[Chicago] List revolution

kirby urner kirby.urner at gmail.com
Sun Sep 11 20:18:33 CEST 2011


On Sun, Sep 11, 2011 at 8:37 AM, Sal Lara <sal at spoton.com> wrote:
> Okay this is pretty embarrassing for me, as I totally didn't get that it was
> a joke. Aware of the fact that I am speaking to a group of much more
> experienced people, I humbly submit to you all that I still think starting
> at 1 makes more sense. From a "natural semantics" perspective I mean, not
> from a mathematical one. Zero is not a natural concept for the human mind.
> You don't say "Well, I flew on an airplane for the zeroth time today!" or
> "Bachelor number 0, what's your idea of a perfect date?". Back to the
> Future, Back to the Future I, Back to the Future II? Nope.
> Sal

Hey, if it's any consolation, I was taken in by it too, albeit
briefly, and I'm an old man, and presumably the wiser for it. **

What was going through my head were thoughts like "OMG, the BDFL has
finally lost it, how do we break it to him gently, early onset of
something exotic no doubt..."

So you can imagine my relief.

A little history:  I once thought converting print to a function was
an inside joke Guido floated just to add some hilarity, found out
later he was serious and hey, I like the new print( ).

Kirby
PSF 09

** re "old man" status:
http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2011/07/seniors-musings.html


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