[severely off topic now] New to Python: Features

[Josiah Carlson]

> Indeed, I don't remember myself ever cheating (in the suggested manner 
> or otherwise) , though I did write people's philosophy papers for them 
> (for money).

While such is a money maker, I am sure, I question your morals for
having done so, even being in philosophy (unless you were starving, as
can be the case in graduate school).

> >Ahh the devil, if one chooses to believe in them, I am surely not.
> >Mailing list Don...not even close.  I'm just a guy who can prove who he
> >is.  And at least for some places on the internet, that can matter.
> 
> I merely meant that you appeared to be playing one, not that I (or you) 
> believe they exist.  But in order for us to talk of them (and their 
> existence/non-existence) we must have a pre-existing notion(s) of what 
> one is.  Indeed, this is what I referring to, the *notion* of a devil.

There are probably 10 levels of discussion waiting to happen here, but
I'm not going to go there.

You expressed concern that I was not a nice person and would do not-nice
things with your personal information. While I may be quite an
unpleasant person on occasion, the fact that you can verify online that
I am who I claim, and that at least I write as if I am a relatively
stand-up guy, suggests that I am at least aware of people's perceptions
of me, and that I conciously choose to write as if I were not a
sociopath (if I was one in the first place).

I could make the claim that since there are people who seem to associate
themselves with me online (far more than any one person could reasonably
fake), and who claim to know me in the real world, the odds of me being
a sociopath are relatively low.

> I found great humor in your reply.  Indeed, your replies were helpful.  
> What might you do illegal of which I might want to discover your true 
> identity?

I never claimed that it would be useful for /you/ to know who I was.  A
semantic argument perhaps, but one that was the result of careful
forethought.

"Had I broken the law in my post (a surprisingly easy thing to do in the
states), knowing that I was who I claimed to be would be particularly
useful."

In the case of something that I could say that would be useful to you to
know, I could have provided a single bit of pre-written code that would
have answered nearly all of your questions.  That bit of code could have
come from any one a number of the libraries I have written for contract,
which in the US could be construed as either copyright violation or
fraud (breach of contract is fraud).

While it wouldn't much matter to you who I was, it would matter for
those who would seek to prosecute me.  Thankfully I have done nothing of
the sort, so am currently not subject to litigation on that front.

> If you begin cursing and saying fouls things, I would merely 
> leave the mailing-list/newsgroup or hope that the admin would kill-file 
> you.  No need for legal action.

Ahh, but if I were particularly vile and expressed some physical threat
(this is not, by the way), such would be considerd 3rd degree assault,
and even over the internet, I believe is prosecutable in the United
States (difficult, but possible).  And in that case, knowing that I am
who I claim to be, would be terribly useful.

 - Josiah