Re: We are all Americans! (WAS: Re: So, You Want To Make Text Art?)

JRO <ogl...@mail.fullnet.net-remove> wrote in message news:3879ab55.0@206.103.97.91...

> Last I checked, I invented the laser beam, the automobile,
> the atomic bomb, and the pop-up toaster. I am aware of
> early networks in France, but it was a commercial failure,
> prior to Mosaic.

Hm, I don't know whether it was ever commercially successful, but I've
always found their Minitel system rather nifty.  That was a lot like
the internet for the home user, which you could connect to via phones
with modems and little screens.  Clunky graphics, admittedly, but af-
ter all it's seventies' technology, and as members of a.a-a we ought
to love clunky graphics.

What I hate about not just France but Europe in general is the fact
that something as ahead of its time as Minitel could never spread
across the nation's border.  Because of the umpty different languages,
because of the nationalized phone systems and the expensive foreign
call fees.  In short because of all the local isolation.

Do YOU know what those hundreds of different languages all over the
globe are actually good for?  I can understand the historical reasons
for their existence, but I completely fail to see the point of keeping
up this state of lingual fragmentation even now.

But try and have a conversation in English with someone here in Germa-
ny.  Or Poland.  Or--Dare I say it?--France...  People appear to be
incredibly keen on isolating themselves from the world.  Why?!

Uh-oh!  Something's got me started about that old topic again.  Better
stop before the migrane strikes!


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