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You are all idiots; Saying metaphor is wrong when you mean simile.

Jeez, it's like recursive madness when you read some of these grammar/spelling nazi posts.

You are all idiots; Saying metaphor is wrong when you mean simile.

Jeez, it's like recursive madness when you read some of these grammar/spelling nazi posts.

>It's possible to create insecure "security" products just as readily with open-source as with closed-source software.

I'm guessing that "Peter (sigh)" is thinking of "product" in the sense of "n 1: commodities offered for sale".

Thing is, I don't work on open source "products", I tinker with ongoing projects, in the sense of n 2: An undertaking requiring concerted effort, and I do so for my own pleasure, not for "Peter (sigh)"'s benefit.

When I start selling you my project as shinola, you can tell me that it's a shitty product. Until then, you're welcome to contribute. If you just want to criticise, then I'll thank for your input, but advise you to calm down and take a chill pill. Anybody using my project is liable to be doing so because they enjoy playing with it as much as me, not because they're relying on it for a critical application.

>It's possible to create insecure "security" products just as readily with open-source as with closed-source software.

I'm guessing that "Peter (sigh)" is thinking of "product" in the sense of "n 1: commodities offered for sale".

Thing is, I don't work on open source "products", I tinker with ongoing projects, in the sense of n 2: An undertaking requiring concerted effort, and I do so for my own pleasure, not for "Peter (sigh)"'s benefit.

When I start selling you my project as shinola, you can tell me that it's a shitty product. Until then, you're welcome to contribute. If you just want to criticise, then I'll thank for your input, but advise you to calm down and take a chill pill. Anybody using my project is liable to be doing so because they enjoy playing with it as much as me, not because they're relying on it for a critical application.

intel processors are PROPRIETARY. They are not a published, open standard, like SPARC and MIPS. You can license the SPARC for $99 IIRC. You can not do this with intel. You must pay much more money to license their instruction set, under much more restrictive terms.

intel processors (x86) are COMMODITY processors. They are a "de-facto" standard, in the same way that Microsoft Windows is a de-facto standard operating system. It is in no way Open. It is proprietary.

Gcc is also most heavily optimized for the intel platform.

This bit is at least correct. That's because most people have PeeCees with intel (or compatible) processors in them, and most development, by default, has been done in this architecture. Optimisations on this architecture therefore benefit most people.

Curious, are we not taking the dictionary definition anymore? or is what you say different from :
2. The unauthorized use or reproduction of copyrighted or patented material: software piracy. from here

Wrong. From Dictionary.com:

sod (1) n.
A section of grass-covered surface soil held together by matted roots; turf.
The ground, especially when covered with grass.
tr.v. sodded, sodding, sods
To cover with sod.
[Middle English, from Middle Low German, or Middle Dutch sode.]
Source: The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

sod (2) Chiefly British Vulgar Slang n.
A sodomite.
A person regarded as obnoxious or contemptible.
A fellow; a guy: "Poor sod, he almost got lucky for once" (Jack Higgins).
tr.v. sodded, sodding, sods
To damn.
Phrasal Verb: sod off
Used in the imperative to dismiss someone angrily.
[Short for sodomite.]
Source: The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

So the usage relating to earth has a distinct derivation from the usage as a term of abuse, which is indeed short for sodomite.

See the second definition.

This article takes a look at the negative affects and also a couple of recent examples of "censorship legislation" backed by the COO of Symantec...

This article takes a look at the negative affects and also a couple of recent examples of "censorship legislation" backed by the COO of Symantec...

The funny part? He had a slight pronunciation problem and kept referring to it as a "Catheter" Light.

"I've had this machine for only a month, and my cather stopped working."

"Excuse me?"

"My blue catheter light. My cold catheter. It burned out."

"Um, err, yeah... Let me transfer you to the RMA department. Hopefully they can relieve the extreme discomfort you must be experiencing."

Now THIS kind of talk pisses me off. First, read the definition of pedophile on Websters. Now, explain to me where in that definition it states that they can't control their actions? What's that? It doesn't say anything about that? Well, DUH. That's because pedophilia is not a disorder that makes you go out and molest children. It is a disorder which makes you ATTRACTED to children. If you choose to go out and act on it, that's your perogative.

Now, before I get modded down for this....I'd like to state I don't condone molesting anybody. However, just because someone has a mental disorder, does not mean they are automatically going to act on it. And for you to just assume they are is unfair to them. It's not like they CHOSE to be attracted to children.

So get your facts straight, and realize that just because someone is afflicted with a mental disorder, does not mean they will necessarily act differently because of it, even if their thought patterns are different.

http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=capitalism

'nough said

The dedicated officers of the Fatuity Police are confused, Henry. Are you an idiot masquerading as an intellectual, or an intellectual masquerading as an idiot?

We suspect your beliefs are entirely fatuous. Your account has been placed under surveillance by the Fatuity Police. You have been warned.

Sorry. I misspelled it.

And damn it, "damnit" is not a word!

(One of my pet peeves...)

Why don't the "volumes" count as "works"? Why does it have to be "books"?

>socialist Canada

Last I heard there was a free market there (as free as the US at least) and the government didn't own all the means of production.

If you were you trying to say, "They have national healthcare and a few other big social programs thus that makes them a socialist government!!!!" I suggest you read up on what socialism is.

Nice straw man. How about socialism? Seems to be working quite well in Europe. I'm sure there are hundereds of millions of people over there who wouldn't give up their economic/political system for ours, even if you paid them to do it (like any typical capitalist would).

Nice straw man. How about socialism? Seems to be working quite well in Europe. I'm sure there are hundereds of millions of people over there who wouldn't give up their economic/political system for ours, even if you paid them to do it (like any typical capitalist would).

Nice straw man. How about socialism? Seems to be working quite well in Europe. I'm sure there are hundereds of millions of people over there who wouldn't give up their economic/political system for ours, even if you paid them to do it (like any typical capitalist would).

$3 a processor. Linux would probably cost much more than that because the bank would need to customize it for their needs

But the generic Windows XP Embedded is already perfect for any situation, and would require no customization. Ok.

Windows ATM on the other hand needs no kernal patches ever time a problem is found you can just download a hotfix from their site, this requires no experts and lowers the TCO.

... boiling that down, "Windows doesn't require patches, except for the patches it requires."

Microsoft are not stupid if they are making a windows version for ATMs they will *Make sure* it is 100% secure.

*cough*

Obvously their reputation would be at steak.

Obviously.

I don't believe that an honest and hard working person can become a multimillionaire.

So only dishonest and lazy people can become multimillionaires?

The US indoctrinates everyone with this attitude that anyone can make it. Nobody realises that it is only at the expense of someone else.

The liberal "zero-sum" myth does not hold any water. There is not a finite amount of wealth available, and somebody gaining wealth does not automatically correlate to somebody else loosing wealth. Quite the opposite happens, as a rising tide lifts all boats.

So Bill Gates manages to sell someone elses quick and dirty OS to IBM and eveyone else. Does that make him deserve to be the richest man in the world?

No, what makes him deserve to be the richest man in the world is that he took this quick and dirty OS and turned it into something that billions of people want and even think that they need.

Don't we live in the best country in the world. The only place where people have the freedom to screw everyone over on their way to the top. Where only the rich can afford medical care or a decent education. Where the government solution is less funding and more "Compassion" and "Faith Based volutary groups". Sure I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sure there are alternatives. However, they have not worked all that well in the past.

This isn't contradictory to the SI use, our words are very often used in very different ways in different contexts. Is a megalopolis a million cities? A megalomaniac a million maniacs? Of course not. People of normal intelligence shouldn't really have to have this explained to them.

This isn't contradictory to the SI use, our words are very often used in very different ways in different contexts. Is a megalopolis a million cities? A megalomaniac a million maniacs? Of course not. People of normal intelligence shouldn't really have to have this explained to them.

This isn't contradictory to the SI use, our words are very often used in very different ways in different contexts. Is a megalopolis a million cities? A megalomaniac a million maniacs? Of course not. People of normal intelligence shouldn't really have to have this explained to them.

According to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, megalo and mega can both mean either a million times, or of great size. Both come from the Greek megas, meaning great, according to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

Think of megascope and megacosm if you don't like megalopolis.

The fact is, the prefixes kilo, mega, giga, and so on are not derived from SI, they are simply prefixes which SI uses. Technical conventions in the hardware and software industry define these prefixes to mean something different than the SI usage, which is completely fine. The problem as I see it, for example, is that using kilobyte for 1000 bytes is not very useful in describing your hardware. And, it mangles a well hewn industry convention.

Besides, we have a history of reappropriating words in English. biweekly

You have more balls then I would.

Then you would what?

Glad I'm not the only one who had to look this up

lall then you better take a look here

read and weep sucker LALL!

Lorry. Apparently the US equivalent is Motor Truck.

So, if the plural or "virus" is "virii", then I guess the plural of "radius" is "radiii".

The thing is, it is, except for the number of i's (radii, not radiii).

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=cyclotron &r=67

SBC's general council has obviously had some council! They are not disagreeing with the RIAA; merely conditionaly agreeing with the RIAA upon proof of claim. For those of you sovereignty-type people, perhaps you would piss your pants to discover that while SBC is conditionaly agreeing to the RIAA, that subscribers to SBC are actualy vulnerable by acting in a Public/Body Corporate capacity and that SBC is not Private as it is governed by the FCC. The content of the RIAA's claims is not meritless, yet neither has the RIAA provided oath of office to represent the copyright and patent holders of the allegedly "infringed" data being processed through SBC's securitities (their data network services). Perhaps a lesson in copyright law should warrant that copyrights only apply to commercial actions. Using copyrighted and patented property is not against the law in the realm of non-commercial; be weary of using copyrighted software in a corporation, as corporations are inclusivly commercial in their nature. So, this leaves us whether SBC is liable for their (think commercial) corporation transporting copyrighted and patented tangible property to its subscribers. Be afraid for SBC...non-commercial use, need not apply unless by the RIAA's administration of force and intimidation has taken effect.

Question for slashdotters: are you a secured party?

Loose the type A personality. Become an under-clocker

Loose the type A personality. Become an under-clocker

Then let's call it tithing.

Why do I pay them good money again?

Modern English is the offspring of many different older languages (as you may know). These languages all had varying ways of representing different sounds with the alphabet given to them by the Romans. When English took all of these methods and combined them into one language. Thus, there are many different ways of creating the same sound, or phoneme.

Therefore, English does not encode the spoken language into text exactly. Though there are some sounds that can only be created one way ('ng' and 'ch' come to mind), many can be spelled numerous ways. For example: whir, were, and work have the same sound in them, but are spelled differently. This makes spelling words in English more difficult, but makes identifying misspelled words easier. You could say English now comes with error-correction. This has no doubt helped it remain in existence, despite its lack of consistent grammar rules and general lack of user-friendliness.

Disclaimer: I blame any grammatical or logical errors on my lack of sleep. Now I'm going to bed.

Its "enharmonic"

Of, relating to, or involving tones that are identical in pitch but are written differently according to the key in which they occur, as C sharp and D flat, for example.

cheerio.

Actually, does this work well with letter pairs like, "th ch wh sh qu?" I forget what those are called.

Digraphs?

Touch....see 1b.

The derivation of Piracy is from a Latin word meaning, approximately, risk taking.

So buckle up your swash, me hearty. The word was used correctly

Why don't YOU go look it up?

Wrong wrong wrong.

The solar flare affected the earth, and the effects were noticed by radio hams.

Effected used as a transitive verb means to create or bring about e.g. to effect a repair.

So "the earth was effected by a solar flare", if it means anything, implies the earth was created or produced by the flare.

There's a note here which attempts (with only partial success) to explain this distinction.

Try here.

~Berj

Being an "artist" myself, and even having vague plans at earning my money with this after my (unrelated) study, I'm afraid I must disagree with McCloud saying that art isn't a commodity.

Funny though that Dictionary.com has a rather interesting definition of the word "commodity" with relation to McCloud's comments, but I'm sure that McCloud tries to say that a commodity is "something that you can just take for granted".

We may not realize this, but our "modern" culture, like any other culture before it, relies on the availability of the art that underwrites it. Belonging to a culture is still something that is expressed through music, art, fashion and religion. People don't like restricted access to culture. Music, cartoons, whatever art it is that you like, it becomes part of your life, and part of your culture. (Striking example: how many `80's songs do you like to hear, while you agree at the same time that they suck -- just because you grew up in the `80's and you can share something with your friends through this music?)

Life, even in our Western world, would not be so nice if we all threw out our stereos, radios, comic strips, TV's, bioscopes, monuments and ALL other ways in which we access art, and thus culture.

Art is a gift to culture, and should thus be a gift to the people. Like anyone else, artists should make a living. They should definately find some way to calculate their hours of work into their products. But the art should be free for all of us willing to enjoy and extend it (bar stuff like trademarks that put some structure in the "development process" of our art).

Now get out there and start making business models again! ;-)

Troll? Ouch.

Irony is wasted on the stupid