HN user
a good number of us don't have wired writing about us. a good number of us don't care enough. a good number of us are just cooler versions of dilbert.
being detained really means free coffee and donuts.
show me the fuckin receipts. fewer linguistic influences? between the french, dutch, spanish, portuguese, central african, west african, native americans, and british there are very few places in the world that have such of an unique stew of languages. safire died but the knowledge of american language did not die with him. upheavels? thats another post. but lets refrain from throwing around ignorant barbs and passing them as facts.
"how europe underdeveloped africa" by walter rodney goes into a decent discussion about this topic.
http://www.amazon.com/Europe-Underdeveloped-Africa-Walter-Ro...
the -2 is harsh. although smugness isn't required to extol the virtues of scheme.