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Bowlderized? Is that rock-solid censorship?

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a), unless authorized by the owners of copyright in the sound recording or the owner of copyright in a computer program ..., neither the owner of a particular phonorecord nor any person in possession of a particular copy of a computer program ... may, for the purposes of direct or indirect commercial advantage, dispose of, or authorize the disposal of, the possession of that phonorecord or computer program ... by rental, lease, or lending, or by any other act or practice in the nature of rental, lease, or lending.

I disagree with you both, your both mired in the hope that this country's factory-worker brand of school system is the only road to success. In my Forties and a graduate of neither School or holder of a GED, I am making over 100k/yr. I have never been to prison and have no fear of screwing up. I am not living off family riches either. Useless later in life is those who only see what is before them. Lockstepped into roles and planned existences. It's a pallid dream I want nothing to do with.

Keep your idea I don't want the vile thing.

Tangible obviously does not mean what you think it means.* You can't touch your bank balance, you can't taste your bank balance, you can't keep your bank balance under lock and key. A bank balance is intangible, and I, for all my shit-for-brains, still believe it counts as property.

* Certain definitions fit bank balance, but they also fit IP equally well

Maybe it's an abbreviation of ad libitum .

These may be what you call "Death Throws?"

What's death throwing? A dictionary?

reasonable adj., adv. in law, just, rational, appropriate, ordinary or usual in the circumstances. It may refer to care, cause, compensation, doubt (in a criminal trial), and a host of other actions or activities.

At what point does UMG qualify as a "vexatious litigant"?

Hmm, it appears you're right

Usage Note: Flaunt as a transitive verb means "to exhibit ostentatiously": She flaunted her wealth. To flout is "to show contempt for": She flouted the proprieties. For some time now flaunt has been used in the sense "to show contempt for," even by educated users of English. This usage is still widely seen as erroneous and is best avoided.

Holy smokes! Isotopes everywhere!

I'm surprised they needed a detector to find something that, by definition, comprises all of matter.

No, the previous poster was correct. It is queue, as in the UK English word for a line. "Cue up" is an eggcorn.

1. To give a name or title to.
2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: The coupon entitles the bearer to a 25 percent savings. Every citizen is entitled to equal protection under the law.

1. give a title to
2. give a title to someone; make someone a member of the nobility
3. give the right to

1. To give a title to; to dignify by an honorary designation.
2. To bestow the right to do (to own, to demand, or to receive) something, to someone.
3. To give a title to a book, film, play, etc.

...what? I think you don't know what "SMP" stands for. It has nothing to do with big iron vs. consumer kit, and everything to do with the processor configuration. And SSI means nothing unambiguous as far as I can tell, at least in relation to CPU's. Perhaps you can help? The serious SGI kit you reference really only has a difference in the CPU architecture... it should scale just as well on Itanic as well as it does on x86/x86-64.

But I'm probably rising to a troll. Or an idiot. Or both.

Don't gase me, bro...

For example Betelgeuse is a read supergiant about 527 lightyears away. (the distance seems to be very unclear, one source says 586, another says 310, Google says 427, but one thing is at least clear IT'S THERE)

Anyway if that star decides to go supernova (or any other in our neighborhood) we will get a slight tan at least... And according to some experts Betelgeuse is ripe for blowing.

So it's likely that we are going to experience a supernova or any other stellar event that affects our world in a much more severe manner than we can do ourselves. The only question is when - and it is no idea to worry about it since we can do very little about it.

The [1] rejection of an offer to buy or sell that [2] makes a different offer during the course of negotiations, [3] changing the terms in some way.

Jesus says: Don't be a dick.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/neighbour

... but at least I can pretend to have a Harvard eduction.

I was all set to make a snide comment about the esteemed Mr. Taco's spelling and/or typing abilities, perhaps combined with a Billy Gates Harvard dropout reference, but then I Googled "eduction":

Eduction

*Sigh* I am NOT smarter than a fifth grader.

You don't "refute" evidence by saying it is "circumstantial". "Circumstantial" is a class of evidence, as opposed to "direct". Most evidence is circumstantial and most people are convicted on purely circumstantial evidence. DNA evidence is always circumstantial evidence, as is the someone possessing a gun matching the bullet embedded in the victim, someone possessing a knife covered with the victim's blood, and all manner of conviction-worthy things. For instance, Jeffrey Dahmer was convicted on purely circumstantial evidence. (As having the hacked up victim's body in your freezer is ALSO "circumstantial evidence".)

I wonder how the person who wrote that title feels about Microsoft?

It says absolutely nothing about how a person feels about Microsoft, though it does say something about your familiarity with the English language.

Hint: fishing ships troll.

This in an interesting piece of communication. The author has recently taken an interest in the BSA, including this recent article that promotes their Fear Uncertainty and Doubt message.

Quoted in the fine article are a director of enforcement for the BSA and as counterpoint noted analyst Laura DiDio. Ms. DiDio was originally famous for her role promoting the Amityville Horror hoax. These days she is perhaps better known for her astonishing (and curiously persistent) analysis of the SCO debacle in which she promoted SCO's position in front of the press and wound up a creditor in their bankruptcy(pdf) for her trouble. Her employer is alternately given as Yankee Group and G2 Computer Intelligence.

One can only wonder whether Erika Chikowski bothered to check her sources or if this is a case of envelope journalism.

I read all the way through the article. I want my five minutes back.

If you're going to trudge through it at least skip the ads and vote it down.

In 2002 scandal broke out when it was found that a European Commission proposal on software patents was actually written by a BSA official, as discovered by whistleblowers who found evidence in the Microsoft.

And this would be a worthwhile part of the article if she hadn't omitted the final "Word document".

This in an interesting piece of communication. The author has recently taken an interest in the BSA, including this recent article that promotes their Fear Uncertainty and Doubt message.

Quoted in the fine article are a director of enforcement for the BSA and as counterpoint noted analyst Laura DiDio. Ms. DiDio was originally famous for her role promoting the Amityville Horror hoax. These days she is perhaps better known for her astonishing (and curiously persistent) analysis of the SCO debacle in which she promoted SCO's position in front of the press and wound up a creditor in their bankruptcy(pdf) for her trouble. Her employer is alternately given as Yankee Group and G2 Computer Intelligence.

One can only wonder whether Erika Chikowski bothered to check her sources or if this is a case of envelope journalism.

I read all the way through the article. I want my five minutes back.

If you're going to trudge through it at least skip the ads and vote it down.

In 2002 scandal broke out when it was found that a European Commission proposal on software patents was actually written by a BSA official, as discovered by whistleblowers who found evidence in the Microsoft.

And this would be a worthwhile part of the article if she hadn't omitted the final "Word document".

This in an interesting piece of communication. The author has recently taken an interest in the BSA, including this recent article that promotes their Fear Uncertainty and Doubt message.

Quoted in the fine article are a director of enforcement for the BSA and as counterpoint noted analyst Laura DiDio. Ms. DiDio was originally famous for her role promoting the Amityville Horror hoax. These days she is perhaps better known for her astonishing (and curiously persistent) analysis of the SCO debacle in which she promoted SCO's position in front of the press and wound up a creditor in their bankruptcy(pdf) for her trouble. Her employer is alternately given as Yankee Group and G2 Computer Intelligence.

One can only wonder whether Erika Chikowski bothered to check her sources or if this is a case of envelope journalism.

I read all the way through the article. I want my five minutes back.

If you're going to trudge through it at least skip the ads and vote it down.

In 2002 scandal broke out when it was found that a European Commission proposal on software patents was actually written by a BSA official, as discovered by whistleblowers who found evidence in the Microsoft.

And this would be a worthwhile part of the article if she hadn't omitted the final "Word document".

Those newfangled document databases utilize MapReduce to gather records. I'm guessing that's what the article is about.

Explaining repos isn't particularly hard, I'm a Linux noob, but that has nothing to do with understanding repos. "Repos is short for repository" and it's exactly what's it's called.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/repository

So a software repository's meaning should follow immediately from the combination of the two normal english words.

"It's a list of things you want your computer to do. Check what you want, then click install and it'll do it for you."

That said, explaining what repos are isn't the problem. Explaining how to install things when they're not in a repo or how to find the right repos and prioritizing them properly is the hard part.

Common use is the only way in which words are formed. Even a coinage depends on its common usage in order to flourish. Therefore, what you are suggesting to do(to reject common usage) is to stagnate our language, make it a breeding ground for foul things. Better to stir it a little, and at least enjoy it for the little while it lasts. The dictionary-makers define misused, as of a word, as a word said to be misused. If there is no intent to create a word or new meaning(since the old meaning is ancient, the new meaning middle-aged). The usage panel(66%) accepts the usage for people(Here), but not things. Yet in the thesaurus of that very same dictionary I linked to, the synonyms-- annihilate, etc-- are perfectly suitable for things. Why should not decimate expand its usage to things, then? The English language is plenty big enough, the countries with it plenty wide enough, to accommodate such a meaning. Do we use the word "myriad" to mean "10,000"? Does "inculcate" still mean "trample"? Words change.

"Indoctrination is the process of inculcating ideas, attitudes, cognitive strategies or a professional methodology. It is often distinguished from education by the fact that the indoctrinated person is expected not to question or critically examine the doctrine they have learned." -- Indoctrination, on Wikipedia

"To instruct in a body of doctrine or principles." indoctrinate, from thefreedictionary.com

What is NCLB all about? Why, standardized testing at the federal level (because even though lots of states have standardized testing, the federal government has taken it upon itself to further standardize standardization). And what happens if you don't give enough "right" answers on tests? You're held back, possibly even deprived of a diploma. What happens if you're inquisitive and ask a lot of questions? You're considered a disturbance, but if you're lucky, you get moved away from the "normal" kids into a "Gifted and Talented" class where you're given more flexibility to do your own research and find your own answers.

For better or worse, most children aren't nurtured to *want* to learn. Instead, children are forced into classrooms and assigned a collection of facts/methods to be further recalled in the near future. Now, through it all, there is *some* leeway to ask questions, and the closer children come to adulthood the more flexability is given to them on what to learn; but, it is not until college that there is significant liberation to learning (a college services as a limited market place of ideas; colleges together severe as a better market place of ideas; the world at large can be a great market place of ideas, but colleges serve as a place to increase the probability of running into people who want to exchange ideas).

Of course, all of this isn't necessarily a horrible thing. Some indoctrination has to occur, reasonably, for a people to maintain a common language. And perhaps even the most reasonable curious child doesn't have the foresight to learn math before they try to learn economics. But, perhaps a system to help guide children instead of, well, indoctrinating them would be better.

So, like it or not, but the DoE does engage in indoctrination. And the DoE has moved further and further into pushing for it (not only at the behest of Bush). Now, how pejoratively you want to take that indoctrination is up to you. I mean, as ironically as the DoD's name is, I do believe there are times for war. So, the list wasn't 100% pejorative. It was mostly meant to be a bit snarky.

PS - The DoE's funding was "diverted" for war just about as much as we're actually paying (not borrowing) for the war in Iraq. Ie, it's all some pretty math on paper and a <sarcasm>great</sarcasm> excuse, but it has no real logic basis in reality.

10 fold means "10 times as much". And "markup" is the amount added to a cost price in calculating a selling price, so if cost price is CP, selling price (SP) is 20, and markup is 10*CP, then SP=(CP + 10*CP) gives 2.00 = 11*CP or CP = 2.00/11 or around 18 cents. Which I think is quite possible for a Chinese-manufactured printer cable in bulk.

Or do you know a different definition for 10 fold?

10 fold means "10 times as much". And "markup" is the amount added to a cost price in calculating a selling price, so if cost price is CP, selling price (SP) is 20, and markup is 10*CP, then SP=(CP + 10*CP) gives 2.00 = 11*CP or CP = 2.00/11 or around 18 cents. Which I think is quite possible for a Chinese-manufactured printer cable in bulk.

Or do you know a different definition for 10 fold?

I wasn't sure what FTFA meant, so I looked it up.

So now I'm trying to figure out what this has to do with the Filipino Task Force on AIDS

Snakes on a blog? Sorry, I wasn't familiar with the term, so I had to look it up: http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/SOAB

And yet....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_multiplier
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/force+multiplier
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/10/green.htm
http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/jfq_pubs/4012.pdf
http://https//www.maxwell.af.mil/au/2025/volume3/chap15/v3c15-1.htm

The first five hits in Google for Force Multiplier are directly referring to combat operations, with the exception of the article talking about Wesley Clark - who just happens to be a General.

It seems to me that I'm perfectly aware of its proper usage. It also seems to me that some people delight in using $5 words when a nickel word would have been perfectly sufficient, or to claim credibility by using professional jargon in every-day discussions.

Dear AC: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/begged+the+question STFU.

Actually, if you look irony up in a few online dictionaries, you'll find that "unexpected outcome of events" is now an accepted meaning.

It's still a disputed meaning, to be sure, but then I remember hearing "ain't is not a word!" growing up. I never hear that at all anymore. Now it's informal. I imagine most contractions were at one point.

English is not a dead language.

How about you try pulling that grammar stick out of your ass, and actually go read the article you linked to... I used the phrase "begs the question" correctly.

"Begs the question" is commonly used[1] to mean "raises the question"

following link [1] http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/begged+the+question

beg the question
1. to cause a particular question to be asked. Cyber adventurers can even climb a mountain, which begs the question of how can someone at a keyboard take a hike?
2. to fail to answer a particular question. Everyone agrees we have to cut spending, but this proposal begs the question, What do we cut?

You are confused because the wikipedia article is very poorly written, and is primarily about a loosely related specific type of common logical fallacy. If you bothered to actually understand the article you linked, you would have realized that it is not arguing the proper usage of the phrase, but rather trying to explain a concept in the field of logic called "begging the question" a.k.a. petitio principii.

Let me think about that for a sec...

Windows Mobile is essentially Windows CE + .NET ES.
.NET ES is a bytecode interpreter platform for VB, C#, J#, etc.
ergo, by postulate "Java means Real slow phones,"
Windows Mobile also means real slow phones.

Anyone have a problem with that? :)

Seriously, both .NET and Java are pretty mixed when it comes to real world performance and memory usage. In a tiny app I wrote as an experiment in C#, I found .NET about 10% faster and 20% less memory efficient than the Java app it was based on. I've read .NET apps outperform java memory-wise in some real world conditions, as well as .NET having a problem with hitting memory bounds (and running very slow or crashing) much faster than java so as we say in the industry, YMWV. Both are generally about 10%-30% slower than C/C++, and both require memory tweaking by the programmer at times. For most mobile uses, this will be a non-issue - either is fast enough, and most apps won't put too much stress on available memory.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fragmentized
fragmentize (frgmn-tz)
tr. & intr.v. fragmentized, fragmentizing, fragmentizes
To break or become broken into fragments.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000

"IMHO MoFo should be reorganized..."

To many people, MoFo means something offensive. Perhaps MozFo would be better.

Two things seem to have affected MozFo: 1) It is headed by someone with no technical experience, Winifred Mitchell Baker. 2) Google has been giving MozFo $50,000,000 per year because Google search is the default search engine.

I would very much like to hear more about what's happening with MozFo.

I had read three supposedly fact-packed paragraphs at the top and still didn't know what it is. For a useful down-to-the-point introduction, with the experience of three-minute googling I'd recommend those:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/reductio+ad+absurdum
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=reductio%20ad%20absurdum