Domain: hyperdictionary.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to hyperdictionary.com.
Comments · 491
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Re:Housing director at my college
No, no, that would be tricot, of course.
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Re:Mod Parent Down
Sir, you can't use such a lame tautology
It's not a tautology at all. In fact the statement is wrong, since plenty of crimes are commited in jails each day by jailed people.
Punishing people who have done nothing wrong but owning something that could be used to commit a crime is a popular pastime that has negative effects. -
Re:Definition
Try HyperDict. It's as lightweight as google as well as very impressive and multi-fuctional. -
Re:I love this stuff
"The tomato=fruit idea was introduced long after the classification as a vegetable as well established.
The reason for the reclassification of tomatos by the biologists was that they started to buy into the evolutionary classification schemes. So the taxonomy was redefined to fit the new theory."
What the FUCK have you been smoking in your pipe?
Fruit (froot) [n]--the ripened reproductive body of a seed plant
What's the seed-bearing part of an apple tree? An apple. The seed-bearing part of an orange tree? An orange. And what part of a freakin' tomato plant holds the seeds?
A carrot is a vegetable. Celery is a vegetable. Lettuce is a vegetable. Potatoes... who the fuck cares about a potato is. But just because people are more likely to slice it up and put it in sandwiches or salads than eat it whole doesn't make a tomato a vegetable. Heck, some salads include slices of apples; does that make an apple a vegetable?
And the sad thing is I bet you're a biology major as well. -
Re:Upgrading
Passengers who raise questions would be classified as yellow
Are you, like, yellow? -
Re:Uh, no
There was also the old flippy trick (turning a single-sided 5.25" floppy disk into a double-sided one by cutting an extra notch into the floppy disk cover and inserting it into the drive upside-down). That actually did work, though.
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Re:It's a car for women!
"Gas makes the least sence"
I get your point, but you might be missing the joke. It is actually not the reference to common parts, at least for me, but rather the elements in combination. A nonsensical character revealing their character.
The post was somewhat ironic. Bigots, those that hate Canadians and a bigot in general, usually have no actual reasons to hate their targets. Bigotry is an example of ignorance. So a bigot is ranting about how petrol is really gas, which reveals another level of ignorance. Finally, there is the added and crude gloss to the joke that this particular bigot also happens to be a "hick" or "yokel", which is the favorite American character (aside from GWBush) who embodies ignorance. Geeks particularly like including ignorant characters in their jokes.
Note the American character was ranting about the Canadians, which is a little joke for the Americans and Canadian readers. I suspect the joke was moderated funny because of the Canadian reference. I like it. -
Re:It's a car for women!
"Gas makes the least sence"
I get your point, but you might be missing the joke. It is actually not the reference to common parts, at least for me, but rather the elements in combination. A nonsensical character revealing their character.
The post was somewhat ironic. Bigots, those that hate Canadians and a bigot in general, usually have no actual reasons to hate their targets. Bigotry is an example of ignorance. So a bigot is ranting about how petrol is really gas, which reveals another level of ignorance. Finally, there is the added and crude gloss to the joke that this particular bigot also happens to be a "hick" or "yokel", which is the favorite American character (aside from GWBush) who embodies ignorance. Geeks particularly like including ignorant characters in their jokes.
Note the American character was ranting about the Canadians, which is a little joke for the Americans and Canadian readers. I suspect the joke was moderated funny because of the Canadian reference. I like it. -
come on people!of Course XFree86 is "pornographic" in microsofts eyes! Look at some synonyms and you can definitely see.
take for instance the synonym Licentious
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Re:We live in interesting times..> There is nothing that prevents SCO from saying one thing in the IBM case (GPL is invalid), yet saying another in the Nmap case.
Yes, there is, perjury and estoppel
In particular, if a person under oath makes two different statements which can not be reconciled with each other (or in other words: when only one of the two statements can be true) then that can be considered perjury.
In practice however it is unlikely that SCO will say in court that "the GPL is invalid", they are more likely to say something along the lines that the other party should somehow not be allowed to enforce the GPL. E.g. in the IBM case SCO is claiming that IBM wasn't allowed to license its own code under the GPL in the first place.
IANAL
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Re:We live in interesting times..> There is nothing that prevents SCO from saying one thing in the IBM case (GPL is invalid), yet saying another in the Nmap case.
Yes, there is, perjury and estoppel
In particular, if a person under oath makes two different statements which can not be reconciled with each other (or in other words: when only one of the two statements can be true) then that can be considered perjury.
In practice however it is unlikely that SCO will say in court that "the GPL is invalid", they are more likely to say something along the lines that the other party should somehow not be allowed to enforce the GPL. E.g. in the IBM case SCO is claiming that IBM wasn't allowed to license its own code under the GPL in the first place.
IANAL
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Re:cloudy venus
i believe one of the reasons for such neglection
Nice! A word that was considered obsolete in 1913.. Now that's cutting edge! -
Re:Doubtful
Google is your friend.
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Castrated sheep?
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Castrated sheep?
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Re:A Hope Beyond a Hope
Piracy is a rather harsh word don't you think?
Perhaps we should use the word "samizdat" to refer to unauthorized copying? -
DefenestrOS
Defenestrate your office with DefenestrOS!
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Re:Qt != write once, run anywhere
it would be wrong to state that you have to recompile every time you run an application.
how do you think is the bytecode executed by the JVM? just automagically the cpu understands java bytecode? The JVM acts as an interpreter between the Java code and a clients operating system, and compiles the byte code (usually .class) files into something the OS, or the platform it runs on, understands.
well... i think it depends on what you mean with "compile"... -
Re:About the same time /. posters actually RTFA?
Well, the problem didn't directly have to do with conversion. But after all, it still was the fact that everything had to be converted which led to the communication problems later.
Now, in this case, humans just made dumb mistakes. But we don't need stupid things like unit conversions to cause even more problems, do we?
Oh, and before I forget... maybe 1.5 inches or 38.1 mm are both just numbers and no one should really have to care. But you miss the point that imperial units don't 'fit'. For example, what does a gallon have to do with an inch? According to this page, "the standart gallon of the Unites States contains 231 cubic inches, or 8.3389 pounds avoirdupois of distilled water at its maximum density." Or this is what it says about a quart: "In imperial measure, a quart is forty English fluid ounces; in wine measure, it is thirty-two American fluid ounces. The United States dry quart contains 67.20 cubic inches, the fluid quart 57.75. The English quart contains 69.32 cubic inches."
WTF? A liter, OTOH, is simply 1 dm^3, or 10x10x10 cm (though you would simply express volumes in m^3 of course). In SI you have meter, kilogram, and second. The point is simplicity, completeness, and the comfort of the decimal system.
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Re:Interesting Idea
A Tec 9 is a semi automatic pistol designed to look like a submachine gun, and due to Intratec's quality, it's more likely to injure the shooter than the target.
For a real submachine gun, I suggest looking elsewhere.
Definitions:from Hyperdictionary
Pistol:The smallest firearm used, intended to be fired from one hand, -- now of many patterns, and bearing a great variety of names.
Sub Machine Gun:a portable machine gun that typically uses pistol ammunition
Machine Gun:A rapid fire automatic rifle, usually mounted.
Assault Rifle:A rapid fire automatic rifle similar to a machine gun, but uses slightly shorter cartridges. -
Re:Word twisting
Actually, a zebra crossing is not quite synonymous with crosswalk, at least as I had it told to me. It's a specially marked crossing where traffic is theoretically required to stop for pedestrians. That's why the notion of being run down in a zebra crossing has a certain irony.
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Re:Evolution will take overFrequency, vibration, oscillation, revolution, sense, and being are all derived from this flux
you sound like deepak chopra...
Balance will be achieved. It is the way of things.
really? what makes you think that? there have been several cataclysmic ice ages that wiped out entire ecosystems. planet-wide waves of extinction have occurred before (the K-T is only one of them). large chunks of some ecosystems have been entirely borked by foreign species introduction (the cane toad leaps to mind).
human beings have the power to completely decimate popualations of animals and level entire ecosystems and we use it. environments that took millions of years to evolve can be turned into a walmart parking lot in a week. of all the mammal species in the world nearly a quarter are threatened, endangered or critically endangered (i have a source). did the "flux of nature" just decide to drive all these animals to the brink of extinction? or was it the continued destruction of habitat by human activity that did this? probably the latter.
oh yeah, "balance" and "flux" are kinda contradictory concepts too.
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Re:Evolution will take overFrequency, vibration, oscillation, revolution, sense, and being are all derived from this flux
you sound like deepak chopra...
Balance will be achieved. It is the way of things.
really? what makes you think that? there have been several cataclysmic ice ages that wiped out entire ecosystems. planet-wide waves of extinction have occurred before (the K-T is only one of them). large chunks of some ecosystems have been entirely borked by foreign species introduction (the cane toad leaps to mind).
human beings have the power to completely decimate popualations of animals and level entire ecosystems and we use it. environments that took millions of years to evolve can be turned into a walmart parking lot in a week. of all the mammal species in the world nearly a quarter are threatened, endangered or critically endangered (i have a source). did the "flux of nature" just decide to drive all these animals to the brink of extinction? or was it the continued destruction of habitat by human activity that did this? probably the latter.
oh yeah, "balance" and "flux" are kinda contradictory concepts too.
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Re:Good bookThe story's somewhat disjointed narrative works well to evoke the narrator's jumbled memories of the events leading to the decimation of the human population.
Decimation like hell. I think you are trying to say extinction.
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Lakh?
What the hell is a lakh?
Ah, a lakh is a compltely obscure number - it means "hundred thousand."
What's wrong with saying "1,500,000 engineers?"
Don't be such a doghwI'. -
Re:Antitrust
Are you aware that for the last several decades all (US) copyright laws have been written by the publishing industry and passed by congress essentially unrevised?
In a democracy the people rule, but "the people" doesn't mean that we've got a small army running around trying to force everyone to take part of the democratic process regarding things they don't even care about.
That has resulted in us today having people that complain about others having what they think is too much power; but most people complaining don't even try to do anything about it.
Copyright law has gone far astray from its original function and purpose.
Maybe it today isn't what it originally was intended to be, but personally I don't know what it really should be. On one hand copyright is about making sure people dare to release their work without it being stolen by just about anyone, but more importantly copyright is about limiting the control of what you have created... making sure that you lose control of your own work, to the benefit of the people.
I just don't know what can be considered fair when it comes to taking away what a person owns...
I do know one thing though, no one intended copyright to allow the public to get free access the newest (sometimes not even released) movies, music etc; so there's no doubt it being wrong that people using P2P/filesharing to share the work that they authors, creators etc haven't even started making any money from. -
Skeptical of "skeptical environmentalists"
I am seeing cases where the environmental movement is wilfully exaggerating how bad things are, and is arguing that no matter what the choice, the environment is both the first and the only thing.
You're just now seeing them? They've been around for a couple of decades, and have spawned sects as bizarre as the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement.I am becoming more and more skeptical of the environmental movement. Too much of it seems to be pushing an anti-capitalist morality with which I do not agree....
Ah, yes, the "watermelons" (green on the outside, red on the inside). These are moonbat crazies whose respect for the facts is forcefully subordinated to their politics, else they'd have to acknowledge that the environment has fared vastly better under conditions of economic and political freedom (which go together) than the Soviet bloc's command system.The other side of the issue is that powerful economic interests in the USA are capable of buying legislation which sells out the public interest to protect their profits, and they are just as capable of manipulating the press, think tank reports and other coverage to blunt public backlash against them. Just because the watermelons are for something isn't necessarily a reason to oppose it; you have to look carefully at everything, preferably with an understanding of the underlying reasons and mechanisms. If you don't have this understanding yourself, take your cues from someone who both has one and has taken the time to explain it in ways which can be checked. Dogma is the enemy, we need to fight it with reason. I've read Lomborg's book, and it is very long on endnotes and short on real supporting evidence; worse, the researchers cited by Lomborg have often disagreed violently with the conclusions he reaches based on their work. This reflects poorly on Lomborg.
(OT re command economies and authoritarian regimes: China's pall of pollution is so bad that it is affecting crop yields. The sources I can find mention pollutants such as ozone and SO2, but I recall reading that soot directly reduces plant growth by cutting off the supply of energy (sunlight) to the plants. China in particular still uses lots of coal in individual coal stoves, leading to the same emissions which caused the killer fog in London in 1952 (here's the NPR feature). These emissions would be drastically reduced if China gasified that same coal in a central plant and piped it through cities as "town gas".)
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Re:Neither!
Def. of Mathematics
I don't mean to make this about definitions -- but I'd like to explain what I mean. It probably would have been safer for me to say that relational theory is about algebra, not arithmetics. However, the definition above is confusing: it cites mathematics, as a whole, as being about quantities and magnitudes. Database theory doesn't care about magnitudes: they are only one particular type of value that can be manipulated. Arithmetic (and by their definition, math as a whole) is about specific types of data being manipulated, algebra is mostly about operators, analysis, and general solutions that can often be applied regardless of the underlying datatype.
Relational algebra, therefore, is about more than just the data -- it's about the operators, the joins ... Database theory could be taught without even mentioning integers, character strings, dates, etc. I think it's important for students to realize this, and this book in particular makes this very clear (as part of their complaint about implementations often not providing adequate interfaces for user-defined-types, or relying overly heavily on predefined types, especially the "standard" types defined by the SQL language specs.)
That book also presents a (new?) model for object inheritance, including multiple-inheritance. That's important for those people out there being taught object-orientedness in one class, then taught database theory, then thrown out into a world of vendors who claim the two can't be done together, or do they together sloppily.
The book summarizes most everything they've said before, and then adds some. I find that valuable. By now, they're getting a bit cranky about implementations not catching up to their expectations. That can put a lot of people off, but it also serves to burn into the mind of the reader how important theory really is. The book describes the evolution of database theory, its basics, and a complete algebra, with proofs. It is not, however, an example-driven book, like the one I had in college.
I think an example-driven book is much better for teaching database design and normalization. I think the two are fairly distinct ideas though. There's the tool, and there's applying it. -
backward/forward compatible
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backward/forward compatible
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boring ... argumentum ad hominem
this is such a lame response.
so what if the article is *local rag* article and the user responds about a vintage, dare I say limey computer . I've seen/read many a US home computer user talk of Sinclairs, Amigas, bbc or acorns.
How about, 'never saw one of those machines', 'yeah i remember those amiga machines playing kings quest 2'
.... no we resort to argumentum ad hominem .nb: moderators: dont feed the trolls - this article is neither informative nor worthy of points.
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Re:Important warning to the /. crowd...
Uh... no, it's not.
You can pay for Linux. In fact, as long as you didn't actually take credit for making it, there's nothing stopping you from walking around on the street selling "the actual Linux" - i.e., the kernel, to people you meet so long as you meet people dumb enough to buy it from you.
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Re:What will they do?
How'd you come up with that definition?
Hey thanks for questioning my presuppositions, and I'm not above admitting when I'm wrong. "Revenue" is almost always defined in terms of tax income, as seen in these definitions:
However, I disagree that it's like your landlord: you entered into contract with your landlord willingly after considering your options. I was born here. (And as other respondents have pointed out, "I can just move" is not a valid response to people who are discussing how to change the democracy for the better.)
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TheoryTheory:[n] a tentative theory about the natural world; a concept that is not yet verified but that if true would explain certain facts or phenomena; "a scientific hypothesis that survives experimental testing becomes a scientific theory"; "he proposed a fresh theory of alkalis that later was accepted in chemical practices"
Both the Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution have already graduated from being scientific hypotheses by surviving experimental testing. Hence both are now considered to be Theories. Your post indicates either a lack of understanding of the term or a desire (like creationists) to confuse the lay public into thinking that a theory is a wild guess.
So, are you a creationist? You never answered.
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"creation theory"Scientific theory : [n] a theory that explains scientific observations; "scientific theories must be falsifiable"
Falsifiable: [adj] capable of being tested (verified or falsified) by experiment or observation
Creationism is not falsifiable. It is not a scientific theory. It's a faith-based story.
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"creation theory"Scientific theory : [n] a theory that explains scientific observations; "scientific theories must be falsifiable"
Falsifiable: [adj] capable of being tested (verified or falsified) by experiment or observation
Creationism is not falsifiable. It is not a scientific theory. It's a faith-based story.
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Re:Initial reaction wasn't favorable
There's a decent definition of "grok" at HyperDictionary.
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Re:We should celebrate
I hate to resort to definitions, but inovation can be defined as follows:
A creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation
I wasn't referring to the iPod itself being an innovation, but to the unique design mentality applied to it. When designing the iPod it is obvious that Apple looked at existing devices saw the flaws and designed the iPod to not only correct these flaws but also address the essential usability ideals that previous (and most subsequent) players ignored.
They avoided the normal approach of looking at an existing product, seeing how it works then making a clone. Maybe adding a feature here or there in order to differentiate it from the pack, but essentially adding features for the sake of another bullet point in the advert. Not looking to see what consumers actually want from such a device and addressing those areas.
Apple is in fact now falling into this trap, instead of relying on the iPod competing on its own merits they are adding PDA functions piecemeal with updates. Of course this isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as these add-on features continue the ethic of usability. -
Re:In other words == mo
Yeah, and those guys who use periods for elipses... horrible.
Next people will be using decimals for periods, comparison operator symbols for 'angle brackets' and single quotes as apostophes! Everybody knows there is no such thing as an apostophe! They'll start using subtraction operator symbols for hyphens and horror of horrors -- pre/postdecrement operators for en-dashes!
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Re:Do you need a lawyer?
A witness is there to tell the truth as it is, not as some potential schyster determines it to be.
But that potential shyster is the one who gets to frame the questions. If you know the opposing lawyer is a shyster *cough* SCO *cough*, then it pays to have your own lawyer to advise you. -
What is an OS anyway?
So what exactly isn't an OS supposed to do? This argument could be made for ANYTHING MS wanted to put into Windows.
- Internet browsing, function.
- Media player, function.
- Word & speadsheet processing, function.
- Image editing, function.
- Developer IDE, function.
Answer: all of the above. I had a quick google and found this definition for the phrase operating system. I hope this answers your question
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Re:CGI?! Jesus Christ!!!
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Re:'Entre' (between) 'Acte' (act)You could be right, but in English the word retains the apostrophe.
Kind of funny, since French is typically more resistant to change, whereas English will happily hypenate then combine words (e.g., to[day|morrow].
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Blender Info
BitPuree bits here
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Re:TeliaYour sternness seems a little misplaced. Perhaps your English is not very good. I'll help you out a bit, since I teach English.
The key word is "miffed." According to Hyperdictionary Miff is " [n] a state of irritation or annoyance."
I was not angry with Telia. I was just miffed. I stopped all illegal downloads, as per their request. I still haven't read the ADSL contract (why bother--it is nothing about being lazy--do you read your telephone sign up contract?), but I would hazard a guess that no where does it say, "We will be doing periodic snooping of IP content."
I think I was justifiably annoyed and irritated (not angry, however).
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Re:A few points in REALITY
Nicotine is actually a poison . Before downplaying the intake of poison I would learn the facts. As for cigarettes and the diseaes they help bring on learn about how they get those little numbers on their packs before thinking you are any less exposed.
Course, you could just prove it all wrong by soaking a pack or two of cigarettes in 32oz of water and chugging it after cutting off your phone service and access to medical help.
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Echoes of earlier lawsuits ...
It wouldn't be named after Gene Amdahl now, would it?
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Re:Interesting
When searching/talking about it it has to have a good name... I mean... "the glider"... come one, that kinda sucks...
I think it should be called Hogo.
http://www.hyperdictionary.com/search.aspx?search. x=0&search.y=0&define=hogo -
Re:Way OT: Re:What we really need... is more stuff
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Re:Way OT: Re:What we really need... is more stuff