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http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beg%20the%20question

Please read.

In the English language, words and phrases often have more than one meaning. In particular, "beg the question" in common parlance often carries the meaning of "raises the question", while in the context of logical fallacies it has a different one.

That's an ok definition, but a very loose one. What if you guess wrong? What if your sampling technique is off?
http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethics

The definition itself doesn't require codification, but implies it (consider the use of 'discipline' and 'set', 'theory' or 'system').

Only barely, and only if you accept that many of the people involved in this discussion are at war with each other, per definition 2a.
http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/war
I think most people prefer the definition involving states or nations.

a question of appropriateness

a question of appropriateness

I think you're trying to create a distinction that is better explained by differentiating de jure standards from de facto ones.

Microsoft Operating Systems are absolutely de facto standards by virtue of their ubiquitousness, the ISO standard you referenced is a de jure standard.

-AC

I think you're trying to create a distinction that is better explained by differentiating de jure standards from de facto ones.

Microsoft Operating Systems are absolutely de facto standards by virtue of their ubiquitousness, the ISO standard you referenced is a de jure standard.

-AC

http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/restful
1 : marked by, affording, or suggesting rest and repose
2 : being at rest : quiet

http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/restless
1: lacking or denying rest : uneasy
2: continuously moving : unquiet
3: characterized by or manifesting unrest especially of mind ; also : changeful, discontented

http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/restful
1 : marked by, affording, or suggesting rest and repose
2 : being at rest : quiet

http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/restless
1: lacking or denying rest : uneasy
2: continuously moving : unquiet
3: characterized by or manifesting unrest especially of mind ; also : changeful, discontented

I hate to be a real word Nazi, but "cum" is only a conjunction; "come" realy is the correct spelling in either case here.

I hate to be a real word Nazi, but "cum" is only a conjunction; "come" realy is the correct spelling in either case here.

Merriam Webster mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary says that variant of hack dates from the 1600s and comes from the British word `hackney', or taxi driver.

OneLook Dictionary Search, as a quick reference, lists 8 definitions of hack as a noun, 8 as a verb, and 1 as a surname. A surname? Depending on a person's disposition I imagine someone with a last name of "Hack" could have a lot of fun, or a lot of grief. Looking at all the results; there's catagories for Art, Computing, Medicine, and seven other catagories; I'm kind of surprized there's so many. I haven't clicked on all the links but I'm thinking they probably share the same basic meanings.

Merriam Webster http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary says that variant of hack dates from the 1600s and comes from the British word `hackney', or taxi driver.

Language abuse is a serious matter. Example: `Rugby' in my wife's culture is the brand of glue of choice for those who would abuse such things, hence `doing rugby' means sniffing glue not playing a team sport with a ball.

Merriam-Webster seems to be of two minds on this subject.

Merriam-Webster seems to be of two minds on this subject.

It's not like I make a point, I'm just pointing to a point...

From Merriam-Webster:

man-made
adjective
: manufactured, created, or constructed by human beings; specifically : SYNTHETIC <man-made fibers>

Or do you believe that 100% of the workers who make "man-made" items are male?

http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/acronym says otherwise.

Considering that Merriam-Webster is far more authoritative than dictionary.com, that is probably the correct definition.

From Merriam-Webster:
Monopoly :
Etymology: Latin monopolium, from Greek monopOlion, from mon- + pOlein to sell
1 : exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action
2 : exclusive possession or control
3 : a commodity controlled by one party
4 : one that has a monopoly

Proprietary :
Etymology: Middle English propietarie, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin propietarius, from Late Latin, adjective
1 : one that possesses, owns, or holds exclusive right to something; specifically : PROPRIETOR
2 : something that is used, produced, or marketed under exclusive legal right of the inventor or maker; specifically : a drug (as a patent medicine) that is protected by secrecy, patent, or copyright against free competition as to name, product, composition, or process of manufacture
3 : a business secretly owned by and run as a cover for an intelligence organization

From Merriam-Webster:
Monopoly :
Etymology: Latin monopolium, from Greek monopOlion, from mon- + pOlein to sell
1 : exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action
2 : exclusive possession or control
3 : a commodity controlled by one party
4 : one that has a monopoly

Proprietary :
Etymology: Middle English propietarie, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin propietarius, from Late Latin, adjective
1 : one that possesses, owns, or holds exclusive right to something; specifically : PROPRIETOR
2 : something that is used, produced, or marketed under exclusive legal right of the inventor or maker; specifically : a drug (as a patent medicine) that is protected by secrecy, patent, or copyright against free competition as to name, product, composition, or process of manufacture
3 : a business secretly owned by and run as a cover for an intelligence organization

To borrow from another post:

If I choose to go to Urban Dictionary, the third definition is:
"a personal computer (only refers to Windows, not Macs)"

Look up pc at Merriam Webster
It's first definition is "parsec", second is a latin abbreviation for "post cibum".

Yours is not the only definition of PC /Ask McDonalds about McJob, and how they're doing with policing the language

The first hit is Wikipedia, which has been criticized for being too pedantic.
I'm pretty sure I saw a Slash on it, but can't find it. I did find this article though.

If I choose to go to Urban Dictionary, the third definition is:
"a personal computer (only refers to Windows, not Macs)"

Sorry, we're going with first definitions? Look up pc at Merriam Webster
It's first definition is "parsec", second is a latin abbreviation for "post cibum".

And yet, in the midst of all that confusion, everyone knew exactly what the article referred to though. =-)

Actually, the term "steal" is defined by several sources to mean appropriating anything without the right to do so (ref here (2) and here (t.v. 1a)).

Since US copyright law clearly states that only the person holding a copyright for artistic works can assign distribution rights for the same, it is quite obvious that under these definitions (which reflect common use) copyright infringement is, in fact, stealing (a word that also includes "larceny" which does mean physical deprivation of the item that is stolen).

No matter how much you wish the word to not mean what it means, it simply does not make it true and you aren't going to convince the average person otherwise. Just like no matter how often you insist that "pussy" means only "domesticated feline animal" and never "vagina", most people will remain unconvinced.

Main Entry: Joke
Pronunciation: 'jOk
Function: noun
1 a : something said or done to provoke laughter; especially : a brief oral narrative with a climactic humorous twist b (1) : the humorous or ridiculous element in something (2) : an instance of jesting : KIDDING c : PRACTICAL JOKE d : LAUGHINGSTOCK 2 : something not to be taken seriously : a trifling matter -- often used in negative constructions

Hey mods, that's known as a joke.

Unless there's a definition of "mores" I'm unfamiliar with.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/welsh

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

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/welsh

In all of these dictionaries welsh is the primary entry and welch is merely a pointer to welsh. Welch is a relatively modern corruption that came about as the original meaning was forgotten.

I think a better term would be "deprecated." It's not "obsolete," because a lot of people still use them. However, it's obvious that DirectTV is moving away from them, and would like people to move to newer boxes, and at some point in the next few years, their usefulness will decrease substantially.

Function: noun
Etymology: Italian novella
1 : an invented prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals especially with human experience through a usually connected sequence of events

Pronunciation: 'väl-y&m, -(")yüm
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin volumen roll, scroll, from volvere to roll
1 a : a series of printed sheets bound typically in book form

We on Slashdot have a fetish with saving the enviroment but don't have a problem building our own 30 KW petabyte TIVO servers?

Yes, I'm definitely going to replace all those evil incandescents with enviroment-friendly CFLs while building a second rail line to my own coal-powered electrical plant just so I can watch Captain Planet whenever I like ... :):):)

1 a : EDUCATED, CULTURED b : able to read and write
2 a : versed in literature or creative writing : LITERARY b : LUCID, POLISHED c : having knowledge or competence

Did you mean: define:relatedly

No definitions were found for relatedley.

multislacking (verb) : To do more than one thing that does not require much thought or energy at one time.

Kim was multislacking because she was eating chips, watching TV, and playing a game on her laptop computer all at the same time.

Main Entry: tax
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
1 a : a charge usually of money imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes b : a sum levied on members of an organization to defray expenses

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

But I don't feel the law is wrong.

But I do feel the law is wrong in this case. What automatically makes your opinion more important than mine? What gives you the ability to judge how I, someone you have never met, can handle a vehicle and impose your views as to what is a safe speed for me, personally, to drive?

Every single day I see people like you out there disregarding the law and what's more, you even admit that you will break the law and then try to weasel your way out of it by trying to get out of the fine imposed on you because you broke the law.

You can't have it both ways: if I can legally avoid paying a fine, avoid points added to my license, and avoid exhorbitant insurance fees, why should I accept them? This law that you're advocating is the One True Way allows me to do these things, so which is it: is the law right or wrong? And if the law is wrong in that it allows me to "weasel" out of paying fines, then why is it such a leap of logic that it might be wrong in how speed limits are set?

You admit you're breaking the law AND you refuse to pay the fine.

Nowhere did I say any such thing. If the court requires me to pay, I will pay. Please try to attack my arguments without distorting my words. In point of fact, I have received two speeding tickets, both of which I paid for (the fine itself and the increased insurance premiums). Unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to challenge the tickets as I received them on long trips and didn't have the time to drive several hours to appear in court. Had I "refuse[d] to pay the fine" as you suggest, I would have risked being arrested and having my license suspended or revoked. That result didn't seem worth it, given the relatively minor ~$120 fine and ~$40/year insurance premium hike.

That's not civil disobedience -- civil disobedience is refusing to follow a law that oppressess someone or violates their human rights.

I suggest you go look up the term. According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary, civil disobedience is "refusal to obey governmental demands or commands especially as a nonviolent and usually collective means of forcing concessions from the government". Searching "define: civil disobedience" on Google gives similar results, with some examples, but nowhere is the definition necessarily tied to human opression or rights violations. Your knowledge of the term appears to be clouded by the most well-publicised uses of civil disobedience, namely to protest human-rights violations.

Civil disobedience is not thinking you have the right to put other people in danger and do whatever the hell you want on public roads and putting people like me, who work within the law, at risk due to your selfish belief that you are somehow above the law.

Again, in your opinion, I'm putting you in danger. My opinion, as well as the opinions of several studies linked elsewhere in posts by others in the /. community, seem to suggest that in many situations (mainly highways, which is what I'm most concerned with; I don't speed on roads where there are likely to be hard-to-see pedestrians present), raising speed limits slightly actually decreases the incidence of accidents, and lowering the speed limit has no measurable effect.

Regarding my personal experience with this alleged danger, in my 9 years driving, I have never caused an accident. That's certainly not proof that I never will, but so far so good.

You're not above the law. And what's more, I don't respect people like you who think it doesn't apply to them and that they shouldn't be called to pay, financially or otherwise, if they break it. You swore you wouldn't break the law when you got a lic

Check it out: http://www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary/new word_display_recent.php

Can I have my lifetime of immortality now please?

I don't have a dictionary handy

• http://www.tfd.com/leverage
• http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary? sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=leverage
• http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=leverage

ignoramus

Pronunciation: 'pä-pl&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English poplere, from Middle French pouplier, from pouple poplar, from Latin populus
1 a : any of a genus (Populus) of slender catkin-bearing quick-growing trees (as an aspen or cottonwood) of the willow family b : the wood of a poplar
2 : TULIP TREE 1

Oh, wait, that's poplar .

Pronunciation: 'pä-pl&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English poplere, from Middle French pouplier, from pouple poplar, from Latin populus
1 a : any of a genus (Populus) of slender catkin-bearing quick-growing trees (as an aspen or cottonwood) of the willow family b : the wood of a poplar
2 : TULIP TREE 1

Oh, wait, that's poplar .

Sarcasm.

Richard Dinon saw the laptop's muted glow through the rear window of the SUV parked outside his home. He walked closer and noticed a man inside.

Then the man noticed Dinon and snapped his computer shut.

Maybe it's census work, the 28-year-old veterinarian told his girlfriend. An hour later, Dinon left to drive her home. The Chevy Blazer was still there, the man furtively hunched over his computer.

Dinon returned at 11 p.m. and the men repeated their strange dance.

Maybe you should read what furtively means ...
http://www2.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwdictsn?v a=furtively

And if you're going to argue that he was protecting his own data/privacy, then he should have gone elsewhere ... PERIOD

If someone were sitting outside my house acting in that fashion, I would at the very least approach them to see if they 'need some assistance'. In today's climate though, why not call the police and have them approach him for me. Granted ... I would first check my router's activity and reconfigure it or unplug it to see if he drove off at that point (my network is NOT open). I would also get a description of him and note the Driver's license in case it were ever needed.

I can only suppose you don't own a home, have to worry about a credit record or have kids to provide for ... or cannot imagine what the impact might be if someone is doing something shady through your network.

Given the account of someone outside of your home acting in the fashion described in the article ... you don't see reason to take action? If not ... then hopefully that person just 'sitting in a car at 11PM' isn't doing something that will have the Police/FBI knocking on your door later.