Re: Review of Art of Assembly Language

From: Beth (BethStone21_at_hotmail.NOSPICEDHAM.com)
Date: 11/06/03 

Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2003 04:45:03 -0000

Rene a écrit:
> Frank Kotler wrote:
> > Anonymous Guy Schrieben:
> >> Rene Tournois ????:
> >> > Chez moi, sous 2000, ta Demo tourne bien.
> >> >
> >> > C'est écrit sous TASM??? Si oui, je suis un peu étonné:...
> >>
> >> Alors, Rene! En Anglais, s'il vous plait.
> >> C'est un newsgroup d'Anglais!
> >
> > Oui! Nous ne parlons pas Francais ici!
> >
> > Meilleur,
> > Francois
>
> 1) It was on purpose, in order to irritate a little
> bit all of the fucky US Nazis flying around here.

Was über Leute, wer nicht "US Nazin" sind, die nicht französisch gut
lesen können?

[ Which for the benefit of _one third_ of human beings on Earth, reads
as:
???????"??????????Nazis? ]

> 2) As Herbert Kleebauer, said in another thread,
> there is no reason why various national languages
> should or could not be used here.

Depends on context; I see no objection to the use of other languages
in passing on occasion for particular purposes...I have myself
answered a few the Germans around here with the odd paragraph in
German...

But English is the stated and agreed "Lingua Franca" on the
group...this should be adhered to in most instances for the benefit of
the majority of the group...which is NOT a "Nazi" thing
whatsoever...because I look in on a German language ASM group and
there the policy is that posts should be German language and even if
most people there can read an English post, that is NOT the "done
thing" there...and I support this 100% in its attitude...in fact,
there was a post I did make there in English but only in reply to
someone who'd posted to the German language group in English
themselves...and the reply they'd got was in German so I did
temporarily break the rules merely to post an English explanation of
why they were only getting German replies (that "de" means "Deutsche"
;) and to post to CLAX or here instead...

Although, I'd draw the line at any "political" use of language...to
not speak English simply to "piss off US Nazis" or whatever...because
you'll end up annoying a far larger set that just that...this group
uses English as a "Lingua Franca" and there's a lot of different
nationalities...there are also national language ASM groups, such as
the German one I subscribe to, so the choice to come to _this_
particular group may be motivated exclusively on language preference
alone (after all, I subscribe to the German group not because I'm
German or "nationalistic" or anything such thing...but because it
gives me an opportunity to read things in German which keeps what
little I do know about the language refreshed, now that I'm no longer
there and no longer exposed regularly to German stuff...hence, I
_specifically_ choose to subscribe to and sometimes read that group
_solely_ on the basis of its language alone...someone else could also
be delibrately choosing alt.lang.asm to help with their English skills
whilst also being in a technical environment...perhaps slightly _more
likely_ with English because there tends to be an English bias in
computing fields that they may specifically want to improve _technical
English_ skills, as the use of language formally in technical
situations is often quite different to informal stuff...well, you only
have to look at the "informal" nonsense I spit out to see something of
that...

To use a language in such an abusive "political" frame of mind is an
insult to that tongue...it is also in danger of suggesting an implicit
link between the speakers of that language and some misdeed...

For example, you yourself are presuming that all English speakers 1.
American 2. Adore Bush and support his lies and the wars based on
those lies 3. That we're all trying to avoid learning and using other
languages, etc., etc., etc....this would be an _INACCURATE_
presumption to be making...short of yourself and to a degree that
_exceeds_ what you've said, I've repeatedly voiced my opposition with
the Neo-con agenda...an English English-speaker, no less...but,
_again_, do NOT jump to any easy conclusions...as I emphasised in a
post before when I defended someone throwing "Nazi" insults just
because the poster was German, German does NOT mean "Nazi" and,
equally, American does NOT mean "neo-con" or other _philosophical_
group that may be based primarily in a particular country but is NOT a
implicit prerequisite of being of a particular nationality...as I
stressed _big-time_ in that "German does not mean Nazi" post, it's not
only _FALSE_ to be doing so, it could also be _incredibly dangerous_
to characterise nationalities in such a monochrome fashion...as was my
example there, Germans were a highly civilised, cutting-edge,
_democratic_ nation when the Nazis took control...Bush's grand-daddy
and many others outside Germany were "sympathetic" to the Nazi
cause...neo-Nazis plague _ALL_ nations, unfortunately, in various
guises (e.g. Zimbabwe's Mugabe sporting a Hitler moustache, comparing
himself to Hitler and praising Hitler, as he tried to cleanse whites
out of his country...oh, yes, even people who Hitler would have
despised for being black are even taking up his cause at least in the
"spirit" of its blind, quite illogical hatred)...

Don't misuse _any_ language in such a context or characterise _any_
nationality on the strength of disagreeing with a handful of
people...if anything, _language_ is our most important tool in any
struggle...by language, you may communicate the injustice...by
language, you may convey to others that these issues are far more
complicated than merely nationalistic battles (it's like the Northern
Ireland affair, at its root, was NEVER about religion
whatsoever...but, coincidentally, those on one side were Catholic and
those on the other were Protestant and those became the "badges" - the
"colours" of their "flags" - and things were fought on those
lines...but, in fact, there actually isn't any actual religious
dimension to those conflicts whatsoever...they are not blowing up
people because they disagree with the concept of confession or that
the communion wine is or isn't the actual blood of Christ...or any
other religious difference between these Christian groups...yet,
amazingly, it is _always_ characterised as "Catholics vs. Protestants"
when this is actually a _secondary_ - heck, even teritary or more -
aspect of the true reasons for the conflict...which is actually really
about land and the freedom of people to be governed as they will by
who they want...it is better characterised, in fact, by the terms
"Unionist vs. Republican" (Unionist being those who want to be British
and part of the "Union" of the United Kingdom...Republican wanting to
be part of the Irish Republic)...

Humans terribly, terribly misunderstand each other...and these
misunderstandings often lead to injustices and conflicts...in this
regard, _language_ is our first, last and only line of defence from
our own stupidities...it would be a grave, grave mistake to misuse or
adandon language on an issue like this...because, short of someone
being physically transplanted into someone else's shoes (some sort of
sci-fi "body swap" between Ariel Sharon and Yassar Arafat, for
example...wonder how that would massively change _both_ of their
opinions in a blink of an eye to live in the other's
shoes)..._language_ is all we have to do an actually relatively "poor
man's version" of transplanting ourselves into another
situation...yes, it's not always the best but IT'S ALL WE HAVE...and,
thus, that sole means of salvation is worth the
world...literally...please do not abuse or mistreat language for cheap
"political" point scoring...you potentially ruin its capacity to be
used for good and for change to these bad situations...

> At that time, i
> answered to him the same remarks you are answering
> to me to day, because, i was as well a bit irritated,
> as i need the help of a dictionary for many words
> in german. Since then, he convinced me and i changed
> my mind. After all, a good occasion, for me, for
> improving my poor knowledge of the german language.

Well, wanting to improve your language skills is great and
admirable...

But I stand by what _I_ said in reply to Herbert on that issue...he
specifically chose to write his comments in German in his program, as
some sort of means to "punish" because he does not agree to the Iraq
war and other Neo-con adventures...

And I stand by what I said then...that is, in fact, the most foolhardy
and dangerous position you could ever take...here's why:

1. This means of "punishment" is not particularly selective...for
instance, many English speakers who have nothing to do with this or
don't in any way share the Neo-con agenda with the "Axis of Evil" wars
are also "punished" by such actions...for instance, in my particular
case, I'm probably one of the _most vocal_ opponents of this Bush
administration's "PNAC" adventures and their often criminally
simplistic characterisation...

Few, I notice, go as far as I do in calling Guantamo a "concentration
camp", even though it's a camp - housing children, employing known
"sensory depravation" torture techniques, is housing people without
charge, without chance of fair trial, without representation, without
rights, without recognition of the Geneva Convention, without
recognition of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, without
recognition of the spirit of the American Constitution (it is, in
fact, delibrately situated in Cuba to avoid any "issues" with state
laws...every step has been taken to _AVOID_ any and all laws which
specifically _PROHIBIT_ the construction of just this sort of
concentration camp)...blah-blah-blah...

2. Non-English speakers are also "punished" unnecessarily; English is
often used as a "Lingua Franca" - as it is used in this group between
people of many nationalities and languages - and, therefore, using
German for comments rather than English may be excluding a far wider
range of people than it is intended to do...granted, in my particular
case, German comments would pose few problems...and French ones I
could usually decipher...but Spanish? Norwegian? Russian? Hebrew?
Japanese? Can you, Rene, read Japanese? Or Herbert for that matter?
Wouldn't Japanese comments thus actually conspire to "punish" you two
by not using the "Lingua Franca" of English which you can comprehend
(as we're using right now to communicate)?

3. If you voice your "protest" in a language that the people you're
protesting about can't read then how on Earth is that even a
"protest"? They _don't even know_ you've got a problem...they _don't
know_ what that problem is...they _can't hear_ your particular issues
you want to raise about, say, Guantanamo or the Iraq War...

If you're voicing your protest in a language that they can't
understand then, to all intents and purposes, your "protest" is
_COMPLETELY SILENT_ to these people...which leads to point four...

4. In this, America is your greatest ally...yes, you heard right...the
ordinary people of America are good, kind people...they share your
values of freedom and humane treatment...they are NOT stupid people
whatsoever and will perfectly understand what you have to say when you
say it to them in an understandable way...they also have the greatest
power available to stop Neo-cons like Bush and his kind dead in their
tracks...they are able to _vote_ in democratic American
elections...the protests of Americans stopped a nuke being dropped on
Vietnam, Nixon has finally admitted in his autobiography...the
_spirit_ of America - Liberty, freedom, democracy, justice, etc. - is
the very thing that is missing...the spirit that must be re-ignited in
the hearts of Americans to see that all Bush is offering them is
_negative_...note the keywords, "folks": "axis", "evil", "war",
"crusade", etc...he's only offering permanent fear and permanent
conflict...as any right-thinking person knows, you might be able to
defeat particular "terrorists" or particular "terrorist groups" for
periods of time...but Bush has promised _all terrorism_ for _all
time_...this is simply unachievable...and, also, one man's "terrorism"
is another man's "freedom fighting"...the American "colony" took up
arms traitorously against the British monarch in their struggly for
"independence"...Britain could easily have considered these actions
"terrorism"...

5. Sorry, you're not going to actually like this...but this is
_cowardice_...I mean, comments which are incomprehensible to anyone
you wish to oppose in their views (and a whole lot more besides)
stuffed into an ASM program and that's it? _This_ is the great
"protest" against the "injustices of the world"? _This_ is the best
we're going to do in trying to let others see the extents of these
injustices so that we can all start working together for solutions?
What next? Right, I'm right now stacking 20 pence pieces into a stack
and this "symbolises" my "protest" against Chinese human rights abuses
and the slaughter of students in Tianaman Square...great, what a fat
lot of good that'll do to the world...you can't even see the stack of
20p coins, let alone appreciate the significance, let alone for it to
reach you with the imperative of the unjust situations of the world,
let alone fill you with the gravity that - in the words of the Manic
Street Preachers song - "If you tolerate this, then _your children_
will be next" (referring to the Spanish Civil War in this instance but
a more widely applicable point in general...that if you allow
injustice to stand unopposed then they _WILL_ try it again...and
again...and again...they will test just how far they can push their
neo-Naziism before people won't let them do it anymore...and, please
people, do not let things simply carry on unopposed long enough for my
point here to actually be proved...every time the shop-lifter steals
successfully from a store, they are "emboldened" to do it again, try
something more daring, steal more and more...imagine a store that had
a policy of "oh, just let them do whatever they like, they'll get
bored eventually"...they'd be out of business within a week because
the thieves will NOT stop of their own accord...they will take as much
as they are able for as long as their "luck" holds...in fact, if they
sense "soft target" then your store gets hit the most because they've
realised that you'll happily let them get away with it...even if you
fully agree with the Iraq War, then the _LIES_ used to sell it to the
people CANNOT be allowed to go unpunished...what signal does it send
the liars Bush and Blair that they can lie with immunity because even
when the true extents of their lies are exposed, people just let it
pass without redress? If they'll lie to us all on this most important
of subjects - war - then they won't hesitate to use lies to cover up
bad policy, lies to hide hidden agendas, lies to aid corruption of
funds, lies to protect their roles in things like, ooh, say, an
Enron-like scandal, lies, lies and more lies to allow them to do
whatever they like...to cease to have the law - national or
international - apply to them...to give up repesenting the people but
to become their greatest deceivers...lying, lying and then lying some
more to the people...because, hey, the people don't know...even when
they find out, they don't care and they don't do anything about
it...there's absolutely NO negative consequences to their
lying...no-one seems particularly fussed in _forcing_ Bush to answer
the tricky questions on Guantanamo or WMD or anything...why on Earth
shouldn't they lie all the time and do whatever the hell they like? I
mean, if you knew there was a store where the store-keeper always
continually refused to do anything about people stealing from the
store - heck, you can walk right on in and say "I'm going to steal
this" and then can take it with the store-keeper looking on at you
doing it and he _still_ won't do a blessed thing as you walk out the
door with your stolen property - then who _wouldn't_ be stealing from
that store? It would take an incredibly principled person...and, in
truth, if we're honest, then if there was the "store where you can
steal whatever you like" then it would be immediately _flooded_ with
just about everyone emptying that store within five minutes of the
doors opening..._we_ wouldn't stop...so why on Earth should they?
Exactly, they will NOT do so unless there are _reprocussions_ to their
actions...they must be held _accountable_...the _law_ must be
preserved and enforced...that's one of the biggest mistakes here so
far...everyone seems to think that it's only Iraq were there's anarchy
and mass lootings going on...wrong: "all it takes for evil to triumph
is for good people to do nothing"...

> And, at the end, if we had to choose for a new
> international Computing Language, my vote would go
> for the most in use one on earth:
>
> Arabian.
>
> This would help us to understand the interresting
> things Bin Laden may say, on occasion, instead
> of understanding the tons of bullshits Georges
> Bush says everyday.

It's called "Arabic" in English, by the way...

Also, you're clearly talking out of your arse on this...one third of
the world's entire population lives in China, speaking
Chinese...they'd clearly "win" if we were going by "first language"
alone...

http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html

As you can see, "Arabic" is only fourth in this list and comes _after_
English...Spanish does better than English...but Mandarin Chinese wins
by a majority of - wait for it - 500 million people or so...which is
winning margin that's actually _significantly larger_ than the _total
amount_ of people speaking the second most spoken language in the
world (Spanish at 332 million total)...although, China has one third
of all human beings living in it so this otherwise remarkable
statistic (that there's almost _triple_ the amount of people speaking
Mandarin as there are English by these figures) is easily explained...

[ Note, also, the irony: Bin Laden was educated in the West...he's
fully capable of speaking English himself...the rest of his family are
shareholders in some of the same companies as the Bush family...he was
a rich kid...yes, doubtless he is serious about his Islamic faith -
even if totally misguided in his interpretation of it - but this talk
from a Westernised rich kid who spent his life in luxury that even
some of the richest Westerners will never see in their days (well,
we're talking _oil money_...the family is stupidly rich, as you'd
expect)...educated by American institutions...his terrorist
organisation was _created_, _trained_ and _funded_ by the CIA until it
turned "traitor" and walked off with _$4 billion_ of American tax
payers money, which might have even gone towards the 9/11 attacks? Oh,
come on...though there is a mystery in what could have happened to Bin
Laden or what it was that made him _betray_ his family, _betray_ his
educators, _betray_ his funders, _betray_ his home country (Saudi
Arabia is #2 on his hate list for its co-operation with America),
etc. - that is, what exactly _did_ America ask their "puppet
terrorist" to do that made him switch sides to become their greatest
enemy, claiming to be fighting "satan"? There is a mystery
there...but, otherwise, this image of a "poor", "pure Islamic" prophet
who "knows the hardship of his peoples" is about as trustworthy as
British Intelligence "dossiers" and Bush's praise of these "excellent
documents"...which turned out to be 1% truth, 49% spin and 50% lies on
inspection...the 1% truth being "spun" so much, mind you, that it's
effectively "lies" too because though there might have been the
tiniest grain of truth there, it was spun and exaggerated and
propoganda-ised until it was equivalent to a "lie" for all the factual
content it conveyed for basing serious decisions about war upon... ]

> 3) Hopefully for the US bastards, other countries'
> people are intelligent enough to make the effort
> of learning your barbarian language.

Regardless, though, we can't all learn the languages of every single
other person on planet Earth...there's simply too many of them and
even individual examples are often _very_ complex...like it would take
you slightly longer than a day to learn Mandarin Chinese (which, by
the way, is _the_ most spoken language on Earth so it's more than
reasonable for you to be learning it, right? ;)...

That would be a modern day Tower of Babel; Again, no "bias",
really...because I _do_ try to make the effort to learn other
languages where possible...I'm working my way through a "teach
yourself Japanese" website that I WGET'd from the 'net the other day,
just because I like that whole Japanese culture thing and am
interested (but I don't envisage being able to master it within weeks
or anything...not at all...it's for "curiosity" only so I don't really
care how long it takes...I'll pick up more as I slowly go along, I
reckon...get some basic appreciation to start to be able to learn more
by actually looking more and more into all the stuff that's out there
bit by bit :)...

And, anyway, how does simply writing comments in French or German make
some great "protest" against Americans (note, as always, I'm still
confused as to why all Americans get this treatment, anyway...I mean,
do we all call you "***" and treat you like crap, if Chirac says
something we don't like? Even if you are _equally as pissed off_ at
Chirac as everyone else for saying it? A peoples are NOT their
leader...oh, trust me, "our Tony" is NOT anyone's favourite at the
moment for his repeated ignorance of the wishes of the people...you
know, Tony's on-record with this...he's only interested in making his
name into the history books somehow...looking for his "place in
history"...he doesn't actually give a crap, really...he just dives in
as some "I'm a great peace-maker" because he thinks that'll look good
in the history books...although, of course, history's very hard to
fool and chances are actually highest on him going down as "the fool
who ran around like a headless chicken...made all the wrong 'pacts'
with all the wrong causes...made everything ten times worse...before
his own party had to eject him, because the once 'golden boy who could
do no wrong' has become a liability"...already, the Liberal Democrats
(the third - usually insignificant - party) are picking up all the
votes while the main two - Labour and the Tories - are losing votes
like there's no tomorrow because they both have (had) leaders who are
liabilities losing them votes...

> 4) When China will be the world leader in the
> Computers and computing areas, you will have
> a bigger problem than with reading my couple of
> french sentences.

Nah, I'll just go use wolfgang's OS and go live in his little "bubble
world", detached from the "fashions" of pointless HLLisms
everywhere...there's much to be said for that idea at times in this
mad, crazy, insane world of ours ;)

Anyway, on the subject of China, what's the current odds on that
likely Microsoft source code leak coming from China, once MS hand over
some of the source code to please the Chinese government paranoid of
CIA "spying" software inside Windows? One of the technicians is bound
to be thinking: "now, here I have in my hands source code that many
people will pay an awful lot of money for...in fact, they'll happily
pay _more_, the _worse_ the source code actually is because it'll
confirm what everyone's suspected about MS all this time"...if you
were that Chinese technician...well, it's a big temptation, right? ;)

????????????????
?????????????????????
??????????????????????

Beth ;)