Thursday, May 26, 2005

Today's Lesson: Lose and Loose

Lose
v. lost, (lôst, lŏst) los·ing, los·es
v. tr.

  1. To be unsuccessful in retaining possession of; mislay: He's always losing his car keys.
    1. To be deprived of (something one has had): lost her art collection in the fire; lost her job.
    2. To be left alone or desolate because of the death of: lost his wife.
    3. To be unable to keep alive: a doctor who has lost very few patients.
  2. To be unable to keep control or allegiance of: lost his temper at the meeting; is losing supporters by changing his mind.
  3. To fail to win; fail in: lost the game; lost the court case.
  4. To fail to use or take advantage of: Don't lose a chance to improve your position.
  5. To fail to hear, see, or understand: We lost the plane in the fog. I lost her when she started speaking about thermodynamics.
    1. To let (oneself) become unable to find the way.
    2. To remove (oneself), as from everyday reality into a fantasy world.
  6. To rid oneself of: lost five pounds.
  7. To consume aimlessly; waste: lost a week in idle occupations.
  8. To wander from or become ignorant of: lose one's way.
    1. To elude or outdistance: lost their pursuers.
    2. To be outdistanced by: chased the thieves but lost them.
  9. To become slow by (a specified amount of time). Used of a timepiece.
  10. To cause or result in the loss of: Failure to reply to the advertisement lost her the job.
  11. To cause to be destroyed. Usually used in the passive: Both planes were lost in the crash.
  12. To cause to be damned.

v. intr.
  1. To suffer loss.
  2. To be defeated.
  3. To operate or run slow. Used of a timepiece.

Phrasal Verb:
lose out
To fail to achieve or receive an expected gain.

Idioms:
lose it Slang
  1. To lose control; blow up.
  2. To become deranged or mentally disturbed.
  3. To become less capable or proficient; decline.
lose out on
To miss (an opportunity, for example).
lose time
  1. To operate too slowly. Used of a timepiece.
  2. To delay advancement.


[Middle English losen, from Old English losian, to perish, from los, loss. See leu- in Indo-European Roots.]


Loose
adj. loos·er, loos·est
  1. Not fastened, restrained, or contained: loose bricks.
  2. Not taut, fixed, or rigid: a loose anchor line; a loose chair leg.
  3. Free from confinement or imprisonment; unfettered: criminals loose in the neighborhood; dogs that are loose on the streets.
  4. Not tight-fitting or tightly fitted: loose shoes.
  5. Not bound, bundled, stapled, or gathered together: loose papers.
  6. Not compact or dense in arrangement or structure: loose gravel.
  7. Lacking a sense of restraint or responsibility; idle: loose talk.
  8. Not formal; relaxed: a loose atmosphere at the club.
  9. Lacking conventional moral restraint in sexual behavior.
  10. Not literal or exact: a loose translation.
  11. Characterized by a free movement of fluids in the body: a loose cough; loose bowels.

adv.
In a loose manner.

v. loosed, loos·ing, loos·es
v. tr.
  1. To let loose; release: loosed the dogs.
  2. To make loose; undo: loosed his belt.
  3. To cast loose; detach: hikers loosing their packs at camp.
  4. To let fly; discharge: loosed an arrow.
  5. To release pressure or obligation from; absolve: loosed her from the responsibility.
  6. To make less strict; relax: a leader's strong authority that was loosed by easy times.

v. intr.
  1. To become loose.
  2. To discharge a missile; fire.

Idiom:
on the loose
  1. At large; free.
  2. Acting in an uninhibited fashion.


[Middle English louse, los, from Old Norse lauss. See leu- in Indo-European Roots.]

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Of Buddies and Their Lists'

I just read a fairly asinine forum post by some jackass trying to validate his nerdy existence by boasting about the size of his buddylist. I choose to go the other way, I choose to validate my nerdy existence by treating my buddylist like the most exclusive club on the internet. Not even my parents are on my buddylist, of course they don't have screen names, but that's beside the point. My buddylist comprises about .000000383% of the earth's population, in contrast the average AOL user's buddylist contains roughly 50% of the population. If you have received the great honor of being on my buddylist then you are beyond the mere riff-raff that loiter around other peoples' buddylists. I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight; hold on I'll go and look out my window.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

In Search of Sustenance

I learned a new lesson today. If you ask a pet shop clerk which rabbit tastes best, they won't sell you any rabbits. Then you are stuck trying to shoot squirrels in the park with your blowgun. Like my dad always says, "squirrels are just rats with good p.r." Nobody wants to eat a rat, they're filthy animals. Not even a drug addict bum with a +2 crack habit of poverty would stoop so low as to eat a rat.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

A Hitchiker's Guide to the Bums of Waco

If you are ever unfortunate enough to have to spend any time in Waco you will certainly meet some bums. Some people are uncertain as to how to deal with bums and/or are afraid of dirty poor people. To this end I have published the following guide to the bums of Waco. There are two basic groups of bums in Waco.

Homeless bum: This bum is not to be feared for you will never see a homeless bum (in Waco) talking to anyone except others bums. The one exception is Sunday when naive young Baylor students give the bums doughnuts and coffee in a feeble attempt to "fix" the bums.

Drug addict bum: These will compose the bulk of the bums you will meet. Drug addict bums are far and away the most annoying people ever. They lack any form of self respect and are willing to do anything for miniscule amounts of money. This type of bum is easily detected by their ludicrous stories about broken down cars that only need $5.00 dollars to be fixed.

Expert Tip:
Never give anything to drug addict bum; getting involved with drug addict bum will only bring trouble.
There are also some more advanced bums in Waco; another guide will be published shortly.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

The Cedega Conundrum

It is a question as old as time itself; or at least as old as the answer to life, the universe, and everything. A moral dilemma to be sure. A question that will weigh on great minds for eons upon eons. To properly quantify a question as deep and thought provoking as this, one must possess many skills ranging in length and breadth too great to put into words. A renaissance man would not enjoy even a minute portion of the skills necessary to understand the question in question. That is why the immense burden of stating and analyzing the question has been thrust upon my Olympian shoulders, by myself.

Alas in my short, but scholastically enriched life; I have acquired only nine and a half tenths of the requisite whole necessary to adequately proclaim the question at hand. Dear reader if you would but indulge me for a spell; I would humbly carry out the task I have graciously accepted from myself. I will now loose upon your mind a question that has hitherto been uttered by men with the kind of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. The question I hold on my pursed lips is as follows.

Does Cedega help gaming on the Linux platform or hurt gaming on the Linux platform?


Destroyer of empires on the cusp of conception; or custodian of hope and games
Destroyer of unborn empires; or custodian of hope and games?

Updates with in depth analysis forthwith