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Xah's a Word a Day — the Making of Belles-Lettres (temp area)

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capitulate

The Lexx is a bio-engineered, Manhattan-sized, planet-destroying bioship in the shape of a giant wingless dragonfly and also reminiscent of male genitalia. It was grown by ingesting organ collections from the protein bank on the Cluster, the seat of the Divine Order, for use by His Divine Shadow. The Lexx was originally intended as the ultimate deterrent: the threat of a weapon that could instantly obliterate any planet would keep the remaining “Heretic” worlds of the Light Universe in line, and those that refused to capitulate would be summarily destroyed to reinforce the point. This plan was foiled when the crew commandeered it to escape from the Cluster.
capitulate = To surrender on terms agreed upon.

salubrious

Swearing can have even more salubrious effects. Researchers at Keele University in Staffordshire, England reported in July 2009 that cursing can reduce physical pain. In their experiment, volunteers held their hands in ice water, first while cursing and then while using less objectionable phrases. Those who cursed were able to keep their hands submerged longer, an effect that was especially strong among volunteers who said they didn’t typically curse.
Does Swearing At Work Get The Job Done? (2011-06-10) By Sean Stonefield. @ Source blogs.forbes.com
salubrious = Favorable to health.

capricious

In 2004, the FCC imposed a record $550,000 fine on CBS for its broadcast of a Super Bowl half-time show (produced by then sister-unit MTV) in which singer Janet Jackson's breast was briefly exposed. It was the largest fine ever for a violation of federal decency laws. Following the incident CBS apologized to its viewers and denied foreknowledge of the event, which was broadcast live on TV. In 2008, a Philadelphia federal court annulled the fine imposed on CBS, labelling it “arbitrary and capricious”.
CBS, 2011-06-30
capricious = characterized by or subject to whim; impulsive and unpredictable.

topsy-turvy

Heidi continues to live happily in the mountains until Aunt Dette returns from the city, excited about a good opportunity for Heidi. A wealthy businessman, Mr. Sesemann, is searching for a companion for his crippled daughter. Thwarted by Alm-Onji, Dette tricks Heidi into accompanying her, ostensibly to get a present for Peter and her grandfather. Promised that she can return at any time, Heidi is taken to Frankfurt. There, Dette abandons her to the care of Mrs. Rottenmeier, the housekeeper in charge of Clara's welfare. Heidi and Clara quickly become friends, and Heidi quickly turns the household topsy-turvy with her escapades and well-meaning faux pas. Clara is enchanted by Heidi's stories of the Alps, which paint a picture of a life completely different than the sheltered and lonely one she is accustomed to. Her father is mostly away on business, and Clara's only constant companions until now are the servants and her canary.
topsy-turvy = upside down; in utter disorder.
2011-06-27

larceny

Jimmy Bulger was arrested in 1943 at the age of 14 and charged with larceny. He by then had joined a juvenile gang known as the "Shamrocks" and would eventually be arrested for assault, battery and armed robbery and was sentenced to a juvenile reformatory.
Whitey Bulger, 2011-06-28
larceny = the act of taking something from someone unlawfully.

visage

While we are responsible for everything that The Lulz Boat is, we are not tied to this identity permanently. Behind this jolly visage of rainbows and top hats, we are people. People with a preference for music, a preference for food; we have varying taste in clothes and television, we are just like you. Even Hitler and Osama Bin Laden had these unique variations and style, and isn't that interesting to know? The mediocre painter turned supervillain liked cats more than we did.
Computer Hacking: Lulz Security Farewell Note (2011-06-25) By LulSec. @ Source xahlee.info
visage = The face, countenance, or look of a person.
2011-06-27

imbue

Again, behind the mask, behind the insanity and mayhem, we truly believe in the AntiSec movement. We believe in it so strongly that we brought it back, much to the dismay of those looking for more anarchic lulz. We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us. The support we've gathered for it in such a short space of time is truly overwhelming, and not to mention humbling. Please don't stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve.
Computer Hacking: Lulz Security Farewell Note (2011-06-25) By LulSec. @ Source xahlee.info
imbue = ① To tinge deeply; to dye. ② spread or diffuse through.

confection

Mr. Miller's job, as he made clear in an article last week in The Faster Times, an online newspaper, was to cram together words that someone's research had suggested might be in demand on Google, position these strings as titles and headlines, embellish them with other inoffensive words and make the whole confection vaguely resemble an article. AOL would put “Rick Fox mustache” in a headline, betting that some number of people would put “Rick Fox mustache” into Google, and retrieve Mr. Miller's article. Readers coming to AOL, expecting information, might discover a subliterate wasteland. But before bouncing out, they might watch a video clip with ads on it. Their visits would also register as page views, which AOL could then sell to advertisers.
Google's War on Nonsense (2011-06-26) By Virginia Heffernan. @ Source opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com
confection = A composition of different materials. [Obs.]; A sweet preparation, such as candy.; A piece displaying splendid craft, skill, and work.

bolster

In 2011, the federal government aims to shut down top illegal websites and to secure legislation that will enable funding for U.S. embassies to monitor American intellectual property internationally. For example, President Obama discussed enforcement of intellectual property rights with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Alongside Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Obama urged Jintao to take action against consumers who purchase Microsoft software and other counterfeit DVDs and CDs for only a fraction of the cost online or in public markets. Other European countries and Japan have also addressed this growing problem in China, where the authorities hesitate to arrest counterfeiters due to the fact that such products may possibly bolster local economies.
PRO-IP Act, 2011-05-19
bolster = To support or prop up with or as if with a long narrow pillow or cushion. (AHD)

cognate

In Germanic paganism, Thor (from Old Norse Þórr) is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, destruction, fertility, healing, and the protection of mankind. The cognate deity in wider Germanic mythology was known in Old English as Þunor and in Old High German Donar (runic þonar ᚦᛟᚾᚨᚱ), stemming from a Common Germanic *Þunraz (meaning “thunder”).
Thor, 2011-05-06
cognate = ① Related by blood; having a common ancestor. ② Related in origin, as certain words in genetically related languages descended from the same ancestral root. (AHD)

diorama

Beginning April 29, 1957, visitors were able to walk through the castle and view several dioramas depicting the story of Sleeping Beauty. The original dioramas were designed in the style of Eyvind Earle, production designer for Disney's 1959 film Sleeping Beauty, and were then redone in 1977 to resemble the window displays on Main Street, U.S.A.. The walkthrough was closed for unspecified reasons in October 2001; popular belief claims the September 11th attacks and the potential danger that ensued played a major factor in the closing.
diorama = A three-dimensional miniature or life-size scene in which figures, stuffed wildlife, or other objects are arranged in a naturalistic setting against a painted background. (AHD) See also: Diorama

insurrection

Obi-Wan unravels a diabolical plot that leads to the discovery that the ex-Jedi Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) is part of the insurrection.
Movie review. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) (2002) By Dennis Schwartz. @ Source www.imdb.com
insurrection = A rising against civil or political authority, or the established government.

insufferable

Be grateful that amidst the insufferable hype surrounding journalism both on and off the Web, your friends at Suck can be counted upon to stick with writing about items of genuine interest to some of the sharper net surfers out there. Because, trust us - if our narcissism were measured in MB instead of Mb, we could provide ample entertainment solely in the form of self-satisfied behind-the-scenes hijinks at Suck HQ. ... Y'see, at Suck, we cast our critical gaze towards more than the general slapstick routinely offered by the Internet community - we also pay close attention to our “referer” logs. So, when we started logging hits originating from links on Time-Warner's Pathfinder, we quickly tooled on down to their media morass for some spry reconnaissance. What we found left us both surprised and amused.
suck.com, 2001-06-26
insufferable = Difficult or impossible to endure; intolerable. (AHD)

titular

Mostly consisting of dialogues between the titular Sophie and a mysterious man named Alberto Knox, interwoven with an increasingly bizarre and mysterious plot, it acts as both a novel and a basic guide to philosophy.

defeatist

... and I frankly do not quite understand the depressingly defeatist attitude of those who think there is no use — a long journey starts with the first step ...
Erik Naggum on comp.lang.lisp
defeatist = Acceptance of or resignation to the prospect of defeat. (AHD)

minutiae

as long as you wish to fuss about minutiae, at least get them right.
Erik Naggum, 1996-11-09, in comp.emacs.
minutiae = A small or trivial detail; minutus small, minute.

epiphany

The fact that I had to market the book myself, and that onus was solely on me, was actually a blessing in disguise. It forced me to get expert help. In the past, I’ve tried on many occasions to promote my products myself. I’ve called up journalists, built up a mailing list of media contacts, blogged, Facebooked, twittered and done everything the marketing experts recommend you do, but it’s never quite worked for me. And over the years, I reached a key epiphany. I’ve come to realise that there’s something fundamentally different about you yourself telling a journalist that your product is great compared with someone else telling a journalist that your product is great.
How I got a blank book to the top of the Amazon charts (2011-04-06) By Shed Simove. @ Source realbusiness.co.uk
epiphany = A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization.

bravura

Black Swan has received widespread acclaim from film critics. Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes reports that 88% of 254 critics have given the film a positive review, holding an average score of 8.2/10 with particular praise for Portman's performance. According to the website, the film's critical consensus is, “Bracingly intense, passionate, and wildly melodramatic, Black Swan glides on Darren Aronofsky's bold direction – and a bravura performance from Natalie Portman.”
Black Swan (film), 2011-04-11
bravura = Brilliant technique or style in performance. (AHD)

opprobrium

Research on romance has consistently shown that men and women who don't notice attractive strangers tend to be more satisfied in their own relationships and are more likely to stay with their partners long term. Of course, that blindness has to come naturally. When a person is forced to divert his attention from that cute bartender — by, say, a jealous partner's opprobrium — it could result in a sort of "backlash" effect, which may end up reducing his level of relationship commitment.
The Case for Letting Your Partner's Eye Wander (2011-04-11) By Meredith Melnick. @ Source healthland.time.com
opprobrium = Scornful reproach or contempt. (AHD)

confidante

Olivia Wilde as Quorra, a program, adept warrior and confidante of Kevin Flynn in The Grid. Flynn refers to her as his "apprentice," and has imparted volumes of information to her regarding the world outside of The Grid, which she longs to experience for herself. Wilde describes Quorra as being like Joan of Arc, a child warrior, with innocence and optimism, led by some greater power. Her hairstyle was also influenced by singer Karen O. Wilde also explained that although "[Quorra] could have just been another slinky, vampy temptress" it was important for her to appeal to both men and women. She and Kevin Flynn are depicted as recreational Go players.
Tron: Legacy, 2011-04-07.
confidante = One to whom secrets or private matters are disclosed. (AHD)

vaster

What will that mean? If history is any guide, Page's idealistic impulses could result in a vaster, more sprawling company. In 2008, Google participated in an FCC auction for radio spectrum to be used for mobile broadband. By the terms of the auction, if the spectrum was sold above a certain price, the winner would have to allow other companies to run devices on their networks—something Google strongly favored but that telecom companies dearly hoped to avoid. Google executives worried that the telecoms would conspire to keep bidding below that baseline price. So the company got involved in a high-stakes game of chicken. Google would bid on the spectrum, high enough to get it over the threshold, and then bow out. It left Google potentially vulnerable; if nobody else topped its bid, the company would be stuck with a multibillion-dollar piece of spectrum that it was unequipped to exploit. “Google definitely wanted to lose,” the company's chief economist, Hal Varian, says. To Google's great relief, Verizon did top its bid, and the company was off the hook.
Larry Page Wants to Return Google to Its Startup Roots (2011-03-18) By Steven Levy. @ Source www.wired.com
vaster = Very great in area or extent; immense. (AHD)

avuncular

“How many engineers does Microsoft have?” Page asked.

About 25,000, he was told.

“We should have a million,” Page said, in all seriousness.

At that point, Schmidt put an avuncular hand on Page’s shoulder and brought him back to the real world. Now, with Page as CEO, that hand is less likely to be there.

Larry Page Wants to Return Google to Its Startup Roots (2011-03-18) By Steven Levy. @ Source www.wired.com
avuncular = Of or pertaining to an uncle.

parsimonious

A few ingredients in Larry Page's stew of traits stand out unmistakably. He is brainy, he is confident, he is parsimonious with social interaction. But the dominant flavor in the dish is his boundless ambition, both to excel individually and to improve the conditions of the planet at large. He sees the historic technology boom as a chance to realize such ambitions and sees those who fail to do so as shamelessly squandering the opportunity. To Page, the only true failure is not attempting the audacious. “Even if you fail at your ambitious thing, it's very hard to fail completely,” he says. “That's the thing that people don't get.”
Larry Page Wants to Return Google to Its Startup Roots (2011-03-18) By Steven Levy. @ Source www.wired.com
parsimonious = Excessively sparing or frugal. (AHD)

booby-trap

Again, DCU’s research shows there may be close to 1 million computers infected with Rustock malware, all under the control of the person or people operating the network like a remote army, usually without the computer’s owner even aware that his computer has been hijacked. Bot-herders infect computers with malware in a number of ways, such as when a computer owner visits a website booby-trapped with malware and clicks on a malicious advertisement or opens an infected e-mail attachment. Bot-herders do this so discretely that owners often never suspect their PC is living a double life.
Taking Down Botnets: Microsoft and the Rustock Botnet (2011-03-17) By Richard Boscovich. @ Source blogs.technet.com
booby-trap = An explosive device designed to be triggered when an unsuspecting victim touches or disturbs a seemingly harmless object.

mayhem

Founded in 2003 by 15-year-old Christopher Poole, 4chan, the online hangout for millions of young people, unwittingly spawned the group Anonymous, which sprang to the defense of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange last December, attacking and taking down MasterCard’s and Visa’s Web sites. Does the anti-Facebook ethos of one of the Web’s largest active forums represent a movement or just mayhem? Vanessa Grigoriadis peers into 4chan’s “hive mind,” a primordial soup of teenage-male angst and cute cat photos.
4chan’s Chaos Theory (2011-04) By Vanessa Grigoriadis. @ Source www.vanityfair.com
mayhem = Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing; wanton destruction (AHD)

palimpsest

Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct, nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary. — 1984, George Orwell
Deleting History: Why Governments Demand Google Censor the Truth (2011-03-11) By Lauren Weinstein. @ Source lauren.vortex.com
palimpsest = A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. Palimpsest

dale

“Fondling,” she saith, “since I have hemm'd thee here
Within the circuit of this ivory pale,
Ill be a park, and thou shalt be my deer;
Feed where thou wilt, on mountain or in dale:
Graze on my lips; and if those hills be dry,
Stray lower, where the pleasant fountains lie.”
dale = A low place between hills; a vale or valley.

sally

now, i sally forth, to supermarket, in the name of food. With, severe glee, that i have enough $ to cover it. I LIVE!
Xah Lee. Online snippet.
sally = To rush out or leap forth suddenly. (AHD)

moratorium

I propose a moratorium on language changes. This would be a period of several years during which no changes to Python's grammar or language semantics will be accepted. The reason is that frequent changes to the language cause pain for implementors of alternate implementations (Jython, IronPython, PyPy, and others probably already in the wings) at little or no benefit to the average user (who won't see the changes for years to come and might not be in a position to upgrade to the latest version for years after).
Proposal: Moratorium on Python language changes (2009-10-21) Guido van Rossum. Source groups.google.com
moratorium = A suspension of an ongoing activity.

snooker

Mr. Cutts sounded remarkably upbeat and unperturbed during this conversation, which was a surprise given that we were discussing a large, sustained effort to snooker his employer. Asked about his zenlike calm, he said the company strives not to act out of anger. You get the sense that Mr. Cutts and his colleagues are acutely aware of the singular power they wield as judge, jury and appeals panel, and they’re eager to project an air of maturity and judiciousness.
The Dirty Little Secrets of Search (2011-02-12) By David Segal. @ Source www.nytimes.com
snooker = fool or dupe.

hovel

When you read the enormous list of sites with Penney links, the landscape of the Internet acquires a whole new topography. It starts to seem like a city with a few familiar, well-kept buildings, surrounded by millions of hovels kept upright for no purpose other than the ads that are painted on their walls.
The Dirty Little Secrets of Search (2011-02-12) By David Segal. @ Source www.nytimes.com
hovel = A small, miserable dwelling. (AHD)

extemporize

When he found himself out of work in November 1754, Foote rented the Haymarket theatre and began to stage mock lectures. Satirizing Charles Macklin's newly opened school of oratory, these lectures created a sort of theatrical war, especially when Macklin began to appear at the lectures himself. At one particular lecture, Foote extemporized a piece of nonsense prose to test Macklin's assertion that he could memorise any text at a single reading.
Samuel Foote 2011-02-12
extemporize = To speak extempore; especially, to discourse without special preparation; to make an offhand address.

campy

Camp is an aesthetic sensibility wherein something is appealing because of its bad taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal are described as being "campy" or "cheesy". When the usage appeared, in 1909, it denoted: ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical, and effeminate behaviour, and, by the middle of the 1970s, the definition comprised: banality, artifice, mediocrity, and ostentation so extreme as to have perversely sophisticated appeal. American writer Susan Sontag's essay Notes on "Camp" (1964) emphasised its key elements as: artifice, frivolity, naïve middle-class pretentiousness, and ‘shocking’ excess. Camp as an aesthetic has been popular from the 1960s to the present.
Camp (style) 2011-02-12

penurious

this is a testament to extremely penurious friends. keep-inacentaurdump-public
a Skype personal info box, asking for donation, in a funny way. From Ina Centaur.

outré

Inspired by glam rock artists like David Bowie and Queen, as well as pop singers such as Madonna and Michael Jackson, Gaga is well-recognized for her outré sense of style as a recording artist, in fashion, in performance and in her music videos.
Lady gaga 2011-02-08
For a example of Lady Gaga's outré style, see her music video at Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
outré = Out of the common course or limits; extravagant; bizarre; as, an outr['e] costume.

shyster

The percentages, and the graph in particular, have been passed around in our field from reputable person to reputable person. The people who originally created the fabrications are to blame for getting this started, but there are clearly many people willing to bend the information to their own devices. Kinnamon's (2002) investigation found that Treichler's percentages have been modified in many ways, depending on the message the shyster wants to send. Some people have changed the relative percentages. Some have ...
People remember 10%, 20%...Oh Really? (2006-10-08) By Will Thalheimer. @ Source www.willatworklearning.com
shyster = a person who uses unscrupulous or unethical methods; pettifogger.

stalwartly

Again, the revelations “should create a comforting feeling … that officials are not asleep at the switch” (Heilbrunn's words) – while Washington marches stalwartly toward disaster.
It's not radical Islam that worries the US – it's independence (2011-02-04) By Noam Chomsky. @ Source www.guardian.co.uk
stalwartly = In a stalwart manner; in a firm and resolute way.

putative

4. In 1979, Robert Jahn, then dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University, established the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) unit to study putative paranormal phenomena such as psychokinesis. Like Schmidt, Jahn was particularly interested in the possibility that people can predict and/or influence purely random subatomic processes. Given his superb academic and scientific credentials, his claims of success drew particular attention within the scientific community. When his laboratory closed in 2007, Jahn concluded that “over the laboratory’s 28-year history, thousands of such experiments, involving many millions of trials, were performed by several hundred operators. The observed effects were usually quite small, of the order of a few parts in ten thousand on average, but they compounded to highly significant statistical deviations from chance expectations” (PEAR, n.d.).
Back from the Future: Parapsychology and the Bem Affair (2011-01-06) By James Alcock. @ Source www.csicop.org
putative = Generally believed; supposed.

grist

Much has been made of the negative light in which Julian Assange appears in the article. Wired's Kim Zetter published a digest piece, in which the more absurd claims of the piece are given particular attention but little critical treatment. The more colourful parts of the article were, predictably, grist to the celebrity gossip mill.
Bill Keller and Wikileaks (2011-01-29) @ Source wlcentral.org
grist = grain intended to be or that has been ground.

euthanize

In the 1970s, after a long series of experiments, White performed a transplant of one monkey head onto the body of another monkey, although it lasted just a few days. These operations were continued and perfected to the point where the transplanted head could have survived indefinitely on its new body, though the animals were in fact euthanized. The problem with this operation is that since no one currently knows how to repair nerve damage which would arise when the spinal cord is severed during the head transplant process, the recipient would become paralyzed from the neck down.
Robert J. White 2011-01-27

prognosis

In mid-2004, Jobs announced to his employees that he had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is usually very grim; Jobs, however, stated that he had a rare, far less aggressive type known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor.
Steve jobs 2011-01-27
prognosis = a prediction about how something (as the weather) will develop.

pachyderm

circus on Market at Powell SF c1899
Our members got lots of detail on this photo. We'll summarize here by saying this appears to be a parade by the Ringling Brothers Circus in September 1900. Note the elephants in the lower left (click on the image for a larger version). Regular cable car service is mixed right in with the pachyderms and circus wagons and crowds line the streets.
Photo of the (Past) Moment: Circus on Market! (2011-01-23) @ Source streetcar.org
pachyderm = any of various non-ruminant hoofed mammals having very thick skin: elephant; rhinoceros; hippopotamus.

proclivity

And he will have to rid himself of a proclivity most engineers have: they are really bad at things they can’t measure.
Why Is Eric Schmidt Stepping Down at Google? (2011-01-21) By Ken Auletta @ Source www.newyorker.com

restive

Schmidt, according to associates, lost some energy and focus after losing the China decision. At the same time, Google was becoming defensive. All of their social-network efforts had faltered. Facebook had replaced them as the hot tech company, the place vital engineers wanted to work. Complaints about Google bureaucracy intensified. Governments around the world were lobbing grenades at Google over privacy, copyright, and size issues. The “don’t be evil” brand was getting tarnished, and the founders were restive.
Why Is Eric Schmidt Stepping Down at Google? (2011-01-21) By Ken Auletta @ Source www.newyorker.com

Exordium

I. Exordium

What is a living creature? It responds to things, and it multiplies. From the perspective of computing, it’s an entity that is capable of input and output, with a manner of self-propagation.

Ah, propagation… Therein lies the interesting element–the growth of a population. Consider a hypothetical case, where you start out on a desert island with a pair of male and female creatures; each female produces just one female offspring per generation, and stops reproducing after two generation. Assume the male is immortal, and massive incest occurs to create all subsequent generations, all females. The heritage diagram of sorts would look something like this: ...

A Casual Meditation on Life from the Creation of Virtual Bunnies (2010-01-13) By Ina Centaur @ Source blog.inacentaur.com
Exordium = n : (rhetoric) the introductory section of an oration or discourse.

contemporaneous

In his letter to an editor in 1975 titled “How do we tell truths that might hurt?”, which was critical of several programming languages contemporaneous with COBOL, computer scientist and Turing Award recipient Edsger Dijkstra remarked that “The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense.”
COBOL 2011-01-24
contemporaneous = occurring in the same period of time. (comtemporary)

denouement

Date a girl who doesn't read because the girl who reads knows the importance of plot. She can trace out the demarcations of a prologue and the sharp ridges of a climax. She feels them in her skin. The girl who reads will be patient with an intermission and expedite a denouement. But of all things, the girl who reads knows most the ineluctable significance of an end. She is comfortable with them. She has bid farewell to a thousand heroes with only a twinge of sadness.
You Should Date An Illiterate Girl (2011-01-19) By Charles Warnke @ Source thoughtcatalog.com
denouement = the outcome of a complex sequence of events; the final resolution of the main complication of a literary or dramatic work

splenetic

There's something about logos that makes them a magnet for protest. Whether it's Starbucks, Gap, or some other company, new or changing logos always provide an opportunity for a bit of splenetic outrage.
The Truth Behind HTML5's New Logo Fiasco (2011-01-19) By Bobbie Johnson @ Source gigaom.com
splenetic = 1. of or relating to the spleen. 2. very irritable.

docket

But outside the den of self-interest that is an FCC docket, academics were also pondering the question. In 2009, for instance, well-respected University of Minnesota scholar Andrew Odlyzko suggested that net neutrality (which he favored) might then “open the way for other players, such as Google, then emerge from that open and competitive arena as big winners, to become choke points. So it would be wise to prepare to monitor what happens, and be ready to intervene by imposing neutrality rules on them when necessary.”
Online article about “net neutrality”. Source arstechnica.com
docket = 1. A summary or other brief statement of the contents of a document; an abstract. 2. A list of things to be done; an agenda. (AHD)

de jure

While Hu Jintao gave some signs of being more flexible with regard to political relationships with Taiwan as in his 17 May Statement where he offered to address the issue of "international living space" for Taiwan, Hu's government remains firm in its position that the Mainland side will not tolerate any attempt by the Taiwanese government to declare de jure independence from China.
Hu Jintao 2011-01-19

cacophony

There is also a cacophony of views on currency policy, which, despite some changes, Washington insists is still unfairly skewed to boost Chinese exports and which will likely be a major issue during Hu's visit. The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, favors a stronger yuan, something the U.S. has long demanded. This would, among other things, help calm inflation, now a major concern for leaders, by reducing the price of foreign foods and other imports. But the central bank has little of the independence enjoyed by the U.S. Federal Reserve to fix policy.
Hu's visit spotlights China's two faces (2011-01-16) Source www.washingtonpost.com

oligarchy

“China is no longer ruled by a strong man a la Mao [Zedong] or Deng Xiaoping, but by a collective oligarchy,” said Susan Shirk, a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration.
Hu's visit spotlights China's two faces (2011-01-16) Source www.washingtonpost.com
oligarchy = a political system governed by a few people.

foreclosure

Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use.

There is an important distinction to be made between squatting by necessity and squatting as political statement. In this period of global recession and increased housing foreclosures, squatting has become far more prevalent in Western, developed nations.
Squatters 2011-01-15

trull

And let my spleenful sons this trull deflower
trull = girl, wench, lass; prostitute.

mien

He then set down the coffer on its bottom and out of it drew a casket with seven padlocks of steel, which he unlocked with seven keys of steel he took from beside his thigh, and out of it a young lady to come was seen, whiteskinned and of winsomest mien, of stature fine and thin, and bright as though a moon of the fourteenth night she had been, or the sun raining lively sheen. Even so the poet Utayyah hath excellently said:
Arabian Nights, Sir Richard Burton. Story Of King Shahryar And His Brother (page 2)

duvet

It was a quiet winter night three days after Christmas. My almost 14 year old self was lying in bed unable to fall asleep. As I did a couple of times before, I quietly went to my sister's desk and stole a pen she no longer used. I went back to bed, lay down on my stomach and (probably after wetting it in saliva) inserted the smooth end of the pen inside my ass. I didn't know why I frequently got an urge to do this. It just felt like something I needed to do. It filled me with excitement because it was taboo. It also made me a bit ashamed and humiliated that I felt I wanted to do it. As I lay there, sticking my butt up and moving it so that the other end of the pen would I rub against the duvet, stimulating me, I also circled my clitoral glans with my finger.
My erotic awakening (2010-08-21) Source selflovinggirl.blogspot.com
duvet = a soft quilt usually filled with the down of the eider.

Precocial

Learned the word Precocial. Hares are prococial, while rabbits are not. It's a biology term. If a animal's young is relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching, it is called precocial. The opposite term is Altricial.
Precocial = (of hatchlings) covered with down and having eyes open; capable of leaving the nest within a few days

duffel

A few days later, as a personal token of appreciation for his service in the military, a congressional staffer who worked for Senator Charles Schumer and was a friend of the McLaughlin family presented McLaughlin with a flag bought at the Senate stationery store. Two years later, when McLaughlin was packing to leave for Iraq under McCoy’s command, he put the flag in his duffel.
THE WAYWARD PRESS; THE TOPPLING; How the media inflated a minor moment in a long war (2011-01-10) by Peter Maass. Source www.newyorker.com
duffel=Clothing and other personal gear carried by a camper. (AHD)

recalcitrant

The number of recalcitrant donkeys online are amazing. Even after showing them proof, they insist to the contrary.
Xah Lee, online forum posting. Source

aplomb

Xah, I can't think of anyone who can bandy such terms as "pussy flood" and sundry over-the-top rants and still keep a mien of erudition and venerability. Yet, YOU pull it off with aplomb.
Compliment from a friend Paul on facebook. 2009-12-09

charter

Cairo was the code name for a project at Microsoft from 1991 to 1996 (Cairo was also the codename of Windows NT 4.0). Its charter was to build technologies for a next generation operating system that would fulfill Bill Gates' vision of "information at your fingertips."[1] Cairo never shipped, although portions of its technologies have since appeared in other products.
charter = a document incorporating an institution and specifying its principles, functions, rights.

digerati

After spending two years as a darling of the digerati, Apple's iPhone has started getting some hate mail. And it's not coming from people happy with other devices who resent the fuss over this one gadget, but from folks who had until recently used or admired the iPhone.

So back in February, influential tech blogger Om Malik switched from AT&T to T-Mobile, citing "static, the dropped calls and above all the shoddy call quality." Others have followed; the TechCrunch blog has been particularly vituperative about what it sees as AT&T's inadequacies.
The iPhone Gets Easier to Dislike (2009-08-04) By Rob Pegoraro, Washington Post. Source www.washingtonpost.com
digerati = People who are knowledgeable about digital technologies such as computer programming and design. (AHD)

bailiwick

This type of advertising isn't exactly Google's bailiwick, but the Big Dog in search probably feels a need to respond in some fashion to Microsoft, whose recent slew of Bing advertisements suggest that the poor signal-to-noise ratio of today's search engines is frustrating to users. Microsoft is also trying to create the impression that Google's keyword-based search business model is to blame.
Google Gets Into The Advertising Trash Talk Game (2009-08-03) Source
bailiwick = A person's specific area of interest, skill, or authority. The office or district of a bailiff. (AHD)

respite

The unique culinary art of Dim Sum originated with the Cantonese in southern China, who over the centuries transformed Yum Cha from a relaxing respite to a loud and happy dining experience.
respite = a pause for relaxation; relief from harm or discomfort.

anemic

SG: What was your favorite scripting environment/language before you decided to create Monad? Why?

JS: Like most people, I have a love/hate relationship with the existing tools. I love the interactivity and composability of KSH/utilities but I hate their inconsistency and the need to do text parsing. I love the power and programmability of PERL and TCL but I hate their idiosyncrasies and their lack of a good interactive experience. I love the consistency and production-orientation of VMS DCL and AS400's CL but I hate their composability model. I love the UNIX model of surfacing everything through the filesystem but I hate the anemic semantics of the filesystem.

Script Center: Interview with a Scripter (Jeffrey Snover - Monad Software Architect) Source
anemic = Lacking vitality; listless and weak. (AHD)

snitch

Trevor, Max's snitch, supplies him with information that leads him to three drug addicts in an empty train station.
snitch = someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police.

ambulatory

On November 18 McPherson was involved in a minor car accident. Paramedics initially left her alone because she was ambulatory, but after she began to remove her clothes, the paramedics decided to take her to the hospital. At one point she remarked that she had taken off her clothes in hopes of obtaining counseling. Hospital staff agreed that she was unharmed, but recommended keeping her overnight for observation. Following intervention by fellow Scientologists, McPherson refused psychiatric observation or admission at the hospital and checked herself out after a short evaluation.
ambulatory = able to walk about.

doddery

Arriving for the inauguration, those around Bush looked increasingly old and weary. Dick Cheney turned up in a wheelchair, having injured his back moving boxes into his new home in suburban Virginia. Bush's father, former president George HW Bush, appeared doddery, swaddled against the cold and leaning heavily on a cane.
Obama inauguration: George Bush - the man who was no longer president (2009-01-20) Andrew Clark, guardian.co.uk. Source
doddery = mentally or physically infirm with age.

bonhomie

The two presidents made a joint effort to exude bonhomie. Earlier in the day, as they arrived at the White House for morning coffee, the Obamas presented a gift wrapped with a red ribbon to George and Laura Bush. The smiles were warm and Obama made a point of publicly thanking his predecessor for his “generosity and cooperation” during the transition.
Obama inauguration: George Bush - the man who was no longer president (2009-01-20) Andrew Clark, guardian.co.uk. Source
bonhomie = a disposition to be friendly and approachable.

gamely

He ignored chants of “no more Bush” and “bye bye Bush” from the masses in the Mall, grinning gamely as he glad-handed the VIPs sitting alongside him.
Obama inauguration: George Bush - the man who was no longer president (2009-01-20) Andrew Clark, guardian.co.uk. Source
glad-handed = To extend a glad hand to. (AHD)
gamely = in a plucky manner. (plucky = showing courage)

hostel

While not quite new, the concept is recent - largely confined to Twenty-First Century films such as “Saw” and its sequels, and Roth's earlier films “Cabin Fever” and “Hostel.” In addition, “Captivity,” which premiered last Friday, June 13, has attracted the “torture porn” label - with its billboards becoming especially controversial. How long will it be before the MPAA follows the lead of movie reviewers in labeling films “torture porn”? (Meanwhile, in the context of television, Senator Sam Brownback may well succeed in convincing the FCC to move aggressively against depictions of violence, especially explicit ones - a move that has led to significant blowback from the ACLU.)
Free Speech and the Concept of “Torture Porn”: Why are Critics So Hostile to “Hostel II”? (2007-06-16) By Julie Hilden. Source
hostel = inexpensive lodging especially for youths. hostel

pusillanimous

every pusillanimous creature that crawls on earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain.
dialogue from movie The Wizard of Oz (1939).
pusillanimous = Destitute of a manly or courageous strength and firmness of mind.

slink

At the man's heels trotted a dog, a big native husky, the proper wolfdog, gray-coated and without any visible or temperamental difference from its brother, the wild wolf. The animal was depressed by the tremendous cold. It knew that it was no time for traveling. Its instinct told it a truer tale than was told to the man by the man's judgment. In reality, it was not merely colder than fifty below zero; it was colder than sixty below, than seventy below. It was seventy-five below zero. Since the freezing point is thirty-two above zero, it meant that one hundred and seven degrees of frost obtained. The dog did not know anything about thermometers. Possibly in its brain there was no sharp consciousness of a condition of very cold such as was in the man's brain. But the brute had its instinct. It experienced a vague but menacing apprehension that subdued it and made it slink along at the man's heels, and that made it question eagerly every unwonted movement of the man as if expecting him to go into camp or to seek shelter somewhere and build a fire. The dog had learned fire, and it wanted fire, or else to burrow under the snow and cuddle its warmth away from the air.
To Build a Fire by Jack London.
unwonted = out of the ordinary.
slink = walk stealthily.

woolly

The woolly community process by which mathematical proofs become accepted seems all the worse when one considers the fact that mathematics is applied in the real world.
Formal Proof (2008) by Thomas Hales. American Mathematical Society Source
woolly = Consisting of wool, as, a woolly covering; confused and vague, used especially of thinking.

verisimilitude

Verisimilitude in its literary context is defined as the fact or quality of being verisimilar, the appearance of being true or real; likeness or resemblance of the truth, reality or a fact's probability. Verisimilitude comes from Latin verum meaning truth and similis meaning similar.

slush

They also revealed the immense scope of crimes and abuses, which included campaign fraud, political espionage and sabotage, illegal break-ins, improper tax audits, illegal wiretapping on a massive scale, and a secret slush fund laundered in Mexico to pay those who conducted these operations.
launder = cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water. Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial transactions in order to conceal the identity, source, and/or destination of money, and is a main operation of the underground economy. Money laundering
slush = partially melted snow. Slush fund is a colloquial term which has come to mean an auxiliary monetary account or a reserve fund. However, the term has special meaning within a context of corrupt (including but not limited to) political dealings by governments, large corporations or other bodies and individuals. Slush funds can have particular elements of illegality, illegitimacy, or secrecy in regard to the use of this money and the means by which the funds were acquired. Slush fund

prone

A human being traveling on a bicycle at low to medium speeds of around 15-25 km/h, using only the energy required to walk, is the most energy-efficient means of transport generally available. Air drag, which is proportional to the square of speed, requires dramatically higher power outputs as speeds increase. A bicycle which places the rider in a seated position, supine position or, more rarely, prone position, and which may be covered in an aerodynamic fairing to achieve very low air drag, is referred to as a recumbent bicycle or human powered vehicle. On an upright bicycle, the rider's body creates about 75% of the total drag of the bicycle/rider combination.

necropolis

The Terracotta Army is a form of funerary art buried with the Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang) in 209-210 BC (his reign over Qin was from 247 BC to 221 BC and unified China from 221 BC to the end of his life in 210 BC). The Terracotta Warriors were discovered in March 1974 by local farmers drilling a water well to the east of Lishan (Mount Li). Mount Li is also where the material to make the terracotta warriors originated. In addition to the warriors, an entire man-made necropolis for the emperor has been excavated.

aegis

By the mid 1980s, Leary had begun to incorporate computers, the Internet, and virtual reality into his aegis of thought. Leary established one of the earliest sites on the World Wide Web, and was often quoted describing the Internet as “the LSD of the 1990s.” He became a promoter of virtual reality systems, and sometimes demonstrated a prototype of the Mattel Power Glove as part of his lectures (as in From Psychedelics to Cybernetics). Around this time he cultivated friendships with a number of notable people in the field, including Brenda Laurel, a pioneering researcher in virtual environments and human-computer interaction.
aegis = endorsement and guidance. Originally, a shield or protective armor, bearing Medusa's head. (See Aegis).

moll

She was Carlotta Monti in the biopic W.C. Fields and Me (1976) and one of her most famous movie roles came as Miss Eve Teschmacher, moll of criminal mastermind Lex Luthor, in Superman (1978). For this role she was nominated for the 1979 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
moll = the girl friend of a gangster

croon

Glenn Gould usually hummed while he played, and his recording engineers varied in how successfully they were able to exclude his voice from recordings... This became “an unbreakable and (notorious) habit”. Some of Gould's recordings were severely criticised because of the background “vocalise”. For example, a reviewer of his 1981 re-recording of the Goldberg Variations opined that many listeners would “find the groans and croons intolerable”.

poontang

“But you know, when he's got a bunch of half-naked poontang walking the floor of his lake house, he just likes to pay us a visit and make sure we got everything we need.”
Dialogue from movie Death Proof (2007)
poontang = slang for pussy, woman.

scion

Herb Stempel (born December 19, 1926) is an American teacher who was famous for his celebrity as a television game show contestant — and for helping to expose what became known as the quiz show scandals after his long run as champion on the 1950s show Twenty One was ended by Columbia University teacher and literary scion Charles Van Doren.
Herb Stempel. (One of the contestant in the American quiz show scandals of 1950s.)

hoary

Charges of sexism have become Hillary's rote strategy for evading scrutiny. But by entangling the noble movement of modern feminism with her own knotty psychodrama, Hillary is reinforcing hoary stereotypes about women. Will every losing woman candidate now turn on the waterworks and claim to be maimed by male pride and prejudice?
Hillary Clinton's candidacy has done feminism no favours (2008-05-24) By Camille Paglia. Source
hoary = showing characteristics of age, especially having gray or white hair

batten

Hillary has tried to have it both ways: to batten on her husband's nostalgic popularity while simultaneously claiming to be a victim of sexism.
Hillary Clinton's candidacy has done feminism no favours (2008-05-24) By Camille Paglia. Source
batten means: To grow fat; to grow fat in ease and luxury; to glut one's self.

scrappers

Those who think she will withdraw gracefully in a few weeks are living in cloud cuckoo land. The Clintons are ruthless scrappers who will lock their bulldog teeth in any bloody towel.
Hillary Clinton's candidacy has done feminism no favours (2008-05-24) By Camille Paglia. Source

catatonic

Alice's parents are killed in a fire. Driven catatonic and having attempted suicide (note her bandaged wrists), she is institutionalised in Rutledge Asylum. Years later Alice is called by the White Rabbit to the aid of a radically altered Wonderland, under threat from the Red Queen, the evil despot who has enslaved its people. The Cheshire Cat is a frightening incarnation, and is her constant companion throughout the game, popping up now and again to guide the player or offer advice.

estrangement

In 1997, she ended her estrangement with the entire Jackson family and returned home to Hayvenhurst. That year, she divorced Gordon. Jackson has no children and currently resides in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
LaToya Jackson is Michael Jackson's sister, also a singer; infamous for posing nude for Playboy.

regatta

The design remained relatively unknown in the West for almost another 200 years, until an American, Nathanael Herreshoff, began to build catamaran boats of his own design in 1877 (US Pat. No. 189,459), namely 'Amaryllis', which immediately showed her superior performance capabilities, at her maiden regatta (The Centennial Regatta held on June 22, 1876, off the New York Yacht Club's Staten Island station[1]). It was this same event, after being protested by the losers, where Catamarans, as a design, were barred from all the regular classes[1] and they remained barred until the 1970's.
Catamaran 2008-05-26
catamaran = a boat with twin-hulls.
regatta = a meeting for boat races.

kerfuffle

We have recently resolved Bet 117 on Long Bets about the adjusted cost of energy. It was an interesting case where we had very specific criteria for who would win the bet, yet we could not adjudicate it when the time came. The bettors cited the Department of Energy published numbers to resolve their bet. However in the first quarter of 02006 when the DOE posted their numbers, they then quickly retracted them. It turns out they had several years worth of data incorrect due to the deceptive data from the Enron energy kerfuffle. It took the DOE over a year to straighten it all out.
Long Bet: The Cost of Energy (2007-09-14) by Alexander Rose Source
About Enron, see Enron scandal.
kerfuffle = a disorderly outburst or tumult.

capsize

Trimarans are popular with many sailors for their stability; however, if capsized (for example by a rogue wave), they are virtually impossible to right, in contrast to monohulls, and this would typically be a fatal disaster for the boat's crew.
Donald Crowhurst (a British businessman who suicided in a competition for global sailing in 1969)
Trimaran is a ship with 3 hulls; compare to catamaran, which has 2 hulls.

adjudicate

In the bet Winer asserts, “In a Google search of five keywords or phrases representing the top five news stories of 02007, weblogs will rank higher than the New York Times's Web site”. The premise of this bet is excellent, but unfortunately the arguments were quite vague on how to adjudicate the bet. Long Bets encourages bettors to construct arguments that involve the least amount of interpretation possible. Once this bet came up for adjudication we urged both parties to come to their own decision, but they asked Long Bets to be the final arbiter. We have done our best with the information and resources available to us, but this process should be a good instructor both to future bettors and ourselves...
Decision: Blogs vs. New York Times (2008-02-01) by Alexander Rose. Source

albatross

Is Hillary Clinton the saviour of feminism? Or its albatross, dragging feminism backwards under a weary weight of old-guard victimology and male-bashing?

foist

The highlighting faces are my own choices, because I felt it was important for me to foist my personal style choices on the general public.
foist = to force onto another; insert surreptitiously or without warrant.

concomitant

Prior to winning the Nobel Prize, her work was largely unknown outside the German-speaking world and was said to resemble that of acclaimed Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard, with its pathology of destruction and its concomitant comedic abrogation.
Elfriede Jelinek. (author of The Piano Teacher)

acrimonious

Disemboweling is evidently the theme du jour. As the political wars rage in this amazingly acrimonious primary season, the skin has been ripped off the establishment in both parties, and their guts have been exposed. We're seeing the pulsing inner workings of partisan ideology as never before.
Blood-and-guts politics (2008-02-13) By Camille Paglia. http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/02/13/political_wars/print.html.

detritus

The house dust mite, is a cosmopolitan guest in human habitation. Dust mites feed on organic detritus such as flakes of shed human skin and flourish in the stable environment of dwellings.
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