arachne-digest Monday, March 6 2000 Volume 01 : Number 1026
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 02:35:32 -0500
From: "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: arachne-digest V1 #1024
On Thu, 02 Mar 2000 07:23:56 +0100, Michael Polak wrote:
> Dne Sat, 4 Mar 2000 23:48:11 +0100, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> (arachne-digest) napsal:
<snip>
Hello Michael:
You had mentioned in this digest part of my reply to a fellow list member:
>> This is something you most certainly may do. See the famous essay by
>> Henry David Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience".
> Yes, I think that ideas like that are very valuable, but it is not
> something *any* state would encourage children to learn about at school
> ;-)))
In a community not very far from where I live there is a even a public
elementary school named after Henry David Thoreau. The school is located
within or in the outskirts of the Town of Vienna, Virginia. I would not
be at all surprised to learn that there may be many other public schools
in the US named after this philosopher.
Also in the US there are many schools and public highways and government
buildings named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We even celebrate a
national hoiday in his honor. The famous essay by Thoreau, written in 1849,
became a principle fountain of inspiration for the heroic civil-rights leader.
<snip>
Sam Heywood
- -- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Ultimate Internet Client
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 02:04:40 -0500
From: "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Troubles with military service
On Sun, 05 Mar 2000 02:40:49 +0100 (CET), Csaba Adam wrote:
> Dear All,
> I thank the American listmembers for the touching words about
> their patriotism. The dispute was very instructive for me.
> Regards,
> Csaba
Hello:
The listmembers who are not American are also very patriotic, and they too
love their own countries, even though many of them do not like what their
respective governments are doing. Many Americans also disapprove of a lot
of things their government does. This is not to say they are not patriotic.
Nearly everyone is in favor of better government, and that means different
things to different people. The only kind of people who are not patriotic are
those who for greed, or for fear, would sell themselves out to a repressive
foreign enemy or to an internal criminal enterprise.
Sam Heywood
- -- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Ultimate Internet Client
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 01:44:08 -0500
From: "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Improper HTML rendering of high ascii characters
On Sun, 05 Mar 2000 01:45:55 +0100 (CET), [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard Menedetter) wrote:
> Hi
> "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> SH> Very good explanation, Clarence. I sure wish this thing were
> SH> universally standardized. It would be a great step towards achieving
> SH> more compatible technology and improved communications. I think most
> SH> people would agree with me on this point.
> The problem is, that there are more special characters than 128.
> (eg hungarian 'hoszu � and �' which are not part of latin-1)
> But there is Unicode which has plenty of space for many, many characters,
> BUT it is not compatible to ascii ... (sure :)) it can't be compatible)
Yes, I realize that there are more special characters than just 128; however,
128 different characters is enough for most European languages. I have been
told that some Oriental languages have even several thousand special
characters. I have often wondered about the alternative code systems which
permit people having non-ascii characters in their language to communicate
over the internet. Would someone please refer me to a web page that would
help explain it?
Sam Heywood
- -- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Ultimate Internet Client
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 03:26:29 -0500
From: "Glenn McCorkle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject:
http://www.mapblast.com/mblast/dDir.mb?CMD=PATH&IC=39.426665:-84.212695:621:Lebanon,+OH:38.994833:-76.885732:620:Green
howman=1
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit
Is the page in the subject line the one that you need???<g>
Or perhaps it's this one...<vbg>
http://www.mapblast.com/mblast/dDir.mb?CMD=PATH&IC=39.426665:-84.212695:621:Lebanon,+OH:38.994833:-76.885732:620:Greenbelt,+MD&;
IC=39.426665:-84.212695:621:Lebanon,+OH&DIC=38.994833:-76.885732:620:Greenbelt+MD&OGAD3=Lebanon+OH&DGAD3=Greenb&DU=MI&showman=1
On Sun, 05 Mar 2000 02:08:51 -0400, L.D. Best wrote:
> I seem to recall, a ways back in time, that someone mentioned Arachne
> limits the length of the URL string it will send. And someone else said
> something could/would/couldn't be done about that.
> I'm faced with the fact that I cannot use some of the web sites
> otherwise usable [despite javascript] because of the length of the code
> string that needs to be sent.
> For instance, I'm trying to map my trip from Ohio to Maryland. It's
> about 30-35 twists, turns, junctions, whatever depending upon the
> mapping service I use. But I'm having poor results [and none in one
> case] because a very precise string has to be sent to the server
> database to create the route and then match up the maps to each change.
> This one is 280 characters long. Arachne apparently isn't feeding the
> whole thing to the server although it's complete in the html code.
> Note: It's all one line in the html code, but I don't know what the
> arachne editor or Insight would do if I left it that way.
> <a href="http://www.mapblast.com/mblast/dDir.mb?CMD=PATH&IC=39.426665:
> -84.212695:621:Lebanon%2c+OH:38.994833:-76.885732:620:Greenbelt%2c+MD
> &OIC=39.426665:-84.212695:621:Lebanon%2c+OH&DIC=38.994833:-76.885732:
> 620:Greenbelt%2c+MD&OGAD3=Lebanon%2c+OH&DGAD3=Greenb&DU=MI&showman=1">
> Show Step by Step Maps</a>
> Without that data the site simply downloads the original page again.
> :<
> Of course, all my dreams of a finished version of Arachne may be wasted
> if Michael gets drafted.
> l.d.
> -- Arachne V1.60;b1, NON-COMMERCIAL copy, http://arachne.cz/
- --
Glenn McCorkle [EMAIL PROTECTED] North Jackson, Ohio, USA
DOS prog. for QV cameras http://www.angelfire.com/id/glenndoom/qvplay.html
Other stuff http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Arachne, The Web Browser for DOS
Open the 'DOOR' to the WWW. Keep the 'windows' closed.
http://arachne.browser.org/ http://arachne.cz/
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 10:42:35 +0100 (CET)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard Menedetter)
Subject: OT: Troubles with military service
Hi
"Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> Giving everybody weapons is _NOT_ the solution ....
>> I find it ridiculous that there is a lawyer sues computer game
>> indutry, because the pupils going crazy are caused by computergames
>> .... The same games (namely Quake I think) are played here in
>> europe, too, but here there are no pupils going THAT crazy ... it is
>> the availability of weapons, that makes them freak out ...
SH> In the United States I have met some tourists from England and from
SH> Eastern Europe who tell me that it is just as easy to acquire a gun on
SH> the black market in their own countries as it is in my country.
It is definitely possible to aquire a gun, but it is MUCH harder !!
AND it is socially not accepted to wear a gun in public !!
But it IS accepted to drink a beer in the public ....
SH> It is their opinion that the reason why Europeans are not as inclined
SH> to commit crimes with guns is that the punishment is more severe in
SH> their countries.
Sorry ... but this is ridiculous ...
America has capital punishmnent ... show me a punishment which is worse
than that ...
The reason is that children are trained at low age, that wearing a weapon
is normal, and cool. (IMHO ... sorry if I insult you with this ...)
>> In some parts of america you can go on the street with a gun, and
>> nobody (INCLUDING POLICE !!!) says anything ....
SH> In the area where I live, if a person is bearing arms openly and not
SH> behaving in a threatening manner toward anyone, then there is no
SH> probable cause for the police to consider that person a criminal.
Yes ... but what I wanted to point out is, that guns are normal 'machines'
in america ... it is normal to wear them, and gun lobbyists state that it
is even the law that allows it.
SH> If the person were known to be a convicted felon, or a
SH> substance-abuser, or a wife-beater, then the police would immediately
SH> arrest him.
And exactly THAT is the problem ... why not take away the gun _BEFORE_ that
happens ??
>> but just try to drink a beer in public, and off you go to jail ...
>> (this is simply unthinkable for me ....)
SH> Personally I feel that the prohibitions against moderate drinking in
SH> public constitute a minor infringement on personal liberty.
Ok I understand that, I wanted to point out how weired (for european
people) america is ...
guns easily accesible to children, and beer in public prohibited.
This is unthinkable in Europe.
SH> To prohibit a perfectly sober and mentally competent law-abiding
SH> citizen from bearing arms in public is a total denial of one's
SH> constitutional rights.
This is the difference between america and europe ...
Here in Austria it is in the constitution to be able to live an unharmed
live ... :)))
>> I understand that there are GREAT differences between american and
>> european culture, and apologize if somebody feels offended, but this
>> is my oppinion ....
This applies to this letter too :)
CU, Ricsi
- --
Richard Menedetter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [ICQ: 7659421] {RSA-PGP Key avail.}
- -=> God made whiskey so the Irish wouldn't rule the world <=-
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 11:07:34 +0100 (CET)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard Menedetter)
Subject: Improper HTML rendering of high ascii characters
Hi
"Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> The problem is, that there are more special characters than 128.
>> (eg hungarian 'hoszu � and �' which are not part of latin-1)
>> But there is Unicode which has plenty of space for many, many
>> characters, BUT it is not compatible to ascii ... (sure :)) it can't
>> be compatible)
SH> Yes, I realize that there are more special characters than just 128;
SH> however, 128 different characters is enough for most European
SH> languages.
But why should european characters be included and eg Asians not in a
standardized characterset ?? :)
There IS a european characterset. (Latin-1)
But I can only speak for hungarian and german.
All german spec. characters, and nearly all except the hoszu ���� are
implemented in Latin-1.
ALL hungarian characters are implemented in Latin-2.
SH> I have been told that some Oriental languages have even
SH> several thousand special characters.
It zhink that many have 2 kind of ABCs, and one consists of only some
characters, and not some thousand.
SH> I have often wondered about the alternative code systems which permit
SH> people having non-ascii characters in their language to communicate
SH> over the internet.
You simply write into the header what characterset you are using, and
that's it.
The other party can accomodate that.
(Michael has already written that)
Eg if letter is written in latin-2, than the mail program will display it
using a latin-2 font, and all characters are showing up correctly.
SH> Would someone please refer me to a web page that would help explain
SH> it?
try http://www.unicode.org
There are also tables for non unicode charactersets.
(eg cp437 used on standard dos machines, CP850 which roughly corresponds to
Latin-1 [with some exceptions], and CP855 which roughly corresponds to
latin-2 and has all hungarian characters)
SH> Sam Heywood
CU, Ricsi
- --
Richard Menedetter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [ICQ: 7659421] {RSA-PGP Key avail.}
- -=> Every person constructs their own bed of nails <=-
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 10:27:10 +0000
From: Charles Boisvert and Catherine Clinton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Last notes on military service
> ... It is caused "syndrome
>of being tired" (proably only in Czech, not in English), and some
>doctors believe it is caused by certain known virus, so it is often called
>"E.B.virosis".
Chronic fatigue syndrome. A friend of mine has it too. Also as a result
of working too hard.
>But it is not on list of "accepted ilnesses" to be
>excused from military service. Luckily, this ilness is not active now,
>but they would probably called me even during the period when it was
>active, if I had bad luck.
That's a problem everywhere. Employers for example tend to refuse to
consider it a genuine illness, so you can lose their support if you can't
work.
Charles
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 12:00:26 +0100 (MET)
From: Bernie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Troubles with military service
L.D wrote:
>The best defense is to disarm the government and arm the people.
This was done in Albania - and several weapons per inhabitant. However this
has only lead to the deaths of people in that country.
IMHO the only good that came out of that was the weapons that were smuggled
into Kosovo so the people could defend themselves. Sadly now some
Kosovo-Albanians have turned on the Serbs (they have even gone into Serbia
fighting them).
>It's hard to pillage and rape when you can be shot for even showing your
>face.
It's also hard comming home late at night knowing that you can get
accidently shot by your own parents.
Sadly this idea that every one should have a weapon and "shoot first and
ask questions later" is spreading, it wasn't that long ago that a man here
in Sweden got shot to death just because he was close to someones house.
IIRC the man who shot him is beeing acused of his crime as murder.
>In this day & age of the US gov'ts trying to disarm the people, one town
>-- and one town only -- has had a 75% drop in burglery, rape, break ins
>to homes, etc. It is a small town that *requires* every household to
>have at least one loaded gun at all times.
By increasing the number of weapons the "bad guys" also will get their
hands more easily on weapons. And this *is* the reason why the US has so
many murderers (especially mass murderers). I doubt that it's in your blood
to kill inocent people.
But I'll agree with Michael on this:
>The sad thing is that I *like* to play military strategy games - on my
>PC. Well, just time to time. But I still believe that I can recognize
>what is virtual reality and what is real life.
I love them to, and also playing 3D games as Doom or "Murder Death Kill" -
still I wouldn't shoot someone down (pepsi cans on the other hand I've shot
with air-guns <g>).
And I must say I agree with Ricsi's mail completly, well put Ricsi!
//Bernie
http://bernie.arachne.cz/ DOS programs, Star Wars ...
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 12:31:15 +0100
From: "Bjorn Simonsen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Improper HTML rendering of high ascii characters
On 4 Mar 00 at 19:19, Glenn McCorkle wrote:
> If I'm not mistaken, there are more than 128 "special characters"
> needed to be compatible with all languages around the world.
>
> Maybe it's time for a 16bit ASCII
> That would give us 256*256=65536 total characters available.
> "64k ought to be enough for everyone"<vbg>
Pretty close.. the total number is 49194 characters in latest version
of Unicode (3.0) - but I guess they are still adding new ones...
For more info:
"A tutorial on character code issues"
<http://www.hut.fi/~jkorpela/chars.html>
"Using national and special characters in HTML"
<http://www.hut.fi/~jkorpela/HTML/chars.html>
All the best,
Bjorn
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 06:30:46 -0500 (EST)
From: "Thomas Mueller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: aberrant spelling
>Even subtracting the 174 "abberant files" above, that leaves 384 "items"
>which were in the cache.
>My dictionary didn't have the word "abberant" in it (or anything resembling
>it). Please remember that not all on the list are native English speakers.
Bernie,
It can be difficult to find a word in the dictionary when the word is
misspelled. There is no "abberant". Correct spelling is "aberrant". I see
lots of other misspellings, some popular ones being "loose" for "lose" and "to"
for "too".
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 12:18:04 -0500
From: Roger Turk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Last notes on military service
> ... It is caused "syndrome
>of being tired" (proably only in Czech, not in English), and some
>doctors believe it is caused by certain known virus, so it is often called
>"E.B.virosis".
"Rectileyeitus." A common disease of university students. It starts at your
rectum and works its way up your spine until it gets to your eyes and gives
you a sh*tty outlook on life.
Roger Turk
Tucson, Arizona USA
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 13:47:50 -0500
From: Roger Turk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: OT: Troubles with military service
Richard Menedetter wrote:
>>In some parts of america you can go on the street with a gun, and nobody
(INCLUDING POLICE !!!) says anything ....
but just try to drink a beer in public, and off you go to jail ...
(this is simply unthinkable for me ....)<<
Richard, I am 66 years old and have lived in Arizona (the wild west) all of
my adult life. I have seen more people drinking in public than I have seen
carrying a gun. In fact, I can recall seeing only bikers (members of
motorcycle clubs) openly carrying weapons, one old man with a cane who had
a pistol on his belt, openly exposed, and a businessman carrying a large cash
deposit. As long as that weapon stays in its holster, it does not bother me
and shouldn't bother me. But, if I had criminal intent, and saw that weapon,
it definitely would bother me, holstered or not! If I had criminal intent
and carried a weapon, it would not be visible!
Being charged with drinking in public is usually a secondary charge. A call
to the police complaining of disorderly conduct, fighting, public
drunkenness, etc., may have brought the police to the scene and a charge of
drinking in public may be made. In some states, (Texas, for instance) you
can drink and drive; in other states, you can't even carry an "open
container" (a bottle with the seal broken). Drinking in public is not a high
priority crime with the police.
New York State has the toughest gun laws in the nation (the Sullivan Act),
which requires licensing of *all* handguns. Shotguns must have their
magazines plugged so that only 3 shells may be in the gun at any one time.
But this "tough" law has never bothered law breakers, but only applied to
honest citizens. No criminal in New York State has ever registered a
handgun! If you are going to kill someone, which is against the law, why
should you worry about obeying a lesser law and license your handgun?
During the American Revolution, British General Howe, leading his troops down
the Hudson River valley from Canada, wrote, (paraphrased) "All of the farmers
have muskets; you don't know which support the rebel cause or which are
loyalists." Whereas, in England only the army had muskets.
>>And than they show a documentary on german television about police hunting
prostitutes. (a female police officer tries to catch man who want to pay
her .... and THIS in a country, where every few seconds somebody is
MURDERED ...)
IMHO Police should have something better to do than THAT !!!<<
Yes, there are prostitute "sting" operations by police, frequently the result
of complaints from citizens about prostitutes "walking the streets" in their
neighborhood. It is a temporary solution to an age old problem. As far as
the prostitute sting operations shown on "live cops" shows (documentaries),
it could be that when the producers of the show came to the town, that there
was no worse crime that could be committed while the film crew was in town.
(Crime is random, and if you want to get publicity for your police
department, you have to have a backup crime for filming.)
In spite of what you hear, violent crime is not rampant in America. I can't
recall in my lifetime (or even reading about it) when an American Chief of
Police was gunned down with over 100 shots being fired as he was on his way
home from church.
Roger Turk
Tucson, Arizona USA
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 14:35:11 +0100 (CET)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard Menedetter)
Subject: TZ explanation
Hi
I just found this mail ...
Example for Germany:
TZ=CET-1CST,M3.5.0/02:00:00,M10.5.0/03:00:00
Example for Germany (should be valid in the whole EU). Daylight saving
time starts on the last (5) Sunday (0) of March (3) at 2:00 and ends on
the last (5) Sunday (0) of October (10) at 3:00.
The TZ environment variable is used to establish the local time zone. The
value of the variable is used by various time functions to compute times
relative to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) (formerly known as Greenwich
Mean Time (GMT)).
If anybody needs additional information ... I can send him/her a textfile I
just found ...
CU, Ricsi
- --
Richard Menedetter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [ICQ: 7659421] {RSA-PGP Key avail.}
- -=> I'm not a minority. I'm an outnumbered majority! <=-
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 15:46:21 -0500
From: "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: OT: Troubles with military service
On Sun, 05 Mar 2000 10:42:35 +0100 (CET), [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard Menedetter) wrote:
> Hi
> "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>> Giving everybody weapons is _NOT_ the solution ....
>>> I find it ridiculous that there is a lawyer sues computer game
>>> indutry, because the pupils going crazy are caused by computergames
>>> .... The same games (namely Quake I think) are played here in
>>> europe, too, but here there are no pupils going THAT crazy ... it is
>>> the availability of weapons, that makes them freak out ...
> SH> In the United States I have met some tourists from England and from
> SH> Eastern Europe who tell me that it is just as easy to acquire a gun on
> SH> the black market in their own countries as it is in my country.
> It is definitely possible to aquire a gun, but it is MUCH harder !!
> AND it is socially not accepted to wear a gun in public !!
It is never difficult to acquire a gun anywhere. If you can't buy one on
the black-market, you can easily fabricate one in your home workshop in
less than an hour. Also you can make your own ammunition components, to
include propellants and primers, but this task will take a little longer.
The chemicals and materials needed are readily available almost everywhere.
Of course I am not recommending that anyone should ever do such things
except in cases where involvement in clandestine political activities may
be seen as the only feasible means by which a nation may become liberated
from a highly oppressive dictatorship. Information on how to fabricate all
kinds of weapons and ammunition and explosives is readily available on the
internet for a free download. For this reason, oppressive dictatorships have
great fear of the internet.
In many circumstances it is not socially acceptable in the area where I
live either, but it is however *legal*. Usually when someone is seen in town
carrying a gun, it is because he is returning from or going out on a hunting
trip, or he might be taking his gun to a gunsmith to have it repaired, or he
might be taking it to a pawn shop, or maybe he has just redeemed it from a pawn
shop. In some cases, the person carrying the gun is a local merchant on his
way to the bank to make a very large deposit in cash. There is nothing
inherently suspicious about the activity of carrying a gun in public. As I
mentioned earlier, if the person were a known criminal, he most probably would
have better sense than to carry his gun publicly. Therefore, the most logical
assumption that we can make about a person seen carrying a gun in town is that
he is most probably a perfectly sober and mentally competent law-abiding
citizen, and that he probably would have a perfectly good explanation for why
he is carrying the gun if you were to ask him about it. If a citizen is
carrying a gun, it must be displayed in plain sight. It is illegal to carry
a gun concealed without a special permit. Without the special permit, it is
perfectly legal to carry the gun in plain sight. That is the case under
the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Some other states have laws that
are much more restrictive. States that have more restrictive gun laws of
course will have more crimes committed with guns. The old saying is true that
"if guns are outlawed, then only criminals will have guns."
> But it IS accepted to drink a beer in the public ....
This is accepted in most of Europe because there is not a majority of
religious groups opposed drinking, as long as the drinking is done in
moderation. Drinking any amount of alcoholic beverages either in public
or in private is illegal in most Moslem countries.
> SH> It is their opinion that the reason why Europeans are not as inclined
> SH> to commit crimes with guns is that the punishment is more severe in
> SH> their countries.
> Sorry ... but this is ridiculous ...
> America has capital punishmnent ... show me a punishment which is worse
> than that ...
There is no punishment more inhumane than capital punishment. It should be
abolished everywhere, but reserved to apply only in the case of war criminals
convicted of genocide, and crimes against humanity, etc. To attempt to
incarcerate such criminals for the rest of their lives could result in their
eventually getting released for some stupid political reason. War criminals
have political power. Ordinary criminals do not. It may seem that the only
way we have for protecting ourselves from war criminals to execute them. We
may quite adequately protect ourselves from the common and ordinary murderers
simply by putting them in jail for the rest of their lives. There can be no
justification for killing them. To execute them would be to de-value human
life.
Around where I live, the punishment for a first offence of armed robbery is
five to seven years in the penitentary. Northern states tend to be far more
lenient. In most of Europe, the punishment is far more severe, so I am told.
> The reason is that children are trained at low age, that wearing a weapon
> is normal, and cool. (IMHO ... sorry if I insult you with this ...)
Except for water pistols, as they are lots of fun and have not the slightest
resemblance to a real gun, children should not be given toy guns to play with.
Most American parents are beginning to feel this way. Some parents will give
their children toy guns, but will punish them for pointing the toy guns at
anyone. There are other parents who feel that learning to point a toy gun
at people is not at all likely to cause their children to develop criminal
habits in the future. I disagree with this attitude.
>>> In some parts of america you can go on the street with a gun, and
>>> nobody (INCLUDING POLICE !!!) says anything ....
> SH> In the area where I live, if a person is bearing arms openly and not
> SH> behaving in a threatening manner toward anyone, then there is no
> SH> probable cause for the police to consider that person a criminal.
> Yes ... but what I wanted to point out is, that guns are normal 'machines'
> in america ... it is normal to wear them, and gun lobbyists state that it
> is even the law that allows it.
Guns *are* normal machines. There are probably over 150 million guns owned
by private individuals in the US. Of these more than 150 million guns, only
an almost negligible percentage are used to commit crimes. If it were not for
the high likelihood that a would-be crime victim might have a means to defend
himself from criminal attack, then the criminals would have nothing to fear,
and the crime rate would skyrocket.
> SH> If the person were known to be a convicted felon, or a
> SH> substance-abuser, or a wife-beater, then the police would immediately
> SH> arrest him.
> And exactly THAT is the problem ... why not take away the gun _BEFORE_ that
> happens ??
That is exactly what the police will do when a person of the above category is
found in possession of a firearm. In Virginia, the weapon will be confiscated
and the offender sent to prison for five years *before* a repeat occurrence
should happen.
>>> but just try to drink a beer in public, and off you go to jail ...
>>> (this is simply unthinkable for me ....)
> SH> Personally I feel that the prohibitions against moderate drinking in
> SH> public constitute a minor infringement on personal liberty.
> Ok I understand that, I wanted to point out how weired (for european
> people) america is ...
> guns easily accesible to children, and beer in public prohibited.
> This is unthinkable in Europe.
The law provides that whosoever should make a gun easily accessible to
children, may be tried for such crimes as reckless endangerment, criminal
negligence, or even involuntary manslaughter, depending on the circumstances
of the case. What is needed in America is vigorous prosecution of the laws
we already have. There is no need to enact more laws to deal with the problem.
> SH> To prohibit a perfectly sober and mentally competent law-abiding
> SH> citizen from bearing arms in public is a total denial of one's
> SH> constitutional rights.
> This is the difference between america and europe ...
Because of that difference I feel very proud to be an American, and I will
defend her Constitution. Otherwise, no way!
> Here in Austria it is in the constitution to be able to live an unharmed
> live ... :)))
If the Constitution of Austria could really indeed confer upon all its
citizens total freedom from harm, then everybody in the world, including
myself, would want to become an Austrian citizen.
>>> I understand that there are GREAT differences between american and
>>> european culture, and apologize if somebody feels offended, but this
>>> is my oppinion ....
> This applies to this letter too :)
If you were to visit this country you would find great respect for your right
to express your own opinion, even though the great majority of the folks here
would not agree with you.
I am not offended. In fact, I welcome any opportunity to defend my stalwart
convictions on any issue.
All the best,
Sam Heywood
- -- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Ultimate Internet Client
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 13:20:21 -0500
From: "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Improper HTML rendering of high ascii characters
On Sun, 05 Mar 2000 11:07:34 +0100 (CET), [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard Menedetter) wrote:
> Hi
> "Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> SH> Yes, I realize that there are more special characters than just 128;
> SH> however, 128 different characters is enough for most European
> SH> languages.
> But why should european characters be included and eg Asians not in a
> standardized characterset ?? :)
Hello:
It appears that ascii was written for Europeans only. In a code written
for just 7 bits it is possible to accomodate most European languages. With
just a 7-bit code it might not be possible to accomodate even just one Asian
language, such as Mandarin Chinese, which has several thousand characters, so
I am told.
It would certainly be good if there were a universal standardized character
set that would work with all the world's languages, to include even ancient
Egyptian, Mayan, and Aztec hyroglyphics and an entire host of ancient
symbols and scripts.
Let us try to deconstruct the Tower of Babel. Abolishing Java Script and
Active X would be a very good start <vbg>.
All the best,
Sam Heywood
- -- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Ultimate Internet Client
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 18:28:18 -0500
From: Roger Turk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Last notes on military service
Gloria Burd wrote:
>>During the late Sixties ... . My favourite proverb from that
beautiful time is "What if they gave a war and nobody came?"<<
War is not like a birthday party where invitations are sent out inviting
Country A to have a war with Country B. War is like a tornado, or a
hurricane, or a flood, that comes uninvited with little or no warning. Those
who are prepared, survive; those who are not prepared, do not survive.
>>Yes, Roger, but VietNam, for example, was fought by conscripted men. Most
of the imperialist wars (such as VietNam) in which the U.S. engaged
involved drafted men, who came disproportionately from poor and/or minority
backgrounds. The draft is inherently racist as well as classist.<<
So, now it is because of social discrimination that you oppose war? Was it
social discrimination that the majority of casualties of World War 2 were
white, middle class American youth? Why don't you complain about that?
Minorities in World War 2 had to first fight discrimination in this country
to prove that they were as patriotic and as capable of fighting for the USA
as any other American. The Tuskagee Airmen had to first show that blacks
were as capable as, or more so, than whites in flying high powered fighters
before they could serve *their* country in their most capable manner. It was
a black outfit that was one of the early liberators of a concentration camp,
an event the camp survivors remember and are thankful of to this day.
Japanese American (Nisei) men, although they had been interned in internment
camps, had to first convince the U. S. Government that they were Americans
first of Japanese decent and as patriotic as any other American of any decent
before they were permitted to fight for the USA and become the most decorated
battalion in World War 2.
As far as Viet Nam goes, I can tell you a thing or two about that because I
was there for the Passage to Freedom operation just after the Geneva Accord
ending the French-Indo China War. However, I will just refer you to a
sanitized version (the true version is too horrific to publish) as told by
Dr. Thomas A. Dooley in the book, "The Night They Burned the Mountain."
Roger Turk
Tucson, Arizona
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 22:46:30 +0100 (CET)
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard Menedetter)
Subject: Improper HTML rendering of high ascii characters
Hi
"Samuel W. Heywood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
SH> It would certainly be good if there were a universal standardized
SH> character set that would work with all the world's languages, to
SH> include even ancient Egyptian, Mayan, and Aztec hyroglyphics and an
SH> entire host of ancient symbols and scripts.
There IS such a characterset ... Unicode
(somebody on the list sent a GREAT URL explaining it)
The problem is, that Unicode exists since 1991, and there are only part
implementations. (IMHO only in Windows NT, and some Unices)
But IMHO it will soon be incorporated into alle new OSes.
(IMHO it would be extremely hard to deliver a Unicode implementation for
DOS)
SH> Let us try to deconstruct the Tower of Babel.
I'm with you :)
SH> All the best,
SH> Sam Heywood
CU, Ricsi
- --
Richard Menedetter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [ICQ: 7659421] {RSA-PGP Key avail.}
- -=> Computing is one of the terminal diseases <=-
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 21:04:16 -0800
From: rick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Last notes on military service
Roger (you conservative old fart) ...
Right on bro!
It would seem Sergei has the only new experience of this war crap ...
I totally agree with Gloria: "My favorite proverb from that time is
"What if they gave a war and nobody came?
"beautiful time" ... also agree with this. It will be back, it
is
extant.
As General Sherman said "War is Hell", & it ain't no fun. Just ask
anyone in a war zone.
I was designated 4F when I was 18 (1963). Good for me.
I have 10+ High School pals dead in Vietnam. Bad for them.
Listen to Roger, listen to Sergei, listen to Gloria, listen to Michael
... war is f*cked, war is run by people who MAKE MONEY AT WAR!,
conscription sucks, ... we must be freed of the beast of greed.
We must be armed, we must be forewarned. We must be aware.
I don't ask excuse for my diatribe but must mention ARACHNE 1.60
working on my beater 486/33/8mb/14.4 puter ... seems to work fine.
later,
rick
p.s. I know, not USING ARACHNE ... still got other things happening in
WINBLOZE as we speak ... "pseudo" multitasking is utile.
------------------------------
End of arachne-digest V1 #1026
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