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From: ForthNet@willett.pgh.pa.us (ForthNet articles from GEnie)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: ANS FORTH TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
Message-ID: <2302.UUL1.3#5129@willett.pgh.pa.us>
Date: 4 Feb 91 12:35:36 GMT
Organization: (n.) to be organized.  But that's not important right now.
Lines: 64

Category 10,  Topic 2
Message 309       Sat Feb 02, 1991
B.RODRIGUEZ2 [Brad]          at 23:37 EST
 
From L.ZETTEL:

> ...I refuse to agree irrevocably in advance to apply a general
 > rule to a case I have not yet seen.

Isn't that a general rule of yours?  :-)  Seriously, this
 illustrates the point I'm trying to make.  There are _some_ general
 rules -- "necessary" conditions -- which can be applied across the
 board.  These are NOT sufficient to make a final determination, just
 to narrow the search space.

From Jack Woehr:

> ...the charge of "avoiding objectivity" is ad hominem.  It doesn't
 > really *say* anything.

Apologies, Jack, since you weren't at the Detroit meeting this was
 certainly a non sequitur.  Allow me some time to sift my notes and
 I'll post the proposal I was referring to, and also the other
 details you asked for.

> The TC has *many* criteria it is pledged to meet.

Yes, and many pledges it has broken, too.  Name one criterion it
 hasn't violated.

I say again, I do NOT have a set of "sufficient" criteria -- the
 "magic formula" you requested to produce the perfect standard.  But
 I have suggested some minimum or "necessary" criteria.  Please
 distinguish between the two.

From Danial Sorbal:

> > Are you kidding?  What does "standard" mean to you?
 > I think that something standard is something that is used in the
 > "same way" by all the people that use this thing.

Your point is taken, and I now understand your previous posting.  I
 do prefer Nick Solntseff's distinction of "conventional" vs.
 "standard" in this context, though.

From Mitch Bradley:

> Somebody else said something to the effect that:
 > "Democracy looks like a pretty terrible system, except when you
 > compare it with any other system."

That seems to be a paraphrase of Winston Churchill.  Here's another
 that may be singularly appropriate:

"Democracy is a form of government you have to keep for four years
 no matter what it does."  - Will Rogers

- Brad

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