Assuming the stereotype is negative to begin with. How many contortions do we need to go through to make "Asians are good at math" into a stereotype that hurts people?

A) The stereotype may in practice make it harder for them to go into other fields.
B) The stereotype may disadvantage other groups.

I would say that stereotypes exist to make communicating easier, but I suppose it sounds dumb to claim that my ease of use trumps discrimination. It's about what meanings we attribute to the words more than the words themselves. I don't feel that "Jap" or "homo" should have any negative connotations since they're simply shortenings of the official term (how much less offensive can you possibly get?) but since we're all a bunch of hateful twats, they are anyway.

P.S: Yeah, you said "in fiction" so this whole post is a bit offtopic.

"Virtual" anything means there's at least one layer of abstraction between the thing and anything the layperson would consider remotely close to the hardware. "Machine" would imply something that is inversely quite close to the hardware. To my ears, it sounds like saying "pure hybrid"...you can't be both at the same time.

Maybe I'm mixing up (virtual (machine language)) and ((virtual machine) language). From the perspective of the Java/.NET compiler it conceptually resembles machine language but it sure doesn't from the perspective of the actual hardware. I can see how Java being in a VM to begin with presents a similar model to running assembly on the actual machine but comparing the two in terms of efficiency and overhead is laughable. I was signalling my cognitive dissonance of conflating Java and assembly so directly.

Don't mind me; I'm just twitching over here and fighting down the urge to vomit.

I'm still fuzzy on what constitutes a "credible" vs. non-credible death threat. Specific details?

"I'm going to murder you at your house, 123 Broadway Avenue, Littletown, Missouri 22817 at 9:17am on August 31, 2014, using a sawed-off 22-gauge shotgun loaded with..."

How about I just stab myself in the eye with a fork instead. It would be a lot faster and marginally less painful.

person="geek"
general_category="bigot"

In the U.S., when you say something that offends me I sue you for 8 bajillion dollars "emotional damages." In the Middle East, when you say something that offends me I just kill you.

Is the West more civilized? We smile as we ruin someone's life over ego but leave them alive. On the other hand, killing someone for drawing a picture of Mohammed is gross overkill.

Should be from the NO SHIT Department.

Also, pot calling the kettle black as I'm sure CenturyLink is being as anticompetitive as they can, too.

I wasn't convinced you weren't right; I was wondering how I managed to (barely) pass discrete math if you were, though :)

Doesn't it? I thought the definition of "if and only if" means both must be true for the statement to be true:

If B, then A && If A, then B.

If the driver would drive to the same location without the other people in the car, it is ride sharing.
If it is ride sharing, the driver would drive to the same location without the other people in the car.

Well, they've already got the "adding only features you don't want for more bloat" bit down.

Windows and Mac OS are both "free" if you don't consider the cost of the hardware. Doesn't Apple sell standalone versions, too? Only they're "install on our hardware only."

Now, upgrades for a machine you already have, you may be right about. But aren't you supposed to buy a new Mac at that point like a good consumer? Or does that only apply for the iPhone Generation 17,000?

Write down the activation key, torrent a clean copy of the install disk (or find a college student with an MSDNAA subscription and get him to get the ISO), and reinstall using that?

A few years back when I was in college, it worked for me, but I have a desktop so no driver problems I guess.

Don't you just love how every one of these laws always finishes with the words "...or at police discretion?"

It has been shown time and time again lately that local police are pretty much evil, too, so yeah--provably.