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You must learn, grasshopper: karma, posthumously

You are retarded.

You'd only be more cognitively aware if you didn't have a negative influence in you're younger years.

and as for tests: the fact that they don't say much about intellegence was my point. I don't think I'm any more intellegent than the average. And I don't think it was only the lack of TV that gave me the edge on the tests. I'm white too.

2. One who opposes technical or technological change.

The meaning of that word has evolved since the XIXth century. By opposing the nuclear industry, you are only helping the coal and gas-fired lobby, since the other energy sources cannot compete with fossils (wind and hydro are not economically viable everywhere, solar is ludicrously expensive).

I felt my gonads get singed.

Microsoft's platforms offer better interoperability with the company's other technology, such as .NET

Hmm, I always thought that interoperability implied multiple platforms.

Thank you for responding. I think the important thing to understand is that space doesn't have to be as dangerous as it is today. When the Dyson and Taylor said "Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970", they weren't kidding. We have the technology for space craft that are simpler, safer, and more powerful. The problem comes in at cost. The Saturn V program was built around the idea that we must beat the USSR at any cost. That cost was tremendous. Billions of dollars to send men to the moon! And the hardware recovery was nil. The only way the Saturn V did it, was by shedding very large and expensive pieces of hardware at every step of the process.

After the moon race, Nixon's solution was to kill every "heavy lifter" and focus on "cheap and reusable" craft. The only problem is that he also wanted a fully reusable heavy lifter that was rated for both men and cargo. That's just silly. You can make the cost of sending materials into orbit cheap. Alternatively, you can make the cost of sending humans into space and back cheap. We don't yet have the technology to do both at the same time. So the Shuttle was overly ambitious by trying to be all things to all people. An amazing piece of engineering, but all without a purpose in the end.

As a result, the shuttle has cost tremendous amounts of money for the purpose of sending up and down 104 metric tons. It's also been used to send up wonderful things like the Hubble Telescope, but the shuttle need not be the one to carry that cargo.

We could have spent that same money (probably less) on developing a two pronged approach. Develop a Dynasoar type craft, and launch it with existing Deltas or Titans. That takes care of humans to LEO. Then develop one of the heavy lifter solutions such as Sea Dragon, or purchase the Energia from the Russians. Now you have an unmanned heavy lifter. For about the cost of a few shuttle flights, you could send the entire space station up, then send a construction crew up to build it.

If we can launch that much tonnage, it also means that we can assemble nuclear spacecraft and probes in space. Assembling probes in space, obviously brings down their cost as there's no need to allocate a 30 million dollar, ground launched rocket for a $100,000 probe. Use nuclear space craft (Orion, NERVA, NSWR, etc.) to reach nearby asteroids for mining, and you can further reduce the amount of materials needed from earth Once you're mining, you can actually start returning valuable ores at a profit!

From there, building a sun powered generators would solve the worlds power problems. Period. (Well, at least for a few billion years, anyway.) The development that comes out of improving those generators could one day allow us to create the technology necessary to create sufficient quantities of antimatter. With enough antimatter, we can send a probe to Alpha Centauri at a constant 1G of acceleration. Total travel time? 5 years. The best travel time with current technologies is 100 years.

These things can't exist without manned space flight.

What raw materials are we going to run out of in less than a century: oil, natural gas, and coal maybe (it's debateable but that isn't my point).

You forgot Uranium-235. It's been testified before congress that a complete switch over to nuclear power would use up our nuclear fuel within a century. Personally, I don't believe it because there are actually a lot more nuclear fuels than just Uranium. Yet I do realize that we will run out in a few hundred years. With our demand for energy increasing, it's quite likely that a century or two could be realistic.

What we need is a power surplus. The Sun can provide that.

And, FYI, I haven't seen a big ball of bright flame in some time; feel free to look up the definition of the word flame

From the dictionary definition of flame, "Something resembling a flame in motion, brilliance, intensity, or shape." I'd say that the solar activi

So anyways...

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=impersona tion
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=authentic ation

So anyways...

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=impersona tion
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=authentic ation

The first death throe of Slashdot is idiots who don't know how to spell throe.

(kind of ironic when ActiveX is required to use the site)

No. Here is the definition of irony.

It is hypocritical for them to insult Apple for not licensing iPod functionality while they use ActiveX, but not ironic. It would've been ironic if they created their own portable music player and tried to license it to Real, and Real replied that they weren't interested.

Also, Microsoft takes a hit at Apple for not licensing iPod functionality to third parties (kind of ironic when ActiveX is required to use the site)....

What type of convoluted logic is that? "MS hits at Apple for not licensing their DRM. That's ironic because their site uses a plugin architecture that any Windows developer can implement."

There is absolutely no correlation between those two statements whatsoever. It's not irony, either.

Here, try this: Definition of "irony"

Bullishit.

Art is by definition "manufactured".

From dictionary.com

1. Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.
2. 1. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.

Bullishit.

Art is by definition "manufactured".

From dictionary.com

1. Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.
2. 1. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.

IOW: "A creative creates creative creative" is a correct sentence - in the advertisment business at least ;-)

Busted: 7. Slang. 1. To place under arrest. 2. To make a police raid on.

...and he was an aspiration throughout my formative years

However consider that the content in a big text field still has structure. If it is text data it is comprised of paragraphs, words, sentences, letters, etc. -- the structure is there just slightly more difficult for computers to work out.

Does 'common usage' trump the 'actual' definition here (e.g. structured vs. unstructured)?

I wish it didn't. Personally, as one in the DBMS field, I would much rather prefer people not use unstructured incorrectly (as 'common usage' does): technically "unstructured data" is an oxymoron. Data has structure otherwise it is not data (just random noise?).

Perhaps a more accurate term would be "non-rigorously defined" data. Or maybe "not formally defined" data.

However consider that the content in a big text field still has structure. If it is text data it is comprised of paragraphs, words, sentences, letters, etc. -- the structure is there just slightly more difficult for computers to work out.

Does 'common usage' trump the 'actual' definition here (e.g. structured vs. unstructured)?

I wish it didn't. Personally, as one in the DBMS field, I would much rather prefer people not use unstructured incorrectly (as 'common usage' does): technically "unstructured data" is an oxymoron. Data has structure otherwise it is not data (just random noise?).

umm... You should have hit "dictionary" not thesaurus

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fiat%20mo ney/a

-1 Wrong

So fiat money is paper currency that has no intrinsic value because it is simply representative of something of value.

"Fiat money or fiat currency (usually paper money) is a type of currency whose only value is that a government made a fiat (i.e. decreed) that the money is a legal method of exchange." Fiat Money

The word fiat, IIRC, comes from the Italian word for "in faith."

"Medieval Latin, from Latin, let it be done"American Heritage® Dictionary

You're taking it on faith that the $20 bill you slap into a stripper's t-back, for example, is actually worth $20, even though you will never see the gold that backs up that $20 bill.

"Federal Reserve notes are not redeemable in gold, silver or any other commodity, and receive no backing by anything." US Treasury Currancy FAQ

I can't see that company name entering the English language as a verb like google.

data (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

Factual information, especially information organized for analysis or used to reason or make decisions.

Computer Science. Numerical or other information represented in a form suitable for processing by computer.

Values derived from scientific experiments.

Plural of datum.

Um... No it's not.

I liked it, and I am no english scholar, but I think the author needs to check here.

It is acceptable to use "infer" in place of "imply".

I'm sorry, are you a moron? I think you are:

infer ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-fûr)
v. inferred, inferring, infers
v. tr.
To conclude from evidence or premises.
To reason from circumstance; surmise: We can infer that his motive in publishing the diary was less than honorable.
To lead to as a consequence or conclusion: "Socrates argued that a statue inferred the existence of a sculptor" (Academy).
To hint; imply.

Now, quit being a fucking retard and go back to trolling something else.

Another definition:
To contribute to the progress or growth of; further.
-or-
To urge the adoption of; advocate: promote a constitutional amendment.

Not to me. Capitalism is

An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.

This says nothing about government rules saying who can make what and who has to pay who to make stuff. To me patents and copyrights are exactly the opposite for free market. We probably have the most complex government controlled economy in history.

"Utility" would fit better than furniture.

Utility Definition

As it happens something may be both furniture and a utility.

KFG

Here, this might help:

Furniture Definition

Yes, people actually furnish themselves and their homes with an internet connection.

Once one understands what furniture actually means it is also easier to understand the metphorical phrase "become part of the furniture."

KFG

From this link, definition 2c is:

Something believed to be true or real: a document laced with mistaken facts.

Step 1: Go here.

Step 2: Read definition 2c.

I think you need to look "misunderestimate" up in the dictionary.

(1) expressing disagreement with someone is not intolerance

(2) my sig is a paraphrase of the dictionary.com definition of liberal ; specifically definitions 1a and 1b.

(3) the intent of my sig is to provoke the question: "Given the definition of the word 'liberal', how has our society reached a point where the word is mostly employed as an insult?".

fact
"Knowledge or information based on real occurrences"

It *has* to be *observed* to be a fact. Just stating some random BS ("The earth's moon is made from green cheese") is not a fact. If it is false, and therefore not observable, it can not be a fact. There is no such thing as a "false fact".

/moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?". Assuming that you have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer "yes" is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and then stopped, but "no" is worse because it suggests that you have one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually "mu", a Japanese word alleged to mean "Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions". Hackers tend to be sensitive to logical inadequacies in language, and many have adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word `mu' is actually from Chinese, meaning `nothing'; it is used in mainstream Japanese in that sense, but native speakers do not recognize the Discordian question-denying use. It almost certainly derives from overgeneralization of the answer in the following well-known Rinzei Zen koan:

A monk asked Joshu, "Does a dog have the Buddha nature?" Joshu retorted, "Mu!"

/moo/ The correct answer to the classic trick question "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?". Assuming that you have no wife or you have never beaten your wife, the answer "yes" is wrong because it implies that you used to beat your wife and then stopped, but "no" is worse because it suggests that you have one and are still beating her. According to various Discordians and Douglas Hofstadter the correct answer is usually "mu", a Japanese word alleged to mean "Your question cannot be answered because it depends on incorrect assumptions". Hackers tend to be sensitive to logical inadequacies in language, and many have adopted this suggestion with enthusiasm. The word `mu' is actually from Chinese, meaning `nothing'; it is used in mainstream Japanese in that sense, but native speakers do not recognize the Discordian question-denying use. It almost certainly derives from overgeneralization of the answer in the following well-known Rinzei Zen koan:

A monk asked Joshu, "Does a dog have the Buddha nature?" Joshu retorted, "Mu!"

For the big-word-impaired like myself:


apocryphal
adj.

1. Of questionable authorship or authenticity.
2. Erroneous; fictitious: "Wildly apocryphal rumors about starvation in Petrograd... raced through Russia's trenches" (W. Bruce Lincoln).
3. Apocryphal Bible. Of or having to do with the Apocrypha.


From http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=apocrypha l .

Wrong. Look it up on dictionary.com. The plural of octopus is octopuses or octopi. Notably, it is also not octopussy.

Wrong. Look it up on dictionary.com. The plural of octopus is octopuses or octopi. Notably, it is also not octopussy.

Wrong. Look it up on dictionary.com. The plural of octopus is octopuses or octopi. Notably, it is also not octopussy.

Wrong. Look it up on dictionary.com. The plural of octopus is octopuses or octopi. Notably, it is also not octopussy.

Uh... no.

Actually, by definition, something funny is very hard to understand.

Actually, by definition, something atomic is very small.

See also: Jackass

Specifically: a blockhead: "You've acted like an irrational jackass and it's time you stopped"

Well, some libraries probably carry materials some would consider pornographic. They also carry materials relating to communism, homosexuality, other religions, etc. Great, but ... in that case, it makes all these claims about "censorship" look pretty silly, which was my point to begin with. I mean, if libraries *aren't* censoring things, why all the fuss?

As far as thinking aids go: Perhaps you need to turn yours up? Note definition #3.

- Alaska Jack

There versus their.

There versus their.

The OS (as Linux and many others do) can check why the pagefault happened and raise a segfault if it's being loaded at CS:PC and shouldn't be. Note that this is quite do-able even without NX or the like, the reason MS-Windows doesn't do more checking along those lines is because the internal structure is too chaotic (it really has degraded quite a bit since it was VMS 5.0 (AKA MICA) - or at least, spelling-error compatible with it).

NX-style bits and better have existed since at least DECsystem-10 days; their absence from the x86 architecture is mute testimony to its inherent bankruptcy. And I should add in the true spelling/grammar Nazi spirit that discussion of lesser architectural flaws is moot.

The OS (as Linux and many others do) can check why the pagefault happened and raise a segfault if it's being loaded at CS:PC and shouldn't be. Note that this is quite do-able even without NX or the like, the reason MS-Windows doesn't do more checking along those lines is because the internal structure is too chaotic (it really has degraded quite a bit since it was VMS 5.0 (AKA MICA) - or at least, spelling-error compatible with it).

NX-style bits and better have existed since at least DECsystem-10 days; their absence from the x86 architecture is mute testimony to its inherent bankruptcy. And I should add in the true spelling/grammar Nazi spirit that discussion of lesser architectural flaws is moot.