Topic: WTF is wrong with America? (Read 6638 times)

At the time of that post, I had just started. I tried to say "inspired me to start learning the language", so I think that lernas could be correct. But the lack of n was definitely wrong, so thanks.

While I don't see it ever becoming a major language, I do think it's cool because it follows set rules. However, I think the language is ugly as hell. It looks like a mixture of Hungarian, Spanish, and Russian written phonetically.

I'm also all in favour of Esperanto, although I see it more as an interesting experiment than something that really has a chance to win (at least not any longer).  The grammar is quite nice, though.   (And shouldn't it be "starti lerni la lingvon"?  But I've never really spoken any Esperanto, just read a bit.)

I know what it would be like in Chinese:

I think it was most serious during WWII, when Stalin and Hitler thought it was such a threat that they sent Esperantists to the gulags or concentration camps.

And also, that other post I quoted inspired me starti lernas la lingvo.

In my school years, Esperanto was treated like a game of sorts, amongst nerds.

What i meant was when during the 90s there were serious attempts to adopt it in Europe, havent heard a word about it since then.

Older members? How old? That language was started in 1887.

The older members here will surly remember Esperanto.
It was a mix of the most popular languages geared towards simplicity.
It failed miserably because those in power are always old farts that dont want to learn anything new.

I think it would make more sense to use a Cyrillic or Latin alphabet with arabic numerals than Japanese. Most Asian languages are hard to learn to write for non-natives.

My personal vote would go for Spanish, since it's easy to speak and is more orderly than English.

It was fluoride all along... well fuck me

Ithkuil.

I wonder what a programming language written in Japanese would look like?

Language and the fact that oil is traded for dollar, and dollar is the "world's currency", not bitcoin

But I must say,that I hope someday we all will speak one language. There are better and worse languages, technically speaking, I would choose between english as it's dominant already, or japanese, as it's very "practical and economical". If the whole world except USA would suddenly use some other language (russian, mandarin, you name it) it would certainly be fun to see how it has to keep up with the rest.

New British Empire? I don't think so. The Commonwealth is a joke. It's more of a formality than an alliance. Maybe Canada and Australia would hop on board but I could never see India or Pakistan following the UK. Going against the US would also destroy its economy, as the US is its largest trading partner.

China will not go against the US because it would be economic suicide for both countries. The majority of their economy which has allowed them to become a relevant power is based on trade with the US. The US is the only trading partner with a bigger economy than China, so China would have a tough time finding a partner who can keep up with an economy of 1.3 billion people. Meanwhile the US will need to find another source of cheap labor, which may be fairly easy (India, perhaps?), but will certainly lead to a depression in the interim.

Russia simply is not powerful enough. It is a shadow of the USSR. If they couldn't keep their territories like Georgia and Chechnya under check how can they be expected to defeat the most powerful country on Earth?

Spain has one of the worst economies in Europe, so they have no chance whatsover.

France is doing well economy-wise but has not been a strong military power since WWI.

Portugal is irrelevant on the world stage.

Japan has no offensive military, so good luck to them.

Germany does control the EU, however they're too busy babysitting Greece, Spain, Italy and Cyprus to do anything. If they could turn the EU into something actually representing a "Union" they might be able to contend with the US. The EU is the largest economy, so were it to unify into one body it is possible for it to go against the US. The EU is also fairly self-sufficient, however until it shows that it can act as a unified body and not a bunch of squabbling second-rate nations it will never be able to contest US dominance.
Portugal

US has too much troops and war machines too simply sit idle. Where would you put all those guys? And even if US would reduce army size by 50%, those troops will turn mercenaries/contractors and wage their own wars with the help of government lobbying. You do not simply say "ok guys, go home and be unemployed, cause only thing you can - is to run around with full equipment and shoot people, we do not need you anymore, ktnxbye".

Yes, this is true; a paid education will typically trump a non-paid education; the payment is mostly for having someone spend the time to ensure you're learning your skill properly, and it's much more likely you'll be successful in your studies than without.  Lets say, if you're going through 20 years of education, you would spend quite a lot of money hiring professionals to ensure you're learning properly.  However, if you spend one year learning how to teach yourself (perhaps with the help of a professional), you could then be a professional self-learner and would no longer have to spend money on educators.  In the case of the plumber, you may save money by hiring him than trying to solve the problem yourself; however, if you are consistently facing the problem of plumbing, more so than the average person, it would be wiser to spend the time to become the plumber, even an amateur, and solve the problem yourself; I believe this is a case of, selling a man a fish vs. teaching a man to fish, for educators would be out of business if this was taught.  We know we'll spend most of our lives learning; should we not, instead of paying for the fish over the course of twenty years, simply learn how to fish in the first place and pocket the cash?  In the case of plumbing, I would much rather hire a professional, because I never have this problem often enough to bother trying to understand plumbing myself.  On the other hand, we spend nearly every day (some of us, anyway) learning new things; it seems, learning how to self-educate is the single skill that would be worth learning before all others, as it is the precursor of any skill we would like to learn.


Why?  Because they have the power to, and they didn't accrue that power by being ethical and genuine; in the case of government, the end always justifies the means.  How long?  For as long as we, the people, allow it, or until other governments get tired of it.

Me too! My point about education is that despite popular belief there can be "too much". People treat education like houses during the bubble, "Shovel as much money in as you want into this thing and you'll always get more out than you put in." Which is a fallacy. You may call it the "DumbFruit Fallacy" if you like.

A problem with enforcing some standard onto doctors is that we end up with a system where people can't get a doctor at all. So certify the heck out of them, and be judgemental and prudent, as long as it's in private hands I'm all for it.

I definitely agree that formal education can show serious persistence and dedication, but I'm critical of the... Wait a minute... That awkward moment when...
The US is the biggest bully out here. As long as they're the biggest bully, they will bully the rest. As soon as they're not the biggest bully, the next biggest bully will be annoying.

People will put up with it as long as they're not hungry.

I was dog sick for weeks one time (in the military) and saw several doctors who prescribed some IVs to re-hydrate.  Eventually no doctor was around, but an LPN (or some such) was seeing patients.  They guy touched the back of my head and said "Mono.  Test him."  It took him less than 5 seconds to correctly diagnose the condition.  By that time I was just about over it so on my month of sick leave I was fine and had a great time.  I also lost 20 lbs and was able to max out the next PT test on the 2-mile run for that reason.

All else equal, I'd prefer an MD to someone without the formal education, and would prefer an engineer with a PhD to one without for software development, but experience is highly important which would weigh heavily.  Almost everyone I've ever worked with and undergrad from MIT or IIT have been outstanding engineers.  I would favor people from top rated institutions over probably any other factor for work that the institution specialized in.

Some of the best engineers I've worked with have had no degree at all or one in Anthropology or some such.  These people are often more creative and effective, but also often lack commitment and have short attention spans.  I think that possibly the biggest positive in having a degree is that it demonstrates that an individual has commitment and can be a reliable work-horse for the long haul.

You guys strayed wide off topic again, the question remains: Why is the US raping the rest of the world and how long are they gonna take it.

I guess in essence, you can either stumble for years to learn on your own, or get a professional education and learn it all in two or four. Which reminds me of one of the most important lessons from Robert Kiosaki's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" - you will always save money and time by hiring a professional than by doing it yourself.