Comments on: LEADING BY EXAMPLE

By: iwwobbly

iwwobbly — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 05:43:30 +0000

*insight

By: multilingualmania

multilingualmania — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:44:51 +0000

Hehehe, this is delightful. It’s almost as delicious as when we catch right wingers in crazy sex scandals.

By: VmKid

VmKid — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:20:34 +0000

I heard some kooks think that the earth is round and there’s this “core” in the middle. what morons!

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:32:04 +0000

Sigh, goes to show that what they’re not learning in school – or maybe it’s what’s not being taught in school these days

By: Abby

Abby — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:55:06 +0000

We don’t speak english in America…We speak American. The language here is a bit different than UK English.

By: The Crapture

The Crapture — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:04:03 +0000

Even the “morans” who’ve been kept “infromed” by FOX News and don’t want “amnety” to go with their “pubic option?”

By: Danbala

Danbala — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 01:17:37 +0000

Thanks, FaileV.

And yeah. Goes for most job – the person who’d want it is exactly the person who shouldn’t have it, and vice versa. ;p

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:42:18 +0000

Am I the only one that notices how ‘shopped the sign is?

By: Terra

Terra — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:00:57 +0000

I’ve been to a bunch of the north-eastern states (NY’er here) and yeah, the people pretty much are average Americans. Hell, not even just the people but things like the community. The only place I’ve been where I can really say that we’re not COMPLETELY “average American” is, yeah……the five boroughs of NY. That’s not bias, I swear, you go down to like, Delaware, and you see three different fast food restaurants all right next to each other, and then you pass three or four Wal-Marts and a Target going down the highway. The CITY (NY) isn’t even like that. In fact I don’t even think we have Wal-Marts…..I’VE never seen one.

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:24:44 +0000

Well, as much as I like England, I’d have to object that there is no centre of the world…
And bloody hell, if there was it’d be England!
Although I’m not English, so spare me.

By: PortlandMark

PortlandMark — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:59:15 +0000

Funnier still, Abbie Hoffman went to jail for wearing an American Flag shirt on TV.

By: PortlandMark

PortlandMark — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:51:22 +0000

Where I have a problem is people assume that someone who has only a little english knowledge isn’t learning. Sometimes (usually) immigrants arrive knowing very little english. They learn after they arrive. They may be hear several years before they speak english well. It’s wrong to assume that because their knowledge is low today that they aren’t learning it. I work with a lot of immigrants who are still taking classes while working two jobs and supporting a family, and it drives me almost to violence to hear a smug, sixth grade reading level American criticize these people as “dirty illegals… oughta ship the lot of them back where they f’ing came from”.

By: PortlandMark

PortlandMark — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:47:06 +0000

” I’m constantly amazed by natural-born U.S. citizens don’t know their civics and are near illiterate.”

True story: since public schools now have to teach specifically to pass No Child Left Behind or lose their funding, and since civics wasn’t considered important by Bush-era politicians, most schools have sidelined civics classes.

By: PortlandMark

PortlandMark — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:44:44 +0000

I’ve never taken any Spanish classes at all. However, I’ve been in the restaurant industry most of my life; as long as I’m speaking of restaurant related things, people think I speak Spanish like a native. Then, of course, they ask me about a movie, or the soccer game on tv last night, and suddenly I’m all “Umm, lo siento. No comprende palabra; otro ves por favor? Y mas despacio… me hablo espanol un pocito y muy mal.”

By: PortlandMark

PortlandMark — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:41:31 +0000

Also, “How do I say” (point at object) “in” (language you are learning)

By: Scythelord

Scythelord — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:06:10 +0000

Indeed. It’s typically the northeast that is the worst of the US.

By: No1askedme

No1askedme — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:04:06 +0000

Because they’re smart enough to know running a country sucks.

By: meglet

meglet — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:39:43 +0000

though i’m amazed they managed to get the apostrophe in the right place. it’s more than most people seem to be able to do.

By: AnotherSwedeImAfraid

AnotherSwedeImAfraid — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 19:34:25 +0000

How is that in any way a retort to what I said? I said they shouldnt have to work, does that exclude them from working? Nooo it doesnt. Im just saying that the labour market shouldnt be adjusted to fit them.

I alos love that you didnt answer to any of the other things:)

By: hahaha

hahaha — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:18:12 +0000

Ivan The Floydist is troll’d hard, again !!!

By: FaileV

FaileV — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:17:04 +0000

not the entire vocabulary. There are a few words that have been around since old english…Hussy was one I think. Also boing was invented in the english language. We are a delightful mutt though ^.^ i love our non-academy language

By: FaileV

FaileV — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:13:53 +0000

Take that with a grain of salt. She does some very dumb things with her money that skews the result in my mind. For instance i believe she rents a car at one point. I’m not saying minimum wage isn’t a big problem for some, just it could be handled better.

By: FaileV

FaileV — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:08:14 +0000

Then add all the ones that don’t care, quite a few in terms of the higher IQ deviations and you are going to have a very small voting pool deciding on what is good for a large group of people.

By: FaileV

FaileV — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:03:00 +0000

*Plebes

Ah there’s the rub, we want the philosopher king for our republic, but anyone qualified wouldn’t want to job.

By: FaileV

FaileV — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:59:21 +0000

So do the incredibly intelligent, on a very regular basis. That’s the problem when your head is working out the problems of the universe, but your body still needs to remember the keys.
I do so love to hang around professors for this reason (that and a genuine intelligent conversation is hard to come by)

By: pittypat

pittypat — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:31:53 +0000

oof, I’m really mangling this. It’s about 16 percent that falls below the average *range*. About 68 percent fall within the average range. That leaves about 16 percent that are not too fukcing stupid to vote. (I know, I know, after this I probably shouldn’t vote either).

By: pittypat

pittypat — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:13:40 +0000

To clarify: the idea was that all “average” people (2/3 of the population), plus of course the 25 percent that fell below the average range, equals a total of 75 percent that are just too fukcing dumb to vote. There.

By: pittypat

pittypat — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:08:15 +0000

LOL, I think the point, stupid as it was, had to do with the idea that two thirds of the population theoretically have “average” IQs, according to the normal curve. That means people who fall within a standard deviation below *and* above the mean of 100. So the first mistake was to say that 2/3 fall at or below 100. The second mistake was to claim that all of those people are just too fukcing dumb to vote.

By: keithybabes

keithybabes — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:44:17 +0000

Or indeed ‘should be allowed to vote’. I am a dumbass.

By: keithybabes

keithybabes — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:42:46 +0000

50% of the population has an IQ of less than 100, dumbass, by definition. Looks like you’re not going to get a vote in your own brave new world.

By: cest

cest — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:34:15 +0000

There’s a book that touches on this subject you may find interesting, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America” by Barbara Ehrenreich. She’s a journalist (with a college degree). At about age 40, she’s challenged to try to live on minimum wage. Starting with $1000, she lives in different towns, working at minimum wage jobs (she denies most of her education and work history). She documents the experience in the book.

By: halfmadgenius

halfmadgenius — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:10:13 +0000

My hair is between 3 and 4 feet, my fiancee’s hair is around two feet long and we have four cats. I don’t want o see any one else complaining about hair:P
just kidding. Ya’ll can complain if ya want. We do. it can get quite annoying sometimes but I would rather cut off a hand than cut off my hair.

By: No1askedme

No1askedme — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 04:50:25 +0000

Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m well aware of the potential for abuse, but I can’t help but worry that idiots who cannot think ahead have a huge say in the way the government runs. It’s downright scary when you really think about it, I mean, these people actually thought Sarah Palin is smart and fair and that Obama is a muslim terrorist! What kind of moron actually believes that kind of stuff!? Why do they get to vote when they believe everything they hear?!

By: Messier

Messier — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:33:22 +0000

Why thank you, I enjoy a hardy dose of irony. Keeps me healthy.

By: Justacarolinian

Justacarolinian — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:49:33 +0000

And we dismissed you as a bigoted idiot.

By: SpickNspain

SpickNspain — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:04:00 +0000

Aluminium

By: SpickNspain

SpickNspain — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:40 +0000

them

By: CatManToo

CatManToo — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:43:35 +0000

I’m a Brit, thank you so much for that insite, made me laugh, thing is, we have a supermarket chain in the UK called ASDA, which is part of Walmart, and the customers look very much the same, astounding

By: Danbala

Danbala — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:01:30 +0000

Yeah. I am torn between being a natural born elitist and being a raised humanist/liberal wossname. I can think a lot of very discriminating, condescending, loathing things about people, but I really, seriously, don't want to see a society run by people who think and act like that. If people like me were allowed to run the show acting out on their base instincts, things would get very ugly. So, rather than twits who think they're so clever, deciding who gets to be a proper citizen and vote, it's probably better to keep letting the plebs do it. ;p (Yes, there is a bit of sarcasm and exaggeration in this post, but mostly it's for real.)

By: HelOnWheels

HelOnWheels — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:01:16 +0000

Not a bad person. I guess I become concerned and think of the “competency” tests that were given to African-Americans in the South before they could register to vote. And what you’re suggesting is an oligarchy, which also makes me uncomfortable.

By: No1askedme

No1askedme — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:53:13 +0000

My point exactly. I’m not a big fan of democracy, I don’t have any better ideas, but democracy just doesn’t seem to be working quite right. That said, it’s still the best system out there at the moment. (representative democracy is implied when I say “democracy”)

By: Danbala

Danbala — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:48:56 +0000

Democracy is suboptimal. :p

By: No1askedme

No1askedme — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:48:16 +0000

Nope, I’m just that crazy. To me a government by the people isn’t viable when 75% of the voters’ votes can be bought with enough propaganda. Anyone who cannot comprehend the big picture should not have any say in the way a country is run. If that makes me a “bad” person, so be it.

By: HelOnWheels

HelOnWheels — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:43:28 +0000

“In my opinion anyone with an IQ below 115-120 shouldn’t be allowed to vote.”

I really hope you were being sarcastic.

By: No1askedme

No1askedme — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:38:50 +0000

You’re right, 75% of the world is remarkably dumb. Since IQ is an artificial unit of measure, it follows a perfect bell curve, with an IQ of 100 as average. Therefore, 75% of the population has an IQ of 100 or lower, and if you’ve ever met someone with an IQ of 100, you know that’s not very intelligent. In my opinion anyone with an IQ below 115-120 shouldn’t be allowed to vote.

By: No1askedme

No1askedme — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:34:47 +0000

Stupid people make stupid mistakes.

By: No1askedme

No1askedme — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:33:16 +0000

I suppose I was somewhat vauge. The dumb CAN be ignored. Dumb people in LARGE NUMBERS must be dealt with. When they begin to organize all hell breaks loose, if you need an example look up the French Revolution. The best way to deal with the “stupids”, as I call them, is to find who’s directing them and remove them from their position of authority. The “stupids” primarily operate under old “Alpha-Beta” social hierarchies held over from pre-sentience, remove the “Alpha” and they are rendered harmless. It is difficult to handle these leader figures, because the only legal option is to discredit them, but the “stupids” don’t understand reason or logic, so discrediting their leaders is pointless. I truly cannot think of a constitutional way to handle this situation. I can only hope the problem fixes its self before the situation becomes violent, as the “stupids” are practically feral in some aspects.

By: Keithybabes

Keithybabes — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:16:29 +0000

Anyway, English is the unofficial language of the whole world. All those foreigners are falling over themselves to learn it, including the Americans. So there’s really no need to worry. The poor old French are sh*tting themselves about how English is invading their pure language. Of course English is the ultimate mongrel tongue anyway, because its entire vocabulary is imported from other languages. Which is nice.

By: Keithybabes

Keithybabes — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:02:45 +0000

Labelling half the world as incredibly dumb is an incredibly dumb thing to do. Next you’ll be saying that nobody with an IQ of less than 140 shouldn’t be allowed to vote.

By: Keithybabes

Keithybabes — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 21:52:14 +0000

Probably more of a good taste thing, really. Nobody was going to persecute the King…. course the Kaiser was Queen Victoria’s grandson.