Slashdot Mirror

SARS is a big deal. It has a mortality rate of about 4% and this is with suspected patients rushed to hospital, pumped full of advanced antiviral drugs and kept in the best intensive care money can buy. Its mortality rate is much higher in untreated cases. It seems to be at least as virulent as the flu.

Do the math. The flu, which has a mortality rate of only 1-2%, kills hundreds of thousands around the world each year. If SARS is not successfully contained, millions will die, mostly in the third world which does not have the kind of medical care available in Singapore.

SARS is still spreading. The outbreak is not over yet. If it reaches densely populated poor urban centres like Calcutta, Rio de Janeiro, or the projects in LA, Chicago or New York, all hell will break loose. This is bigger than some minor conflict in Iraq. This is serious shit.

You should be thankful that cities like Singapore, Hong Kong and Toronto are trying so hard to keep SARS under control. Singapore and Hong Kong are the world's two busiest seaports and both are major air transport hubs. They are now the world's bulwark against contagion and if they fail millions will die.

Singapore is the best equipped city in the world to weather the storm. She is a first world country, with per capita GDP equal to the UK. She has the best health care system in the world.

The country is highly controlled and regulated. I am all for civil rights and freedom, but this is one of those times that strong authority is needed to enforce quarantines and stop people acting stupidly. The government is on the ball, among other things shutting down schools, imposing mandatory screening at the airport, and even deploying the army to stop SARS. Honestly, if Singapore cannot contain SARS, the world is fucked.

As an aside, most of the SARS deaths in Singapore are health care workers working with those infected with SARS at the hospital where they are all being concentrated in. I salute the duty, bravery and valor of these men and women.

Try odd turn of phrase. Or just turn of phrase. So I'm the first person to use it as a comparitive on the web; that's interesting. ;-)

And for the stuff I put in the title of the post, look here and do a find for "semi-". "hemi-demi-semi" is a really fun way to say "one-eighth"...

The game is about a world that is ruled by one government or a being. On the inside of the cd case it says "Deux Ex Machina." Here is a link to what it means.

NUMBER: 55130 QUOTATION: The Pope? How many divisions has he got? ATTRIBUTION: Josef Stalin (1879-1953), Soviet leader. Quoted in Winston Churchill, "The Gathering Storm," vol. 1, ch. 8, The Second World War (1948).

We must make clear to the Germans that the wrong for which their fallen leaders are on trial is not that they lost the war, but that they started it. And we must not allow ourselves to be drawn into a trial of the causes of the war, for our position is that no grievances or policies will justify resort to aggressive war. It is utterly renounced and condemned as an instrument of policy. --Supreme Court Justice Robert L. Jackson, U.S. Representative to the International Conference on Military Trials, August 12, 1945

• Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.
  Publius Syrus (42 B.C.)

• Software, like water, may be free, but when they pipe it to you, you've got to help pay for piping. And the Piper!
  Abigail Van Buren (b. 1916), U.S. advice columnist. Dear Abby, newspaper column (April 28, 1974).

• My final warning to you is always pay for your own software. All the scandals in the world of computers today have their cause in the despicable habit of swallowing free code.
  Y Yakigawa, President, Kyoto University

• Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.
  Publius Syrus (42 B.C.)

• Software, like water, may be free, but when they pipe it to you, you've got to help pay for piping. And the Piper!
  Abigail Van Buren (b. 1916), U.S. advice columnist. Dear Abby, newspaper column (April 28, 1974).

• My final warning to you is always pay for your own software. All the scandals in the world of computers today have their cause in the despicable habit of swallowing free code.
  Y Yakigawa, President, Kyoto University

• Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.
  Publius Syrus (42 B.C.)

• Software, like water, may be free, but when they pipe it to you, you've got to help pay for piping. And the Piper!
  Abigail Van Buren (b. 1916), U.S. advice columnist. Dear Abby, newspaper column (April 28, 1974).

• My final warning to you is always pay for your own software. All the scandals in the world of computers today have their cause in the despicable habit of swallowing free code.
  Y Yakigawa, President, Kyoto University

• Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it.
  Publius Syrus (42 B.C.)

• Software, like water, may be free, but when they pipe it to you, you've got to help pay for piping. And the Piper!
  Abigail Van Buren (b. 1916), U.S. advice columnist. Dear Abby, newspaper column (April 28, 1974).

• My final warning to you is always pay for your own software. All the scandals in the world of computers today have their cause in the despicable habit of swallowing free code.
  Y Yakigawa, President, Kyoto University

ETYMOLOGICAL FALLACY

And a couple of helpful links..

Etymological Fallacy

Etymological Fallacy

ETYMOLOGICAL FALLACY

And a couple of helpful links..

Etymological Fallacy

Etymological Fallacy

See: The French Revolution

Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick and his black bastard brother Bart! Corrected by an AC on /. how humiliating!

You expect us to learn all about the company business. Well then find out about what we do for you. That way you know if someone is blowing smoke or if the task/deadline you set is unrealistic.

It also builds resentment when you discover your manager is an example of the Peter Principle and drawing $$$ while you know more than he/she does about what's going on.

And you might've wanted to look here before posting...

They are the same. For those too lazy to click through the link, the 100-degree thermometer (freezing point of water - boiling point of water) was called Centigrade until 1948, when it was renamed in honor of its inventor, Anders Celsuis. Presumably you can figure out on your own why they called the 100-grade thermometer "Centigrade".

As long as it's not "suttee at home", I think we're fine.

• It is not the reference for "biweekly", it is the reference for "bi-", clearly stated in the middle of the page.
• In point of fact, the usage note you refer to advises that "a writer is well advised to substitute expressions like every two [weeks] or twice a [week] where possible."
• The actual definition of "biweekly" clearly states: "1. Happening every two weeks. 2. Happening twice a week; semiweekly.", which is exactly what I said it meant.

Okay, you've got a favorite professor at your school. That's great. Guess what? That doesn't make them an authority. There's also a professor at almost every school in the U.S. who thinks Jews are evil, and that everyone who's not a (insert crackpot religion here) will go to hell. That doesn't necessarily make it so. Even if they are a professor of Asian studies. (cymbal crash) Thank you folks, I'll be here all week. Please tip your server, and the lamb chops are delicious.

First off, not my school. I never said I went to Wellesley, or had ever studied under this professor. I am an area guy who goes largely for the chicks (I have a date with one of the most beautiful for next week, thanks very much), and also for the anime, when it's not something horrible like pretear.

Professors are hired by schools and paid 100k at schools like Wellesley because they are well-studied and intelligent. This is not to say that they are necessarily definitive sources of definitions, but a professor who's life study lies in a specific discipline is probably as reliable a source of information as anything on the internet.

Third, I followed up by citing two references to definitions, which I would say are both more informative and more accurate, and probably more reliable than your "my teacher said" reference. I mean this in the serious, analytical, "my reference is better than your reference" sense, not "you suck." I don't think that. Especially since you're right, some anime is obviously targeted directly at women.

Ho! Speaking of the internet, both of your citations are user-generated content. As big a fan as I am of this aspect of the internet, those definitions were no more written by experts than anything else on the net. Do they have PhDs? Or are they twelve year olds making it up? You don't know which, and I think my original citation (from a short blurb about the organization in the campus newspaper) is a little more authoritative. Moreover, your Everything citation is directly contradicted by several below it, so check what you cite to make sure it's in your favour.

I will make another citation, if you'd like: This is the Bartleby online American Heritage Dictionary reference for bi-weekly, and it makes an essential note that, despite common usage by people uneducated to the derivation, the "bi" prefix means two of, not two in.

You are right about the "were," some more details are here. I don't agree with calling names like ____ Nazi, though. It dilutes the real meaning behind Nazi and the true extremity of their nature.

Act V, Scene I, Line 73:

First Clo. ...Here's a skull now; this skull hath lain you i' the earth three-and-twenty years.

Ham. Whose was it?

First Clo. A whoreson mad fellow's it was: whose do you think it was?

Ham. Nay, I know not.

First Clo. A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! a' poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester.

Ham. This!

First Clo. E'en that.

Ham. Let me see.--[Takes the skull.]--Alas! poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? quite chapfallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come; make her laugh at that.

Right here in Chapter II. The very first rule of elementary usage in The Elements of Style (my favorite book in the whole wide world.)

Err!!! Why do you think that I prefaced "literally" with "quite". That's called a weasel word, a leading print marketing trick. I gather that you have the intellect to take it from there, although many hardwired geeks can't make the leap since this wasn't covered in 7th grade English... ;)

You might be thinking of the archaic use where it referred to a complete set, rather than just "alotta something", but that's no longer the standard use. Or maybe you just confused it with "panopeas", which, I agree, makes no sense in this context.

Ahh, you realise most of the stuff in your comment is either Vaporware or stuff in progress.

Dude, how can you broadcast such untruths? We already have code to implement 85% of the subsystems I mentioned in CVS. The implementation process proceeded with hardly a hitch, thanks to our clairvoyant design white paper.

I guess if you hadn't been so busy working on your home page, you mighta read it.

Eluding tariffs

We can see the same thing elsewhere, with copyright, the DMCA, softwood tarrifs(designed to increase logging profits in the US which is faced with Canadian competition) and the like.

The essence of mercantilism is to reward your cronies with government favors (corporate welfare, monopolies, tax breaks) while harming their competitors, and anyone else who happens to get in their way.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that Microsoft has secured its position as a beneficiary of "honest graft"

I mean, I hope no one thinks it was in the interests of justice that they got a slap on the wrist in the anti-trust case.

Go to Hell - not the imaginary one, but the real one.

Creating them in the first place takes money though, who's going to do that if all the codecs have to be free of charge?

Lets be even more cynical ;-)

1/. Universities (mix of public and commerical funding) do the basic research and share the knowledge around openly via publications etc -- the details are publicly avaliable for free (as in beer and speech)
2/. Healthly intellectual competetion between research establishments refine the technology. ("...upon the sholders of giants")
3/. Some company that orginally partially funded the research (as a long shot) spot the commerical oppertunity and hire the researchers and focus it towards product development. They try an lock-in value by patenting the refinements that haven't been disclosed yet.
4/. Commerical organisations discover that they have to collaborate (via a Standards body) to in order dive the adoption of the technolgy and because other companies (that backed the university research) have a vested interest. If they could they would do it alone.
5/. In the mean time some resreacher stay in industry and other take the orgianl idea and take it off into off in esoteric directions...
6/. Joe cumsumer eventually gets something useful.

Just my observations....

--- Rahul.

Lest we want to happen to us what is now happening to Japan and Europe. Due to lowered levels of immigration those regions are experiencing an aging of the population.

No, that's not true. These countries are experiencing an aging of the population because their citizens are having to fewer children. See this recent article in the NY Times, and this table of the fertility rates around the world.

~Phillip

nigger...isn't even offensive

This point isn't even worth arguing.

I don't think to date, anyone has lynched someone driving a rice-car while screaming "Rice Boy!"

Murderous violence is not a prerequisite for racism. It's generally the other way around.

primary food staple of... you guessed it, rice. There are also Kraut-Rockets, for german cars, but do you go up in arms against that? Do germans find any offense to that? None that I know.

"Kraut" is actually quite a negative term, comparable to "nigger".

Your google reference is completely lacking, because only one page on the initial list supports it as a Racist term.

Precisely how many people need to be offended before you begin to care? Give me a number. How many people's feelings equate to your need to use a mildly humorous term?

Will it make you feel better if I tell you I'll be calling Japan in a few hours, after driving home from work in a Toyota?

Not slightly. Would it make you feel better?

Racism only works against people not cars.

Of course. The term "riced-up" refers to a car decorated in a style pioneered by a subculture of young Asian men in Southern California. The term "rice-burner" refers to a car built by Asian people. The point is, using "rice" in any way as a reference to Asians or Asian culture is a generalization that many find offensive. It doesn't matter if it's based in truth (i.e. most Asians like rice); generalizations do exist for a reason. However, it is offensive, and if you use it, you demonstrate that you don't care if you offend. That's your choice.

Even if you're using the term to refer to a white boy in a Mustang, the term still has its roots in racism. It may be watered down, but it's still poison.

From the webpage you cited, the original poster might have indeed meant "to bring about or execute.".

Who can you trust? -- Nobody. As our master said:

For of men it may generally be affirmed, that they are thankless, fickle, false, studious to avoid danger, greedy of gain, devoted to you while you are able to confer benefits upon them, and ready, as I said before, while danger is distant, to shed their blood, and sacrifice their property, their lives, and their children for you; but in the hour of need they turn against you. The Prince, therefore, who without otherwise securing himself builds wholly on their professions is undone.

:) I'm not trying to be a PIA; it just comes naturally. :)

I've done a lot of editing, and so had plenty of time to wonder about the correct rules. Many of the ones we are taught are nonsense cooked up by someone with time on their hands, like "don't split infinitives" (a fabricated rule derived from the idea that English should have a Latin grammar?). The classic starting point is Strunk's "The Elements of Style." It's a nearly century-old $3 booklet, really worth buying (mine's around here some place). The modern edition has additional commentary by E.B. White, a Strunk disciple. Bartleby's has some usage manuals as well -- they generally have very old out-of-copyright editions of things -- cool site.

Neologisms are great (and so are slightly-forgotten old words like neologism); even verbifications; I just don't like the pompous ones that some business and political people cough up. For example, I'm on the losing side but I hate verbified "impact" to mean "affect." I like affect! It works! But it didn't sound snobby enough.

Read Watterson's Tenth Anniversary Book, where he writes a lot in the first person and gives the sense of someone who would hate business-speak (it "weirds" not improves language, hence the humor). And yes, that Watterson indexing site is wonderful, I wrote a note to the webmaster thanking him. I'm just waiting for the copyright nazis to catch up with him -- a different syndicate (doesn't *that* word sound threatening) forced him to drop Dilbert and another strip. The strip links are to the syndicate website, where you can buy copies for outlandish prices; he's tried to keep it legal-looking.

So ... new words are good. I just like to dig my heels in a tiny bit to distinguish the novel from the fad. You also don't need a bunch of high-falutin' words to be a wonderful writer. Tech sure has contributed its share of bizarre words.

"I could care less" is the unwitting inversion of what most of us want to say. This is the problem with cliches -- we don't hear what we're saying any more. It drives grammarians berzerk. I think Safire would insist it be, "I could not care any less." Personally, I couldn't care less. (If you don't have a sense of humor about English grammar, you don't haven't tried to learn it.)

"Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate,
Sad Acheron of sorrow black and deep;
Cocytus named of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
Far off from these a slow and silent stream,
Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls
Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks
Forthwith his former state and being forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain."

"Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate,
Sad Acheron of sorrow black and deep;
Cocytus named of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
Far off from these a slow and silent stream,
Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls
Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks
Forthwith his former state and being forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain."

"Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate,
Sad Acheron of sorrow black and deep;
Cocytus named of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
Far off from these a slow and silent stream,
Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls
Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks
Forthwith his former state and being forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain."

"Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate,
Sad Acheron of sorrow black and deep;
Cocytus named of lamentation loud
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegethon
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage.
Far off from these a slow and silent stream,
Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls
Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks
Forthwith his former state and being forgets,
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain."

Well, for starters there are the incositancies in the creation story (hey, we may as well start at the begining.)
In Genesis 1, we are told that God created the fish, and then the birds, then the animals of the land, and then created man, both male and female, in His own image (Gen. 1.27)
But Genesis 2 says that god created man to tend the garden of Eden, and then created all the animals as helpers for Adam (man is never refered to as an individual in Gen. 1, btw) but none of them were good helpers for him, so God took his rib and made a woman from it. (Gen.2 18-23)
Tada. An inconsitency in the first two chapters.

Well, for starters there are the incositancies in the creation story (hey, we may as well start at the begining.)
In Genesis 1, we are told that God created the fish, and then the birds, then the animals of the land, and then created man, both male and female, in His own image (Gen. 1.27)
But Genesis 2 says that god created man to tend the garden of Eden, and then created all the animals as helpers for Adam (man is never refered to as an individual in Gen. 1, btw) but none of them were good helpers for him, so God took his rib and made a woman from it. (Gen.2 18-23)
Tada. An inconsitency in the first two chapters.

And I quote: "The Harvard Classics The Shelf of Fiction Selected by Charles W. Eliot, LLD The most comprehensive and well-researched anthology of all time comprises both the 50-volume "5-foot shelf of books" and the the 20-volume Shelf of Fiction. Together they cover every major literary figure, philosopher, religion, folklore and historical subject through the twentieth century.

NEW YORK: P.F. COLLIER & SON, 1909-1917, NEW YORK: BARTLEBY.COM, 2001, The Harvard Classics

VOL. I. --- His Autobiography, by Benjamin Franklin --- Journal, by John Woolman --- Fruits of Solitude, by William Penn

II. --- The Apology, Phædo and Crito of Plato --- The Golden Sayings of Epictetus --- The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius

III. --- Essays, Civil and Moral & The New Atlantis, by Francis Bacon --- Areopagitica & Tractate on Education, by John Milton --- Religio Medici, by Sir Thomas Browne

IV. --- Complete Poems Written in English, by John Milton

V. --- Essays and English Traits, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

VI. --- Poems and Songs, by Robert Burns --- VII. --- The Confessions of Saint Augustine --- The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis --- VIII. --- Agamemnon, The Libation-Bearers, The Furies & Prometheus Bound of --- Aeschylus --- Oedipus the King & Antigone of Sophocles --- Hippolytus & The Bacchæ of Euripides --- The Frogs of Aristophanes

IX. --- On Friendship, On Old Age & Letters, by Cicero --- Letters, by Pliny the Younger

X. --- Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith

XI. --- The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin

XII. --- Lives, by Plutarch

XIII. --- Æneid, by Vergil

XIV. --- Don Quixote, Part 1, by Cervantes

XV. --- The Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan --- The Lives of Donne and Herbert, by Izaak Walton

XVI. --- Stories from the Thousand and One Nights

XVII. --- Fables, by Æsop --- Household Tales, by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm --- Tales, by Hans Christian Andersen

XVIII. --- All for Love, by John Dryden --- The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan --- She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith --- The Cenci, by Percy Bysshe Shelley --- A Blot in the 'Scutcheon, by Robert Browning --- Manfred, by Lord Byron --- XIX. --- Faust, Part I, Egmont & Hermann and Dorothea, by J.W. von Goethe --- Dr. Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe

XX. --- The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri

XXI. --- I Promessi Sposi, by Alessandro Manzoni

XXII. --- The Odyssey of Homer

XXIII. --- Two Years before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.

XXIV. --- On Taste, On the Sublime and Beautiful, Reflections on the French --- Revolution & A Letter to a Noble Lord, by Edmund Burke

XXV. --- Autobiography & On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill --- Characteristics, Inaugural Address at Edinburgh & Sir Walter Scott, by --- Thomas Carlyle

XXVI. --- Life Is a Dream, by Pedro Calderón de la Barca --- Polyeucte, by Pierre Corneille --- Phædra, by Jean Racine --- Tartuffe, by Molière --- Minna von Barnhelm, by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing --- Wilhelm Tell, by Friedrich von Schiller

XXVII. English Essays: Sidney to Macaulay

XXVIII. Essays: English and American

XXIX. The Voyage of the Beagle, by Charles Darwin

XXX. --- Scientific Papers

XXXI. --- The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini

XXXII. --- Literary and Philosophical Essays

XXXIII. --- Voyages and Travels: Ancient and Modern

XXXIV. --- Discourse on Method, by René Descartes --- Letters on the English, by Voltaire --- On the Inequality among Mankind & Profession of Faith of a Savoyard --- Vicar, by Jean Jacques Rousseau --- Of Man, Being the First Part of Leviathan, by Thomas Hobbes

XXXV. --- The Chronicles of Jean Froissart --- The Holy Grail, by Sir Thomas Malory --- A Description of Elizabethan England, by William Harrison

XXXVI. --- The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli --- The Life of Sir Thomas More, by William Roper --- Utopia, by Sir Thomas More --- The Ninety-Five Thesis, Address to the Christian Nobility & Concerning --- Christian Liberty, by Martin Luther

XXXVII. --- Some Thoughts Concerning Education, by John Locke --- Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous in Opposition to Sceptics --- and Atheists, by George Berkeley --- An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, by David Hume

XXXVIII. --- The Oath of Hippocrates --- Journeys in Diverse Places, by Ambroise Paré --- On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, by William Harvey --- The Three Original Publications on Vaccination Against Smallpox, by Edward Jenner --- The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever, by Oliver Wendell Holmes --- On the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery, by Joseph Lister --- Scientific Papers, by Louis Pasteur --- Scientific Papers, by Charles Lyell

XXXIX. --- Prefaces and Prologues

XL. --- English Poetry I: Chaucer to Gray

XLI. --- English Poetry II: Collins to Fitzgerald

XLII. --- English Poetry III: Tennyson to Whitman

XLIII. --- American Historical Documents: 1000-1904

XLIV. --- Confucian: The Sayings of Confucius --- Hebrew: Job, Psalms & Ecclesiastes --- Christian I: Luke & Acts

XLV. --- Christian II: Corinthians I & II & Hymns --- Buddhist: Writings --- Hindu: The Bhagavad-Gita --- Mohammedan: Chapters from the Koran

XLVI. --- Edward the Second, by Christopher Marlowe --- Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth & The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

XLVII. --- The Shoemaker's Holiday, by Thomas Dekker --- The Alchemist, by Ben Jonson --- Philaster, by Beaumont and Fletcher --- The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster --- A New Way to Pay Old Debts, by Philip Massinger

XLVIII. --- Thoughts, Letters & Minor Works, by Blaise Pascal

XLIX. --- Epic & Saga: Beowulf, The Song of Roland, The Destruction of Dá --- Derga's Hostel & The Story of the Volsungs and Niblungs

LI. --- Lectures on the Harvard Classics

We're on the same page.

I wouldn't try a line of Mickey Mouse characters anytime soon, even if Disney may have some technical defect (I don't have time to research it). The paper you cite in the other post is an argument against copyright, but not necessarily compelling one, plus it was written by a mere student. The highest stack of academic journals is not very persuasive to a court. I know Disney is vicious in enforcing its copyrights -- even the local cake shop has a warning letter from Disney posted, warning not to try putting any Disney characters on its custom cakes! Mickey Mouse is so entwined with the Disney image, I have no idea how the copyright/trademark will play out. It may be a moot point if Disney keeps lobbying Congress for extensions (and assuming the Lessig case doesn't pan out). Regardless, if Mickey isn't Disney's trademark, what is? Think they'll switch to Tinkerbell? Pluto?

Orcs -- definitely not invented by Tolkein, maybe. :) He uses it to mean a super-nasty breed of goblins; I think the movie suggested some sort of interbreeding with humans or some such. Bulfinch's references an orc, but one quite different from a goblin! Maybe JRR just liked the word.

Piracy: The language grows, words acquire new meanings. Get used to it.

Pricing: MS can price it however they want. Giving away copies is not fair use (why not sell them? MS won't know the difference. Two wrongs don't make a right, etc.

This could hurt G. Bush's oil profits! Therefore it'll never be available in the U.S. When will everyone learn? If it hurts investors it will not succeed in the U.S. It's as simple as that. This is a free market. There's a big demand for oil. Thank God there's nice companies willing to go out of their way and fulfill that demand. Maybe I should buy an S.U.V. I might really need to go 4-wheel-drivin' on Hwy. 101. Especially with all the potholes.

:-)

[That's sarcasm, by the way.]

Window, huh?

I don't understand why these smaller companies don't just stand up to Microsoft and take them to court. I mean, I think the Department of Justice and various states demonstrated pretty clearly that all you need to go up against Microsoft is millions of dollars and a small army of lawyers. If you don't believe me, or squeak something about DOJ not really being successful, consider "little guy" Sun Microsystems, who sued over Java.

More seriously, this is getting ridiculous. I can understand Microsoft wanted to protect its branding -- names like Lindows are meant to draw people away from MS Windows -- but they're just bullies.

You know, a real solution would be for someone to come up with a new metaphor, or paradigm.

But I'll never cave to this intimidation! See, I've bared a Window® into my soul. This is our Window® of opportunity to take a stand against this Window® dressing. It's our Window®

Damn, it's getting stuffy in here, excuse me while I go open the f*cking Window®.

Pick up a copy of Gray's anatomy some time. The aorta is a major blood carrying vessel that runs pretty much the entire length of the body trunk. Actually, you can read the relevant exceprt from Gray's here. They probably damaged the abdominal section of the aorta? (IANAS) I think to a certain extent this highlights the danger of being over-reliant on one set of sensors or inputs, i.e. just what you get through the screen controlling the 'bot.

Unrelated bills and laws should not be tied together for any reason. If you can't get enough votes for your bill, then maybe there's something wrong with the bill, and then it should be discussed so a better solution can be found - and the better solution should not involve an unrelated issue.

There really oughtta be a constitutional amendment to outlaw or discourage bills that address more than one issue... Or something...

Are we forgetting our history here? Does no one remember the Missouri Compromise? Sure, it wasn't the best thing since sliced bread, but it's hard to argue against it's efficacy. (And no, the fact that the civil war still happened, and the Kansas-Nebraska act, and the split up Comprimise of 1850, Clay's great sequel, doesn't count as an argument against it. Because I said so.)

The best cure for bad writing is Strunk & White's The Elements of Style.

This word, meaning "strong point," from French fort, meaning "strong," can be pronounced with one syllable, like the English word fort, or with two syllables. The two-syllable pronunciation, (fôrt), is probably the most common in American English, but some people dislike it, arguing that it properly belongs to the music term forte from Italian.

It was discussed on alt.english.usage a long time ago, and I have taken it upon myself to add an accent, similar to café to show what I consider the correct pronunciation, at least on my side of the pond. Every time I hear it here (mid-Atlantic region of the US), it's two syllables.

Slashdot is a global communication device. I try not to judge people based on their spelling or grammar. I was lambasting someone for making snide comments about technological issues, when they were obviously lacking in knowledge on those issues. I think, although perhaps rude, that I was, technically, correct. You, however, make the assumption that everyone lives in your neighborhood, went to your school, dresses like you, acts like you, and should therefore think (and speak) like you.

It's OK to flame someone for a spelling mistake if they were in turn flaming someone for a spelling mistake. If you think you 'won' the argument by pointing out a technical flaw in my writing, perhaps you should take a course in logic and reasoning.

P.S. I consider the OED to be the final word on these kinds of disputes. The OED says the two-syllable pronunciation is just fine. The accent mark is my own little attempt to change the world. Have a nice day.

Oh the irony in that... you try to sound so smart by tacking on an accent, but end up sounding stupid in the process. There is and never has been an accent anywhere in that word, as it is not supposed to be pronounced with one. The mispronunciation of the word has become so widespread that it is now accepted, but it's still not proper usage. The correct pronunciation is FORT, and since you seem to be such a fan of accents, that would be fôrt.

Go read this, and get off your high horse, jackass.

Yeah, I can't see why the rest of the world hates the west, can you? We turn war into a fuckin' video game, and relegate them to attacking us with swords while riding their camels.

I know it's the natural evolution of war, but it also seems like the natural evolution of capitalism applied to the battlefield. He with the most money to make the best toys wins, and he who doesn't hopes for an aid package to be sent to his widow.

a long time ago there actually was a problem with burying people who weren't dead but seemed to be dead. thus somebody came up with what is still called "the wake," where everyone sits around to see if the person they're going to bury wakes up.

the phrase "dead ringer" has a similar origin: they'd set up a bell above ground and tie a string or something to it when they buried someone, who could ring the bell and alert everyone that they would like to be dug up as they weren't dead . . .

Benj. Franklin, Autobiography