killing the flag icon
 

i remember a day, not so long ago when choosing one's keyboard language prefs did not force a flag to be plastered on top of the screen. Now that the Butcher of Baghdad (aka g.bush) is having fun dropping bombs on iraq i really, really, really dont want to be forced to stare at the stupid u.s flag everytime i use my jaguar on my tibook. How does one get rid of the flag? Can one get rid of the flag icon?

Re: killing the flag icon
 

:rolleyes: Maybe you would be better off switching to a French keyboard layout.

i have your answer, but i don't care for your churlish epithets and assumptions. go air your grievances somewhere else. please. :rolleyes:

Churlish? Moi?
Epithets and assumptions? About whom? Bush? Listen Merv (nice name), you cant code yourself around ignorance. Bush IS a murderer, the u.s. IS breaking international law AGAIN, and this is a dirty war of the bullies. There are no assumptions here, just the cold and shameful reality of a world i guess u dont want to see.

The only assumption i made, was that the moderator would not behave like little john ashcroft and start waving the flag of censorship in this forum, what are u going to do next ban us for being unpatriotic?

Mr. Tormel, can you bar that guy? I'm not wildly crazy about the war either, but ranting about it in this way and just generally being creepy is not what this particular forum is for.

In honor of the troops...
 

I hope everyone can take a moment to thank the brave men and women who are putting their lives on the line to protect us. Regardless of your opinion of our foreign policy, you must acknowledge the fact that they are doing their duty, and that some of them are making the ultimate sacrifice to defend your freedom.

I recognize that many people don't want to help someone take the flag off their screen today. However, could someome tell us how to put the US flag ON our screens?

Re: In honor of the troops...
 

Easy. The flag is only there to show you which of more than one active keyboard layout you are using. If you open the keyboard prefs and make another key-layout "active" along with the one you usually use, you'll get the flag. The flag's purpose - aside from jerking around the French, I suppose - is to show you which of the currently active keyboard layouts is the one selected for use. If that is the standard American job (mine isn't, by the way) you'll get the stars and stripes.

Political rhetoric goes in the Coat Room, not the help requests.

So moving...

Actually, the best way to get rid of the flag icon, and provide a lasting impression of its absence, is to place a lit cigarette on the portion of screen where it appears.
You'll never see it again and you've punished the running dog lackeys of the capitalist conspiracy who designed your equipment.

couldn't we just get an answer to the original question and leave it to personal choice whether this information is used or not?
i dunno about you, but i come here to learn and talk about macs (and sometimes help someone if the question is "simple" enough for me to handle) and air my political opinions elsewhere.

that aside, i too am interested in getting rid of the flag, because i have an US keyboard, and need the keyboard layout to match the writing for rare symbols. nonetheless, as i am not an american, i am not particularly keen on having a foreign countries' flag up there.* if it's possible, i'd at least like to have a choice.

thanks
markus
*any flag for that matter, i'd prefer letters

Mine never appeared. But you have my sympathies.

If you (i.e., others) are wondering why people are so upset about this, I have tried to put together a reasonably concise argument:

http://chemistry.ucsc.edu/~wgscott/c...y_on_OS_X.html

Sorry, my sarcasm and pretense to behave like a rabid neo-con got the best of me.

To get rid of the flag (or to gain other input menus), go to international in system preferences and the input menu tab. You'll see a list of languages. Just make sure the one you wish to use is highlighted. If you highlight multiple keyboard inputs then you get the flag icon.

wgscott: very good, I'm linking you on my homepage.

wgscott's "argument" in nothing but BS. Here's a snippet of his "argument"

-- yeah, that's our real motivation. In case you can't tell, we're going out of our way to AVOID killing Iraqi's.

He also shows a picture of a burned body and claims we did it with napalm in 1991. Fact: we haven't used napalm since VietNam.

My recommendation. Don't even click on the link.

No, aias. We will, however, ban someone for breaking the terms of service they agreed to on registering, if they continue to make personal attacks on other members. That goes for everybody else, too. Is that clear, folks?

Thanks - Craig A.

A careful reading of the original threads shows that is your "moderator" merv, that started the personal name calling:

..." but i don't care for your churlish epithets and assumptions."

If you want to ban me for attacking (stating the internationally recognized facts) Bush then go ahead, but i was unaware that Bush was a member of this forum, otherwise ban Merv for personally attacking forum members.

Personally i am not into banning anybody, are people's egos that soft that we have to censure what they read for fear offending them?

how to get rid of the flag
 

brmic,
how i got rid of the flag was by:

1. Clicking on the flag which gives u a menu option to Customize Menu.

2. That will bring up the International preferences pannel where you can choose your primary language, this is in the languages tab.

3. Then under the Input Menu tab i clicked the the british flag, and clicked the CHARACTER PALETTE, an option that you will probably find useful anyway.

And that is it, now the only thing that displays where the u.s flag use to be is the character palette. You mentioned that you prefered not to have a flag displayed at all just text and this is exactly what it does.

This started the name calling and has nothing to do with Macintosh support. Are you asking for trouble?

:rolleyes:

I believe this kind of remarks are totally out of question for this forum! Actually, MervTormel response was gentle and warm and educated.

aias: thanks, tried it and works perfectly.
that is, if you only ever need one language. unfortunately time and again i am forced to include umlauts when writing in German (official stuff only), so i need to switch keyboard layouts (using optino-cmd-spce). enabling a second layout however brings back the flag.
so , the only option would be for me to find the graphics file and replace it (i'd love to have a jolly roger up there) ;) . no luck so far.

anyway, thanks for the useful tip
markus

You don't have to switch keyboard layouts to type umlauts. Here is a list of the special characters you can get from a regular US keyboard layout...

These characters are made in two steps:
acute accent (áéíóúÁÉÍÓÚ): option-e, then vowel
grave accent (àèìòùÀÈÌÒÙ): option-`, then vowel
circumflex (âêîôûÂÊÎÔÛ): option-i, then vowel
umlaut (äëïöüÿÄËÏÖÜ): option-u, then vowel
tilde (ãõñÃÕÑ): option-n, then letter

These characters are made in one step:
ç option-c
Ç option-shift-c
ß option-s
¿ option-shift-/
æ option-'
Æ option-shift-'
å option-a
Å option-shift-a
ø option-o
Ø option-shift-o

The utility Key Caps shows what you get with every key combination.

Chris

I don't mind seeing political discussion happen on this forum, but only if it could truly be discussion. What we're seeing on this thread, however, is the sort of thing I don't want to have happen.

I'd suggest we deal with the issue of the computer related request, and when that's done, we move on.

http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/dstorm/dsfeb.htm

Re: Napalm in Desert Storm
 

It's hard to argue with official Navy history. I stand corrected.

I was an Air Force fighter pilot from 1985 until 1997 and I can categorically state that we (in the Air Force) didn't have, employ, or train to employ Napalm. I'm actually quite surprised to see that one of our sister services did.

Mr Scott still twists the story, though. According to that Navy history, "Marines are also dropping napalm in oil-filled Iraqi trenches to ignite oil, clear a path for assault forces." So here we have Marines using napalm to ignite oil in trenches. Yet Mr. Scott claims we dropped napalm on Iraqi troops, which is quite different.

Also, Mr. Scott shows a picture of burned human remains which he says is an Iraqi soldier incinerated by napalm. I found the source of this picture at http://www.deoxy.org/wc/warcrime.htm and they say "The clear rapid incineration of the human being [pictured above] suggests the use of napalm, phosphorus, or other incindiary bombs." Again, this shows Mr. Scott to be exaggerating, for they say his appearance "suggests" the use of an incindiary bomb, while Mr. Scott says it's definitely napalm. I would also submit that it's possible the soldier was dead and his vehicle simply burned around him.

And this original source document was written, in part, by Ramsey Clark, man so far left of center that even Salon magazine calls him "The war criminal's best friend" and a colleague calls "a good man gone ga-ga."

Chris

Before judging, do your homework. You will be amazed at what you will discover. It looks to me that your statment against wgscott has the same tone as the starter of this thread. To be fair with myself, I need to state that your way of treating wgscott was not correct.

If you are interested to know more about other voices in the USA, I recommend you read:

"Necessary Illusions"
"Rogue States"
"The Common Good"
"Manufacturing Consent"

By Naom Chomsky
Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It's always good to be aware of all the colors of the rainbow, even if you don't agree with the color you see.

disappointment
 

I hoped this forum would stay clear.

I'm disappointed. Most of all in Merv.

I'm removing my account, so you won't have to ban me for a personal attack.

However, when phrases like "stupid u.s. flag" become off limits, you have to start worrying about how opinions affect cold judgements.

I'm behind all troops (US, UK, Australian and Iraqi) in Iraq. I'm supporting them by calling them to stop.

The US and UK administrations are on a disaster course, and seem determined to take the world with it.

Worryingly, it also seems to have dragged open forums down too.

I'm sorry if some disagree, but you can't help it when your media is so overtly, horribly corrupted and controlled by the government.

If I stay, I'll just say something I'll regret, and hurt people who don't know any better.

Goodbye.

[edit]
will one of the mods tell me how to unsubscribe? Otherwise:

JayBee is an apologist, cowardly idiot.

That's my personal attack on a forum member. Thanks.
[/edit]

Sorry, JayBee. If you want to leave, that's your choice, not ours. Come back any time you want.

Political threads have been the bane of more than one good tech forum, and quite frankly, I could do without them at all here. The gravity of the discussions really invite face-to-face human interaction, and not disembodied web postings.

Just Craig's personal opinion, not shared by many others.

Jaybee,

I understand your frustration and dissapointment...

But, this is a Mac OS X forum and we are here to learn from each other.

Please, don't leave.

If anyone wants to start a thread on politics, the war, or whatever, please do so as the stated topic of the thread. If the discussion on that thread can stay civil, that's great. If not, the thread will be closed or even deleted. There's too much of a greater good on this board to discuss matters pertaining to OS X with one another than to alienate one another with our political views: just not worth it, imo, especially when there are countless other discussion forums where politics are aired out.

If my fellow mods agree, I'd suggest that this one be closed. I don't see much of a chance for civil discussion given the tone of the opening post.

Jaybee,

I don't think you should leave, it doesn't warrant it. I think everyone is feeling tense and frustrated. It is an OSX forum.
That said, the leakage we've seen thus far was bought on by a person who was clearly upset and couldn't help him/herself. Even I had an infantile sarcastic jibe. It's inevitable. It reminds of a protest my friend went to on Thursday, the police were getting a bit testy and some kids decided to trash a MacDonalds and the tear gas came out, it just goes downhill.
I agree with Phil, I think alot of people need to vent and maybe a single thread could be started to allow that. In the spirit of helping people get things off their chest, within reason of course.

What can I say? I've lost faith in a moderator on this board who I used to respect a great deal as someone wise both in terms of OS X and in the realities and vagaries of human life.

If the moderators of a hints board are to use the political opinions of those asking for hints as a basis for deciding whether they should dispense their wisdom and then publicly air that, as opposed to just refraining from posting, then I'm sorry, but the hints board has lost its way and the moderator is no better than a common flame-baiter.

Which is why I leave.

I'll still be reading the main site - I have no problem with Griffman, with the majority of people on this board, with frank discussion about the current state of the planet, or with differing opinions.

I just think that some mods need to get their act together and practice what their fellow mods are preaching.

chabig: thanks a bundle. to say your post has be an revelation to me would grossly understate the magnitude of your help. really.

concerning the discussion:
what's up? as far as i can tell a few people vented a few frustrations. nothing important happened today?!
seriously, i fail to see why can't just get on with discussing OS X. it's not as if anyone continously insulted/upset/annoyed/accused/whatever any/everyone else. no need to consider closing threads or leaving the community.
<caps>it is not a big deal</caps> especially given the familiar shortcommings of written communication. maybe the opposing parties could just shake hands or hug each other and be done with it?

markus

I would simply point people to the first stickied post of this forum, named, oddly enough "the purpose of this forum" or similar.

In it, one will find the enlightening passage:

As much as I personally enjoy even a rollicking religious or political debate, I do it elsewhere, where it is not specifically proscribed.

It would be a shame for some to take umbrage at what is basically spelled out fairly clearly in the opening post, and use that umbrage as a banner of martyrdom.

there are more important things in the world. Not everything has to be a fight to the death. May I humbly suggest involved parties step away from the keyboard, strum a Vulcan lyre with Spock or bust a move with Tupak Shakur or chill with Barry Manilow (though I personally would rather drink my own vomit) and take a breather.

Then, return, as a prodigal son/daughter and return to discussing OSX.

thank you, that is all, and remember, Silly is ten times more powerful than an IRS tax audit.

:)

This is my feeling on the matter as well. I have stopped visiting the site regularly due to the responses I've received from one particular moderator. This departure has nothing to do with politics, just a general tone and attitude that I find totally unacceptable in a moderator of any site.

Though this might not be the best thread to discuss this issue, it's the best one I've found so far.

For your consideration folks, if you're having an issue with somebody, including a moderator, on the site, sending me a private message or email is a reasonable step to take in the process of resolving it. Or if I'm the source of the issue, then send one to Griffman.

Also if there is a post which you think requires attention, the little "Report this post to a moderator" link at the bottom of a post works.

I (we) do pay attention to those messages, whereas some of the 10,000+ threads may have passed us by, and it's way easier for us to set things right or correct misunderstandings if we hear about them early on instead of after things reach the boiling point.

Thanks.

And with that, this thread is being closed.

Please note the revised statement on the purpose of this forum.