Re: emacs-w3m question

[Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>]

Dear Xah genius,

On Thu, Nov 06, 2008 at 06:02:26PM -0800, Xah wrote:
> Dear Alan idiot,

Hey, just what I need after getting up in the morning.  ;-(

> the argument, was about whether the numerical keypad was useless. Here
> i quote Xavier Maillard:

> Xavier wrote:
> «At work, I still have oldies that still do not support these keys.
> What's more, directional keys are one of the dumbest addition one
> could have thought off (in my opinion). The same apply for numerical
> keypad: what are they useful for exactly ? Is it that hard to press
> shift+& (for the azerty keyboard) to get a 1 ? Or press C-b to move
> point left ? I do not think so.»

> He, in short, Xavier are idiotic to the degree to claim that the
> numerical keypads or the physical arrow keys are useless or extremely
> stupid design.

Not at all.  He's merely saying, in a somewhat polemic way, that he
doesn't find them useful himself, and is mystified that other people do.
That doesn't make him an idiot.

[ .... ]

> I'm sorry for calling you and Xavier idiots. Perhaps it is insulting,
> but sometimes that's the best way to make people understand.

If you are sorry, why do you do it?  It is indeed insulting, and it is
NEVER the best way to persuade people of anything.  The effect on me is
that I take you a little less seriously that I otherwise would, which is
surely not what you want.  A tip: get hold of a copy of Dale Carnegie's
"How to Win Friends and Influence People" (yes, it is a real book, first
published last century), read it and do what it says.

> Most tech geekers are idiots, when they express opinions other than
> technical details of programing languages.

Most?  Not all?  Am I an idiot when I say what I think about equal
temperament tuning, or how best to learn to do "chops" with three
juggling clubs, or why assuming the axiom of choice is a poor choice?  If
by "tech geeker" you meant somebody whose only expertise is in
programming, you might be right, but how many of these are there really?
RMS plays the flute, for example.  ESR shoots guns, and probably would
love to kill somebody.  ;-)

> please let me know if you'd like me to respond to more parts of your
> message. I might give it a swirl.

I'm always delighted to read your responses.

> For example, in other part your post, you said something idiotic about
> the use of Shift key, then Rupert Swarbrick put in 60 words post that
> effectively says ???yeah, i still use emacs thru telnet too!!!??? Can you
> imagine, soon other tech geeker will chime in and insist emacs is
> still used thru telnet? and soon more tech geeker will insist that
> Emacs is not technically a Microsoft Word?

:-)  What I said was, I think, true.  People do use Emacs over comms
lines.  Emacs developers actively resist the "tyranny of the majority".

> O, btw, have you decided on the $50 paypal sincerity contest? I mean,
> about a month ago, i complained that we had too many debates that went
> no where in the past year, so perhaps we could pitch in $50 real money,
> ....

It's quite some time since USA dollars were real money. .... ;-)

> ....., so that we have something real to backup our mouths. You didn't
> respond. But now you are all over me with long winded posts. Is this
> your sense of tea party?

Well, the FSF's offices are in Boston, so maybe that's not so
inappropriate.  ;-)

But Xah Lee moaning about long winded posts?  Wow!

>   Xah

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).