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To me the word "proof" implies absoluteness, the same way the word is used in logic. Everything else is conjecture. Dictionary time, I guess.

Yeah, I guess it's dictionary time for you. Since when do words mean what they mean "to you"?
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=proof

"Proof" doesn't imply absoluteness. "Mathematical proof" does.

irony ( P )
n. pl. ironies

1.
a. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
b. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
c. A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit.

Hmmmm...

1.) Go to www.dictionary.com and input query 'troglodytic'.
2.) Read definition: "A person considered to be reclusive, reactionary, out of date, or brutish"
3.) Be outraged.
4.) ???
5.) PROFIT!

The first way - Call a friend on the phone, and have an entire conversation, but never do the formality of a "Hello" or "Bye" at the beginning or end of the call and don't hang up even if you've run out of things to say.

The second way - Call a friend on the phone, but ring them individually for each and every word of the entire conversation, and be sure to include the formality of "Hello" and "Bye" with each and every call.

Maybe I have a wierd way of reading this, but that's what I got out of it.

That's an arbitrary definition of when a problem is serious and when it is not. I don't think everything people protest in the streets is a "serious problem"[1], I do however think that some things people are simply "worried, anxious" about are "serious problems".
You might also want to check your definition of the noun "issue" - yours (if no protest than not an issue) seems to be way off. I can't find any requirement for public protest in the A.H. definitions. You are of course welcome to have your own definitions of words and own ways to classify urgent problems. I don't think I agree with them, though.

[1] Whatever exactly that may be - it's obviously highly subjective which taints this whole discussion.

(I get a strange sudden urge to make a script that 'A HREF's all words in a text to dictionary.com).

(I get a strange sudden urge to make a script that 'A HREF's all words in a text to dictionary.com).

(I get a strange sudden urge to make a script that 'A HREF's all words in a text to dictionary.com).

(I get a strange sudden urge to make a script that 'A HREF's all words in a text to dictionary.com).

(I get a strange sudden urge to make a script that 'A HREF's all words in a text to dictionary.com).

NGOs are "non-governmental organizations". Think Red Cross, Greenpeace and so forth.

ATTAC is an international NGO fighting against "financial globalization [that] increases economic insecurity and social inequalities". Think protesters at WTO meetings and other like types of international summits of politicians.

dosimeter - n. An instrument that measures and indicates the amount of x-rays or radiation absorbed in a given period.

25 percent margin of error is more than enough.. 50 percent would be bearable in this application... radiation 'safe' dosages have a big margin of error built right in.

Given your credibility, perhaps you should back up this statement.

When you say bi-annually do you mean "twice a year" or "once every two years?" Grammatically it can be interpreted either way.

No.

Just because d.r.com can't keep its own definitions straight doesn't mean they're not stupid. Bi-annually means every two years; semi-annually means twice a year. Ditto with bi-monthly and bi-weekly. The bit there that says you can use bi-annually to mean twice a year needs to add "...but this usage is wrong, so don't do it."

When you say bi-annually do you mean "twice a year" or "once every two years?" Grammatically it can be interpreted either way.

I have a licensed copy of the latest Office, but I do not use it (uninstalled it) because the exported HTML is junk. Office 97 is passable because it contains no CSS and I can do a global replace for the outdated tags is does insert. Oh, and the bloat. Office 2002 takes too long to load, runs slower, and is filled with features I never use.

restrict: To keep or confine within limits.

Limit, not absolutely prohibit.

NSA screening would deny access to some people based on the probability of them being or becoming hostile. What criteria would the NSA use to determine whether to label each student "potential terrorist"? Would that be open to scrutiny or appeal?

Seems pretty limiting to me, at least in principle, and that's the position under discussion.

unique: Being the only one of its kind.

*really* unique: c.f. redundancy

unique: Being the only one of its kind.

*really* unique: c.f. redundancy

"Tennent" is a town in New Jersey.
A "tenant" is someone who holds land, typically a renter.
You probably meant "tenet", which is
"An opinion, doctrine, or principle held as being true by a person or especially by an organization".
Note that a tenet may be held by a ranter....

Studies are starting to show that computers are not helping in education. In fact, they might be harmful.

If I think about it, instead of figuring something out for myself, I just do a google search for what I am looking for...

This does not make me smarter, just lazier.

but a cartoon is a comic that has motion --a moving picture.

Definitions 1, 2, and 4 from "cartoon" in the American Heritage(R) dictionary refer to still cartoons. Definition 3 refers to "animated cartoons", which do have motion. "Political cartoons" most often do not. "Cartoonists" aren't always animators. Heck, even some of the material on the AOL Cartoon Network moves with such a low frame rate that it might as well almost be individual panels.

Michael is spelt Michael. It would appear that you are the moron.

Michael is spelt Michael. It would appear that you are the moron.

The sun does burn. It consumes and destroys with fire things that come close to it.

Freethinkers are skeptics whereas Atheists are unbelievers.

Freethinkers are skeptics whereas Atheists are unbelievers.

Nirvana
All in all is all we are.

all questions have been asked before
dictionary

An alternative definition is "A mainframe computer that is among the largest, fastest, or most powerful of those available at a given time"

Again, the word "mainframe", which I don't believe covers any cluster solution, even if it's built with 10,000 3GHz P3s. That would, however, be a very powerful compute pool, but not a mainframe.

Of course, you could argue whether that dictionary definition is now wrong and whether the definition of supercomputer should include these clusters; Dictionaries reflect the language of the time, they don't define it.

I believe you meant zealous.

Have a great new year, Tim! :-)

No, it's called Minx. Hehehe... Sorry, couldn't resist...

Data hasn't become a "mass-noun" now, e.g. cereal, water, snow, etc? It's to the point now that "data are precious" sounds just as bizzare as "snow are precious."

To back up my point, see the following entry here, specifically the "Usage Note" section.

Language changes. We aren't speaking latin anymore. Deal with it.

Apologies for the pedantry, but you probably mean piqued.

"Novelty" is "newness". "Novel" means "new". If no-one else has done something then by definition it is novel.

You might want to review the definition for novel.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=novel

Particularly:

Strikingly new, unusual, or different.

Or farther down:

Usage: Novel, New . Everything at its first occurrence is new; that is novel which is so much out of the ordinary course as to strike us with surprise.

it wasn't do to a design flaw.

You word for the day is "due."

Capo, the head of a branch of an organized crime syndicate. (Also a piece of hardware for guitars or other similar instruments, but that's not what's being referred to here, and it's pronounced differently, being "kay'-poh", and not "kaa'-poh"). It's Italian for "head". The full form of the term used by the Italian mafia was "caporegime".

"I don't want FOP, Goddamnit! I'm a Dapper Dan man!"

The word is dammit, not damnit. There's no N sound in Dammit whatsoever, but there once was and still should be a tiny bit of N at the end of Damn.

Loser.

"I don't want FOP, Goddamnit! I'm a Dapper Dan man!"

The word is dammit, not damnit. There's no N sound in Dammit whatsoever, but there once was and still should be a tiny bit of N at the end of Damn.

Loser.

No, that's the difference between jargon (esp. definition 3) and slang. With jargon, people who aren't in your group don't understand == means "is equal to". With slang, people may understand "ppl" == "people", but they think you are a fucktard.

No, that's the difference between jargon (esp. definition 3) and slang. With jargon, people who aren't in your group don't understand == means "is equal to". With slang, people may understand "ppl" == "people", but they think you are a fucktard.

>but all the pirates think that if they somehow call it something else it isn't as bad.

They simply expect it to be called by what it is: Copyright Violation. They don't call parking in a handicapped zone dismemberment, and people shouldn't call Copyright Violation stealing.

This has been hashed out so much it isn't funny. The difference is clear, even in your definition. Slash-lawyers have even discussed this. They've even, to a certain degree, agreed with me.

Pirates using P2P, etc. never purport to give money to the music companies -- it is clear they are too cheap to buy CDs. They try to keep the original names on all the songs they download. They usually don't claim them as their own.

I see nothing stolen. I see no loss, apart from a ding in the goodwill between music companies, the artists and the consumers.

Show me a loss and I'll call it stealing. But in the case of a home user illicitly downloading an album for the heck of it, up to now I see no loss. No loss of ownership (ie: The music hasn't had the author's name intentionally removed), no loss of funds (prove the person would pay for the music if you feel differently), no loss of music (they still have their copies), and no loss of value (the CD still sells for $20, wether it is pirated once or a million times). I see only a loss of ego, which, my friend, is something that at best comes under libel or slander, and since piracy is neither, the law doesn't define it as stealing, and neither do most people when presented with this argument.

Note I don't cover fraud and misrepresentation, two totally separate things from Johnny pirating a Metallica CD from the 'net.

I'm willing to discuss this, but you're going to have to find a better comparison than manslaughter, because by your terms, manslaughter is the accidental stealing of the life of another. And if stealing is to be so watered down, then perhaps we all steal. Do you pay for the air you breathe? Are you on welfare? Is your home made of wood? Does your car burn gas? It's all stealing when you paint the word with such a broad brush. And when one waters down the language by overdefining a term to the point of it being non-sensical, I put it to you that the word is about as useful and about as important as set; ie: alone it means nothing, and it requires a qualifier to tell people what, exactly, the meaning you are trying to convey is.

Is the meaning of steal one of "he's a horrible person who would take the boots off a dead man", or is the meaning to be "he's less than good because he didn't give back the $10 bill the cashier mistook as a $5 bill". If it is the second, I put it to you that I don't care. Call me a stealing man, then, because, by golly, I "stole" American satellite TV for a long time in Canada (not right now, of course, I quit at the end of spring for good reasons ;-).

Of course, your definition of "stealing" doesn't cover that little conundrum, does it? That is, taking that which is allowed to be taken, doesn't deprive anyone, and has a proven value of $0, yet which is still something that the owner doesn't wish for you to take.

[ I have more conundrums that the word stealing can't cover, but piracy does, if you care to enquire. Most fun, trying to redefine the English language... ]

(Don't take it personally, but hey, I do to a certain degree, because your definition covers me, although it isn't correct, IMHO ;-)

CD is an acronym

Close, but none of Willie Clinton's Finest Cubans for you. CD is an abbreviation, as you say the letters, rather pronouncing them as a word, like your examples, NASA and SCUBA, which are indeed acronyms.

Just as a piece of trivia, people used to say "You jewed me down on that one." No, really.

Besides, Gypsies really aren't a 'race' per se. It's a way of life.

Gypsy also Gipsy Pronunciation Key (jps)
n. pl. Gypsies

1. A member of a people that arrived in Europe in migrations from northern India around the 14th century, now also living in North America and Australia. Many Gypsy groups have preserved elements of their traditional culture, including an itinerant existence and the Romany language.
2. See Romany.
3. gypsy One inclined to a nomadic, unconventional way of life.
4. A person who moves from place to place as required for employment, especially:
1. A part-time or temporary member of a college faculty.
2. A member of the chorus line in a theater production.

The word is "gyped" not "jipped".

Actually, it's gypped, pronounced `jipped'; without the second `p' the `i' would be a long sound, so it would say `jaiypped'. The dictionary doesn't mention the Gypsies, but they are actually a race, called Romnies. This didn't stop them from `adopting' a lot of non-Romny fellow-travellers, and with a relatively small population this would actually be necessary to prevent problems with inbreeding.

While we're at it, `buy' == purchase, `by' == via, with or past, and (not in these posts, but it is common) `lose' == not win, `loose' == rattling around, not fastened down.

There is a difference between a cult and the occult. You are using the terms interchangably. You shouldn't do that.

There is a difference between a cult and the occult. You are using the terms interchangably. You shouldn't do that.

Now for the Christmas in 2050. It meantions the robot assistant in the kitchen. Where the hell are these things now? Just the other day I wanted a small robot to feed my cats when I was out of town. I'd buy one in a heartbeat. And there are many other simple repetitions physical tasks like this that can be done by robots, but noone has them. Not even the "rich and famous". Why is this? Robots have been around for a long time in industrial settings, and they haven't taken over the world or anything, but there are 0 home robots. We have been writing about robots since at least the 20's with Buck Rogers. Am I the only person out there that would buy a little personal robot for something like feeding the cats?

"Villian" is wrong even in the UK. The ispaawards.org.uk web site even spells it "Villain."

How about the moderators promote a modicum level of high school English for a change?

That link is for the moderators. You obviously need the extra help.

It must suck to be pretentious and a complete idiot. We call people like you an ass. We're trying to show that more kids die of gun accidents than people die of gun crimes. You say that more children die of pool drownings than gun accidents. Even if this was true, this is not a contradiction. Go take a math class, and while you're at it, try taking an english class too.

> Unless you're going to fill in details I'd say there's a good chance that whatever you claim you did was not in fact a copyright violation.

I borrowed a friend's South Park DVD, copied it to my hard drive, and returned the DVD to my friend.

If you are going to REPEATEDLY ignore adjacent sentences then there's not much point discussing it with you. You did it three times last post, and twice more in this one. I said:

I'd say there's a good chance that whatever you claim you did was not in fact a copyright violation. And if it was, you could have done it without DeCSS. Not that it matters, you can use a photocopier or VCR to violate copyright. Or even a pencil.

Well, it uncertain is what you did was actually a copyright violation, but even assuming it is, my next sentence certainly applies - you certainly could have done it without DeCSS.

>So yeah, apparently their software was being used for perfectly legitimate purposes.

Apparently the courts found otherwise.

What possibly makes you say that? They ruled the software was illegal under the DMCA. They NEVER said that it wasn't being used for legitimate purposes.

The DMCA specifically makes fair use legal. "Nothing in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses to copyright infringement, including fair use, under this title."

Yeah, that line is a pisser.

-

Unnecessary government intrusion is the "War on Terror", a war on a verb, mind you

Actually, "terror" is a noun. Nice troll, though.

By the way - you don't see Sun getting a free ride on Microsoft's OS because of a court decision as being "unnecessary government intrusion"?

Damn browser! I meant to post:

ensue.