Slashdot Mirror

Which makes justice impossible. for those who aren't wealthy.

Legitimate is not the same as legal.

*sigh* Would that mean you can be in compliance with the law and not be legal? Or can you be legal and not be in compliance with the law? Is legal lawful? Is lawful legal? If I am incorrect, please tell me. This is so confusing. Maybe I should use this reference instead?

Sorry, I was just using a definition from the dictionary, and only one particular usage at that. However, that usage does has everything to do with written law. You would be right with other uses of the word, for instance, marijuana is not a child born out of wedlock, but it could result in one if the party gets a little out of control. :-) And by yet another usage of the word, you could correctly say that marijuana and copyright laws are illegitimate, because they are Incorrectly deduced; illogical...So now we have two things(and many others of course) that are illegitimate due to illegitimate law. *head spins*

I believe the GP was making the point that the ruling against Microsoft, which you linked, was wrong.

And, no he is not making it up, he is mearly referring to what many dictionaries define as a monopoly. For example, this Dictionary.com entry. Gosh.

I kindly invite you to read your link. One definition is "million", yes, but another is "great" - a usage that predates scientific usage. Now check out the definition of megabyte: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/megabyte -- what does THAT fucking mean? 10^20 bytes (among other things, like all words).

yeah, there is no good reason for it .... except it is what the fucking word "mega" means. Stupid fucking computer people.

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

RSS and Live bookmarks are the same thing. / I don't know what a "Live title" is (edit I do now, big deal, its just RSS)

Accessibility ? so disabled users have to find and download and install their own optimisations ?

Phishing protection - See above - You been living under a rock ?

Session restore - seems quite good to me, Oh that upstart opera has it too.

Spell checking - I seem to fill a lot of forms in these days, and the net still seems to be largely text based.

Final Fantasy introduces a totally new cast, setting and theme with each sequel and continues to please fans.

I'm pretty sure that's not a sequel as much as just reusing a trade mark for new games. There have been a couple of sequels notibly, X2 but for the most part each new FF game is just that and Not a sequel.

Sequel - a literary work, movie, etc., that is complete in itself but continues the narrative of a preceding work.

Yes, new words must come into being. What makes making up "denialist" better than using "denier"?

A denier is one who denies. A denialist is one who engages in denialism. cf. "co-operator" vs "co-operatist".

Do you think it improves discourse to apply a label associated with holocaust deniers to people who would raise questions about a Scientific conclusion (with huge political ramifications)? I happen to think that it poisons the discussion.

Yes, I think the label is appropriate, and so is the comparison with holocaust deniers (or denialists). I am not talking about people who "raise questions", but about people who deny well-established facts.

I've heard some of the stuff holocaust denialists spout and to a casual observer it sounds quite reasonable. Of course you find out that it is bollocks once you start reading deeper, but then these loons have a new set of allegations to refute. I work on the assumption that since a lot of experts have looked into it and verified it, the holocaust did indeed happen. The collective wisdom might be wrong on a couple of minor points, but that's ultimately irrelevant. Of course you do find a handful of historians who still deny it happened.

Climate change is in the same boat. The experts in the field are almost as unanimous as the historians who say the holocaust is true. Unless you're prepared to become an expert in the field, you have to accept the conclusions of the many people who have studied it for years. The climate change models are by now some of the most tested in any discipline of science.

String theory sounds like a load of bollocks to me but I trust the experts in the field that it is a viable theory. If I ever get diagnosed with cancer, I will trust to the accepted medical wisdom that chemotherapy (or whatever) is my best option, instead of going with the coffee enemas suggested by the fringe crazies. And so on and so forth.

Incidentally, Google gives 215k hits for "cromulent". Does that make cromulent a cromulent word?

I use "cromulent" myself. If it shows up in the next edition of the OED I wouldn't be at all surprised (if it isn't already). Oh, looks like it's already in one dictionary.

pendant: 1. a hanging ornament, as an earring or the main piece suspended from a necklace.
pedant: 1. a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning. ;)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pendant
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pedant

pendant: 1. a hanging ornament, as an earring or the main piece suspended from a necklace.
pedant: 1. a person who makes an excessive or inappropriate display of learning. ;)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pendant
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pedant

"stupidest" isn't a word

Really?
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/adapt
If you're saying that nature will adapt, you're correct. Species and ecosystems will evolve from earth changes when they occur.

Whether life in the sense of a species or life forms will adapt is a whole other matter. These earth changes are significant. Entire species will die off. The questions for humans is if we will be one of those species. Not likely? Perhaps. There is still the damage that we would experience from loss of biodiversity. After all, what if a species unlocks the cure for some human ailment... That's one possibility and I could go on and on. For me this is clear, the burning of fossil fuels produces by products that are not offset by any natural or mechanical process at the same rate they are being produced. So we are changing the equilibrium and we can and should correct this. So long as we make a contribution to the problem we should do something about it. There is so much at stake and yet people still want to say "Everything's fine"; it's beyond me.

OK. The word "wherefore" is equivalent to "why", not "where plus some old shakespeare stuff". Read this article for a quick explanation, or see here for a dictionary definition.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/facetious

Being a criminal means infringing on someone's rights.

Rights are defined as to determine how scarce resources are to be controlled.

Information is not a scarce resource, by copying music from someone, I am not invading anyone's property, or if you prefer infringing on anyone's right.

Literally, I believe it means to reduce to a tenth part, or by 90%. The music industry may have taken some hard times, but has their business declined by 90% since 1999? Even the RIAA would not claim that. Dvorak, you keep using that word, but I don't think it means what you think it means.

xenophobic racism

xenophobic racism

xenophobic racism

It's an unfounded pet peeve. All the dictionaries I consulted list at least one definition of verbal that means "spoken". I think it's quite clear from the context this is the intended meaning here.

Merriam - Webster: "spoken rather than written"
Dictionary.com: "expressed in spoken words; oral rather than written"
Encarta: "oral as opposed to written: relating to or consisting of spoken words, as opposed to written words"

The word has a specific definition.

So you're wrong.

You don't get to use the words interchangeably simply because you don't know what they mean literally.

So you're wrong twice.

The word has a specific definition.

So you're wrong.

You don't get to use the words interchangeably simply because you don't know what they mean literally.

So you're wrong twice.

It's an acceptable informal spelling. Like coz.

Languages change - live with it. Your comment is so gay.

It's an acceptable informal spelling. Like coz.

Languages change - live with it. Your comment is so gay.

No, I'm pretty sure he meant reaming.

....61 days for those of you using the modern Gregorian Calender.

1. the state or quality of being creative.
   
2. the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts.
   
3. the process by which one utilizes creative ability: Extensive reading stimulated his creativity.
   

Consumer goods are not necessarily capital. In fact, they often are NOT capital.

Do you have any understanding at all of Political Economy??

This is NOT censorship.

Incorrect. Censorship is when someone censors you.

Censorship is a government telling someone what they cannot read, hear, see, or think.

Wrong. I can censor what my kids watch on TV, my work can censor my internet access, etc.

What you're thinking of is the first amendment.

I believe you are mistaken - because they are abusing their position to restrict fair use.

Extortion is:

2. the crime of obtaining money or some other thing of value by the abuse of one's office or authority.
3. oppressive or illegal exaction, as of excessive price or interest: the extortions of usurers.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/extortion

We should start calling it for what it is Digital RESTRICTION Management ;)

Garry ~ skilful.com

But he just said free software, which only means software that is provided without charge

GTFO my internets. You can come back when you know how to use a dictionary :-|

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/misrepresen t

Sorry to split semantic hairs here...but we are geeks after all...

The word "universe" logically means "everything." From Dictionary.reference.com:

1. the totality of known or supposed objects and phenomena throughout space; the cosmos; macrocosm.

An etymological analysis reveals the word to be of Latin origin, the prefix "uni" meaning "one" and "verse" derived from the word for "to turn," implying something to the effect of "all things turned to one." (I also have a beef with the misuse of "uni" in such words as "unisex," but I won't get into that here).

Anyway, if it is possible to get to a "parallel universe" then that means that it exists. If it exists, then that means that it is already part of the universe. Therefore saying that there are many universes is a simple logical contradiction.

So, perhaps these other places exist, and are parallel to the place in which we exist. I am envisioning something like a stack of 4 dimensional space-time continuums all lined up along a fifth dimension, with worm holes propelling objects along the 5d axis between these continuums. That may be possible for all I know, but they aren't parallel universes; they are all part of the universe.

The word is "quash", not "squash".

Squash is a vegetable.

Your contemptuous tone as if anyone saying the Conspiracy word is a nut case. hahahaha The word is still in the dictionaries. Say there buddy ro, how much did you pay for gasoline or diesel or whatever other garbage you pay for so you can breathe it in later? hmm? Maybe your Presidente and Vice Presidente conspired to destroy the faxes I sent them telling them about my engine four years ago . And how much did YOU PAY for last month's electric bill? hmm? $100? $150? $200? I released an engine on November 14 2005 that can make this world's peoples just about total electric, yet isn't that strange. You don't seem to have that one either > http://www.newpath4.com/MillenialDawn1usesFriction forPositiveWork2sharedswitchdefeatsActionReaction3 ForceDualitygeneratorequalsavlowhysteresis4Reverse HysteresisasPowerSource.pdf .

The word Conspiracy is going to stay in the Funk & Wagnall's a while yet.

I don't think it suggests OCD at all, I think most people are like this. I've been reading A Theory of Fun for Game Design and it suggests that fun comes from grokking patterns in games. If you get to know the initial conditions and rules of a game, it seems only natural that you would run through simulations in your brain, conscious or not. Then, the next time you play the game, you do better, and have more fun because the game is rewarding you (with higher scores, more levels), and you can experience and learn more patterns in the game. Repeat until you feel you have mastered the game (grokked it completely) and become bored.

But yeah, I do the same thing, though often I will do it consciously during idle time. The same for other forms of learning; as a student, I usually read an assignment the day it is released, and gradually think about it (consciously and unconsciously) for a while, then start the assignment with most of the details already worked out in my head.

I was going for number five: "to support ... in the face of criticism".

What the US does is "give" them money that can only be used to buy AMERICAN-MADE arms, thus entering a mutually-beneficial pact where one side gains arms and the other brings jobs home.

Which has the same economic effect as buying the arms from American companies and giving them to Israel. That's contributing to the defense of Israel. If they just wanted to make jobs, they'd buy stuff and then melt it down again.

Israel does not depend on US arms either.

Who cares. That fact has no relevance.

the UN has, for most of its history, been skewed in favor of arab (sic) interests.

Most of the rest of the world sees the UN as neutral, passing resolutions against Israel, Palestine, Iraq, etc, in a fairly balanced way; while the US is often seen as exceedingly pro-Israel, vetoing the resolutions against Israel alone. All I did way try to describe some possible influences that would account for this difference.

>That in five minutes you COULDN'T care less about. Don't use a phrase if you don't know how to use it.

You fail it.

If you don't understand the language completely, you don't get to complain.

Both are perfectly valid turns of phrase. One American, one British.

Could care less: I am so uninterested that while I could care less about the subject, I'm not even bothered to that point. Also, I am so interested that I care about the subject, therefore proving I could care less.

Couldn't care less: I am so uninterested that my caring level is at zero. Also, I am so interested that caring less would be physically impossible.

Both are correct and incorrect at the same time.

Yes, it's on the list of English errors. That in itself is an error, as the author is American. He needs to read up on his English history a bit, perhaps? alt.usage.english beat him to the punch on this one. Oddly enough, this clearly prescriptive English teacher is pro ending sentences in prepositions. How contradictory. He does agree he is fighting a losing battle on it (One he lost BEFORE he put up the website, ironically).

Irregardless, I ain't wrong. Here's some more references on the matter. Cheap at half the price, I tell you!

BTW: This topic truly is important to me, I couldn't care less about it, so don't ask me to. I could care less for rants about it, though, but sometimes I miss them. :-P

Teach, where's my gold star?

So why is this modded as flamebait? Is it because Bush denies(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4829786.stm) that Iraq is in civil war (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/civil%20war http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_war http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=civil%20w ar)?

Atheism is as much a religion as not collecting stamps is a hobby

I've always wondered ... when they said 'CAN' in 'CAN-SPAM', which definition of 'can' are they trying for?

"The idea for a language where one word can have a lot of meanings actually came from studying Japanese"

You don't need japanese for that: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/set

There is a concubine which acts as a type of mall that you walk through.

When you enter, there are windows on each side from front to back, that house women. These women were put in this for several reasons. From what was described to him, if you do not pay your debts, your wife will be put in the concubine to prostitute herself until she pays them off.

So you are saying you emerged from the womb with complete understanding of language, mathematics, and cause-effect association? When you were a child, did you have a clear rationale explaining why you were being taught how to divide or expand your vocabulary? I think you were sent to school where you received exposure to these and other concepts repeatedly until you began accurately repeating them to your instructors. Eventually you learned how to independently form sophisticated compositions of those simple concepts, possibly through repetition, for the purpose of solving problems. This seems a lot like training to me.

I would guess he's making what's known in the business as a joke.

dictionary.reference.com knows misspelt

Encarta knows misspelt

Meriam-Webster does not understand misspelt but suggestes the root word "misspell" (and "misspelled")

So, you misspelt "misspelt".

No,its Math.
Deal.
oh wait, this contradicts me:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/math

wait, no it doesn't.