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Alan Minyard wrote in message . ..
On 10 Jan 2004 04:01:41 -0800, (Michael Petukhov) wrote: (Krztalizer) wrote in message ... Do you think that above is somehow due to that is discussed below? Michael from "Notes from a Big Country" by Bill Bryson There are idiots in every country, Michael, obviously. In my son's elementary class, there are 22 kids; fifteen of them were tested for the GATE program and of 22 'average American kids' (five immigres from Eritrea, one from Iraq, four from Mexico, two from Somalia + six caucasian children and four latinos that were born in the USA), three qualified for Gifted and Talented programs - none of these were from overseas. So when you look at Russian schools, where NO ONE immigrates, and US Schools stuffed to the gills with immigrants, you would expect the results you get. That said, of course there are dumbass American kids. I feel better knowing that there are dumb****s in every nation - you do your best to prove that for us, daily. Not to mention the fact that the great majority of inventions of the last 100 years have been invented by Americans, including the computer Computer is hardly an american invention. Britannica: " Development of the digital computer. Blaise Pascal of France and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz of Germany invented mechanical digital calculating machines during the 17th century. The English inventor Charles Babbage, however, is generally credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer. During the 1830s Babbage devised his so-called Analytical Engine, a mechanical device designed to combine basic arithmetic operations with decisions based on its own computations. Babbage's plans embodied most of the fundamental elements of the modern digital computer. For example, they called for sequential control--i.e., program control that included branching, looping, and both arithmetic and storage units with automatic printout. Babbage's device, however, was never completed and was forgotten until his writings were rediscovered over a century later. Of great importance in the evolution of the digital computer was the work of the English mathematician and logician George Boole. In various essays written during the mid-1800s, Boole discussed the analogy between the symbols of algebra and those of logic as used to represent logical forms and syllogisms. His formalism, operating on only 0 and 1, became the basis of what is now called Boolean algebra, on which computer switching theory and procedures are grounded. John V. Atanasoff, an American mathematician and physicist, is credited with building the first electronic digital computer, which he constructed from 1939 to 1942 with the assistance of his graduate student Clifford E. Berry. Konrad Zuse, a German engineer acting in virtual isolation from developments elsewhere, completed construction in 1941 of the first operational program-controlled calculating machine (Z3). In 1944 Howard Aiken and a group of engineers at International Business Machines Corporation completed work on the Harvard Mark I, a machine whose data-processing operations were controlled primarily by electric relays (switching devices)..." and the internet Internet can hardly be qualified for invention at all. What is Internet? mainly software supporting TCP/IP protocol for computer communications. Not sure about US but in many more civilized places software cannot be patented. In US it perhaps can be, as these barbarians also attempted to patent sequences of human genes. Was it also invented in USA? Michael |
#3
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Surely people have to think many Americans are stupid, just because of
the internet & newsgroups & the like. There are many, many adults, older like me, in their 40s, but even in their 20s & 30s & on who write like 5th graders.Their spelling & grammar SUCK & they're proud of it apparently, because they get offended if you mention it or it's 'PC' to not mention it. I'm not talking about this stupid 'internet email jargon', like 'ur' (your/you're), but basic spelling & grammar. For various reasons the public education system has had to lower their standards to keep everyone equal. 'Johnny can't be smarter than Billy, 'cause that gives Billy a complex. Since we can't make Billy smarter, let's make Johnny dumber." The power that TV & movies have further adds to the ruin, IMO. Writers don't know how to use proper grammar &/or the actors don't know how to use it. I realise there are times when a character should use slang or street language, but not all of the time. And advertisers & sign painters. Whew! They should be required to know proper use of grammar too. Yes, American stuff is popular all over, but I have to wonder how, sometimes. I mean, when a 35 year old technician, mechanic, etc., writes at a 5th grade level, I assume they read at a 5th grade level. Do they comprehend at a 5th grade level too? So how are they supposed to read & comprehend instructios or manuals written at a lowly 12th grade level? A while back I watched a program on the Moon landing. Actor Scott Glenn narrated it. Did you know that the Moon has become a planet? The whole program, Glenn was talking about a spacecraft landing on another planet. Like Forrest Gump's momma said, "Stupid is as stupid does." No kiddin'. |
#4
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From: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
snip I do think it was wrong of us to steal all of the oil from Kosovo. Both quarts? Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired |
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