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In common parlance, the median is a kind of average.

average (plural averages)

5. (statistics) "Any measure of central tendency, especially any mean, the median, or the mode."

Teaching evolution shouldn't be an issue. I think the standard is getting permission, and if a student/parent isn't comfortable, they don't have to be in the class at the time. Unless they're making it involuntary with no opt-out.

Standard should be it gets taught and if the student/parent is uncomfortable with evidence backed science then they can home school their child. I really have no patience for making special accommodations for people's superstitions. I think Newton's flaming laser sword should apply here.

As for climate change, that's a bit more controversial. There's the issue of whether it's man-made or not, or perhaps in part.

It's only controversial in the minds of those who would prefer it not be true regardless of what the evidence actually shows. Every credible piece of evidence appears to support the thesis that activities of mankind are having substantial and measurable effects. Whether mankind is responsible for 100% or some amount less kind of misses the point. The point is that we appear to be responsible for FAR more than 0% of the recent rise in temperatures and other climatic effects.

I don't know what they mean by, "teachers will be required to address climate change". If it's a discussion, that's fine. If they teach that it's 100% caused by humans, that's a problem. They need to talk about all viewpoints along with the scientific data that indicates a changing climate.

If the evidence shows that it is human caused then that is what should be taught. So far it appears the evidence overwhelmingly supports the thesis that human activity is the source of much of the recent rise in global temperatures and other climatic changes. Personal opinion on the matter is irrelevant. Science doesn't work on opinion and there are not two sides to every argument. You don't study viewpoints that are unsupported by data.

It won't. This is about contractors who wander from gig to gig, likely many of them different every single week. Think about, say, plumbers.

Contractors already include the cost of travel to/from the client in their business contract. This is about employees, not contractors:

contractor: person hired to do a job on a business contract, as opposed to a permanent employee.

err. It isn't "Mt. Denali", it's just "Denali." If it's any help, nothing will need to be changed locally. I've not heard any but tourists, or the odd cheechako refer to it as Mt. McKinley.

You don't need the translations for the names, you need them for the ballot initiatives. School bonds and the like.

That's actually what I was thinking of when I said 'sections'.

I could figure out the "important" elections like president, governor, federal and state congressional elections even if they were in Spanish, for example, by name recognition. Japanese would be... tougher. ;)

In Spanish, it should be concerning if you have to rely upon name recognition to figure out which election is which there. President in Spanish is presidente, governor is gobernador, representative is representante, and senator is senador. Most of this list appears to remain pretty recognizable throughout Europe, and definitely in the five major Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian). Most of that list appears to be understandable even if you move to Russian.

Japanese actually would be among the easier of the more exotic languages, as it regularly uses four script systems--and this would be one of the rare upsides, actually. Name recognition probably will get you through as long as the names are left in romanji (read: the Latin alphabet), and if transliterated it'd be in katakana which is phonetic. (It's relatively easily memorized, however some fonts are easier to distinguish some pairs in such as shi and tsu.) However, other Asian languages might be a problem, as well as Arabic and Russian.

You don't need the translations for the names, you need them for the ballot initiatives. School bonds and the like.

That's actually what I was thinking of when I said 'sections'.

I could figure out the "important" elections like president, governor, federal and state congressional elections even if they were in Spanish, for example, by name recognition. Japanese would be... tougher. ;)

In Spanish, it should be concerning if you have to rely upon name recognition to figure out which election is which there. President in Spanish is presidente, governor is gobernador, representative is representante, and senator is senador. Most of this list appears to remain pretty recognizable throughout Europe, and definitely in the five major Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian). Most of that list appears to be understandable even if you move to Russian.

Japanese actually would be among the easier of the more exotic languages, as it regularly uses four script systems--and this would be one of the rare upsides, actually. Name recognition probably will get you through as long as the names are left in romanji (read: the Latin alphabet), and if transliterated it'd be in katakana which is phonetic. (It's relatively easily memorized, however some fonts are easier to distinguish some pairs in such as shi and tsu.) However, other Asian languages might be a problem, as well as Arabic and Russian.

You don't need the translations for the names, you need them for the ballot initiatives. School bonds and the like.

That's actually what I was thinking of when I said 'sections'.

I could figure out the "important" elections like president, governor, federal and state congressional elections even if they were in Spanish, for example, by name recognition. Japanese would be... tougher. ;)

In Spanish, it should be concerning if you have to rely upon name recognition to figure out which election is which there. President in Spanish is presidente, governor is gobernador, representative is representante, and senator is senador. Most of this list appears to remain pretty recognizable throughout Europe, and definitely in the five major Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian). Most of that list appears to be understandable even if you move to Russian.

Japanese actually would be among the easier of the more exotic languages, as it regularly uses four script systems--and this would be one of the rare upsides, actually. Name recognition probably will get you through as long as the names are left in romanji (read: the Latin alphabet), and if transliterated it'd be in katakana which is phonetic. (It's relatively easily memorized, however some fonts are easier to distinguish some pairs in such as shi and tsu.) However, other Asian languages might be a problem, as well as Arabic and Russian.

You don't need the translations for the names, you need them for the ballot initiatives. School bonds and the like.

That's actually what I was thinking of when I said 'sections'.

I could figure out the "important" elections like president, governor, federal and state congressional elections even if they were in Spanish, for example, by name recognition. Japanese would be... tougher. ;)

In Spanish, it should be concerning if you have to rely upon name recognition to figure out which election is which there. President in Spanish is presidente, governor is gobernador, representative is representante, and senator is senador. Most of this list appears to remain pretty recognizable throughout Europe, and definitely in the five major Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian). Most of that list appears to be understandable even if you move to Russian.

Japanese actually would be among the easier of the more exotic languages, as it regularly uses four script systems--and this would be one of the rare upsides, actually. Name recognition probably will get you through as long as the names are left in romanji (read: the Latin alphabet), and if transliterated it'd be in katakana which is phonetic. (It's relatively easily memorized, however some fonts are easier to distinguish some pairs in such as shi and tsu.) However, other Asian languages might be a problem, as well as Arabic and Russian.

If there's a "pancake face", it's Americans who wear too much makeup, or perhaps Americans who overindulge at IHOP, Bob Evans, and Denny's. And any country is a "gook", as guk is just the Sino-Korean word for a country, akin to Mandarin guó, Sino-Japanese koku, and Vietnamese quô'c.

I am Estonian; I play English scrabble; many words I use have no meaning to me but I know they exist within the context of the game.

Every (semi-decent) player knows all two-letter combinations that are essential for putting longer words in parallel.
Give them a look: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki...
How many of those would you consider as a "word"?

dodge current legal frameworks

uber's entire business model in four words.

___

uber itself in one captcha: sinister

for you uber fucktard fanbois.. it's definition 2 here that applies. i shouldn't have to spell it out, but, you know.. uber fanbois are not the most brilliant minds the earth has ever seen.

Google result for epicness: "About 987,000 results"

From its Wiktionary entry: "The quality or state of being epic."

The split infinitive argument really has the potential to be much more fun, though, so I'd prefer you address that one. There's really no possible way to be against them without falling back on some very silly authoritarian and/or Romantic ideas.

as a "citizen"

The United Kingdom does not have any citizens; they are "subjects of the crown". Even wiktionary defines citizen as "a member of a state that is not a monarchy". This places such persons in an interesting dilemma, to be sure, since a subject is one who owes allegiance to his/her liege.

Dogshit, albeit in some small ways, is useful.

Indeed (Purefinder - a person who picks up dog feces to sell to a tannery, 18th Century Europe)

This is even obvious in the terminology used - state in every other part of the world means country but in the US its what others would call a providence.

You're not just wrong, you're doubly wrong. "Providence" comes from the same root as "provide", and means either divine intervention or management of resources. You're thinking of "province", which is what Canada calls most of their regions. And Germany also calls their regions "states", as does Australia (which, just like the US, has some which are "states" and some which are "territories"; Guam, Micronesia, and Puerto Rico are US territories but not (yet) states, just like Alaska and Hawaii and Arizona used to be). And I can't think of any other country in the world besides Canada that uses the term "province". In Japan, regions are called "prefectures". In England, they're called "counties".

It's worth noting that Germany is also, in fact, a product of a group of independent states unifying in modern times, as is Italy. Italy, though, has 'regions' as their top administrative division, which are further divided into 'counties.'

Meanwhile, of the ones that use a term for their top administrative division that translates to 'province,' a quick check of Wikipedia finds that while a lot do use that or a term whose customary translation is 'province,' it's by no means universal and the original complaint misses that the US is historically a union of states--of the small-s type that I used above, that is the kind being talked about when somebody talks about a sovereign state.

(If you want to check around Wikipedia yourself, the term you need is 'administrative division.' Have fun.)

This is even obvious in the terminology used - state in every other part of the world means country but in the US its what others would call a providence.

You're not just wrong, you're doubly wrong. "Providence" comes from the same root as "provide", and means either divine intervention or management of resources. You're thinking of "province", which is what Canada calls most of their regions. And Germany also calls their regions "states", as does Australia (which, just like the US, has some which are "states" and some which are "territories"; Guam, Micronesia, and Puerto Rico are US territories but not (yet) states, just like Alaska and Hawaii and Arizona used to be). And I can't think of any other country in the world besides Canada that uses the term "province". In Japan, regions are called "prefectures". In England, they're called "counties".

Smoking isn't a crisis. Lung cancer is the crisis. Smoking is a bad decision that can lead to a crisis. Crisis is an actual word with an actual definition:

a time of intense difficulty, trouble, or danger.

Dig a little deeper into the etymology of the word, "crisis".

From Ancient Greek (krísis, “a separating, power of distinguishing, decision, choice, election, judgment, dispute”), from (kríno, “pick out, choose, decide, judge”)

It sounds to me like the decision to keep smoking is very much the crisis, in that it is a critical moment which leads to a point of no return.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki...

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bark

3. (transitive) To speak sharply.
      The sergeant barked an order.

"RamJets"??? What does that mean with that capitalization? And what exactly do you expect an air-breathing engine to do in space?

Jet is a generic term, implying a directed stream of material, especially a fluid material. It does not necessarily imply that the production of such a jet requires an air-breathing engine in any way (pressurized canisters, rockets, etc. are allowed). Perhaps you've confused it with a gas turbine, which is used in turbojet, turbofan, and turboprop engines, among other uses, which indeed are air-breathing.

FYI, you could look up Bussard ramjet for an outline of the technology. However, Bussard cruiser is less helpful.

You fail: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/for_all_intents_and_purposes

Women on mass, but not all of them, gravitate to Alpha males.

The phrase is en masse, it's French for "in large amounts" or "in large numbers."

Stupidly easy google search, "break bad" (because obviously "breaking bad" will just get you hits for the show): http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/...

I didn't know that either - I always assumed it was a made-up phrase for the show that just sounded cool, but apparently it's a midwestern phrase meaning, appropriately, "to turn to a life of crime". Of course, now if you say someone's breaking bad, anyone, or at least anyone outside that geographic region, will just assume it means they're cooking meth. I've heard it used that way colloquially a few times already.

The scientists involved claimed no health danger from the concentration found. Only the leftist green shills have been claiming a health danger.

Shill: Noun A person paid to endorse a product favourably, while pretending to be impartial.

Could you please explain to me who is paying these "leftist green shills"?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/populace

Finally.... Lasers doing cool shit! Que the song about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

You can "cue" a song up, or you can put a song into the "queue", but the word you used doesn't mean what you think it does.

I am German and i am curious how a single person can "disperse". Explain please.

It's the friendly way of saying "get lost" by police enforcement. Please note that by "get lost" we don't actually mean to enter a state of being lost with no direction home but instead to exist somewhere other than the place they are currently in. Rigidly it means to scatter even if it is one person or particle or whatever.

Perhaps it would be better to say "relocate to your own property" in this case but the wording used is usually "disperse".

After seeing all these strange articles, I have come to the conclusion that these are not April Fools jokes. A real slashdot april fools joke would have been witty and subtle.

You are to be commended for the only constructive criticism I've seen so far among a flurry of comments best translated as, "I dinna like it, can't tell you what I like but I'll know when I see it. Next!". Like a game of darts where you score by hitting the other players.

My submission Evidence Suggests LHC Test Already Begun did not make the front page lineup, maybe it was too subtle.

'42:MOL' has achieved cultural Trope status for many of us. If I am ever on an elevator with a 42nd floor button, I for one will never be able to resist tapping it and as the door opens, announce "Behold... the meaning of life!" in the company of complete strangers --- or even if alone --- for my own amusement. The power of tropes is such that one's invocation of them becomes a talisman to ward off boredom and introverted desperation. In the lonely desperate emotional wilderness of our time. To ward off the abyss, as its howling winds tear at the edges of our souls.

Presenting a trope with fanfare and flourish to a wide audience, as was done here, that is risky business. Part of the problem is that it was presented flat-out as-is without a twist. Among those in the know, the presence of a twist begs forgiveness for the heinous (gosh gee Wally) act of dishing up something that we already know. We shouldn't forget though that to those who have only recently read Douglas Adams' books for the first time, this Slashdot story would be perceived as a welcome (and hilarious!) allusion and affirmation. I envy those people, maybe I will order a lobotomy from Amazon so I can rediscover Hitchhiker's Guide again for the first time.

So let me raise a glass and propose a toast to whatever the fuck I just said. Or we could just all shut up and drink.

Have you ever noticed that just about every interest out there has become an excuse to talk about yourselves?

I in fact have noticed that. I'm a pretty brilliant amateur sociologist in fact. Please read a bit more about my insights.

by "FTFY", I guess you mean "Fucked That For You".

the OP had it right - the correct term *IS* "for all intents and purposes".

"for all intensive purposes" is a meaningless mistake, a mondegreen or "eggcorn".

See:

http://grammarist.com/eggcorns...
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/...

.. the definition of "punishment". One central requirement is that the person punished can learn something from it.

Thanks for sharing your definition. It is not what my dictionaries say, they are about it being a penalty, not a school lesson. Try this one as it's handy. How does prison fit into your definition? From what I've heard, not much learning takes place there that is not orthogonal to the issue of ethics.

You remind me of a corny schoolboy joke :-

Judge [to condemed burglar] ; "I hope you have learned from this my man!"
Burglar : "Yes m'Lord, I've learned not to get caught next time."

An embuggerance is an obstacle that gets in the way of progress. It's a term used by Sir Terry in Monstrous Regiment.

Hand in your geek cards on the way out.

OP is actually correct
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/...

2. 'sometimes misconstructed as "for all intensive purposes" '

You keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means.

The GGP's suggestion, "corporatocracy", is worse than either. Oligarchy, from the Greek "oligos", means rule by a few. Plutocracy, from the Greek "pluotos", refers to rule by wealth. But corporation comes from the Latin "corpus", meaning "body", as it refers to a group who have come together to form a cohesive whole - so "corporatocracy" means "rule by a body".

The GGP's suggestion, "corporatocracy", is worse than either. Oligarchy, from the Greek "oligos", means rule by a few. Plutocracy, from the Greek "pluotos", refers to rule by wealth. But corporation comes from the Latin "corpus", meaning "body", as it refers to a group who have come together to form a cohesive whole - so "corporatocracy" means "rule by a body".

The GGP's suggestion, "corporatocracy", is worse than either. Oligarchy, from the Greek "oligos", means rule by a few. Plutocracy, from the Greek "pluotos", refers to rule by wealth. But corporation comes from the Latin "corpus", meaning "body", as it refers to a group who have come together to form a cohesive whole - so "corporatocracy" means "rule by a body".

Television is télévision.

Borrowing from French télévision, coined by a Rusian scientist.

Telephone is téléphone.

From French téléphone.

Electricity is électricité.

At least that one is right
And Frenchs don't have a word for "entrepreneur", while you're at it.
Maybe you should have chosen better exemples.

English has mostly celtic, german and latin roots, while French has mostly latin and celtic roots, so obviously they share a lots of similar words that Icelandic doesn't, as it's a North-Germanic language, which doesn't mean that Icelandic "borrows" from Norwegian, instead they share common roots.

Television is télévision.

Borrowing from French télévision, coined by a Rusian scientist.

Telephone is téléphone.

From French téléphone.

Electricity is électricité.

At least that one is right
And Frenchs don't have a word for "entrepreneur", while you're at it.
Maybe you should have chosen better exemples.

English has mostly celtic, german and latin roots, while French has mostly latin and celtic roots, so obviously they share a lots of similar words that Icelandic doesn't, as it's a North-Germanic language, which doesn't mean that Icelandic "borrows" from Norwegian, instead they share common roots.

Television is télévision.

Borrowing from French télévision, coined by a Rusian scientist.

Telephone is téléphone.

From French téléphone.

Electricity is électricité.

At least that one is right
And Frenchs don't have a word for "entrepreneur", while you're at it.
Maybe you should have chosen better exemples.

English has mostly celtic, german and latin roots, while French has mostly latin and celtic roots, so obviously they share a lots of similar words that Icelandic doesn't, as it's a North-Germanic language, which doesn't mean that Icelandic "borrows" from Norwegian, instead they share common roots.

"Crock of shit" maybe? "Bunch of crock" doesn't seem like it'd even be a thing.

Replying to myself... apparently it is a thing: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/...

About the only thing we agree upon is that Third Reich is a great game and could take a day or longer to play. I don't consider the rules to be complicated/obtuse, and it is definitely not a simulation. It is a meat and potatoes grognard style game.

I love the modern Euro-games but many times would rather play Third Reich, Empires in Arms or Advanced Squad Leader with some old friends whenever I get a chance. The former are easier to get new people into playing and don't take a lot of time, the latter require a particular kind per pedantic personality and a commitment of time.

If you say so.

Any German will know. It's use stems from a time when you were just as likely to find a scientific text in German - the 99.99% English dominance (in international scientific publications) happened after 1933...

http://www.word-detective.com/...

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U...

So this language was developed by an illiterate moron?

Perhaps more literate than you appear to be. Ur- is prefix for "primordial" in German. It is also a reference to Ur, a city state of more than 5500 years ago (which is mentioned in numerous ancient texts), and was one of the early agricultural settlements. The Germanic ur- prefix seems to be descended from the latter city-state usage. Many of us learned about Ur (the city-state) way back in high school or in middle school.

density and tolerances have become so tight that the issue is now exasperated.

exacerbated?

Why not an octothorpetag.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/....

nice try bucko, you made me question myself -- and i actually had to look it up. But what you said is of course true.

Gendarme are an occupying force, that act as law enforcement on behalf of the occupier but generally don't fight in combat roles.

Sorry to be a bit rude, but you make it sound like you live in a world where cops enforce the law with smiles. And sorry to have to be that guy, but the police are the violent (combative) arm of governments and no choice of vocabulary will change that.

To call them gendarme rather than the soldiers of foreign tyrants is quite an amusing choice of words. It's a choice of words I doubt you would use when talking to the families who are abused by foreign soldiers and have no realistic means of defense or justice against them.

My point (that I realize no one will agree with because it's like trying to explain what's wrong with slavery to a slave owner) is that war will always create these situations, and it is what one is supporting when he supports war. Of course, in some cases war is preferable to a peaceful slavery, but pretending that war can be pleasant by using words like "gendarme" is a luxury of a country that sends war to other countries and hasn't had to pay for it locally yet.

Well, you need a lax SWF policy to allow the SWFs to swim upstream and spawn.

Never mind Wikipedia, go with this: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/...

They might as well have called it "USS Namby Pamby Fairy"