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As humous is a Greek dip made from chick peas, here would be a good start: Humous Recipe. If you need to post it, make sure it's in a waterproof container - I'll have some if you do eventually find the option.

While I don't mind a little garbanzo treat every now and again, I'd probably die before I could figure out how to post it.

• 5. The capacity to exercise choice; free will: We have the freedom to do as we please all afternoon.

I'd rather not be rude and say "you don't understand freedom", but if you think the right to vote for the person that tells me I'm not allowed to say or do something is freedom, the definition certainly IS up for debate, and I would love to hear more about you point of view.

-Yndrd1984

"Piracy is selling the games/movies/music that you download. Selling. Not just downloading. So sick of seeing 'piracy' everywhere, as if it actually applies to what is being discussed."

Hope this helps.

Atlantikos: Greek adjectival form of Mount Atlas. Among the things it modifies is "sea" off the west coast of Africa relating to same. Becomes Atlantik in Middle English, then Atlantic. Circa 1600 comes to denote the entire ocean that said "sea" is now known to be.

Atlantis: Greek noun. Land of Atlas. Invented by Plato to denote its presence in the sea of Atlantikos under the gaze of Atlas.

dictionary.com definition of "Atlantic"

KFG

MGS2 was great for that very reason. It made you *think* about the world around you, the context that the Metal Gear games play in the real world e.g. "a virtual grunt of the digital age - just great!" (Snake/Plisskin commenting on how military training on a computer can never be as good as training outdoors, in a field, etc.). Or take his comment of "what better way to insulate you from the harsh realities of war than using a computer simulation?" (a none-too-subtle reference to MGS2 itself promoting warlike violence).

True, the plot in MGS2 got too-convoluted to make much sense after a while, and MGS2 wasn't as realistic in terms of "easily-realizable near-future battlefield reality" as MGS or the original Metal Gear. But was still an utterly amazing game.

Interestingly, the title - "Sons of Liberty" - was the name of a group of opponents of Britain's Stamp Act imposed on the United States. While the Founding Fathers were sympathetic to the SoL's cause, they couldn't be taken seriously by other politicians if they had been associated with the SoL's violence...

The Sons of Liberty were -- in modern terms -- a domestic terrorist organization: they used force in order to achieve their goal of eliminating the Stamp Act. That follows the definition of terrorism. Fortunately for us, the "terrorists" won...

What's the relation to MGS2? Snake and Raiden are part of a "fringe" NGO which uses force to destroy Metal Gears because they pose such a great threat to world stability. That too follows the definition of terrorism. Thus, you play either a terrorist or a freedom-fighter in MGS2 -- it depends on your POV. Personally, I prefer the freedom-fighter view.

It's connections like those that make the MGS games so damn cool.

"Post Humously" = "posthumously" = "after death". he (she?) didn't spell 'humorously' wrong; it was a pun.

I think the term you are looking for is: slog. Like you have to slog through all the bad puns to get to any decent comments.

That's specious reasoning, Dad.

Aspartame is a big complex molecule (C14H18N2O5) which is even more complicated than Saccharin (C7H5NO3S) and thus it is even more diffucult to determine what it is up to in the brain. It enters the bloodstream very rapidly. With that said, I drink quite a bit of the stuff.

As for Splenda and Sorbitol leading to "loose stool" as it is often referred to, I have noticed that Sorbitol has that tendency (and tastes funky to boot) but I have not had any such problems with splenda, which is simply Sucralose (one atom away from being sucrose, from what I understand) plus a small amount of Maltodextrin which is a pure carbohydrate, meaning it should be broken down quite readily in the body - this is indeed a known quality of maltodextrin.

While sucralose may indeed by indigestible, it is approximately 600 times sweeter than sugar (gram for gram) and it's basically fluffed up, there's almost nothing there. The maltodextrin in the product gives it some of the same characteristics as sugar when you cook with it, which is to say that it slightly helps foods hold together (where sugar does a much better job.)

I've eaten a lot of splenda, cooked and uncooked, hot and cold. I've made ice cream with it, baked with it, put it into iced tea and basically done just about everything else that you do with sugar with splenda, and never had any problem with "anal leakage" ala olestra/olean. (Actually, I once ate a whole bag of those lays wow! chips and did not experience any anal leakage, so maybe I'm just special, but I know many other people who use splenda without issues.)

Aspartame is probably not carcinogenic, but I have repeatedly heard rumors (I don't know if they are founded or un-) about it causing MS-like symptoms in some individuals. Given its complexity it is not hard to believe. Remember that the FDA has screwed up before, and will likely screw up again.

Have you used splenda? Does it give you the hershey squirts? (Hershey is making some chocolate with the stuff now, making it an even more apt phrase than is typical, in this instance.) Or are you just spreading FUD whose source would likely be manufacturers of aspartame and other assorted non-dietary sweeteners?

Aspartame is a big complex molecule (C14H18N2O5) which is even more complicated than Saccharin (C7H5NO3S) and thus it is even more diffucult to determine what it is up to in the brain. It enters the bloodstream very rapidly. With that said, I drink quite a bit of the stuff.

As for Splenda and Sorbitol leading to "loose stool" as it is often referred to, I have noticed that Sorbitol has that tendency (and tastes funky to boot) but I have not had any such problems with splenda, which is simply Sucralose (one atom away from being sucrose, from what I understand) plus a small amount of Maltodextrin which is a pure carbohydrate, meaning it should be broken down quite readily in the body - this is indeed a known quality of maltodextrin.

While sucralose may indeed by indigestible, it is approximately 600 times sweeter than sugar (gram for gram) and it's basically fluffed up, there's almost nothing there. The maltodextrin in the product gives it some of the same characteristics as sugar when you cook with it, which is to say that it slightly helps foods hold together (where sugar does a much better job.)

I've eaten a lot of splenda, cooked and uncooked, hot and cold. I've made ice cream with it, baked with it, put it into iced tea and basically done just about everything else that you do with sugar with splenda, and never had any problem with "anal leakage" ala olestra/olean. (Actually, I once ate a whole bag of those lays wow! chips and did not experience any anal leakage, so maybe I'm just special, but I know many other people who use splenda without issues.)

Aspartame is probably not carcinogenic, but I have repeatedly heard rumors (I don't know if they are founded or un-) about it causing MS-like symptoms in some individuals. Given its complexity it is not hard to believe. Remember that the FDA has screwed up before, and will likely screw up again.

Have you used splenda? Does it give you the hershey squirts? (Hershey is making some chocolate with the stuff now, making it an even more apt phrase than is typical, in this instance.) Or are you just spreading FUD whose source would likely be manufacturers of aspartame and other assorted non-dietary sweeteners?

spelling: chagrin

Oops... connivence picked the wrong one from the spell checker popup on that one, it should have of course been convenience... didn't notice it until after clicking submit.

To bad I have to use a spell checker in the first place, I blame it on my parents, the schools and hell why not Mr. Bush.

At least I learned the definition to connivence in the process.

...he invents little vector-drawn creatures with a Mac and a PRNG, even if he first anthropomorphises, then eulogises them?

...he invents little vector-drawn creatures with a Mac and a PRNG, even if he first anthropomorphises, then eulogises them?

Yes you do. That's what an acronym is.

To be fair, I often wondered at the difference. A levy is more-or-less of form of taxation... so it's more a specific type of tax:
Levy (Dict)
Levy (thesaurus)

Levy

Most dictionaries seem to agree that a levy is actual the imposition of a tax (imposing a tax, as opposed to the tax itself). That being said, as a noun it is more-or-less a synonymn to a tax

To be fair, I often wondered at the difference. A levy is more-or-less of form of taxation... so it's more a specific type of tax:
Levy (Dict)
Levy (thesaurus)

Levy

Most dictionaries seem to agree that a levy is actual the imposition of a tax (imposing a tax, as opposed to the tax itself). That being said, as a noun it is more-or-less a synonymn to a tax

Just cuz he has a goatee and a french cabaret...

At first, I thought that said "goatse." Then I read it again. Then I noticed cabaret. I don't think that word means what you think it means.

let me ask you: What do you think "computation" is?

A good question, and one I've not put any thought (computation?) into.

Princeton University, by way of dictionary.com says this:

1: the procedure of calculating; determining something by mathematical or logical methods 2: problem solving that involves numbers or quantities.

Which is pretty much what I thought it meant, Princess Bride quotes notwithstanding.

And even with a little clarification on the word computation, I still hold with my earlier post. I do not believe it has been proven that computation equals consciousness. It may be, but it has not been proven yet.

After all, consciousness does a lot of things that a purely logical calculation would have a hard time coming to. Like having a favorite color, falling in love, or disliking lima beans.

Now it may be that there is a mathmatical explanation for the above, but it isn't known yet. So, it's an assumption - and I stand by that.

Weaselmancer

let me ask you: What do you think "computation" is?

A good question, and one I've not put any thought (computation?) into.

Princeton University, by way of dictionary.com says this:

1: the procedure of calculating; determining something by mathematical or logical methods 2: problem solving that involves numbers or quantities.

Which is pretty much what I thought it meant, Princess Bride quotes notwithstanding.

And even with a little clarification on the word computation, I still hold with my earlier post. I do not believe it has been proven that computation equals consciousness. It may be, but it has not been proven yet.

After all, consciousness does a lot of things that a purely logical calculation would have a hard time coming to. Like having a favorite color, falling in love, or disliking lima beans.

Now it may be that there is a mathmatical explanation for the above, but it isn't known yet. So, it's an assumption - and I stand by that.

Weaselmancer

Uh, no shit Sherlock. If the artist's pre-4/24/04 license didn't forbid their use in a commercial medium, Linspire isn't required to get his permission

Uh huh. He may very well not have offered a license prior to applying the CC license to his work. I'll try to make it simple for you. US Copyright law says that if you make it, it is yours. This means that nobody else has any right to use it.

People only get the right to use the stuff that you've created if you explcitly say that they can.

Wow. That really sucks. I was so sure it was a law.

Next you'll tell me there isn't a law of supply and demand. Maybe we can get congress to make it a law.

Wait! I've go a solution. Let's add another definition of law. Something like: A generalization based on consistent experience or results

Oh, it's already there. Funny. It seems the word law has over a dozen meanings. Are all words like that?

It is something like theft if Linspire appropriates this work and represents it as their own.

No, it's still just copyright infringement. They would have had to break into the original artist's computer and delete his copies of the artwork for it to be "something like" theft.

But thank god, slashdot has returned to normal. A sexy search engine story to wet my apatite.

Just what you need... some wet calcium fluoride phosphate.

Just the thing to whet one's appetite.

But thank god, slashdot has returned to normal. A sexy search engine story to wet my apatite.

Just what you need... some wet calcium fluoride phosphate.

Just the thing to whet one's appetite.

But thank god, slashdot has returned to normal. A sexy search engine story to wet my apatite.

Just what you need... some wet calcium fluoride phosphate.

Just the thing to whet one's appetite.

"visa vi?" What's that? I think you meant, "vis-à-vis."

I know I ask a lot of Slashdotters, but the lingustic horrors seen daily around here leave me quite stunned. Nothing makes one sound more authoritative than good communication skills. Correct usage of the proper words makes any argument that much more convincing and bestows on the author an air of credibility.

The converse is also true: Incorrect useage of improper words makes any argument less convincing and subtracts from the author's credibility.

Now, on topic: Where in the world do you get off dismissing anything that PJ says in such a flip manner? Are you just new here, or have I just been trolled? PJ runs Groklaw, which is the target of a link in about every third Slashdot story lately.

Irregardless of what you call it

Irredudant

All force doing work is acceleratory (F=m*a), so you can just say that the acceleration is so immense...

(Of course, immense implies a physical size and not a large number, but that's for another grammer nazi)

..which provide entertainment. Bush mazes actually came to mind first (following really funky artcars, e.g., a VW Beetle painted like a ladybug - these are interactive with a drivers' license.)
What about the windows on an entire side of a skyscraper used to play Tetris via your cell phone? I think that surely constitutes an artly piece.. it's certainly creative, and the point of it, by no means, is purely to entertain by gameplay; if it were noninteractive, if it was played by computer instead of a person, would it not be a work of art? What if one just *painted* a side of a building with a screenshot (whether real or not) of a game? Just because it's from a videogame means it can't possibly be art, right? If you think so, consider a painting of Monopoly or Candy Land

There sure seem to be a lot of people who don't understand the difference between Atheism and Agnosticism. They are not the same thing. Atheism requires specific beliefs, whereas Agnosticism is the understanding that it is not sensible to hold any beliefs as absolute.

Based on science and an understanding of human nature, I suspect that there is no God, but I cannot know. If I have a consciousness, then it is sensible to hold that there are greater and lesser consciousnesses in the universe. Animals would appear to have lesser consciousnesses. Would a greater consciousness be considered to be a God or merely a being of a higher order? Or is this just a "God of the gaps"?

However, I based on statistics, history, and human nature, I can be fairly sure that God as described by any organized religion is just fantasy. It's an incorrectly recorded version of history. It's also a way to bilk believers out of their money and to run an illegitimate form of government.

There sure seem to be a lot of people who don't understand the difference between Atheism and Agnosticism. They are not the same thing. Atheism requires specific beliefs, whereas Agnosticism is the understanding that it is not sensible to hold any beliefs as absolute.

Based on science and an understanding of human nature, I suspect that there is no God, but I cannot know. If I have a consciousness, then it is sensible to hold that there are greater and lesser consciousnesses in the universe. Animals would appear to have lesser consciousnesses. Would a greater consciousness be considered to be a God or merely a being of a higher order? Or is this just a "God of the gaps"?

However, I based on statistics, history, and human nature, I can be fairly sure that God as described by any organized religion is just fantasy. It's an incorrectly recorded version of history. It's also a way to bilk believers out of their money and to run an illegitimate form of government.

Missing one key and hitting another is a typo. Missing one word and typing another is something entirely different, something which the author of the article should have caught, and barring that, the editor.

Finally, there is nothing wrong with the word farewell, though your attempts to argue otherwise are clearly inspired, though brief. Fare well is accurate, but farewell is now a word. Unless you're saying fare thee well, which is (well, was) grammatically accurate and perhaps even desirable, you really don't need a space. In that case, you will need two.

Missing one key and hitting another is a typo. Missing one word and typing another is something entirely different, something which the author of the article should have caught, and barring that, the editor.

Finally, there is nothing wrong with the word farewell, though your attempts to argue otherwise are clearly inspired, though brief. Fare well is accurate, but farewell is now a word. Unless you're saying fare thee well, which is (well, was) grammatically accurate and perhaps even desirable, you really don't need a space. In that case, you will need two.

Most people make this mistake.

You can't try to understand temporal anomalies and paradoxes (paradoxi??) by starting from a normal thread of reality and then buggering things up by introducing "the paradox".

That's the whole point of a paradox. { exhibiting inexplicable or contradictory aspects }

For those who aren't entirely sure: Here's "the paradox" --> If Skynet never tried to kill John, he wouldn't have been concieved in the first place.

The Paradox was created by The Temporal Anomaly (SkyNET sending The Terminator back in time to kill John)

Of course, if you were A Time Lord, you'd understand that fiddling with the past (and sometimes the future) will often lead to Paradoxes (paradoxi??) and generally bugger up causality No End.

It's not necessary to put the word "vet" in quotation marks. It's not slang or jargon. It means to examine carefully.

An In-depth Look at Firewalls (view article), Zone Alarm 4 did not fair well under the security tests we put it through.

An In-depth Look at Firewalls (view article), Zone Alarm 4 did not fair well under the security tests we put it through.

>But regardless, is "under God" all that is required to establish a national religion?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

>Or is it that Christianity has pretty much always been the de facto national religion even though individual freedom of religion is protected?

As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion...

Now be it known, That I John Adams, President of the United States of America, having seen and considered the said Treaty do, by and with the advice consent of the Senate, accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof. And to the End that the said Treaty may be observed and performed with good Faith on the part of the United States, I have ordered the premises to be made public; And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office civil or military within the United States, and all others citizens or inhabitants thereof, faithfully to observe and fulfil the said Treaty and every clause and article thereof.

It's a different (British) way to spell skeptical. Like tire/tyre, curb/kerb, etc.

believe Poor Richard's Almanac (written by Benjamin Franklin) which went something like this:
When solving a problem it is common to take a method and try it. When it fails, try another. But above all, do something."

Are you sure you don't mean Franklin Roosevelt? Here, here, and another here. Of course, F. Franklin might have paraphrased B. Franklin.

What is interesting is the use of the word 'method'. It is usually used in a Scientific or Mathematical sense.

Not at all. It is a fact that God exists, it is merely one that cannot be proven. A fact does not only become a fact when it is proven. A fact has always been a fact, no matter who doesn't know it.

fact ( P ) Pronunciation Key (fkt) n.

1. Knowledge or information based on real occurrences: an account based
on fact; a blur of fact and fancy.
2.
a. Something demonstrated to exist or known to have existed:
Genetic engineering is now a fact. That Chaucer was a real person is an
undisputed fact.
b. A real occurrence; an event: had to prove the facts of the case.
c. Something believed to be true or real: a document laced with
mistaken facts.
3. A thing that has been done, especially a crime: an accessory before
the fact.

I think there's only one 't' in mascot.

I know it's not a word. But sometimes people sometimes use it when being sarcastic,

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=ain%27t&r =67
"But despite all the attempts to ban it, ain't continues to enjoy extensive use in speech. Even educated and upper-class speakers see no substitute in folksy expressions such as Say it ain't so and You ain't seen nothin' yet. "

I was using it in such a manner. I know it's no only poor English, it's not even horrible English, it's just not English. But people still use it none the less...

The first is piracy, where people sell illegal copies of movies at a lower cost and give no compensation to the producers. The second is downloading, where consumers want to see a movie (probably poor quality) before plunking down $20 to buy the DVD.

Respectfuly... getting a free copy without the permision of the copyright holder is piracy. . " The unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material: software piracy."

Bootleging on the other hand is what you are talking about. " To produce, distribute, or sell without permission or illegally: a clandestine outfit that bootlegs compact discs and tapes."

The venders are bootleging videos.
The students are pirating videos.

I agree with you fully in the fact that bootlegging is actually taking legit profits away from the people who have every right to it, and this is a problem the MPAA should put most of their focus on. But make no mistake. When you download something that you didn't pay for in violation of the copyright, you are getting a pirated copy.

The first is piracy, where people sell illegal copies of movies at a lower cost and give no compensation to the producers. The second is downloading, where consumers want to see a movie (probably poor quality) before plunking down $20 to buy the DVD.

Respectfuly... getting a free copy without the permision of the copyright holder is piracy. . " The unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material: software piracy."

Bootleging on the other hand is what you are talking about. " To produce, distribute, or sell without permission or illegally: a clandestine outfit that bootlegs compact discs and tapes."

The venders are bootleging videos.
The students are pirating videos.

I agree with you fully in the fact that bootlegging is actually taking legit profits away from the people who have every right to it, and this is a problem the MPAA should put most of their focus on. But make no mistake. When you download something that you didn't pay for in violation of the copyright, you are getting a pirated copy.

of that guys post here

The Guardian (and several other news outlets) report on the attempt by Professor Paulo Galluci and his team to build a working model of Leonard Da Vinci's clockwork powered car, designed in 1478.

It's not nice that they said they would not pursue the patent and then changed their mind, but that's beside the fact.

Not to be a grammar-Nazi, but this is one of my pet peeves. It's a moot point, not a mute point. I have a co-worker that talks about "mute points" all the time, and it drives me nuts!