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This was discovered when some of these special drives were accidentally shipped to customers.

See http://www.answers.com/topic/miniscribe for more details.

And yet, they've changed it because they realized that things change way too quickly. Not to mention that you're wrong about what they measure... it's not TFLOPS. It's not even FLOPS at all... it's MTOPS, or "Million Theoretical Operations Per Second". And it was just revised in 2002, in response to changing technology. A supercomputer is NOT a hard-line definition. According to numerous sources, it's a relative definition. HTH, HAND

"Causation != Correlation. La la la la na na."

Except causation is absolutely a correlation. Just not all correlations are causal.

From what I can see, the patent covers urls like http://www.answers.com/search but not http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search .
From the patent abstract: "the system initially determines whether the character string includes a prefix that identifies the URL as a non-search-request URL. If no such prefix is present, the character string is used in its entirely as a search string to execute a search".

http://www.answers.com/antidisestablishmentarianism though admittedly I'm pretty sure this came way after the amazon patent.

In 1945 it was decided the only option with the heat and power to obliterate the Japanese:
anthrax at Nagasaki and the chemical poison agents at Hirshima -
was nuclear incineration.

Apparently - with aggressive de-population and profit motives of PMGOs,
plus wind-born contamination - that option appears to be moot.
http://www.answers.com/moot+point&r=67

RR
"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." Native American Proverb.

Looking at this page:

    http://www.answers.com/topic/supercomputer?cat=biz-fin

they define a 'supercomputer' as being "A mainframe computer that is among the largest, fastest, or most powerful of those available at a given time". This is suitably vague, since the point of reference changes all the time. On the other hand there is no point of reference in the definition. For example, does it have to be in the top 100 or 100x more powerful than the current top of the line PC? Without a suitable reference point anyone could call their cluster amongst, the "largest, fastest or most powerful".

As this would seem to be a design patent

Check for this. I do not think it is a design patent. So the expiry date is 10 December 2008. Still more than a year to go.

Did you see the "qualifications" of the guy writing the product descriptions?

"Aerospace Engineering, UVa (theoretical fluid dynamics and propulsion, statistical thermodynamics, nuclear physics, indeterminate structures). Undergrad thesis: Preliminary design of low-thrust engine for interplanetary travel utilizing momentum transfer mechanisms in highly magnetic metal crystal bombarded by high-energy ions. Work experience: satellite operations; radar data analysis; aerodynamics of high-performance aircraft; reentry vehicle dynamics; radio communications; satellite communications; spread spectrum communications. He incorporated Machina Dynamica in 1998; he designed Nimbus Sub-Hertz Isolation Platform, Promethean Base, Brilliant Pebbles, Tru-Tone Duplex Covers, Codename Turquoise CD Tray Masking Kit, Codename Saffron HD-DVD Tray Masking Kit, the Teleportation Tweak and manufactures the Clever Little Clock. Author of The Definitive Explanation of How the Intelligent Chip Works"

I think he's just an engineer who's having a laugh (and profit) at the expense of morons with too much money and too little sense. Same type of people who buy into astrology and homeopathy.

The term 'Audiophile' isn't used to extend to all lovers of music/sound, it specifically refers to an interest in hi-fi sound reproduction: http://www.answers.com/audiophile - we can't choose to redefine terms just because their origin seems to apply to us- a person who loves their kids can't just decide to call themselves a Paedophile. I think most people would use the term Musician to describe you, and perhaps Musician, Producer, or Sound Engineer to describe your friend at the studio. All of these terms command a lot more respect among other musicians than 'Audiophile'.

1. Being the only one of its kind: the unique existing example of Donne's handwriting.
      2. Without an equal or equivalent; unparalleled.
      3.
                  1. Characteristic of a particular category, condition, or locality: a problem unique to coastal areas.
                  2. Informal. Unusual; extraordinary: spoke with a unique accent.

The bolded part shows why you're wrong. But if that weren't enough...

http://www.answers.com/topic/unique?cat=technology

"USAGE NOTE For many grammarians, unique is the paradigmatic absolute term, a shibboleth that distinguishes between those who understand that such a term cannot be modified by an adverb of degree or a comparative adverb and those who do not. These grammarians would say that a thing is either unique or not unique and that it is therefore incorrect to say that something is very unique or more unique than something else. Most of the Usage Panel supports this traditional view. Eighty percent disapprove of the sentence Her designs are quite unique in today's fashions. But as the language of advertising in particular attests, unique is widely used as a synonym for "worthy of being considered in a class by itself, extraordinary," and if so construed it may arguably be modified. In fact, unique appears as a modified adjective in the work of many reputable writers. A travel writer states that "Chicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco," for example, and the critic Fredric Jameson writes "The great modern writers have all been defined by the invention or production of rather unique styles." Although these examples of the qualification of unique are defensible, writers should be aware that such constructions are liable to incur the censure of some readers. See Usage Notes at absolute, equal, infinite."

You are arguing for an absolute definition where it does not exist.

Where's my 2-way wrist radio, which we'd now call a "wristphone"? Starring another Modern innovation, the videophone?

I might not whine about no flying cars as much, if we could just get some of the cheaper items that don't crash into neighbors' roofs.

Maybe your mother reads dictionaries. Here are a couple online ones.

http://www.answers.com/topic/unthaw

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/unthaw

That's just how English is. On a related note, if you "bone a chicken", is it the opposite if you "debone a chicken"? Another pair of opposite-sounding synonyms is "ravel" and "unravel".
How many more are out there?

Is the name 'ls' obvious? Is 'cat' obvious?

Well 'cat' is from 'catenate', as in concatenate files together. You can use it to display files but it's not its purpose.

And, at least for me, ls reminds me of "list". So if I want to list files, I just use 'ls'! Cool eh? :D

Ya, and VIA-I wish they had more support, they seem to have some quite neat stuff, small, quiet, powerful enough for normal low intensity web surfing and whatnot. Cheaper empty (and very very small) cases that fit their boards would be nice as well, and not shuttle small, I mean thin and tiny macmini sized cases. Solid state hard drive, and there ya go. Or an actual standard normal cheap laptop that you could upgrade every few years with just a new motherboard and ram would be nice. Small cheap more power savings, etc. OLPC for the non third world.

"The so-called CRPG isn't role-playing. To whom does one role-play in such an exercise?" - Gary Gygax

The incredibly huge mistake gamers seem to enjoy making is equating "roleplaying" with some undefinable quality of immersion, as if it meant to control a character in the context of its world, ignoring the fact that this myopic and completely wrong definition would then classify every game in existence as a roleplaying game.

"Roleplaying" actually refers to acting to an audience and is impossible in most video games (there are exceptions -- MMORPGs, Neverwinter Nights, MU* games and similar).

C RPGs are a specific genre defined by -- and I'm sorry if this rubs you the wrong way because of biases carried over from pen & paper anti-"rollplaying" sentiment -- the mechanics of P&P RPGs. P&P RPGs descended from wargaming; CRPGs hearken back to that, because they usually can't (and never can, in the case of single-player games) accommodate the roleplaying component. CRPGs are primarily complex board games; wargames backcrossed with P&P flavor.

Planescape: Torment is barely a CRPG. It certainly isn't an RPG in the P&P sense. It's exclusively single-player.

PS:T shares far more in common with the genres of interactive fiction and adventure games than it does with CRPGs. To claim otherwise is to ignore the history of the CRPG genre, which has only ever recently begun to focus on story, characterization, and other elements previously associated with IF. That's just a result of technological advances, though - every game genre has become richer.

Are you sure about that:

http://www.answers.com/myriad?cat=technology&gwp=13

Because she is not "A female insect or other arthropod that produces fertile eggs without copulating."

Just having a character named "Masterchief" always seemed like overkill to me.

Well, it was supposed to be Masterchef , but they couldn't get Steven Seagal to sign on, so they had to change it at the last minute.

According to Catbert, cynicism is almost the same thing as experience. Therefore, we can conclude that Dan Rather has a lot of experience in designing and building planes. http://www.answers.com/topic/y2k-dilbert-episode

Ahhh.....I see. You're 12. What the hell does "keep your insults to me" mean ? Keep them consistent maybe ? Please have your Mom read over your post before you click the submit button. Oh, you mean it's inconsistent to call you both a fascist and a whinny liberal. You seem to have aspects of both, which is more your inconsistency than mine buddy. First, you give yourself the right to be protected from rudeness. (Whinny liberal.) Then you give yourself the right to protect yourself from rudeness with violence. (Whinny liberal with some fascist violence.) By the way, talking for too long isn't disturbing the peace. It's just stupid and rude. Getting assaulted for being rude makes you the victom of people choosing to disturb the peace. Just a quick history lesson, as I don't believe you read much. Fascism is neither conservitive nor liberal. http://www.answers.com/topic/fascism?cat=biz-fin Best hope no one with a badge happens to both think like you and find you rude, or he'll be able to defend he right to be protected from your rudeness with violence. You don't fight wind with clubs. (If you Mom isn't right there to translate, that means don't fight words with violence.) It's morally wrong. That's the difference between us and evil. The fact you are not capable of seeing that proves my point.

Guess you'd better fix the dictionary entry and the Wikipedia entry, too.

UCR licensing is NOT proprietary. It may not be gratis, but it is most certainly not proprietary.

The RIAA is not a musician's union. They are an association of record labels.

This distinction is too detailed and irrelevant — even if they were a musician's union, they would still be attacked for copyright pooling. The article — and most of the discussion — are raging against the very concept of the marketplace participants uniting to further their interests.

America's perception of this concept is hypocritical. When the entities are people, we tend to nod in approval (even if they are Teamsters scum), but when they are businesses, we hate them (even if they are artists, such as Metallica).

In my opinion, all such unions should be monitored with suspicion and anti-trust laws should be applied vigilantly against both businesses and people agreeing (conspiring) to raise their prices.

That record companies are being blasted here for merely pooling their copyright interests together to reduce the infamously high costs of litigation, while various union scum (UPS vs. Teamsters, NYC vs. the union of MTA employees) are getting sympathy in their racketeering, is an example of dual standard.

Yes, it is. If you verbalized it, you could differentiate between the meanings of the two interpretations of the sentence by the tone and length of pause between words. It's a visual form of syntax and inflection that is most certainly part of grammar

I believe that's a Neon Genesis Evangelion reference.

People redefining words to fit their agenda (for good or bad) is nothing new. And like it or not, the English language is ambiguous, and one word or phrase may mean different things to different people. And just because they use a definition that doesn't jive with the one you prefer, that doesn't mean they're `wrong'.

s/renegade/renege

s/renegade/renege

Since you're an AC, I don't feel bad telling you that you meant to use the word cue (second definition), rather than queue. They're what are known as homonyms, and lazy people have problems with them quite often.

Since you're an AC, I don't feel bad telling you that you meant to use the word cue (second definition), rather than queue. They're what are known as homonyms, and lazy people have problems with them quite often.

Since you're an AC, I don't feel bad telling you that you meant to use the word cue (second definition), rather than queue. They're what are known as homonyms, and lazy people have problems with them quite often.

f you don't like the way your nation is run, you may avail yourself to the free market of nations to find one you like better, or you may build your own.
HELLO MC FLY, KNOCK KNOCK, that's exactly what the Pope is going to say is immoral. He wants you to have lots and lots of babies to pay the taxes and the tithe and to never move or find a different religion without permission; like all collectivists the Holy Sea considers you chattel. Why do you think communists and theists hate each other so much, it's not because they are so different, it's because they are the same and the communists don't want to share you.

And here I was thinking that 'multi' (ie. 'multiple') just meant "more than one" ( eg. http://www.answers.com/multiple&r=67 ). Just because 'bi' means "two" doesn't mean that 'multi' can't be two as well.

Otherwise where do you stop? I don't know for sure, but I would guess that technically there is a way to refer to any number in that way ("bi", "tri", "quad"...) so if you can't use 'multi' when you can also use 'bi' then when can you use it, exactly?

"Partial state ownership of industry", especially as the PRC practices it, is basically mercantilism.

http://www.answers.com/topic/mercantilism?cat=biz- fin
There's one definition from the web for people interested.

Mercantilism as a political movement is generally very closely linked to colonialism in ALL historical cases. What that point has to do with Tibet seems pretty straightforward.

but the OP may be drawing a stronger conclusion:

"Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power."
                                            Benito Mussolini

(And anyone who thinks I just godwinned the thread needs to actually read what Godwin said.)

The Chinese government has many of the characteristics of a well established and successful Fascism, including extensive Mercantilism, Colonialism, and exaggerated historical worship of an earlier Imperial phase. They also have some racialist behaviors, (which is not the same thing as saying they are about to put all of any Group X into concentration camps). For example, the PRC government has several times argued that being of Chinese descent makes a person subject to the PRC government even if they are a citizen of another nation.
      One of the reasons I picked Benny and not Adolph to quote above is that Italian Fascism seems to be a better match. The Italians didn't really cooperate much with the mass exterminations of already pacified or indigenous populations the Germans initiated, but they were still certainly Fascists.
        Fascism has three common principles which all tend to destabilize international affairs. The belief in wars of aggression, the overuse of centralized planning where there is not enough data to justify the plans and not enough cybernetization to implement them, and the heavy use of scapegoating any time those plans fail.

I searched Google and came up with this example of Pryor art:

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/b/b0 /Rp1.jpg

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

See those trailers? I assure you, they're mobile DVD manufacturing plants.

I was using "proof" as a synonym for "evidence," it's the first definition in the dictionary. Look it up.

Just because something makes you feel better doesn't make it true or useful. It definitely doesn't make that thing a hypothesis. Whether or not there is a test for to prove or disprove it, there must by definition be testable.

Some day I hope you guys get educated so you can look back and realize just how fucking ignorant you are. I know a few people who once were like you, and probably a lot worse, but they're better now and rather nice people who have the ability to speak on such subjects without looking like complete idiots.

Whether or not you "buy" something is rather irrelevant since you've proven your knowledge and reasoning abilities are severely lacking.

A low-carb diet (e.g. Atkins diet) can indeed make you "ketotic" and raise your breath acetone level.

From your college chemistry course acetone has a C=O bond, while alcohol is a C-OH bond.

Cheap breathalyzers will use a chemical reaction to detect the alcohol in your breath -- often potassium dichromate (these are the ones that go from red to green with alcohol).

More advanced models (such as the ones the police would use, would use essentially spectroscopy to try to measure the resonant absorbance of the C-OH bond. This would not be fooled by acetone, which has a much different absorbance of the C=O (approximately 1700 cm-1 IIRC). There are also variants of this method.

If you are ever innocent and accused, get a blood test, which really is a quantitative direct measurement and can be confirmed, with very little chance of being fooled.

If you are not innocent, **IN THEORY** the easiest way to lower your reading is to silently hyperventilate prior to blowing. This would prevent equilibration of the alcohol in your bloodstream with the air in your lungs that you just breathed in and out. It is far from perfect, and I would strongly advise to never drive drunk, nor rely on this method.

Additional references: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Could_elevated_ketone_le vels_produce_inaccurate_Breathalyzer_results

Fire!

FYI: Check the second definition