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I ... will ... try ... to ... remember ... that ... next ... time.

I ... will ... try ... to ... remember ... that ... next ... time.

I ... will ... try ... to ... remember ... that ... next ... time.

I ... will ... try ... to ... remember ... that ... next ... time.

Why does it rile you up? Why is the usage in context to Mechanical/Electrical more correct than to Systems? according to dictionary.com and m-w.com (Merriam-Webster), the term's etymology comes from the Latin word for "skilled", and the accepted definition on dictionary.com and Wikipedia is "one who applies scientific and technical knowledge to solve human problems". None of those seem more suited to an EE than to a Systems Engineer, or really even a Sanitational Engineer.

If it's the dissolution of the prestige associated with the title, well... it's unfortunate, but perhaps you should find a more specific word or phrase to accomodate that. Oh wait, there are already such phrases.

tripled
1. Consisting of three parts or members.
2. Three times as much in size, strength, number, or amount.
3. Music. Having three beats to a measure.

But the problem is, he has the meaning exactly backwards.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/allegation
http://www.answers.com/allegation

His belief about the meaning didn't even pass the laugh test, so I didn't feel the need to cite a better source than Wikipedia.

And I don't see why "one cannot allege a murderer" - sure, that particular construction is grammatically laughable, but one can allege that someone is a murderer, they would then be "the alleged murderer."

The idea that a crime is not "alleged" until someone has been convicted of it is so ridiculous that, even if I'm wrong, he's not right.

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

Yeah, the bnetd team kinda gave up. Why? Most likely because they couldn't afford a legal defense, and it would have been a fool's errand for a lawyer to take up this case pro bono. So, yeah, it will not be "truly test[ed] in court" until someone puts up a defense against an army of corporate lawyers, which I do not see happening soon.

Which is essentially my point in my original post. It really makes little difference if the emulator is 100% legitimately reverse engineered, they still violate other aspects of the intellectual property such as trademark. Kinda hard to advertise a "Star Wars Galaxies" emulator without violating at least 2 trademarks that I can count. So, all that work and effort that went into the emulator will be lost. These clever people could have spent time developing their own game and enriching the market. Even if they give away their game for free it would allow people to have more choices and allow new ideas to be tried. (Let's face it, nobody working on a $60 million dollar online game is going to be eager to try risky "innovative" things, especially given the tepid reception the original SWG received; despite it all, the SWG team did try to do some things different than the conventional wisdom at that time.)

Now, for a rant.

I don't see where any 'intellectual property' (there is no such thing, there are copyright, patents, and trademarks) is being 'stolen' or misused since it doesn't make an alteration to the Sony SWG client.

There most certainly is intellectual property. Once something is defined in the dictionary, I think it is time to take your fingers out of your ears and stop screaming, "LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Intellectual property is a description for a variety of laws covering copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. It's a convenient shorthand in common use, even if it is not specifically defined in U.S. laws. Pretending that this does not exist or doesn't affect you is the best way to get crushed, like these emulator programmers are likely going to be.

And I never said "stolen", as you imply, I said "violated". And, trademarks will almost certainly be violated unless the emulator writers are very careful. Eventually someone will likely slip up even if they are careful.

Learn to use a bit of critical thinking instead of just parroting what you hear other people saying. Not to say that some IP laws do not need reform (I'm looking at you, software patents and eternal copyright extensions), but it's important to understand the current state of affairs instead of trying to argue semantics poorly.

Spelt?

Yes, spelt.

spelt
n.
A hardy wheat grown mostly in Europe.
[Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin spelta, probably of Germanic origin; akin to Middle Dutch spelte, wheat.]

spelt
v.
A past tense and a past participle of spell.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

It's both tasty, and correct. (I eat a lot of stuff made with spelt flour, I'm told I have a wheat allergy.)

Buggers ? I thought the term was boogers (USA) or bogies (UK). Buggers has a http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/buggerssome what different meaning where I come from. Apologies in advance if I'm just not familiar with your local dialect.
Some of your post may still be true.

And you've retained your ability to be ignorant to world culture!

Flavour
Chiefly British variant of flavor.

>> Sorry but I really can't let that pass. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maturity
>> has the definition The state or quality of being fully grown or developed.

The author is not writing for pop-psychology, this is a scientific argument. The definition you have from the popular dictionary is of physical maturity, not of psychological maturity from a scientific, biological, evolutionary viewpoint. In the field of biology, maturity is when the animal has acquired enough Stimulus --> Response reactions to make quick decisions. These S-->Rs become hardcoded into the brain and become knee-jerk reactions. They have evolved for purposes of survival. The adult must often make quick decisions to survive. This age-related hardwiring of the brain has been proven many times and in many ways in brain research. It's a bio-chemical thing that is difficult to reverse.

I'm right close to fifty, also. You can't let pride get in the way of science, though. The things I'm discussing are just part of who we are, like it or not. Adults are rigid thinkers and immaturity implies creativity of S-->R patterning. Maybe knowing this is true can help older people listen more to the ideas of young people.

I'm presently a teacher (college) and I repetitively spit out my knowledge to my students. Every now and then a bold student asks why something is the way it is. My knee-jerk reaction to say it is just that way and accept it. That's my old age talking. I find that as I get older it becomes more painful to even consider new solutions to old problems. I have learned to listen to the student's questions and go back to rethink why things are the way they are. It has been very educational. I have to tell myself that it is successful to rethink these things because I know maturity has made me mentally blind to new ideas. I can overcome that if I try.

Most all of the posts on this thread are way off track and people don't realize this author is writing a paper on the topics of psychology, evolution, and biology from a scientific standpoint. The ridge thinking of the mature mind is not a new theory, it is old, well accepted, and proven. The author is discussing what happens when the mature adult can't solidify a S-->R rule set because the environment will not allow it. What is the outcome on development of the individual's psychology? Will the necessity to create new S-->Rs through a lifespan require the individual to remain in a psychologically immature state? Probably so. How will this change society?

Freud also mentioned, in his lectures, that people in creative fields seem to be in a mentally juvenile state well into adulthood. This is not a new concept.

Maturity is the mental state of turning off observation and going into an auto-pilot mode of preconceived notions.

Sorry but I really can't let that pass. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maturity has the definition The state or quality of being fully grown or developed.

I, but then this is a fifty year old talking, would argue that maturity is about having the range of experience to make balanced judgements, and to know that 'preconceived notions' are often wrong.

As for an old dog learning new tricks, you don't stay in the IT world for long without having to learn something new all the time, otherwise I'd still be looking after Win 3.11 PCs, and not *nix systems. Where maturity comes in is that, when there's a crisis, I have a bigger set of mental tools to cope with it than a raw newcomer.

I take your point about physics discoveries - ignoring Newton, of course. This is even more true in Maths which has a quicker burn out rate, but across the wider field of human endeavour I think you'll find there's more spread to the bell curve.

if your trying to say its not a word, youd be wrong.

take that grammar nazi! people who correct others speeling are da looser

Actually... I find the container labelled "Condensed Milt" much more interesting, and very disturbing.
Milt, for the non-biologists, is the sperm and seminal fluid of fish.

Fundamentalists usually subscribe to young earth creationism and universal flood geology. Some Fundamentalists view all modern versions of the Bible as corrupted and are thus referred to as the King-James-Only Movement.

Additionally, most Fundamentalists oppose human cloning, abortion, same-sex marriages, homosexuality, physician-assisted suicide, and embryonic stem cell research.

Perhaps you can find something on the web discussing fundamentalists who don't think there should be laws against stem cell research? What would be your politically correct term for the religious right? Crusaders?

"Fundamentalist" generally applies when members of a religious group try to impose their particular beliefs on everyone elese.

Arrest: To capture and hold briefly.

Sounds like "arrest" fits the situation rather well...

Thank you for demonstrating my point. You've created a contrived and improbable scenario where an "important call" might show up demanding your attention. Having swallowed the "importance of the call" rhetoric hook, line, and sinker, you're now prepared to alter your life behavior in order to service the telephone. Answering the phone shouldn't automatically be your highest priority in life. Sooo, in your "valid scenario" above, do you spend all your time hovering over the phone waiting for the "might be important" calls to show up? Why not?

Like in a computer, a phone call is an interrupt and should be prioritized accordingly. Have you ever written code that blocks interrupts because whatever you're doing is critical? Have you had to write code to service prioritized interrupts? Your life should work much the same way.

I'm sorry but I just gotta...

"Mankind huddled in the dark on baron continents..." Are you sure they're not huddling on duke continents or maybe count continents? Or did you mean "barren" continents.

And then there's "He carried in his hand, a single vile." A single vile what? What vile thing does he later turn on its side so he can read the inscription? Or did you perchance mean "vial"?

The sad thing is that, based on the grammar and spelling, I'm guessing that you're American. Since I'm also American, you'll understand why I find posts like yours so humiliating and embarrassing. (If you're not an American, I humbly apologize. I doubt that I would do as well in your native language.)

Please learn the damn language before you write in it.

I'm sorry but I just gotta...

"Mankind huddled in the dark on baron continents..." Are you sure they're not huddling on duke continents or maybe count continents? Or did you mean "barren" continents.

And then there's "He carried in his hand, a single vile." A single vile what? What vile thing does he later turn on its side so he can read the inscription? Or did you perchance mean "vial"?

The sad thing is that, based on the grammar and spelling, I'm guessing that you're American. Since I'm also American, you'll understand why I find posts like yours so humiliating and embarrassing. (If you're not an American, I humbly apologize. I doubt that I would do as well in your native language.)

Please learn the damn language before you write in it.

I recon mankind simply got scared.

Unless you mean the short form of reconnoitre, the word you're looking for is reckon.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/embryonic 1 - Of, relating to, or being an embryo. 2 - also embryotic (-tk) Rudimentary; incipient: an embryonic nation, not yet self-governing. Could have been 1 or 2, I agree. Despite the ambiguity, it has a much nicer ring than Unwanted Baby Girl cells. Abortions will happen whether you want them to or not. As long the USA is a country of freedom and choice, it will continue to support abortion irregardless of your personal beliefs. If one "unwanted" child can save a dozen lives or a hundred, I think that's much better than throwing it in the trash.

Yes you are unware.

According to the OED:

"A vast host or multitude (of persons or things): freq. of angels or spirits, with reminiscence of Matt. xxvi. 53."

Or see definition 3 here: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=legion

from the gotta-love-bosses dept.

Q. What is the plural of virus?
A. Viruses.

It is not viri, or (which is worse) virii. True, the word comes directly from Latin, but not all Latin words ending in -us have -i as their plural. Besides, viri is the Latin word for 'men' (plural of vir, man, the root the English virile). There is in fact no written attestation of a Latin plural of virus. If you would like to pursue the subject further, see the excellent article "What's the Plural of 'Virus'?". If you have some knowledge of linguistics and Latin, you might be interested in the morphological analysis of the word from the Perseus Project.
http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/ v/virus.html

I see there are a few replies from ACs here, which probably are pointing out the same thing, but I don't read AC comments...

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

USE THE DICTIONARY!!!

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

"to Audio pronunciation of "to" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (t; t when unstressed)
prep.

      1.
                  1. In a direction toward so as to reach: went to the city.
                  2. Towards: turned to me.
      2.
                  1. Reaching as far as: The ocean water was clear all the way to the bottom.
                  2. To the extent or degree of: loved him to distraction.
                  3. With the resultant condition of: nursed her back to health.
      3. Toward a given state: helping minority women to economic equality.
      4. In contact with; against: their faces pressed to the windows.
      5. In front of: stood face to face.
      6. Used to indicate appropriation or possession: looked for the top to the jar.
      7. Concerning; regarding: waiting for an answer to my letter.
      8. In a particular relationship with: The brook runs parallel to the road.
      9. As an accompaniment or a complement of: danced to the tune.
    10. Composing; constituting: two cups to a pint.
    11. In accord with: job responsibilities suited to her abilities.
    12. As compared with: a book superior to his others.
    13.
                  1. Before: The time is ten to five.
                  2. Up till; until: worked from nine to five.
    14.
                  1. For the purpose of: went out to lunch.
                  2. In honor of: a toast to the queen.
    15.
                  1. Used before a verb to indicate the infinitive: I'd like to go.
                  2. Used alone when the infinitive is understood: Go if you want to.
    16.
                  1. Used to indicate the relationship of a verb with its complement: refer to a dictionary; refer me to a dictionary.
                  2. Used with a reflexive pronoun to indicate exclusivity or separateness: had the plane to ourselves.

adv.

      1. In one direction; toward a person or thing: owls with feathers wrong end to.
      2. Into a shut or closed position: pushed the door to.
      3. Into a state of consciousness: The patient came to.
      4. Into a state of action or attentiveness: sat down for lunch and fell to.
      5. Nautical. Into the wind."

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

"too Audio pronunciation of "too" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (t)
adv.

      1. In addition; also: He's coming along too.
      2. More than enough; excessively: She worries too much.
      3. To a regrettable degree: My error was all too apparent.
      4. Very; extremely; immensely: He's only too willing to be of service.
      5. Informal. Indeed; so: You will too do it!"

USE THE DICTIONARY!!!

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

"to Audio pronunciation of "to" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (t; t when unstressed)
prep.

      1.
                  1. In a direction toward so as to reach: went to the city.
                  2. Towards: turned to me.
      2.
                  1. Reaching as far as: The ocean water was clear all the way to the bottom.
                  2. To the extent or degree of: loved him to distraction.
                  3. With the resultant condition of: nursed her back to health.
      3. Toward a given state: helping minority women to economic equality.
      4. In contact with; against: their faces pressed to the windows.
      5. In front of: stood face to face.
      6. Used to indicate appropriation or possession: looked for the top to the jar.
      7. Concerning; regarding: waiting for an answer to my letter.
      8. In a particular relationship with: The brook runs parallel to the road.
      9. As an accompaniment or a complement of: danced to the tune.
    10. Composing; constituting: two cups to a pint.
    11. In accord with: job responsibilities suited to her abilities.
    12. As compared with: a book superior to his others.
    13.
                  1. Before: The time is ten to five.
                  2. Up till; until: worked from nine to five.
    14.
                  1. For the purpose of: went out to lunch.
                  2. In honor of: a toast to the queen.
    15.
                  1. Used before a verb to indicate the infinitive: I'd like to go.
                  2. Used alone when the infinitive is understood: Go if you want to.
    16.
                  1. Used to indicate the relationship of a verb with its complement: refer to a dictionary; refer me to a dictionary.
                  2. Used with a reflexive pronoun to indicate exclusivity or separateness: had the plane to ourselves.

adv.

      1. In one direction; toward a person or thing: owls with feathers wrong end to.
      2. Into a shut or closed position: pushed the door to.
      3. Into a state of consciousness: The patient came to.
      4. Into a state of action or attentiveness: sat down for lunch and fell to.
      5. Nautical. Into the wind."

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

"too Audio pronunciation of "too" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (t)
adv.

      1. In addition; also: He's coming along too.
      2. More than enough; excessively: She worries too much.
      3. To a regrettable degree: My error was all too apparent.
      4. Very; extremely; immensely: He's only too willing to be of service.
      5. Informal. Indeed; so: You will too do it!"

The word you want isn't nhilistic, its misanthropic.

And quotes like this; "I'd like to see it continue for another trillion or so, the rest of the universe be damned."- this is exactly why some of us feel the way we do about our fellow man.

Not me, of course. I love everybody.

v. loosed, loosing, looses
v. tr.

      1. To let loose; release: loosed the dogs.
      2. To make loose; undo: loosed his belt.
      3. To cast loose; detach: hikers loosing their packs at camp.
      4. To let fly; discharge: loosed an arrow.
      5. To release pressure or obligation from; absolve: loosed her from the responsibility.
      6. To make less strict; relax: a leader's strong authority that was loosed by easy times.

I think a 'robot' can be defined as a machine that performs tasks without direct human control, based on its own sensor inputs' 'understanding' of the world.

Unless your definition of "Christian" has no relation to the teachings of Christ, Javalord, you're just another droning conservative apologist too lazy to even read about the things you defend.

You must be on the low end of the democrat spectrum. Let me guess, you dropped out of high school? Try looking up the word hyperbole. Thanks for playing.

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

robot Audio pronunciation of "robot" ( P ) Pronunciation Key (rbt, -bt)
n.

      1. A mechanical device that sometimes resembles a human and is capable of performing a variety of often complex human tasks on command or by being programmed in advance.
      2. A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control.
      3. A person who works mechanically without original thought, especially one who responds automatically to the commands of others.

[Czech, from robota, drudgery. See orbh- in Indo-European Roots.]robotic adj.

        Word History: Robot is a word that is both a coinage by an individual person and a borrowing. It has been in English since 1923 when the Czech writer Karel apek's play R.U.R. was translated into English and presented in London and New York. R.U.R., published in 1921, is an abbreviation of Rossum's Universal Robots; robot itself comes from Czech robota, "servitude, forced labor," from rab, "slave." The Slavic root behind robota is orb-, from the Indo-European root *orbh-, referring to separation from one's group or passing out of one sphere of ownership into another. This seems to be the sense that binds together its somewhat diverse group of derivatives, which includes Greek orphanos, "orphan," Latin orbus, "orphaned," and German Erbe, "inheritance," in addition to the Slavic word for slave mentioned above. Czech robota is also similar to another German derivative of this root, namely Arbeit, "work" (its Middle High German form arabeit is even more like the Czech word). Arbeit may be descended from a word that meant "slave labor," and later generalized to just "labor."

Non-admins may get the euphemistic warning of possessing pilferred software,
http://forums.microsoft.com/Genuine/ShowPost.aspx? PostID=370244&SiteID=25/
Notice the MS solution, delete this, open up all permissions on that (good idea?), read, write, execute, delete for everyone! Or pay-up to get your copy of MS Winders to shut up.

Nothing like family (non-admins) and employees (non-admins) thinking they have purloined software. Isn't an unfounded accusation called, "Libel" http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Libel/?

(My SuSE never accuses me with false accusations.)

Hobbiest is not a word.

Google isn't a word either according to Merriam-Webster.
It does appear here and is obviously a branding reference.

Anchor tags don't seem to work today. References:
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/google
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=google

No disrespect intended HC, but I feel the need to share a definition:

From : constituency (1a.) The body of voters or the residents of a district represented by an elected legislator or official. (2a.) A group of supporters or patrons.

Consider the definition, then re-read the quote. Ironic? Don't get me started.

Others might call it trolling but if you call it "catering to your market" it's a great way to make moniey.

other kinds of ambient noise don't negatively impact its accuracy

This very statement presupposes that other noise is irrelevant, which seems bogus.
Snoring is background noise, and suggests non-watching.
Laughter is background noise, and suggests careful watching.
Of course, the laughter might not be about what's on TV...

watch v. tr. 1. To look at steadily; observe, carefully or continuously: watch a parade.
look v. To employ one's sight, especially in a given direction or on a given object:
--The American Heritage (R) Dictionary

It seems to me that watching is an activity involving the eyes and mental processing. It seems to me that audio of what is coming out of the TV is not a statement about either the eyes or about mental processing. This technology of Google's may be an advance in something, but I hope the advertisers paying for this data have their eyes open about the nature of what they are buying because (to re-mix a metaphor) to my eyes this sounds a bit suspect.

Sociologically, it sounds like a foot in the door to get harmless censors in place. Oops, Freudian slip there. That's sensors, I mean. Google would never involve itself with censorship.

Once the sensors are in place, when "we" realize that it's not getting "us" the data "we" want, we'll just do a few "harmless" downloads of "upgrades", perhaps causing a minor tweak to look at the video data rather than the audio, or perhaps doing language processing after all, and ... With user-friendly software like this, who needs spyware?

I also question the claim that because no information is transmitted back to Google that this is the definition of not invading privacy. How is this fundamentally different than the claim that if the police search your house but find nothing, they have not invaded your privacy because they've not placed any record of illegal activity on your permanent record?

It seems to me that once you place a Turing Machine into someone's environment, capable of doing arbitrary processing, and all it sends is a sanitized report, you have all the mechanism in place for abuse. What if the Turing Machine, capable of arbitrary processing, decides that it doesn't want to send a sanitized report. Who is auditing what is sanitized and what is not?

What if it turns out to later be possible to lift information from the supposedly cleansed records? Who will audit the use of that data?

There seem to me to be a lot of slippery slopes here.

other kinds of ambient noise don't negatively impact its accuracy

This very statement presupposes that other noise is irrelevant, which seems bogus.
Snoring is background noise, and suggests non-watching.
Laughter is background noise, and suggests careful watching.
Of course, the laughter might not be about what's on TV...

watch v. tr. 1. To look at steadily; observe, carefully or continuously: watch a parade.
look v. To employ one's sight, especially in a given direction or on a given object:
--The American Heritage (R) Dictionary

It seems to me that watching is an activity involving the eyes and mental processing. It seems to me that audio of what is coming out of the TV is not a statement about either the eyes or about mental processing. This technology of Google's may be an advance in something, but I hope the advertisers paying for this data have their eyes open about the nature of what they are buying because (to re-mix a metaphor) to my eyes this sounds a bit suspect.

Sociologically, it sounds like a foot in the door to get harmless censors in place. Oops, Freudian slip there. That's sensors, I mean. Google would never involve itself with censorship.

Once the sensors are in place, when "we" realize that it's not getting "us" the data "we" want, we'll just do a few "harmless" downloads of "upgrades", perhaps causing a minor tweak to look at the video data rather than the audio, or perhaps doing language processing after all, and ... With user-friendly software like this, who needs spyware?

I also question the claim that because no information is transmitted back to Google that this is the definition of not invading privacy. How is this fundamentally different than the claim that if the police search your house but find nothing, they have not invaded your privacy because they've not placed any record of illegal activity on your permanent record?

It seems to me that once you place a Turing Machine into someone's environment, capable of doing arbitrary processing, and all it sends is a sanitized report, you have all the mechanism in place for abuse. What if the Turing Machine, capable of arbitrary processing, decides that it doesn't want to send a sanitized report. Who is auditing what is sanitized and what is not?

What if it turns out to later be possible to lift information from the supposedly cleansed records? Who will audit the use of that data?

There seem to me to be a lot of slippery slopes here.

Maybe the first definition here kinda sorta matches yours, for what it's worth: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=idiot

You're still classifying an entire group of people as idiots without knowing anything about them except that they're from India...so maybe you're just prejudiced instead of a bigot. Sorry I chose the wrong word. ;)

I seem to get several dozen phishing attempts per day, with people trying to gain access to my PayPal, Ebay, bank accounts, and other online services. I guess I must be stupid and rich to gain the attention of such target limited hackers, right?

Phishing - A method of identity theft carried out through the creation of a website that seems to represent a legitimate company. The visitors to the site, thinking they are buying something from a real business, submit their personal information to the site. The criminals then use the personal information for their own purposes, or sell the information to other criminal parties.

I'm amazed that anyone would still say something this stupid (and that others would actually moderate it up).

You've probably doomed an innocent Christian to hell, are you happy now?

Not at all. That's only a tiny fraction of my quota. Time to get cracking!

And for the record, a sandwich pretty much implies two guys. That's not what most guys picture when they think of threesomes.

No it doesn't. Though, you couldn't tell from the dictionary; "She was sandwiched in her airplane seat between two fat men" ... But seriously, a man can definitely be the filling in a sandwich, it's just not as much activity for the, uh, meat, as it would be if there were a woman there.

FTA: I also don't condone uploading videos and pics onto websites like youtube.com and sending the links to me. This is a very bad thing to do. Naughty naughty....Buttttttttttttttttt since youtube is a public website I will post any video that is on there....of course if there was a issue with the legality of the video, then that would be youtube's responsibility to remove.

Uh... so you're not sure if the stuff people are sending you is legal, but you're posting it anyway?

That's definitely not legal in the US, and even in Sweden it could cause you a lot of trouble. Just ask these guys.

Some people just don't know when to quit while they're ahead.

- RG>

They seem to be acting much like a heroine addict

Yes, it's quite easy to get addicted to the likes of Wonder-Woman and Lara Croft! Quitting them? Now that's much trickier!

I was, of course, not being serious. However, it's worth noting that several of those descriptors are in fact applicable given the right definition:

obsolete: 2. Outmoded in design, style, or construction;
primitive: 2b. Being little evolved from an early ancestral type.

Oddly the US is, technically, a metric country. Some selected quotes from this page on the history of metric measurements in the US:

"As a result, the U. S. has been "metric" since 1866, but only in the sense that Americans have been free since that time to use the metric system as much as they like."

"In 1875, the U.S. was one of the original signers of the Treaty of the Meter, which established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM)."

"In 1893, Congress adopted the metric standards, the official meter and kilogram bars supplied by BIPM, as the standards for all measurement in the U.S. This didn't mean that metric units had to be used, but since that time the customary units have been defined officially in terms of metric standards."

"In the 1970's there was a major effort to increase the use of the metric system, and Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 to speed this process along."

"In 1988, Congress passed the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act, which designates "the metric system of measurement as the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce." Among many other things, the act requires federal agencies to use metric measurements in nearly all of their activities, although there are still exceptions allowing traditional units to be used in documents intended for consumers."

So it seems the US has a long history on slowly plodding toward metric - indeed, it is defined as the standard system for the US. You just seem to have done an appallingly bad job of it.

I was, of course, not being serious. However, it's worth noting that several of those descriptors are in fact applicable given the right definition:

obsolete: 2. Outmoded in design, style, or construction;
primitive: 2b. Being little evolved from an early ancestral type.

Oddly the US is, technically, a metric country. Some selected quotes from this page on the history of metric measurements in the US:

"As a result, the U. S. has been "metric" since 1866, but only in the sense that Americans have been free since that time to use the metric system as much as they like."

"In 1875, the U.S. was one of the original signers of the Treaty of the Meter, which established the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM)."

"In 1893, Congress adopted the metric standards, the official meter and kilogram bars supplied by BIPM, as the standards for all measurement in the U.S. This didn't mean that metric units had to be used, but since that time the customary units have been defined officially in terms of metric standards."

"In the 1970's there was a major effort to increase the use of the metric system, and Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 to speed this process along."

"In 1988, Congress passed the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act, which designates "the metric system of measurement as the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce." Among many other things, the act requires federal agencies to use metric measurements in nearly all of their activities, although there are still exceptions allowing traditional units to be used in documents intended for consumers."

So it seems the US has a long history on slowly plodding toward metric - indeed, it is defined as the standard system for the US. You just seem to have done an appallingly bad job of it.

The net agrees: "fulfil" is a very obscure alternate spelling of "fulfill".

What's this about learning to spell?

The Hays code doesn't censor movies, it assigns them a rating. Within reason (i.e. no child porn), producers remain free to create whatever content they choose. They do so, however, with the understanding that certain content will not be viewable by children under a certain age.

It never ceases to amaze me how the "gamer crowd" completely discards the idea that maybe, just maybe, children shouldn't have access to all video game content and that maybe, just maybe, the industry should attempt to facilitate parents' roles as content filters. And do the opponents of video game ratings apply their logic consistently? Do they also oppose movie ratings, and age limits on the purchase of porn, cigarettes, alcohol and firearms?

After all, if "kids are going to do it anyway" and "it's entirely the parents' responsibility to limit access" then any artificial age limit is clearly redundant.