Text 24303, 125 rader
Skriven 2006-01-29 16:22:39 av Roy Witt (1:1/22)
  Kommentar till text 24176 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Texas Grapefruit GREAT!
===============================
29 Jan 06 15:44, Michiel van der Vlist wrote to FRANK SCHEIDT:

Damn! I've seen you make a fool of yourself before, but this one really
takes the cake...


 MvdV> Note that this was the tag line as it originally appeared in your
 MvdV> message:

 >>>>>> ... Don't move that rock ... Michiel lives under there!

 >>>> Your obvious political naivete isn't involved.  The fact of
 >>>> the matter is that the tagline you bitched about *was* randomly
 >>>> selected from my file of 5,000 taglines.

 MvdV> Ok, just for clearity: what was the tag line I bitched about? This
 MvdV> one:

 >> ... Don't move that rock ... Michiel lives under there!

 MVDV>>>> So explain to me how my name, a not all that common Dutch name,
 MVDV>>>> which is impossible to pronounce by native English speakers
 MVDV>>>> appears in an American English tag line file.
 >>
 >>> I'll assume you really don't know so I *will* explain.

 MvdV> Follows an explanation how my name is inserted into the line taken
 MvdV> from the tag line file.

 MvdV> So we note that the line as it appeared in the tag line file was:

 >> ... Don't move that rock ... @F@ lives under there!

 MvdV> Note that the line is *different* from the line I bitched about.

 MvdV> Conclusion: The line I bitched about is NOT taken from the tag line
 MvdV> file.

 MVDV>>> I suspected, but what I suspected was not compatible with your
 MVDV>>> claim that is was randomly taken from a 5000 line tag line file.
 >>
 >> Do you know anything about statistics?

 MvdV> Of course. I have a degree in physics remember. Over here that
 MvdV> implies a formal course in statistics.

 >> While the random generator of BlueWave doubtless isn't 100.000%
 >> random, it is an approximation.

 MvdV> I am not questioning the accuracy of the random number generator.

 MvdV> BTW, FYI, not all random number generators require a seed. One of
 MvdV> the alternatives is some hardware that use thermal noise.

 >>> "... Don't move that rock ... Michiel lives under there!" if your
 >>> first name had been, say, "Sam" the tagline would have been:
 >>> "... Don't move that rock ... Sam lives under there!"

 >>> Of course you won't believe this

 MVDV>>> Oh, I believe it. Problem is that your explanation conflicts with
 MVDV>>> your previous claim that is was random. If part of that line is
 MVDV>>> taken from the header of the message you reply to, it obviously
 MVDV>>> is NOT random.

 >> OK, look at it this way:  Each line of my tagline generator is
 >> numbered.  The random-number generator (not 100.00000% random
 >> of course) selects a number, say 2033.  Line 2033 happens to be
 >> the one about someone living under a rock.  Can you understand that??

 MvdV> Of course I understand that. Why do you explain the obvious?

 MvdV> Now I might argue that just randomly picking the nth line from the
 MvdV> tag line file is no guarantee the result is random. If the file
 MvdV> contains 5000 copies of the same line...

 MvdV> But that is not the point. The point that *you* are still missing
 MvdV> is that the line that appeared in your message is NOT the line as
 MvdV> taken from the tagline file.

 MvdV> If *you* knew something about statistics you would realize that if
 MvdV> you randomly pick something and then *change* it in a non random
 MvdV> way, it is no longer random.

 MVDV>>> Other than that, random or not, it is still an insult. You could
 MVDV>>> know that someday that insultive line would come up, so it is
 MVDV>>> just a delayed or preprogrammed insult.

 >> OK, no argument there.

 MvdV> So if you agree it was insultive, why don't you remove that line
 MvdV> from the file. After all *you* are the one to never insult people
 MvdV> unless in retaliation.

 >> I'm just not used to dealing with delicate people

 MvdV> I am not all that delicate. Over have a decade of swallowing
 MvdV> insults here has made me almost immune.

 MvdV> I was just pointing out that you do not practise what you preach.

 >>>> You don't seem to consider me to be in the mainstream of America
 >>>> though.

 MVDV>>>> I don't? How do you come to that conclusion?
 >>
 >>> What can I say to *that*?  ... [sigh] ...

 MVDV>>> Well, you *could* produce the message where I say that I think
 MVDV>>> you are. *Or* (in theory) you could admit to have made an
 MVDV>>> unwarranted assumption...

 >> It's your general attitude which tells us that.

 MvdV> IOW, you can't produce the message. You are once again caught in
 MvdV> making a statement that you can not back up.

 MvdV> Cheers, Michiel

 MvdV> ---
 MvdV>  * Origin: http://www.vlist.org (2:280/5555)

Roy
--- Twit(t) Filter v2.1 (C) 2000
 * Origin: Hacienda de Rio de Guadalupe * South * Texas, USA * (1:1/22)