Infrequently asked questions

[jacob navia]

In his web pages, D. E. Knuth wrote this:
(http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/iaq.html)

Infrequently Asked Questions

1. Why does my country have the right to be occupying Iraq?
2. Why should my country not support an international court of justice?
3. Is my country not strong enough to achieve its aims fairly?
4. When the leaders of a country cause it to do terrible things,
what is the best way to restore the honor of that country?
5. Is it possible for potential new leaders to raise questions about
their country's possible guilt, without committing political suicide?
6. Do I deserve retribution from aggrieved people whose lives have
been ruined by actions that my leaders have taken without my consent?
7. How can I best help set in motion a process by which reparations
are made to people who have been harmed by unjust deeds of my country?
8. If day after day goes by with nobody discussing uncomfortable
questions like these, won't the good people of my country be guilty of
making things worse?

[Richard Bos]

"Dik T. Winter" <Di********@cwi.nlwrote:

In article <0_******************************@bt.comrj*@see.sig.invalid writes:

Richard Bos said:

"Dik T. Winter" <Di********@cwi.nlwrote:

...

But let me try it: Howard

Hey, this was about the UK, not about has-been Ozzie racists.

>
Michael Howard was the leader of the UK-based Conservative and Unionist
Party ("the Tories") for a short while near the beginning of this
millennium. He has held a number of Cabinet posts, including that of Home
Secretary. He steered the "Poll Tax" legislation through Parliament,
(unwittingly) sowing the seeds for Margaret Thatcher's downfall.

And he lost the 2005 elections (although he won quite a few seats). Three
years later he appears to be nearly forgotten.

Don't worry; he will rise again. All it takes is a drop of blood.

Richard

[Richard Heathfield]

Nick Keighley said:

On 16 Oct, 18:31, Richard Heathfield <[e-mail]:

>Nick Keighleysaid:

On 16 Oct, 10:07, Richard Heathfield <[e-mail]:

>[...] it seems that few
of us (including me) have a copy of the finalised C89 Standard.

me! me! I've got one!

Good for you, but I've just noticed what I wrote. I meant to write
"...MOST of us (including me) DON'T have a copy...".

isn't that logically the same thing?

Yes, but the latter avoids ambiguity in the parenthetical comment.

--
Richard Heathfield <http://www.cpax.org.uk>
Email: -http://www. +rjh@
Google users: <http://www.cpax.org.uk/prg/writings/googly.php>
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29 July 1999

[Pietro Cerutti]

On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:22:33 +0000, Richard Heathfield wrote:

Ian Collins said:

>jacob navia wrote:

>>Ian Collins wrote:
jacob navia wrote:

{political stuff]

Why post that here?
Why?

See question 8:

If day after day goes by with nobody discussing uncomfortable
questions like these, won't the good people of my country be guilty of
making things worse?

This is an international forum. Most of the questions are irrelevant
for those of us living in small, peaceful democratic nations who have
never invaded anyone.

I'm struggling to think of a single example of a small, peaceful
democratic nation that never invaded anyone.

I live in Switzerland.


--
Pietro Cerutti

[Richard Bos]

Pietro Cerutti <ga**@gahr.chwrote:

On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 05:22:33 +0000, Richard Heathfield wrote:

Ian Collins said:

This is an international forum. Most of the questions are irrelevant
for those of us living in small, peaceful democratic nations who have
never invaded anyone.

I'm struggling to think of a single example of a small, peaceful
democratic nation that never invaded anyone.

I live in Switzerland.

Doesn't the Swiss army invade Liechtenstein on a regular basis? Ok, they
do so by accident, but still...

Richard