OT- Word of the day.
 

This topic will be as the title says. If I can everyday I will select a word for the day. It make us all smarter and is fun. I will pick words that are different, unusual, or old and no longer used. If you have a word you would like to see let me know and I will try to make it the word of the day. In the end lets try to keep this alive for a little while. On to the words!


Today's Word is:

Buckminsterfullerene
form of carbon found in minerals: a stable form of carbon containing 60 carbon atoms


[Late 20th century. From the molecule’s resemblance to the geodesic dome structure invented by the U.S. architect R. Buckminster Fuller (1895–1983).]

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Not necessarily composed of 60 carbon atoms. There are also stable Versions with, IIRC, 54, 72, 78, and 96 atoms, for the spherical ("bucky-ball") configuration. Buckminsterfullerene also applies to tube ("bucky-tube") configurations, which I'm fairly certain have a wider range of possibilities re: number of atoms, since the tubes can be of varying length.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

I know nothing about that knd of stuff. I just typed what the dictionary said. I'm sure you are right though http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif . Also, I'm glad someone else knows what buckyball is http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif . It's a fun word to use.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

word of the day for me..... CRAP! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Why is that AT. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ July 14, 2004, 23:14: Message edited by: Intimidator ]

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Bad day I take it? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif Playing pool will solve all problems.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

What's a bucky ball?

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Good idea but I suspect people (like me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif ) will want to hop in. For example, right off the bat, my favorite word is one I learned in a book (SF) called, "Slan", I think. Every person I mention the word to has never heard of it. It's, "eidetic". Another word I find interesting that people would never really think about is, "steerageway".

OK, I'll leave your thread alone now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif .

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Eidetic? Unless I'm remembering a word with a similair spelling, dictionary doesn't have it, that means someone who forgest nothing or very little.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">ball-shaped carbon molecule: a ball-shaped carbon molecule found in stable forms of carbon (fullerenes), especially the molecule containing 60 carbon atoms (buckminsterfullerene). It sometimes occurs naturally but is usually synthesized. See it's easy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">ball-shaped carbon molecule: a ball-shaped carbon molecule found in stable forms of carbon (fullerenes), especially the molecule containing 60 carbon atoms (buckminsterfullerene). It sometimes occurs naturally but is usually synthesized. See it's easy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ah-huh. That tells me nothing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[ July 15, 2004, 01:07: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No. I don't mind you sharing your favorite words. I eidetic and steerageway is interesting. I mainly look for words I can use in my scrabble game.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Yeah, eidetic, I know that word because I learned it many years ago when I was playing RPG's. "Eidetic memory" was one of the advantages you can get for your character when using the GURPS system.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Hey! I just copied what the computer dictionary said. It is a funny word though http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif .

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No. I don't mind you sharing your favorite words. I eidetic and steerageway is interesting. I mainly look for words I can use in my scrabble game. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Scrabble player?! Kewl! Can't find anyone who can handle me in my circle of friends. Be nice if there was an Online place to play Scrabble and have some fun!

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's interesting. In the book, "Slan", the main character had 2 brains (can't remember the reason why) but he found with practice that with his increased eidetic ability and 2 brains, IF he had ever been to a place, he could concentrate real hard and he would be there. It was a good book as some of the situations he was in, he had no eidetic memory of where he needed to "go" and couldn't go there. He had to find another way.

Well, I digress.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It's a good idea. I'll be sure to check it each day I see it at the top of the forum.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">YOu damn europeans are so damn competative. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif You know why...... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif (Laughing) Mr. Game Master. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

(Seriously, the game was great, everything is going well despite your warp point openers, and the loss of my fleet. I had expected to loose some, but not all, but that is how it works out sometimes.)

Just a bad day for getting bad news. Thats all.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Champions had this too. 10 points. Funny the stuff you remember...

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Synthetic Buckytubes (also called nano-tubes) are, theroeticly, the strongest substance we know is possible to create. And in fact has been created in incredibly small amounts. Unless I'm remembering this wrong, there are other substances that 'could' be stronger, but Buckytubes are the strongest proven to be possible.

Recent developments into this potential have even got NASA and others actually concidering using Buckytubes to build a space elevator! While the ability to create enough of this stuff is still many years away, it's got some peoples attention.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnol..._020327-1.html

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Ah, ok, thanks. But, what makes a buckyball or tube so different that 'bucky' is added?

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

"Bucky" is a reference to Buckminster Fuller, an architect who is known for creating the geodesic dome. It's named that because the structure of the atomic bonds resembles that of the structural supports of the dome. To give you a simple example of what it would "look" like, imagine that the bucky ball is a soccer ball. The points where the stiches meet is where the carbon atoms would be, and the lines of stiches would be the bonds between atoms.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Ah. Thanks, people.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Champions had this too. 10 points. Funny the stuff you remember... </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ih White Wolf, or at least in Mage, its a one or two point Merit.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

One of my favourite words is "defenestrate". It doesn't pop up in books much though. Usually only in action movies or westerns.

edit: another is "antidisestablishmentarianism"

[ July 15, 2004, 09:14: Message edited by: Randallw ]

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Its a new day, so new word. Arrrrrrrgggggggg!

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

I opened up the dictionary to look up the definition of defeniwhatit. New word: Bathysphere: A spherical diving bell equipped with windows for deep sea observations.

Dictionary doesn't have defenestrate.

[ July 15, 2004, 10:15: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">ah well then you need more clues. As I said it happens in action movies and westerns. Die hard is an action movie where it happened. It seems every time a fight breaks out in a bar it happens.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Well, I remember the word defenestrate from a book I read. It means to throw out the window. So in a fight, somebody picks up a guy and throws him out the window.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Threads like this discombobulate me. But I'm a trooper, so I'll join the fun none the less. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

edit: P.S. This word of the day thing is nice, but it would be even better if the word was used in a sentance to show that it can be used in more than just a 'list of ingredients'.

[ July 15, 2004, 11:37: Message edited by: David E. Gervais ]

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

We have the same word in French (with a spelling variation, but that is to be expected), so this word likely comes from a foreign language, and hence isn't present in all English dictionaries, or something along these lines. And French has probably borrowed it from somewhere else as well (from what I can tell, "fenestra" is the latin for "window").

But this wasn't quite exactly a thread for etymology, and so I will stop digressing. I shall now leave the literati to debate about these strange words. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif (Literati has a nice ring to it, but I cannot think of something better than this one to bring to the thread)

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">There is. Right here. It is Yahoo Literati. It is scrabble just without the scrabble name. My mom used to play all the time. It is alot of fun. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Yes I find if you know a bit of latin you have a vague idea of what romance words are. a large proportion of english is stolen from french (albeit a thousand years ago) almost the rest is germanic (which I mostly know from military study) and the rest are words the empire stole from anyone they conquered.

edit: just realised I am doing what Alneyan warned of, turning this into a etymological discussion.

[ July 15, 2004, 14:38: Message edited by: Randallw ]

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">There is. Right here. It is Yahoo Literati. It is scrabble just without the scrabble name. My mom used to play all the time. It is alot of fun. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">More correctly, it's similar to Scrabble (having taken a look). The values for the letters are different (a 'Q', for example, is worth 5 points instead of 10) and the board is laid out differently. I wonder how challenges really work out on line (I played Hearts for a while till I learned people loaded card-counting cheats programs in a secondary window). And, of course, a timer would be nice (I didn't verify the existance of one in the Literati game).

But in a world where the makers of Scrabble have chosen NOT to give out rights to the game Online, I guess one does what one can to fill the void.

Thanks, Ragnarok http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

I'm pretty sure you can play scrabble Online... do a google search, looks like there are more than a few places...

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I didn't compare the two closely as far as layout and points of letters. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

And if I recall correctly the timer does exsist on there and you can set it to anything you want. It is optional, however. It does come in handy as some players will take forever to play their word.

You are most welcome. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Edit: You also mention challenges. I forget exactly but I think you just press the challenge button if you don't think the word is correct and the system will varify it. The word database is taken from Dictionary.com. Although I have seen it mess up a few times and add words it should not allow, proper names and such.

[ July 15, 2004, 16:25: Message edited by: Ragnarok ]

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Rags, I was commenting more on how challenging a word could be a possible weak spot in the game with people logged into dictionary.com typing in the word before they clicked the challenge button (or something similar). After finding out how people had card-counting routines running beside their Hearts game...well...I quit playing.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

If you did want to cheat, who is to prevent you from using a program finding words for you? The computer Version of Scrabble comes with such helps, so you could probably use it in the Online Version (if you have nothing better to do).

Of course, it mostly applies to playing with random people on the net; I guess that we can trust one another on this forum for example.

Slightly less on topic, add ancient Greek to your list Randallw and I think you have all the roots of English words. While they aren't too many actual Greek words that I can think of ("phenomenon" and its plural form "phenomena" would be one, like "psyche" and a few other not so common words), Greek words are commonly used to make compound nouns (such as, say, "biology", the study of life). But it isn't so particular to English alone, and I am digressing even more.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

New day new word!

Todays Word:

ihram ("ee raam" with long a)

1. white robe worn by Mecca pilgrims: a white cotton robe worn by men when they are pilgrims to Mecca, formed from pieces of cloth wound around the waist and over the shoulder
2. holy state of pilgrim wearing ihram: the state of holiness conferred or symbolized by the wearing of the ihram

Just for David http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif . "David, looks so natty in his new ihram." http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Also, I love discombobulate. I will have to use sometime.

[ July 15, 2004, 21:31: Message edited by: Iansidious ]

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">YOu damn europeans are so damn competative. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif You know why...... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif (Laughing) Mr. Game Master. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

(Seriously, the game was great, everything is going well despite your warp point openers, and the loss of my fleet. I had expected to loose some, but not all, but that is how it works out sometimes.)

Just a bad day for getting bad news. Thats all. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You forgot to say that you loose ALL 60 of them, and I lost only 7 (with an fleet as large as yours)

So bottom line : I'VE GOT BETTER SHIPS http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Alneyan, I want to ask you something. I rememered you live in France. I heard of a word(it was someones Last name but it has a meaning also)that mean the "sneaky one" in French. Lellouche. I was wonder about this word because I can't find it in my dictionary. I do belive that is the correct spelling.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Indeed, it is either "Lellouche" or "Lelouche" (both spellings are used for Last names as far as I know, with perhahs "Lelouche" being more common). And "Le louche" would mean something along the lines of someone being shady or suspicious, or a behaviour having this characteristic. So if you see someone acting sneakily, you could see it is indeed "louche" (with the French meaning of this word).

I think "louche", when used in English, has a somewhat different meaning though. Or rather, my dictionary gives "of questionable taste and morality" as a definition. But then, I should beware of French adjectives used in English; while "risqué" (or risque without this accent) means "risky" in French, saying that something or someone is risque in English doesn't quite have the same meaning. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

It's a new day over here, so: Destructive Distillation: The distillation of organic substances, as wood and coal, in such a way as to decompose them chemically: also called dry distillation.

Des-ue-tude: A condition of disuse.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Thank You. Thank You. You are right about LOUCHE it's means "disreputable or of doubtful morality". Well, I can't use quite like I wanted too. You French get all the cool words http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif .

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">How many hours are in a day on CHEESE? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

New Day, new word..... *****'in http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif I stayed up all night and finished a fourth set for the Tournament. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif And its a sweet set people.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Today's Word:

Nihilism (nia lizzem)
This word has a least four meanings but I will list the one that fits Se4 nicely.

belief in destruction of authority: the belief that all established authority is corrupt and must be destroyed in order to rebuild a just society

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

I once had a pet rat named Nihils. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Though I now forget if I named him after the crush-the-state brand of nihilism or the there-is-no-reality brand of nihilism.

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

Nihlus (I think that's the correct spelling) is the name of one of the biggest enemy Cybrids in Cyberstorm http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif .

Re: OT- Word of the day.
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">How many hours are in a day on CHEESE? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Huh?