Domain: thefreedictionary.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to thefreedictionary.com.
Comments · 1,339
-
Re:to be expected
What are you talking about? Here's its entry in a dictionary from the year 1806. Please don't give the rest of us spelling/grammar Nazis a bad name.
Excuse me, but the proper term is "Logomachist".
-
Re:Expectable?
What is wrong with you people today?
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Expectable -
Re:quantum entanglement -- my brain to wind ?
What are tares
"Any of several weedy plants that grow in grain fields." -- http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tare
and what does "lest while ye" mean?
The sentence would be approximately "But he said: 'No, out of fear that while you root the weeds you also root up the wheat with them.'" Ie. "lest" is used to denote the fear or danger of something happening.
-
Re:VMs
Accurate ntp installs indeed use the system clock and rely on it. They just change the frequency on how often OS time is ticked based on information received through the network from other ntp servers.
Ntp in a VM could work under 2 conditions:
1) The VM has raw access to the system clock or a pretty good abstraction of it. VMware has had problems with that.
2) The ntp guest VM process runs at nice -10 to nice -15, and ionice RT while at it ;-)Nevertheless, no ntp will run accurately with a poor physical system clock, more commonly called an oscillator.
-
Re:Bad faith
pedantic
Not sure if you know what that word means.
Hmm, apparently I did not!
There's a similar word to pedantic that I probably meant to use, but it eludes me at the moment. -
Re:Bad faith
pedantic
Not sure if you know what that word means.
Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules: a pedantic
Apple is anything but concerned for formal rules or book learning. Quite to the contrary, they openly flaunt their abuse of the rules. Especially considering their handling of the recent UK court decision.
-
Re:iSore?
I don't know, it looks more like an iSore to me.
A two word description, sterile and boring. If you turned that in as a final design for design school I'd expect to flunk. Even the placement of the iMacs lacks imagination. I thought they'd be built in not sitting in a row blocking the window. A design fail on every level.
You mean they shouldn't be where everybody puts monitors on a bridge because it makes fucking sense? Well, thanks for that insight into the mind of Interface Designers In Open Timoneer Service.
-
Sure sounds like it
"Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person's reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person." From: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Defamation+of+character
It really is a slimy piece of shit move to compare someone to Sandusky because they were at Penn under the same umbrella. This definitely harms his reputation and if you believe it then certainly you will have disagreeable opinions and feelings towards him. He's a scientist who interpreted data in a controversial way that is argued among academics, he certainly didn't rape innocent children in the showers. -
Re:Why?
I wasn't commenting on the chaos that would ensue if these were widely available to every wannabe pirate radio hax0r or anarchist. I agree that would be a CB-esque mess. I was commenting on how hard it would be for 'Big Brother' to embed a hidden serial number in the transmitted waveform to track users for their own governmental nefarious purposes. Anyone with a pair of these could easily see the secret modulation.
most people who are likely to use this will be transmitting their call sign every time they broadcast.
If by 'most people' you mean amateur radio operators, then I heartily agree (although we are not allowed to 'broadcast' in the common definition of the word). -
Re:Desperation breeds war.NK isn't a theocracy
Well, not in the usual sense of following an invisible man in the sky. However, they do have a strong civic religion based on the manufactured myth of the Dear Leader (who, now being dead, is sort of a 'invisible man in the sky'), so FAIL1.
and doesn't support terrorist organizations.
Considering its endless hysterical posturing toward South Korea which has been ongoing for 50 years, along with various strange little attacks over the past 5 decades, I'd say that North Korea *is* a terrorist organization (albeit a rather pitiful and impotent one), so FAIL2.
Any other half-ass propaganda you'd care to pass along, Mr. Anonymous Coward?
-
Re:Let them
infinitesimally
-
Re:Another Double Standard
and chant dept to America.
dept?
Department to America!
Department to America!
Department to America! -
Re:My biggest fear
-
Re:Again
In use for a subset of people who used "hair" to spell the rabbity thing.
-
IPV12 Openprojects - Freenode
When I was oper on OpenProjects.net now freenode I campaigned for IPV12 or 16 pushing forward the argument that IPV6 was rather short sightedness and that was 10 years ago. Some people did not like my ideas and I was booted as my ideas were too "Outlandish".
It appears that anything descent gets "scotched" http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Scotching (please refer to definition Scotch1) "1. To put an abrupt end to: The prime minister scotched the rumors of her illness with a public appearance".
Nonetheless, this issue raises its ugly head once again.
-
Re:Water, or some other fluid?Carbon dioxide. Fluids don't have to be liquids.
A continuous, amorphous substance whose molecules move freely past one another and that has the tendency to assume the shape of its container; a liquid or gas.
If the stream bed is a billion years old and has carbon dioxide repeatedly flood it, it may well have well-worked stones like what are seen. Yes, I do think that the idea is something of a stretch, but it needs to be ruled out.
-
First of all ...
... I take exception at Torvalds singling out Mormons as bat shit crazy. All religions are bat shit crazy. Each in their own very special way.Airplane windows do open The ones in the cockpit, that is. So the important people can get out. All you SLF can just stand in line for the emergency exits. Sort of like how the economy works.
-
Re:Not reasonable
I'm not so sure. I strongly suspect that you would have a REALLY difficult time with your insurance company if you they somehow found out you left the key in the ignition of your unlocked car when it was stolen. I have some real suspicion that you would be at risk of contributory fault due to negligence, as well, if the thief used your car in the commission of a crime or civil infraction involving large monetary damage (think "crashes through somebody's living room").
I'll give you a better case. If you live in a state which demands your firearms be stored in a lockup at all times when not in use, I KNOW you would be in BIG, BIG trouble if you left the key in the lock of your gun safe, someone BROKE AND ENTERED, STOLE one of your firearms, and used it in the commission of some crime.
As to not locking your front door, I'll give you that one, but how about this? How if you left the front door standing open? Legally, that removes the breaking from "breaking and entering" because the property is now viewed as "open to enter".
-
Re:Deport NOT Extradite
-
Re:Stop with the parenthesis, technical people!
You do mean the NSR, right?
:-D -
Re:Innovation
"In the long term, something is innovative if we cannot live our daily lives without it."
You're changing definitions to suit your viewpoint just like MBAs do.
An innovation is something new. It doesn't have to be big, it doesn't even have to be better, although the word usually carries that connotation, it just has to be new. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/innovation
Designing a web site is generally not innovative. Being the first to use popunders is (although it's also evil).
-
Re:Not so many lulz now
Inordinate length of prison sentence does fall under the cruel and unusual punishment provision: "In Solem v. Helm, 463 U.S. 277, 103 S. Ct. 3001, 77 L. Ed. 2d 637 (1983), the Court applied its proportionality analysis to felony prison sentences. In Solem, the defendant had passed a bad check in the amount of $100. Although this crime ordinarily would be punishable by a maximum five-year sentence, the defendant had been sentenced to life imprisonment without Parole because of six prior felony convictions. The Court held that the sentence was significantly disproportionate to the defendant's crime and that it was thus prohibited by the Eighth Amendment." - http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Cruel+and+Unusual+Punishment
-
Re:Lies
mutilate (mytl-t)
tr.v. mutilated, mutilating, mutilates
1. To deprive of a limb or an essential part; cripple.
2. To disfigure by damaging irreparably: mutilate a statue. See Synonyms at batter1.
3. To make imperfect by excising or altering parts.i would say it fits into all 3, some may disagree on some of these but you can't say it doesnt fit at least one of these definitions.
-
Re:That's nice
"Most of the stuff Manning revealed didn't provide any evidence of wrongdoing, so he's not protected as a whistleblower."
I must have missed the evidentiary hearing. When did it happen and where? Also, you do realize that if most of the stuff didn't reveal wrongdoing, that also means that some of the stuff did, right?
-
Re:$3000 every 1-3 years. Right.
-
Re:Nice tagline...
Now I understand where the word "dickwad" comes from.
-
Re:Several states
It's a race for dominance as the stupidest state in the nation.
Most stupid; 'stupidest' is not a word.
It is a word http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stupidest stupid (stpd, sty-) adj. stupider, stupidest 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied. 5. Pointless; worthless: a stupid job. n.
Well, heck, it's on the internet, so it must be true!
Seriously, though, I don't care what thefreedictionary.com says, "stupider" and "stupidest" are not fucking words. Ask an English teacher. -
Re:Several states
It's a race for dominance as the stupidest state in the nation.
Most stupid; 'stupidest' is not a word.
It is a word http://www.thefreedictionary.com/stupidest stupid (stpd, sty-) adj. stupider, stupidest 1. Slow to learn or understand; obtuse. 2. Tending to make poor decisions or careless mistakes. 3. Marked by a lack of intelligence or care; foolish or careless: a stupid mistake. 4. Dazed, stunned, or stupefied. 5. Pointless; worthless: a stupid job. n.
-
Re:What happened to the days of hitmen?
If you want to quibble about the source then go to the original sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOGoZFzHkhs
http://www.iam-magazine.com/blog/detail.aspx?g=cff2afd3-c24e-42e5-aa68-a4b4e7524177Or more than one dictionary:
http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/patent+troll
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/patent-troll.html
http://www.techopedia.com/definition/28564/patent-troll
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/patent-troll
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=patent+trollAnyway, the dictionary.com definition doesn't describe Apple either.
-
Re:And in countries where it's legal?
while I like your comment otherwise, "exponantially more" is just meaningless.
"Exponentially" does not necessarily imply an increase, but rather that the figure in question has or is related to an exponent.
Also, you misspelled it. -
Re:Shills aren't new
Actually, it predates "Little Billy" by more than 100 years. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hornswoggle
-
Re:The Answer for $5M
Death can be reversible or non reversible.
<face-palm> Sorry, no. Just no. I don't care if you're an MD; words have meaning. If a person's heart stops and you revive him by cardio resuscitation, you are not reanimating a dead person. You are stopping a person from dying. I'll lay heavy odds that you would do the right thing if the patient's heart and breathing stop and the patient loses consciousness, because I have high regard and respect for anyone who has successfully passed through the grueling process of becoming a medical doctor. But I would argue that proper use of terms is particularly important in the field.
Wikipedia: "Death is the cessation or permanent termination of all biological functions that sustain a living organism." Cessation; not interruption.
Merriam-Webster.com: "a permanent cessation of all vital functions: the end of life."
Dictionary.com: "the end of life; the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism."
MedicalDictionary.theFreeDictionary.com: "Death is defined as the cessation of all vital functions of the body including the heartbeat, brain activity (including the brain stem), and breathing." Cessation, not interruption.
Euthanasia.procon.org: "the cessation of life; permanent cessation of all vital bodily functions. For legal and medical purposes, the following definition of death has been proposed-the irreversible cessation of all of the following: (1) total cerebral function, usually assessed by EEG as flat-line (2) spontaneous function of the respiratory system, and (3) spontaneous function of the circulatory system..." There are those pesky words again, permanent and irreversible.
The Definition of Death (Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy: "According to the organismic definition, death is the irreversible loss of functioning of the organism as a whole (Becker 1975; Bernat, Culver, and Gert 1981)."
... "According to the mainstream whole-brain approach, the human brain plays the crucial role of integrating major bodily functions so only the death of the entire brain is necessary and sufficient for a human being's death (Bernat, Culver, and Gert 1981)." ... "According to the higher-brain standard, human death is the irreversible cessation of the capacity for consciousness...Although no jurisdiction has adopted the higher-brain standard, it enjoys the support of many scholars (see, e.g., Veatch 1975; Engelhardt 1975; Green and Wikler 1980; Gervais 1986; Bartlett and Youngner 1988; Puccetti 1988; Rich 1997; and Baker 2000)." Each of those three definitions shares the necessary component of "irreversible". -
Re:Mathematics is a tool
-
Re:Al Gore
Which, funnily enough, is almost exactly what he said. People love to misremember what he said, and then hold them accountable for what they wish he said.
During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet.
I was actually watching that interview when he said that, and I nearly lost a mouthful of soda. He claimed to have created the internet. Read what you pasted above. I agree that he directed funding and supported it, but he did not create it.
And note that "initiative" in the statement above cannot be a "congressional initiative" because it's part of the idiomatic phrase "took the initiative". One cannot "take" a congressional initiative.
-
Re:Translation please
What does "cut the cord" mean?
In this case, it's unclear without careful reading and used poorly. Dictionary reference for normal usage:
1. "cut the (umbilical) cord to stop needing someone else to look after you and start acting independently"
2. "to end support of someone or something, esp. financial support"
So what "cord" is the author referring to? Based on the article, it seems to be his subscription to television services:
"I cut the cord to save money. I live in Los Angeles and pay Time Warner $84.94 (plus $6.56 tax and fees) for telephone service and Internet connectivity at "up to" 20 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload speed. Adding digital TV to round out the triple play would cost me an additional $58.99 per month -- just about what I paid for my Roku box."
-
Re:Let me get this straight
They have no business reason to support people who do not purchase the new operating system.
Actually, they do. Microsoft might wish to avoid being prosecuted for a Clayton Act Violation. (Tying.)
-
Re:there is no wall at goldman sachs
examples of where Goldman 'analysts' or 'consultants' were wishy washy with the 'trading' folks
I don't think that word means what you think it means, if you think it means "friendly with".
adj Informal
1. lacking in substance, force, colour, etc.
2. watery; thinAdj. 1. wishy-washy - weak in willpower, courage or vitality
namby-pamby, spineless, gutless
weak - wanting in physical strength; "a weak pillar" -
Re:It's SENSATIONAL! But also kind of BORING!
-
Re:It's SENSATIONAL! But also kind of BORING!
-
Re:Assange is not hiding.
'hiding' is exactly what he is doing, it has more than one meaning:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hiding
v.intr.
2. To seek refuge. -
Re:Predictably...
Right. We have a word for a "person" who is solely concerned for profit and whose "speech" is only concerned with inducing others to give them money.
That word is sociopath.
Since corporations are people entitled to free speech, it's instructive to compare the requirement that corporations MUST invest their money and conduct themselves ONLY for the the purpose of maximizing profits for themselves and their shareholders , as opposed to helping other people or serving some abstract good::
with the definition of sociopath:
From http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Sociopathic+personality+disorder
A condition characterized by repetitive behavioral patterns that are contrary to usual moral and ethical standards and cause a person to experience continuous conflict with society.
Symptoms include aggression, callousness, impulsiveness, irresponsibility, hostility, a low frustration level, marked emotional immaturity, and poor judgment.
A person who has this disorder overlooks the rights of others, is incapable of loyalty to others or to social values, is unable to experience guilt or to learn from past behaviors, is impervious to punishment, and tends to rationalize his or her behavior or to blame it on others. Also called antisocial reaction
...Oh and one more thing that differentiates this sociopath from real humans- it's rich beyond 99.9999% of humans and it never dies.
In a more romantic time, Mary Shelly called this Frankenstein.
-
Re:The trick?
This is not automatically entrapment. The sting is just like a drugs for sale or prostitution on a street corner. Undercover cop wearing a wire and being videotaped by concealed police sits on stragetic street corner known to be hot with drugs or prostitution. The undercover cop is dressed to bait the individual seeking the drugs/services they believe the undercover is there to provide. When the individual atempts to solicit for purchase the drugs/services they are arrested for that crime.
It is only entrapment if the person is induced to commit a crime "he or she is not previously disposed to commit".
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/entrapmentAn important and often argued point.
-
Re:Wtf?
What defines sentience?
A dictionary or an encyclopedia.
What makes a computer "just a tool" that cannot also be applied to a human being "just a tool"?
The same thing that makes an automobile just a tool and a person not. Look at the wikipedia link. If you understand logic gates, how an ALU works, and how to program a computer using a low lwvel language like assembly, you know that computers aren't sentient. -
Re:Please fight "civilized"
Yes; the only way to win a total brutal war is to make sure there is no international community left, just a "Gross-Germania". See for instance the Ost Plan which aimed to turn Eastern Europe into German fiefs where all non-Germans would be enslaved or exterminated.
-
Re:So....
I haven't found the article, but I am pretty sure it was about different criteria that police reported homicide. This won't be completely conclusive, but I've done a little bit of digging into how the UK defines it and how the US defines it.
- http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99/rp99-056.pdf: "Homicide in England and Wales includes the offences of murder, manslaughter and infanticide."
- http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/homicide: Defines homicide as "the killing of a human being due to the act or omission of another. Included among homicides are murder and manslaughter, but not all homicides are a crime, particularly when there is a lack of criminal intent. Non-criminal homicides include killing in self-defense, a misadventure like a hunting accident or automobile wreck without a violation of law like reckless driving, or legal (government) execution. Suicide is a homicide, but in most cases there is no one to prosecute if the suicide is successful. Assisting or attempting suicide can be a crime." I believe this is more along the lines of how the US categorizes it... I will continue to search for more on this. It probably varies by state.
I realize this isn't very detailed, but perhaps it offers some other possibilities. Statistics are unreliable and governments have a tendency of changing how they collect data to coincide with a recent change to make it appear as if some political move actually had a positive impact.
-
Re:Their work, their say.
Different rules, invalid comparison.
This is never going to end, because we are going around in circles. My final comment would be to suggest that you look up the definition of the word analogy and see that it describes a similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar. Copyright and patents do not need to be 100% agreement for an analogy to take place, especially when the differences do not alter the intent of the original statement.
-
Re:Who proved the collision was an accident?
I don't think anyone was trying to claim that he intentionally ran them over. By my understanding of the word and many of the definitions , this would be correctly classed as an accident.
-
Stop trying to teach what you don't understand
"Opting in means you're asking Google to visit your site. "
Right. That is exactly what I said. The standard for the internet is well defined. You should read about it. If you make a web page available to the internet without a password, captcha or firewall, etc. you are making it available to all. You have already purposely accepted the condition ahead of time. This is opting in. The robots.txt allows you to opt-out instead. If you opt in by placing it on the internet available to web crawlers and not opting-out with a robots.txt entry, you opt-in to having that data accessible to all, including but by no means limited, to Googlebot.
-
Re:Clarify
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/malicious+prosecution
I am guessing they take it more seriously in the UK than the US giving the wider latitude people have in bringing criminal charges.
-
Re:The 21st century formula for a successful compa
This is incorrect. The use of "one" as a pronoun refers to "an indefinitely specified" individual or "anyone". In this case, the use was for a very specific person (the CEO of HP). It wasn't just anyone. It is convention in English to either use "they" or "he" for such a person of unknown gender. In recent years, people have begun using "she," "he or she," "he/she" and other different forms. Quite frankly, the issue is boring. Please let it go.