a genetic optimization framwork in design parameter space..." is all about.

What one is left wondering is: if your aim is to communicate your point, why are you throwing out very specific and obscure scientific and engineering phrases and examples that the vast majority of your audience won't have the slightest clue about the meaning of. We simply won't get the reference. Therefore the obvious conclusion is that you're just throwing them out there to show us how clever you are. You say that's not your intent, and I have no reason to doubt you, but it's not surprising that someone might come to this conclusion.

I've noticed you do this in other postings before, which is why I decided to comment on it here. Put simply, if I'm not going to understand your post, then there's really not much point me reading it. I've no interest in getting into an argument or making personal attacks. I'm simply highlighting that your posts would communicate your point better if you replaced the techno babble with more general references that people without a strong scientific/engineering background might actually understand. Anyway, take this suggestion in the spirit it's offered, or ignore it. It's your choice.

Back the F off.

Hi GazL

I understand yr point...

And i did not take this into any form of attack either...

I just wanted to stress that my sole purpose was not impressing anybody...

BRGDS

Alex

Understood Alex. For what it's worth I enjoy reading many of your posts (at least, the ones I can understand ).



Nice mature attitude. Alex has understood my point and also understands it wasn't an attack. He is clearly a gentleman and has my respect. You however... are not worth my time and are now on my ignore list.

First of all, I'm not an animal. I'm a human being created in the image of God. Consequently, I need more that "food and water" to survive: I need God and his Word. "Man does not live by bread alone" as Jesus said.

Anyway, of course I can live without my cell-phone, my Internet, and my microwave. I can also live with out my car... but then it would take me an extra 7 hours to get to work everyday. Unless I took my horse (of course) but it would still take me several hours longer.

The point is that these things are only tools. Don't worship them, but also recognize the technology gives you access to levels of incredible productivity and opportunity that simply were not available until very recent history.

BTW, I bet I could introduce you to a few GIMP artists who really show you the meaning of "creativity".

I created this thread for the following reasons:
1)I don't think it's necessary to continue the "Windows vs Linux" deal any more. At this point, it's better to learn.
2)Hurricane Wilma had left me without electricity for almost two months and I made do. Sterno and propane used for all heating and cooking. Sometime or another, I remember people talking about how they couldn't "Live without my cellphone" and it disgusted me. A bit complacent and lethargic we've become.
3) I grew up poor. Digging out of dumpsters, picking up cans, living in a shack that is falling apart poor. I like having my computer but I don't need it to live.


No, I'm not giving away my property to anyone on here who so much thinks an asinine statement which follows the "If you don't like it then why do you have it " ideology will cause me guilt.

I agree that your life sucks more than mine. I have also had what I believed to be hard times a plenty. It wasn't until I was traveling in the Philippines did I realize how good I actually had it. People there were the poorest I have ever seen and I have been around. I think it helps to see how really bad people have it.

I might say things that are like that. For example

"I'd like to (deleted for violent content) that idiot and take his broken mangled body and burn it in a slow fire!!!" But do I really mean it? Only some of the time.

I do try to protect myself. A backup generator and a tornado resistant structure and backup food and water and well firepower too. Sometimes it is easier to prepare for disaster than to wait for it.

Bloody heck. Though, I would say it was not the hurricane that left you without electricity, but those responsible for the restoration of power - or lack thereof. While I don't know the exact extent of the damage caused by that storm, I doubt it would not have been possible for power to have been restored rather more quickly that two months.

Especially if in America, like in Britain, power lines in most areas were buried underground where storms can't damage them.

Of course, I'm assuming you don't live in the middle of nowhere. In that case the lengthy outage would seem more understandable.

Now that I think of it, having above-ground power lines really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

I'm sure the excuse there though is something like "Well, how are we supposed to make sure people don't dig up the power lines?"...

Sure it does - cheap, easy, lazy. The core American values

While you may have intended for it to come across as jocularly, both your attitude and language at times are below the threshold that we like to think of as respectful at LQ. As such you'll receive a warning as a reminder you should either keep in line or keep yourself from posting things like that. If you need to discuss this moderation then do not use the forum but drop me an email.

It's really fascinating how quickly we as a society adapt to new technology. I can't imagine doing my job without a computer, and I probably answer twenty times as many emails as I could phone calls, but as recently as twenty/thirty years ago, somebody was doing the same job without the supporting technology. It's really rather mind-boggling. Because computers have become so pervasive, doing without a computer today is entirely different from doing without a computer twenty years ago. For instance, people have brought up applying to jobs. If you had to rely on paper applications instead of uploading applications to a website, it would take much longer, and many jobs would be completely closed to you. Your application might not be taken as seriously, and HR people might resent the extra work it takes to process your paper application. As a different analogy, there are plenty of city-dwellers who get along just fine without cars (pre-computer society) , but if you lived in the suburbs (post-computer society) and you suddenly lost your car for whatever reason, life would be extremely difficult.

Just some musings.

Except that somebody wasn't doing the same job. As you stated yourself. For certain tasks, computers have made one person able to do much more. Thus, what you do today, it may well have once taken MANY people to do the same work.

Of course, there are other areas where computers haven't helped so much. For example customers still want to talk by phone, and while computer systems help manage the calls and prompt the operators, a worker can still only talk at the same rate as they used to.

Em we are humans, and animals. I, and a large number of people i know, and around the world, around 4.5 billion people, manage to live without 'God', so yes all we need to survive is Food, water and protection.

As for your car and work, in the same way, i would not be able to learn the same knowledge, communicate with my friends or keep up to date on current affairs without my PC, internet or the phone.

We may be able to live without these things, but my life for sure would be massively different.

Personally interviewed all of them, have you, or provided some way of provong or disproving that statement? I can't see how either your statement or its negation is anything but a statement of personal belief, which of course we're all free to express. (Or at least that's my personal belief)