as i posted on a different article earlier this week, you're both wrong. virus is a 2nd declension latin neuter noun, and he was trying to use the latin plural, except he forgot that virus is neuter. look it up at Notre Damn Latin Dictionary if you don't believe me. the neuter ending takes an -a in the plural; hence, vira. this is one of those tricky latin nouns (i'm thinking it's probably a greek loan word) where the neuter starts with the 2nd declension masculine ending, but continues with the neuter endings).
that said, don't use the latin plural. it's kind of lame.
okay you're both wrong. as i posted earlier as an AC, virus is a 2nd declension latin neuter noun, and he was trying to use the latin plural, except he forgot that virus is neuter. look it up at Notre Dame Latin Dictionary if you don't believe me. the neuter ending takes an -a in the plural; hence, vira. this is one of those tricky latin nouns (i'm thinking it's probably a greek loan word) where the neuter starts with the 2nd declension masculine ending, but continues with the neuter endings).
as for the "grammar nazi" bit, it's perfectly acceptable to use either the english or the latin plurals for words like that (anybody like baseball stadia?), though there are times when it's more appropriate than others. at least that's what sociolinguists say, and i can tell you that at least in my circle of intellectual acquintances, latin plurals are perfectly acceptable if, unlike the grandparent, you do it right. largely, the -us ending which ends most masculine nouns and the -um ending of most neuters sounds good on the latin plural (-i and -a, respectively) whereas the feminine ones allow for more effective english plurals, so you hardly ever see people use the latin plurals on them.
in fact, if i remember right, this is what happened in most the so-called western romance languages. there's a line that runs through europe and italy and it divides between the western romance languages, which took the latin accussative plurals (ending with -s) and the eastern ones, which preserved the latin nominative ones.
while it will probably be obvious to intelligent life that our big ol' marker is 'code' if you will (and by that i mean written language, which is just a code we all know), i doubt our silicon soon-to-be-masters will be able to read it. unless you have SOME language in common, there's pretty much no way to bootstrap a new language other than using human children's innate, still utterly amazing ability to just figure everything out, language-wise.
though i'm no expert in the genre, there are plenty of sci-fi books about intergalatic war between terrans and a race that we can't even communicate with. some (think OSC's Ender's Game) have aliens who don't even communicate using any sense at all, but rather through something we've never evolved, telepathy.
the cognitive science community has one thing that they want those searching for intelligent life to know...bet on us not being able to communicate if you find some.
you have to get permission for that, and if you don't they'll sue your rump. you have to wonder if there are behind the scenes royatly payments for that.
WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES IF I DO SAMPLE?
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i don't think the patriot act provisions on library records are what old ben had in mind when he founded the first public library.
and do us all a favor: don't tell them...
1) that you can, or
2) how to.
...or naming an integer variable "value".
you think kasparov is interested in any move that won't (at least indirectly) help him win?
that brings up the question...on what day did god create The Magical Face of Linus Torvalds?
as i posted on a different article earlier this week, you're both wrong. virus is a 2nd declension latin neuter noun, and he was trying to use the latin plural, except he forgot that virus is neuter. look it up at Notre Damn Latin Dictionary if you don't believe me. the neuter ending takes an -a in the plural; hence, vira. this is one of those tricky latin nouns (i'm thinking it's probably a greek loan word) where the neuter starts with the 2nd declension masculine ending, but continues with the neuter endings). that said, don't use the latin plural. it's kind of lame.
as for the "grammar nazi" bit, it's perfectly acceptable to use either the english or the latin plurals for words like that (anybody like baseball stadia?), though there are times when it's more appropriate than others. at least that's what sociolinguists say, and i can tell you that at least in my circle of intellectual acquintances, latin plurals are perfectly acceptable if, unlike the grandparent, you do it right. largely, the -us ending which ends most masculine nouns and the -um ending of most neuters sounds good on the latin plural (-i and -a, respectively) whereas the feminine ones allow for more effective english plurals, so you hardly ever see people use the latin plurals on them.
in fact, if i remember right, this is what happened in most the so-called western romance languages. there's a line that runs through europe and italy and it divides between the western romance languages, which took the latin accussative plurals (ending with -s) and the eastern ones, which preserved the latin nominative ones.
while it will probably be obvious to intelligent life that our big ol' marker is 'code' if you will (and by that i mean written language, which is just a code we all know), i doubt our silicon soon-to-be-masters will be able to read it. unless you have SOME language in common, there's pretty much no way to bootstrap a new language other than using human children's innate, still utterly amazing ability to just figure everything out, language-wise.
though i'm no expert in the genre, there are plenty of sci-fi books about intergalatic war between terrans and a race that we can't even communicate with. some (think OSC's Ender's Game) have aliens who don't even communicate using any sense at all, but rather through something we've never evolved, telepathy.
the cognitive science community has one thing that they want those searching for intelligent life to know...bet on us not being able to communicate if you find some.
sincerity is a non-issue in pop music. if you think that sincerity mattters, then new found glory is the best band since, well, sunny day real estate.
you have to get permission for that, and if you don't they'll sue your rump. you have to wonder if there are behind the scenes royatly payments for that.
WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES IF I DO SAMPLE?
...FBI interrogates the an operator on #bushsucks for conspiracy to kill the president
funny seeing you here mark