David, et al -- ...and then David Yitzchak Cohen said... % % On Tue, Nov 04, 2003 at 09:59:56AM -0500, David T-G wrote: % % > People send mail with it all of the time. No, that isn't good enough for % > me, but neither is using the shape of the graphed curve to apply a third % > criterion to the definition of the term at hand. % % The shape of the graphed curve (if you're hoping to get on top of it, % that is) matters a fair amount - anybody who climbs rocks knows that ;-) Pbbpptht :-) But again that's considering the graph instead of the real thing. % % > When was the last time you climbed a curve? I only climb hills (and % > rocks, as noted below). I would argue that the most common physical % > defintion for curve is 'a relatively smooth bend in a road or other % > course', while a hill is obviously 'a well-defined natural elevation % > smaller than a mountain' or 'an incline, especially of a road; a slope'. % % That's a good point :-( % % What's more, if we plot my own version in the Mathematician way (putting % the function along the y axis) rather than the Economist way (putting % the function along the X axis), we end up with effort along the x axis % and knowledge along the y axis. In fact, my real-world example (what % you know vs. how much you can do) suffers from exactly the same problem. % Sadly, I think your position makes much more sense than mine, even if % nobody ever steps forward with some evidence supporting the first-use % claim of the URL. OK. We can be done, then. I'm tempted to chime in here or there to some of the other things you've said but we no longer disagree and so it either doesn't matter at best or would be childish at worst, so I'll just be quiet. % % > Of course, Rene's attempt to do so got us into this mess in the first % > place ;-) % % <shot type="cheap"> % Yeah, well, he's good at getting us into messes ;-P % </shot> OK, but I had to laugh at this :-) % ... % > http://justpickone.org/hoaxinfo.html % > % > and take the time to follow up on urban legend emails? % % Incidentally, I couldn't find individual followups to individual emails % (excepting your brother's outrage against them in general) on your Web. % Everything's just pointers to the rest of the 'net. That's a good point that I never considered. I generally respond to the sender and any addresses I can find in the forward (and so those are in my mail folders instead of on the web page), but adding them to the web page might not be a bad idea. I've been thinking of revamping it a bit; perhaps I'll make a "hoaxes I have shot down" links section, too. Thanks for the idea! % % - Dave And thanks for the exercise. It's good to defend a point now and again. :-D -- David T-G * There is too much animal courage in (play) davidtg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * society and not sufficient moral courage. (work) davidtgwork@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -- Mary Baker Eddy, "Science and Health" http://justpickone.org/davidtg/ Shpx gur Pbzzhavpngvbaf Qrprapl Npg!
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