Slashdot Mirror
Domain: reference.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to reference.com.
Comments · 9,372
-
Re:Which method?
You think the previous poster was asking the jokes to form a line? As for eggcorns, you got it backwards. To cue means to "signal" or "sign". As in, "cue the director", or in this case, "cue the jokes". Not "make the jokes form a line".
From dictionary.com, American Heritage Dictionary:
tr.v. cued, cuing, cues
1. To give a cue to; signal or prompt.
2. To insert into the sequence of a performance: cued the lights for the monologue scene.
3. To position (an audio or video recording) in readiness for playing: cue up a record on the turntable. -
Re:Baby steps first, then worry about how to besteven the slowest hunt and pecker is going to be exponentially more accurate at input with a keyboard You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means. Oh? ex po nen tial -noun
3. Mathematics.
a. the constant e raised to the power equal to a given expression, as e3x, which is the exponential of 3x.
b. any positive constant raised to a power. If it takes a slow typer 30 seconds to enter a sentence, and it takes even 15 minutes to get it correct using voice recognition (and I am being VERY generous to the voice rec apps here!): 30(sec) ^ 2 = 900(sec) = 15(min).
Seems like both the word and the math is right to me!
This is of course assumes that after 15 minutes of trying and failing to get the voice recognition software to work at all doesn't cause one to just simply give up, which is most likely.
BTW, I said the word once. That is not 'keep using', despite your failed attempt at making an old movie quote relevant -
Re:Why not run it?
Radical as in "thoroughgoing or extreme, esp. as regards change from accepted or traditional forms: a radical change in the policy of a company.; favoring drastic political, economic, or social reforms: radical ideas; radical and anarchistic ideologues.
If you don't like radical, substitute drastic or extreme. Fromwhat he's said he's prepared to take actions that no other US president hasa publicly considered before. -
Re:Maybe I read that wrong
Since the primary definition of "child" is "a person between birth and puberty", I would say no, I don't believe in the killing of these "unborn children".
Unless, that is, some people reach puberty while still in the womb. I know slashdot has a lot of people still living in their parents' basements, but that's a bit much. If you're 18 and still living in the womb, then yes, I support killing you. -
Yes, assault
Look it up. You don't even need contact for assault, that would be battery.
Hense the term Assault AND battery.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assault
Most kids are playing together, so it's not assault;however, a sudden attack by a super soaker is assault, but society accepts that. Barring some extreme case. -
Re:Short answerDefine 'steal'.
steal
You guys never heard of a dictionary? They're real handy when you get into an argument about the definition of words.
-verb (used with object)
1. to take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, esp. secretly or by force: A pickpocket stole his watch.
2. to appropriate (ideas, credit, words, etc.) without right or acknowledgment.
3. to take, get, or win insidiously, surreptitiously, subtly, or by chance: He stole my girlfriend.
4. to move, bring, convey, or put secretly or quietly; smuggle (usually fol. by away, from, in, into, etc.): They stole the bicycle into the bedroom to surprise the child.
5. Baseball. (of a base runner) to gain (a base) without the help of a walk or batted ball, as by running to it during the delivery of a pitch.
6. Games. to gain (a point, advantage, etc.) by strategy, chance, or luck.
7. to gain or seize more than one's share of attention in, as by giving a superior performance: The comedian stole the show.
-verb (used without object) 8. to commit or practice theft.
9. to move, go, or come secretly, quietly, or unobserved: She stole out of the house at midnight.
10. to pass, happen, etc., imperceptibly, gently, or gradually: The years steal by.
11. Baseball. (of a base runner) to advance a base without the help of a walk or batted ball.
-noun 12. Informal. an act of stealing; theft.
13. Informal. the thing stolen; booty.
14. Informal. something acquired at a cost far below its real value; bargain: This dress is a steal at $40.
15. Baseball. the act of advancing a base by stealing.
--Idiom16. steal someone's thunder, to appropriate or use another's idea, plan, words, etc.
[Origin: bef. 900; 1860-65 for def. 5; ME stelen, OE stelan; c. G stehlen, ON stela, Goth stilan]
--Related forms
stealable, adjective
stealer, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. -
Re:Good news, but how good?
Your logic skills suck, as does your grasp of English.
Comedy gold! (See below.)So by not criminalizing offensive body owners, you are condoning them?
Body owners you say? What was that about my English skills? Oh, and you forgot to pluralize reason in your second paragraph.
That said, assuming you meant "body odors" the answer to your question is yes, by not criminalizing offensive body odors, we, as a society, do condone it. We find it distasteful, but like many distasteful things it is a fact of life that we have no choice but to live with. Much like file sharing is now a fact of life.Allow is not a synonym of condone.
More comedy gold!condone, verb
Source: the dictionary.com thesaurus
Definition: allowThere are lots of other reason he may have chosen to license the work under Creative Commons that have nothing to do with wanting people to freely trade his music on Torrent sites. He may have accepted this as a trade off that was the best option.
What the hell does that mean? When you license your work under Creative Commons Noncommercial, you do so because you want to encourage redistribution in all noncommercial contexts not some noncommercial contexts. You imply that there's some sort of meaningful difference between users of bit torrent and a college student using Ghosts I-IV to score a nonprofit independent film for film school class. Both activities are nonprofit redistributions of Trent's work, complete with compliance with the attribution clause. -
Re:Sterile probes?No, they don't. Please read up on what "sterilize" means and stop spreading misinformation.
They do exactly what a surgeon's staff does to his instruments before surgery. They bake the spacecraft in a autoclave. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.12/germ.html
That's the ordinary meaning of the word.
Sterilize1. to destroy microorganisms in or on, usually by bringing to a high temperature with steam, dry heat, or boiling liquid.
-
Re:You guys can tryy and twist the issue but...Then that's not an exclusive right in the sense that you're using it. It's an exclusive right in the legal sense (but right back at the point: the right to exclude is the fundamental definition of property.
property
-noun, plural -ties. 1. that which a person owns; the possession or possessions of a particular owner: They lost all their property in the fire.
2. goods, land, etc., considered as possessions: The corporation is a means for the common ownership of property.
3. a piece of land or real estate: property on Main Street.
4. ownership; right of possession, enjoyment, or disposal of anything, esp. of something tangible: to have property in land.
5. something at the disposal of a person, a group of persons, or the community or public: The secret of the invention became common property.
6. an essential or distinctive attribute or quality of a thing: the chemical and physical properties of an element.
7. Logic. a. any attribute or characteristic.
b. (in Aristotelian logic) an attribute not essential to a species but always connected with it and with it alone.
8. Also called prop. a usually movable item, other than costumes or scenery, used on the set of a theater production, motion picture, etc.; any object handled or used by an actor in a performance.
9. a written work, play, movie, etc., bought or optioned for commercial production or distribution.
10. a person, esp. one under contract in entertainment or sports, regarded as having commercial value: an actor who was a hot property at the time.
The dictionary says you're wrong.
'Ownership' is a word difficult to parse. When you "own" a three-hole-punch, that's really just a metonymic relationship with the power that enforces that relationship. In our society, that's the law.
No, that's not the law. Again, the dictionary shows you're wrong. Your statement shows you're immoral as well; by your definition, ownership doesn't exist and there's nothing wrong with your stealing something from me.
You might want to look up "parse" in your dictionary as well.ownership
Like Bill Clinton, You must be a lawyer. Nobody but a lawyer argues about the meaning of common words like "is", "sex", "property", or "ownership". Normal people (as well as us nerds) use the dictionary to settle arguments about the definitions of words. And there are several good ones on the internet.
-noun 1. the state or fact of being an owner.
2. legal right of possession; proprietorship. -
Re:You guys can tryy and twist the issue but...Then that's not an exclusive right in the sense that you're using it. It's an exclusive right in the legal sense (but right back at the point: the right to exclude is the fundamental definition of property.
property
-noun, plural -ties. 1. that which a person owns; the possession or possessions of a particular owner: They lost all their property in the fire.
2. goods, land, etc., considered as possessions: The corporation is a means for the common ownership of property.
3. a piece of land or real estate: property on Main Street.
4. ownership; right of possession, enjoyment, or disposal of anything, esp. of something tangible: to have property in land.
5. something at the disposal of a person, a group of persons, or the community or public: The secret of the invention became common property.
6. an essential or distinctive attribute or quality of a thing: the chemical and physical properties of an element.
7. Logic. a. any attribute or characteristic.
b. (in Aristotelian logic) an attribute not essential to a species but always connected with it and with it alone.
8. Also called prop. a usually movable item, other than costumes or scenery, used on the set of a theater production, motion picture, etc.; any object handled or used by an actor in a performance.
9. a written work, play, movie, etc., bought or optioned for commercial production or distribution.
10. a person, esp. one under contract in entertainment or sports, regarded as having commercial value: an actor who was a hot property at the time.
The dictionary says you're wrong.
'Ownership' is a word difficult to parse. When you "own" a three-hole-punch, that's really just a metonymic relationship with the power that enforces that relationship. In our society, that's the law.
No, that's not the law. Again, the dictionary shows you're wrong. Your statement shows you're immoral as well; by your definition, ownership doesn't exist and there's nothing wrong with your stealing something from me.
You might want to look up "parse" in your dictionary as well.ownership
Like Bill Clinton, You must be a lawyer. Nobody but a lawyer argues about the meaning of common words like "is", "sex", "property", or "ownership". Normal people (as well as us nerds) use the dictionary to settle arguments about the definitions of words. And there are several good ones on the internet.
-noun 1. the state or fact of being an owner.
2. legal right of possession; proprietorship. -
Re:Someone help me find a word?
-
Re:Be resourceful dude.
And when did Yahoo! do any of these?
I have explained how I feel Yahoo has met the requirements. If you want pin-cites to everything, it is all there in the previous articles in our discussion. If you want to be so intransigent as to just sit there and repeat your claim that no counter offer was ever made, you're still welcome to, but that's not a good argumentative technique.TFA never, ever, said any negotiation took place.
Negotiations can happen in many ways, in private, through the media, and like many acts they are defined by their substance and not their form.
We can reasonably infer from the WSJ's report that the request for at least $40 was made in the context of trying to get Microsoft to up its offer. How this is not an attempt to negotiate (negotiate - to arrange for or bring about by discussion and settlement of terms is beyond me.
I contend that this dissemination of information is at the very least a negotiating tactic. Why else would Yahoo tell the WSJ? The use of negotiating tactics is prima facie evidence of an attempt at negotiation. It may be a unilateral and unreciprocated attempt but what difference does that make? The statement clearly implies that Microsoft and Yahoo are haggling over the price. That's a negotiation in anybody's eyes. Why should it matter whether Yahoo made the request through the WSJ or directly to Microsoft? Substance trumps form.
If you want to be formalistic about this, then this whole discussion is moot because Microsoft has yet to file paperwork with the SEC making a formal offer. Why should we or the rest of the media, Slashdot, investors, finacial advisers, or whoever be arguing about a non-offer?
If the "we want $40/share" statement is not an attempt at negotiation then what is it? Please explain.
Now you can challenge the authenticity of the WSJ's reporting, but you'd have to show more than just "no one else is reporting it" to make an argument.Yeap, as I say above you want me to prove a negative which can be impossible instead of you proving a positive which should be easy.
Almost all courts put the burden of proving that an offer never existed on the party challenging that offer's existence. My request is not unreasonable.
To accommodate you're desire to have me do all the intellectual heavy lifting, let's couch the issue this way. If Microsoft were to meet Yahoo's demands of $40/share tomorrow, would Yahoo accept? I would say the answer is likely yes, since the WSJ has already established that Yahoo is asking for that much. Since Yahoo's proposal is likely a proposal, the acceptance of which, would conclude at least the money portion of the deal, I would say that the statement meets the legal definition of an offer, ergo Yahoo's statement is a counter offer. -
Re:How can an e-mail be illegal?
I will concede that your definition is accurate (see, for example, dictionary.com), and indeed it makes sense.
My point referred to the content, and not the use of the term "e-mail." I will admit that, had I given the word "e-mail" more thought, I would have realized that the necessary precondition for the term was that it be sent.
I had not considered corsec67's counter-example, which is indeed a valid example of when the possession of information is illegal. I do not know if the existence of the information itself is illegal; child pornography may be evidence of an illegal act, but if that evidence had to be destroyed because it, too, was illegal, then that would constitute an absurd hindrance to the prosecution of possession crimes.
I would still argue that my point remains valid (modifying it to address the content of the e-mail). The write-up stated "illegal emails;" from this wording alone (paying careful attention to the part of speech), and according to the definitions I've referenced above, this refers to the message itself (which had to have been sent in order to qualify as an "e-mail", but the noun does not refer to the act of sending). Thus, the e-mail contains both the content and the evidence of its transmission (in the form of SMTP and MIME headers), neither of which by themselves are illegal. Thus, the message (and therefore the e-mail) is not illegal; the act of sending it was. The e-mail contains evidence of a crime, but its existence is not the crime.
You may not realize it, but you can still make a valid point without swearing.
-
Re:they make a good point:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=dictator
dictator -noun
1. a person exercising absolute power, esp. a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession.
2. (in ancient Rome) a person invested with supreme authority during a crisis, the regular magistracy being subordinated to him until the crisis was met.
3. a person who authoritatively prescribes conduct, usage, etc.: a dictator of fashion.
4. a person who dictates, as to a secretary.
1 and 2 sound like Mr. Decider-er to me. What was the signing statement he issued about declaring martial law and suspending Congress? -
Re:Not everyone is a lifelong learner...
"Stupider" is a perfectly valid word, referring to: Someone/something being "more stupid" than a given reference.
See Dictionary. -
Re:Why would I even want to be in the BoardroomI know a girl who is a big time tax nerd.. natural born bureaucrat, wildly successful.. wears a lot of suits.
You have a funny idea of what a "nerd" is. What, exactly, is your definition of a nerd? I never met a nerd bureaucrat, or a tax nerd, or a nerd who wore lots of suits.
My definitions come from the traditional places you find out what things are.
The dictionary says:nerd also nurd (nûrd) Pronunciation Key
n. Slang
1. A foolish, inept, or unattractive person.
2. A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.
nerd'y adj.
Word History: The word nerd, undefined but illustrated, first appeared in 1950 in Dr. Seuss's If I Ran the Zoo: "And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo And Bring Back an It-Kutch a Preep and a Proo A Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!" (The nerd is a small humanoid creature looking comically angry, like a thin, cross Chester A. Arthur.) Nerd next appears, with a gloss, in the February 10, 1957, issue of the Glasgow, Scotland, Sunday Mail in a regular column entitled "ABC for SQUARES": "Nerd--a square, any explanation needed?" Many of the terms defined in this "ABC" are unmistakable Americanisms, such as hep, ick, and jazzy, as is the gloss "square," the current meaning of nerd. The third appearance of nerd in print is back in the United States in 1970 in Current Slang: "Nurd [sic], someone with objectionable habits or traits.... An uninteresting person, a 'dud.'" Authorities disagree on whether the two nerds--Dr. Seuss's small creature and the teenage slang term in the Glasgow Sunday Mail--are the same word. Some experts claim there is no semantic connection and the identity of the words is fortuitous. Others maintain that Dr. Seuss is the true originator of nerd and that the word nerd ("comically unpleasant creature") was picked up by the five- and six-year-olds of 1950 and passed on to their older siblings, who by 1957, as teenagers, had restricted and specified the meaning to the most comically obnoxious creature of their own class, a "square."
Note that the protagonist in that book, the one who ran the zoo that had a nerd in it, was named after me two years before I was born! Yay me!
Wikipedia says before talking about the mcgrew nerd again:Nerd is a term often bearing a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests that are age inappropriate rather than engaging in more social or popular activities. Therefore, a nerd is often excluded from physical activity and considered a loner by peers.
And finally, my favirite reference, the Uncyclopedia. Its entry was surely written by a nerd, as it has Mr. T at the very top of the page:I PITY THE FOO' THAT DOESN'T FIX THIS CRAP!"
All of these fine scholarly references have more, except that lameass dictionary.
Someone help this sucka of a page by rewriting it.
And make it drink its milk too. Only then can it join The A-Team
Whoops! Maybe you were looking for HowTo:Get Laid?
"Roses are #FF0000, Violets are #0000FF, All my base are belong to you!"
~ Some Male Nerd on How to pick up female nerds
"Lemme in through ur tunnel frm de undrgrond, aka ur C drive
~ An Average Male Nerd on How to pick up your nerdy friends computers
"In Soviet Russia, nerds hate YOU!!"
~ Russian reversal on nerds
A nerd (homo intelligencia, floro sapiens, virginus nerdius, or "homo supa smarcia") is a member of an odd species known for its love of 'puters, bad fashion sense, and inability to communicate with members of the opposite sex. While some lucky individuals are born nerds, the rest of us have to make an effort to evolve into nerds.
-mcgrew (if I ran slashdot...) -
Depression is a BAD word and should be changed.
The most positive influence we can have on depressive illness and community awareness is to change its name.
"Depression" simply has too many connotations in general society and the term itself muddies the waters when trying to educate the general public as to its impact on people suffering from it and those around them.
"Suffering from depression" and "feeling depressed" are not the same thing, and, IMHO, we need are better term for differentiating between the two. What that word should be, I don't know - I'm not a medical specialist - but even the comments here on slashdot indicate how poorly people understand depression as an illness.
Take a look here to see how over-utilised the word is.. -
Re:One potential future advantage of AMD's technol
I think you're misinterpreting the term realize. Definition two.
-
Re:No you didn't.
While I realize that your comment was probably sarcasm, the dictionary definition of piracy does include duplication of copyrighted material.
1. practice of a pirate; robbery or illegal violence at sea.
2. the unauthorized reproduction or use of a copyrighted book, recording, television program, patented invention, trademarked product, etc.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/piracy -
Overzealous grammar Nazis
True. You know what else bugs me? This story being tagged "complementary" when the spelling "complimentary" in the summary is completely correct.
-
Re:Vista Capable, not version specific
...hence you can't really call it "Vista Capable".
Why not? Taking the definition of capable ("Permitting an action to be performed" or "Having capacity or ability") then can your machine run Vista? No, not "can it run Vista with all the flashy bits", but can it run Vista without falling in a heap? (Excluding any normal Windows crashes but instead aiming at "will it install and run and be functional to some degree")
Okay, so it is slightly under-handed to make people expect Aero when they're going to get core Vista, but that's just marketing. I'm sure there would have been machines around the release of XP that could handle old-style window decorations but not the fancy MS themes as well (which was potentially a blessing with the XP windows) and this is the same situation - you can run the OS, your machine is capable of running the core OS, it just isn't capable of eye candy. -
Re:Its not semantics
Go look up the definition of theft. It is not the same as IP infringement.
Theft is generally defined as simply the act of stealing; there are many definitions of stealing, some of the common ones of which are certainly broad enough to include some or all instances of IP infringement. See definitions of theft, steal. -
Re:Its not semantics
Go look up the definition of theft. It is not the same as IP infringement.
Theft is generally defined as simply the act of stealing; there are many definitions of stealing, some of the common ones of which are certainly broad enough to include some or all instances of IP infringement. See definitions of theft, steal. -
Re:Where's the Exchange doc ?
Thanks for that definition, did you win a spelling bee with that one? Here's one for you http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tangent
-
Re:Pedantic tip...
That was the first thing I thought of as well when I noticed their "kudos" system. Then I looked it up, and it turns out that kudos actually is the plural of kudo, and you can use them either way. I've never heard of it used in the singular form before, though.
-
Re:Where's the Exchange doc ?
A definition for you, dude : http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vacuous So yes I did completely read the list of documents, and there are no exchange-related ones there. And what, pray am I supposed to glean from the press release ? It only has the same information as TFA : that they claim to be documenting, among other things, the Exchange protocols (the actual documents have existed for months if not years), but it seems that those documents are not posted today. So are they a) in some other place that I haven't discovered yet or b) not yet posted, but they will be (but why??? since they exist and could have been posted along with the stuff they have put up on the web) or c) the press release is incorrect in citing Exchange as being covered by the document release.
-
Re:Authored?
I made a spelling mistake. Your incorrect.
http://www.askoxford.com/results/?view=dict&freesearch=authored&branch=13842570&textsearchtype=exact
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=4939&dict=CALD
http://www.yourdictionary.com/search?ydQ=authored&x=0&y=0&area=entries
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/authored (especially the bottom part) -
Observation vs theory
I prefer thinking about evolution as an observation, rather than a theory. Namely, "a change in the inherited traits of a population from one generation to the next." [1]. The theory (or one of a number of theories that depends on this observation) is natural selection, not evolution.
Another example of such a comparison is acceleration, "the rate of change of velocity with respect to time."[2]. A Theory that depends on the observation of acceleration is gravity. -
Re:1000 light years where?
Unless you state that a thickness is average, it is by definition the largest dimension of the smallest dimension. ("2. measured, as specified, between opposite surfaces, from top to bottom, or in a direction perpendicular to that of the length and breadth; (of a solid having three general dimensions) measured across its smallest dimension: a board one inch thick. ("thick." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 20 Feb. 2008. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thick>.)) Of course, the milky way is not a solid, but if we drew a bounding box around it the whole thing would be obvious.
-
Re:"World leading"?
Why do US people believe their country is a leader in everything, when cold, hard numbers eminently suggest otherwise?
You have cold, hard numbers regarding the "rule of law and technocratic mechanisms in place"? Numbers which are capable of eminently suggesting things? I would love to see those. Personally, I can't even figure out what that's saying. -
Re:Volume
It's actually the Dictionary.com "Word of the Day"...
I enjoy signing up for these types of things, but I'm often disappointed at how many of them I know already. -
Re:what will you feed it?I'm getting into semantics? I'm not the one claiming to be able to "simulate a mammalian brain." I'm talking about sematics of the world "simulation". Here, let me help you: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/semantics. Ok, now that you know what it means, please read my previous post again about how simulation of the brain means different things at different levels of abstraction. If you still do not understand, then perhaps you've never looked at the mind-body problem. If you still don't understand after that, then sir/madam, I cannot help you.
-
Re:Capital expects returns.
Difference being that while predatory behaviour is a flaw on socialist theories (they didn't take it properly into account) is a key concept -and main force, on capitalist ones.
You can't be serious. The government takes money I've worked for from me, then does various disagreeable things with it including giving it to people who haven't worked for it. If I attempt not to participate in this ludicrous scheme, I'll promptly find myself in gaol.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=predatory
1. Zoology. preying upon other organisms for food.
Socialism is predatory, by design. It doesn't contain predatory behaviour, it institutionalizes it by force of law. -
Re:can anyone give a real schedule?(I know, meteorologists don't study meteors)
Ah, but didja know why?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/meteorThe streaks of light we sometimes see in the night sky and call meteors were not identified as interplanetary rocks until the 19th century. Before then, the streaks of light were considered only one of a variety of atmospheric phenomena, all of which bore the name meteor. Rain was an aqueous meteor, winds and storms were airy meteors, and streaks of light in the sky were fiery meteors. This general use of meteor survives in our word meteorology, the study of the weather and atmospheric phenomena. Nowadays, astronomers use any of three words for rocks from interplanetary space, depending on their stage of descent to the Earth
meteor
1471, "any atmospheric phenomenon," from M.Fr. meteore (13c.), from M.L. meteorum (nom. meteora), from Gk. ta meteora "the celestial phenomena," pl. of meteoron, lit. "thing high up," neut. of meteoros (adj.) "high up," from meta- "over, beyond" (see meta-) + -aoros "lifted, hovering in air," related to aeirein "to raise" (see aorta). Specific sense of "fireball, shooting star" is attested from 1593. Atmospheric phenomena were formerly classified as aerial meteors (wind), aqueous meteors (rain, snow, hail), luminous meteors (aurora, rainbows), and igneous meteors (lightning, shooting stars). Meteoric in the figurative sense of "transiently brilliant" is from 1836. -
well duh he WAS certified
See definition 3 from the Random House entry, the one at the top.
-
Re:When will they learn...
From dictionary.com
Citation 1, definition 3:
actually; without exaggeration or inaccuracy: The city was literally destroyed.Citation 1, definition 4:
in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually.... For him, it was a 10 year project, 24/7(literally)
So if he dreamed about the project(which I'm sure he would have) then I used the word correctly.
They do mention that there are problems with this word in that it is ocassionally used in front of something that is obviously not the case.
I didn't. I suspect, on a project that size, he did live the project 24/7 for 10 years.
-
discrete vs. discreet
he was relatively discrete about it So he read single emails as opposed to the entire continuum? I think the word you meant to use is "discreet".
-
Ethics?
Ethics is an interesting concept - first thing that may come a person's mind
"good and bad"
"wrong or right"
"black and white"
Personally, when one finds themselves in IT related predicaments, I'm guessing it's not that usual to land in a black or white situation, but one of a million shades of gray.
A few more:
"the way one lives"
"actions that land you on the right (good?) side of the fence"
"oath"
"creed"
etc . .
What is a creed? One definition in an online dictionary defines it as ( http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/creed ) : " . .
eek . . . the entertainment industry (I'm guessing a person can come up with centuries or more worth of examples there) would have us believe in "good" creeds or "bad" creeds - religions, knights, assassins and more.
One might also ask - will your ethics lead you to copy chunks of the comments to the slashdot article above? Ethics in research and writing papers - that's a fought over issue as well. (people often hate to look in this mirror
Several professional groups have published "ethics" . .
American Chemical Society ( http://pubs.acs.org/meetingpreprints/ethics.html )
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics ( http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=198 )
American Institute of Architects ( http://www.aia.org/about_ethics )
American Institute of Chemical Engineers ( http://www.aiche.org/About/Code.aspx )
American Society of Landscape Architects ( http://www.asla.org/about/codepro.htm )
Instutute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers ( http://www.ieee.org/portal/pages/iportals/aboutus/ethics/code.html )
To pick a few. Look kind of like science/fantasy fans might see as guild rules
IT is no different.
People who strive for SANS/GIAC certification agree to their ethics as part of completing the certification process. ( http://www.giac.org/overview/ethics.php )
SAGE, LOPSA & USNIX share the same code of ethics - http://lopsa.org/CodeOfEthics
ACM - http://www.acm.org/about/se-code
CISA, CISM, CGEIT - ( http://www.isaca.org/Template.cfm?Section=Code_of_Professional_Ethics&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=20454
)
SSCP, CAP & CISSP (certification) ethics - ( https://www.isc2.org/cgi-bin/content.cgi?category=12 )
I'm sure there are plenty more.
I'm guessing there are very few if any CS or IT related courses that don't include some kind of ethics class or section.
Personally - when I was growing up - with a lot of computer enthusiasts in the neighborhood - some slided one way or the other (ethics wise) and some stood fairly firmly on one side or the other (usually the "old guys").
I've been in the professional IT industry for several years - and doing semi-professional IT stuff on and off years before that. Seeing I'm still there - I hope I'm on the an acceptable side of the fence
I've been involved in a few ethics dust-ups over the years . . . never got a horrible -
Re:Mooted?http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mooted
Look up the meaning as a transitive verb. As a kind gesture I even used one of them colonial dictionaries that I assume represents your cultural persuasion. Some guys representing nobody in particular saying "Oh hay guys, maybe we shouldn't use Trend" is hardly an example of mass agreement from the throngs.
-
Re:Disagree...the internet does "enable" many thin
It is not intellectually dishonest to say that information is not responsible for peoples behavior. It is not intellectually dishonest to say that people are responsible for their behavior, and not the information they have consumed. Those are the statements I have made and I stand by them. You say that it is fair to say that information 'influences' people. Use of the term influence almost necessarily implies that information has some degree of responsibility for peoples behavior. Look the term up in the dictionary and tell me that it doesn't infer exactly that:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/influence
1. the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others: He used family influence to get the contract.
2. the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of another or others: Her mother's influence made her stay.
3. a person or thing that exerts influence: He is an influence for the good.
I do not deny that people will make decisions based upon the information that they have available to them. However, saying that information 'influences' people is a very loaded statement - one that I cannot support if use of that term also confers responsibility for peoples behavior to the information they consume. People are responsible for their actions, not what they read, not what they hear and not what they see.
I believe that your position reduces to saying that information is at least partially responsible for peoples behavior. Are you denying that? -
Re:Hm...
"Doommongers"(do you even know what that means? It means somebody who has a sexual relation to doom, like a whoremonger does with whores.
You've got to be kidding. Have you ever heard of a fishmonger? Somebody who sells fish? Monger refers to selling things, not having sex with them.
-
Re:Hm...
"Doommongers"(do you even know what that means? It means somebody who has a sexual relation to doom, like a whoremonger does with whores.
You've got to be kidding. Have you ever heard of a fishmonger? Somebody who sells fish? Monger refers to selling things, not having sex with them.
-
Re:"Shuttering"?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shuttering
"To furnish or close with shutters: locked the doors and shuttered the windows."
Sometimes when businesses are closed, they do just that. -
Re:FUD alertThat really depends on your definition of "Operating System".
I'm inclined to agree with this definition.operating system
-noun Computers.
the collection of software that directs a computer's operations, controlling and scheduling the execution of other programs, and managing storage, input/output, and communication resources. Abbreviation: OS
[Origin: 1960-65]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
In other words, the software that lets other software use the hardware. So, unless one was troubleshooting, programming, or engineering, I fail to see why the average user would be working directly with the Operating System.
My personal view is that Microsoft/Apple have poisoned the term "Operating System" to mean something entirely different: The distribution of programs with an operating system. For example: Windows, Ubuntu, Fedora, and MacOSX are all collections of programs bundled with the operating system. -
Re:Anybody who knows anything about security....
Then perhaps you should get a better dictionary. There is more in heaven and earth Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosophy...
-
Why carafe is kuh-RAFThere are a lot of French words in the English language, and they usually sound better when they're pronounced correctly. For instance, carafe. Hint: It's a three-syllable word. The first time I heard the Americanized pronunciation, it took me a few seconds to figure out what the waitress was talking about. I don't see how "carafe" would be a three-syllable word. My French teacher told me that an unaccented "e" at the end of a French word is silent. In general, French final "e" is unaccented (and silent) when it corresponds to final "a" in Italian and Spanish, and it is accented (and pronounced much like English long A) when it corresponds to final "ado" in Spanish or "ato" in Italian. Merriam-Webster lists two syllables, and so do Dictionary.com Unabridged, American Heritage Dictionary, and Kernerman. Some of these references also list Italian "caraffa" as a related word.
-
Re:banal
According to one source:
Usage Note: The pronunciation of banal is not settled among educated speakers of American English. Sixty years ago, H.W. Fowler recommended the pronunciation (bn'l, rhyming with panel), but this pronunciation is now regarded as recondite by most Americans: no member of the Usage Panel prefers this pronunciation. In our 2001 survey, (bnl') is preferred by 58 percent of the Usage Panel, (b'nl) by 28 percent, and (b-näl') by 13 percent (this pronunciation is more common in British English). Some Panelists admit to being so vexed by the problem that they tend to avoid the word in conversation. Speakers can perhaps take comfort in knowing that these three pronunciations each have the support of at least some of the Usage Panel and that none of them is incorrect. When several pronunciations of a word are widely used, there is really no right or wrong one.
There are few things more satisfying than demonstrating that a pedant is wrong.
-
Re:Seriously..Police state anyone? Things are getting worse and worse. When they do that at the state border, then you're talking about a police state. Are you seriously suggesting (since this is only happening at the national borders) "police nation" as a more accurate and palatable term?
You should look up "police state" in a dictionary sometime. -
Blow?
-
Re:Sad
You are truly an idiot.