A sample size of one is not statistically valid, so no, just you saying it doesn't define common usage. Since the number of people arguing against current usage is relatively small, and the people using it "incorrectly" are often journalists, statesmen, or just that one guy from accounting at the water cooler, the definition used within logical fallacies will have to remain a secondary definition that's relatively rare in practice.
The same goes, much to my sadness, to the definition of "hacker".
English speakers can't even agree if "armor" should have a silent 'u' or not. For that matter, in South Africa it's still common to hear "Negro" used in everyday speech. By contrast, the correct usage of "Begging the Question" is debated by very few.
That said, it's accepted that words can take on different meaning in certain contexts. The layperson definition of "theory" is subtly (but importantly) different from how scientists use it, for instance. If you want to have a different definition for "Begging the Question" in the context of logical fallacies, that's OK, but keep it on your side of the fence.
Give me a gender-neutral singular pronoun that isn't so unwieldy that it negates the point of using a pronoun in the first place. Then explain why we should invent a new word for this (like "hir") when "they" works just fine.
Not when 40% of documents in a given office could be served just as well by plain TXT, 70% of the remainder could use RTF or HTML, and anything else done by PDF. I'm sure that you'll always be able to point to feature X in ODF as something PDF doesn't have, but how much does feature X really matter?
No, I'm complaining generally that getting to the primary source is needlessly annoying, and that I've recently become more skeptical of Ars as a secondary source.
In any case, I find it a struggle to find any worthwhile reason to support OOXML, but I'm not all that excited about ODF, either. It only seems interesting in a "We're not Microsoft" sense.
A shame that you can't access the original PDF report without a particularly invasive registration process. They could be sending that information on to terrorists groups looking for new recruits.
Broad accusations aside, I know Slashdot invented the 'RTFA' acronym, but it'd be nice if we could read the original without having to take Ars' word for it or having to reveal our company's annual revenue range. After badly mangling that Sony wireless USB thing, I'm not inclined to trust Ars without the primary source.
Good thing you can't copyright a car. You can copyright the design specs. You can patent certain mechanisms of the car, or perhaps make them a trade secret instead. You can trademark the logo and overall look. But you can't copyright the car as a whole.
Kit car manufacturers make copies of cars all the time. The Shelby Cobra is a particularly popular choice for kits. I'm not sure if they usually work out a licensing deal with the original manufacturer, though.
The blanket term "Intellectual Property" covers a wide range of laws that often cover the same basic concept (creating a system of ownership for ideas), but are implemented in very different ways. When discussing these laws, it's very important to be specific about what kind of IP is being discussed.
The summary makes it sound like Ford is claiming copyright on the pictures (which they almost certainly don't have the rights to). However, it seems that Ford is actually claiming trademark status on the car's design, and an image of that car would therefore infringe on that trademark.
Not only that, but the tags (the most abused feature on Slashdot) cite "patent", another set of IP laws which have nothing to do with anything here.
I've been trying to explain these things for years. I'm almost to the point where instead of complaining about $1000+ power cables, I should start one of the companies that's selling them. Someone is making a fortune off these morons, and it might as well be me.
We get graphs here in Wisconsin (used to be magnetic strips). Incedently, an official change-of-address sticker covers the entire back of my license, so you couldn't read the graph, anyway.
As a rule, I tend to think that Clarkson doesn't believe half the stuff he says. But watching him being forced to admit he was wrong is a great pleasure.
Clarkson now says of the case: "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy."
Now that's more like the Clarkson I know and love!
I'm of legal drinking age already and I haven't yet seen one of these machines in my area. But if I ever do, I'd like to have a false bar graph taped on the back of my license. Who will be the first to make a web site to generate these at will? And how long until that web site is labeled a terrorist act?
Java was pretty bad on Mac prior to OS X, though. Has always been bad on BSD, too. Not so great on Linux, either. So much for cross-platform development.
As for mice, I've got a wireless Mighty Mouse myself. The two-button interface is dodgy sometimes, and the scroll ball gets easily jammed up with dirt. I've yet to see a mouse from Apple that I liked.
Jack will get publicity no matter if Slashdot and gamers ignore him or not. Fox News has him on speed dial for whenever a school shooting comes up. Only thing to do is to keep pointing out his stupidity until he has no credibility left in anyone's mind.
Risk doesn't teach you to conquer the world. It will teach you not to start a land war in Asia. Also, the Australians are kept in check these days merely because they haven't taken over Siam yet.
No, he's right on. The Jews were certainly slaves for other projects, just not the pyramids. There were quite a lot of buildings going up around the time of Ramesses II (who was possibly the antagonist to Moses), but the Egyptians had long since switched to burying important people in the Valley of the Kings.
It's not like you ever consider going over to the Combines as a serious option, is it?
"Did you know your contract was open to the highest bidder?"
It's possible that the G-Man would have sold Gordon's services if the price was right. Gordon may even believe he's working against the Combine while he's doing it ("The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world"--the G-Man can insert Gordon into a place where his natural reactions will work in the Combine's favor). Who knows just how trustworthy the Vortigaunts are now that they seem to be in charge? ("There was time when the only humanity they knew was a crowbar coming at them down a metal hallway").
That's why I like Half-Life's story development. You can blow through it if you want and end up with an enjoyable game, but there's an interesting mystery unfolding if you pay attention to subtle details.
I can't wait until someone tries to copyright a section of the human genome and starts charging people a license for procreation. I think we all know that it's just a matter of time.
Slashdot Mirror
A sample size of one is not statistically valid, so no, just you saying it doesn't define common usage. Since the number of people arguing against current usage is relatively small, and the people using it "incorrectly" are often journalists, statesmen, or just that one guy from accounting at the water cooler, the definition used within logical fallacies will have to remain a secondary definition that's relatively rare in practice.
The same goes, much to my sadness, to the definition of "hacker".
English speakers can't even agree if "armor" should have a silent 'u' or not. For that matter, in South Africa it's still common to hear "Negro" used in everyday speech. By contrast, the correct usage of "Begging the Question" is debated by very few.
That said, it's accepted that words can take on different meaning in certain contexts. The layperson definition of "theory" is subtly (but importantly) different from how scientists use it, for instance. If you want to have a different definition for "Begging the Question" in the context of logical fallacies, that's OK, but keep it on your side of the fence.
Give me a gender-neutral singular pronoun that isn't so unwieldy that it negates the point of using a pronoun in the first place. Then explain why we should invent a new word for this (like "hir") when "they" works just fine.
Not when 40% of documents in a given office could be served just as well by plain TXT, 70% of the remainder could use RTF or HTML, and anything else done by PDF. I'm sure that you'll always be able to point to feature X in ODF as something PDF doesn't have, but how much does feature X really matter?
Open Source redundancy is still redundancy.
No, I'm complaining generally that getting to the primary source is needlessly annoying, and that I've recently become more skeptical of Ars as a secondary source.
In any case, I find it a struggle to find any worthwhile reason to support OOXML, but I'm not all that excited about ODF, either. It only seems interesting in a "We're not Microsoft" sense.
A shame that you can't access the original PDF report without a particularly invasive registration process. They could be sending that information on to terrorists groups looking for new recruits.
Broad accusations aside, I know Slashdot invented the 'RTFA' acronym, but it'd be nice if we could read the original without having to take Ars' word for it or having to reveal our company's annual revenue range. After badly mangling that Sony wireless USB thing, I'm not inclined to trust Ars without the primary source.
Good thing you can't copyright a car. You can copyright the design specs. You can patent certain mechanisms of the car, or perhaps make them a trade secret instead. You can trademark the logo and overall look. But you can't copyright the car as a whole.
Kit car manufacturers make copies of cars all the time. The Shelby Cobra is a particularly popular choice for kits. I'm not sure if they usually work out a licensing deal with the original manufacturer, though.
The blanket term "Intellectual Property" covers a wide range of laws that often cover the same basic concept (creating a system of ownership for ideas), but are implemented in very different ways. When discussing these laws, it's very important to be specific about what kind of IP is being discussed.
The summary makes it sound like Ford is claiming copyright on the pictures (which they almost certainly don't have the rights to). However, it seems that Ford is actually claiming trademark status on the car's design, and an image of that car would therefore infringe on that trademark.
Not only that, but the tags (the most abused feature on Slashdot) cite "patent", another set of IP laws which have nothing to do with anything here.
Quantization can be considered a form of lossy compression against the original analog signal. Of course, this is inherent to any A/D conversion.
I've been trying to explain these things for years. I'm almost to the point where instead of complaining about $1000+ power cables, I should start one of the companies that's selling them. Someone is making a fortune off these morons, and it might as well be me.
. . . it can use switchgrass as mentioned in the summary, corn stover, wood chips, or just about anything else containing plant matter . . .
So when all the woodchips are being used to run cars instead of mixed with glue and pressed into particle board, where will I get my IKEA furniture?
I have some tea to sell you. It's at the bottom of Boston Harbor.
We get graphs here in Wisconsin (used to be magnetic strips). Incedently, an official change-of-address sticker covers the entire back of my license, so you couldn't read the graph, anyway.
As a rule, I tend to think that Clarkson doesn't believe half the stuff he says. But watching him being forced to admit he was wrong is a great pleasure.
Clarkson now says of the case: "Contrary to what I said at the time, we must go after the idiots who lost the discs and stick cocktail sticks in their eyes until they beg for mercy."
Now that's more like the Clarkson I know and love!
I'm of legal drinking age already and I haven't yet seen one of these machines in my area. But if I ever do, I'd like to have a false bar graph taped on the back of my license. Who will be the first to make a web site to generate these at will? And how long until that web site is labeled a terrorist act?
Yes, actually. Last go round, Kerry essentially won the Democratic nomination in Iowa. And he was an underdog until the night before.
Java was pretty bad on Mac prior to OS X, though. Has always been bad on BSD, too. Not so great on Linux, either. So much for cross-platform development.
As for mice, I've got a wireless Mighty Mouse myself. The two-button interface is dodgy sometimes, and the scroll ball gets easily jammed up with dirt. I've yet to see a mouse from Apple that I liked.
Jack will get publicity no matter if Slashdot and gamers ignore him or not. Fox News has him on speed dial for whenever a school shooting comes up. Only thing to do is to keep pointing out his stupidity until he has no credibility left in anyone's mind.
At least the Muslims have a plan for breeding wackiness out of their population.
Risk doesn't teach you to conquer the world. It will teach you not to start a land war in Asia. Also, the Australians are kept in check these days merely because they haven't taken over Siam yet.
Wired Editor Attempts to Fill Whitespace
Fixed it for you.
No, he's right on. The Jews were certainly slaves for other projects, just not the pyramids. There were quite a lot of buildings going up around the time of Ramesses II (who was possibly the antagonist to Moses), but the Egyptians had long since switched to burying important people in the Valley of the Kings.
It's not like you ever consider going over to the Combines as a serious option, is it?
"Did you know your contract was open to the highest bidder?"
It's possible that the G-Man would have sold Gordon's services if the price was right. Gordon may even believe he's working against the Combine while he's doing it ("The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world"--the G-Man can insert Gordon into a place where his natural reactions will work in the Combine's favor). Who knows just how trustworthy the Vortigaunts are now that they seem to be in charge? ("There was time when the only humanity they knew was a crowbar coming at them down a metal hallway").
That's why I like Half-Life's story development. You can blow through it if you want and end up with an enjoyable game, but there's an interesting mystery unfolding if you pay attention to subtle details.
I can't wait until someone tries to copyright a section of the human genome and starts charging people a license for procreation. I think we all know that it's just a matter of time.