Downstrike's definitions
The process of recognizing and reacting to circumstances that are relevant to an event. It is taken so much for granted by humans that computers, and those who design them, seem stupid by comparison, when they fail to perform this process.
Some clues for making computers perform contextual cognition:
1. The more repeatedly the user strikes a particular keyboard key or clicks on an interface button before the computer performs the function assigned to that key or button, the more likely it is the user wants the computer to perform the function already, instead of what ever it's messing around with right now.
2. If the user continues repeatedly striking a particular keyboard key or clicking an interface button after the computer performed the function, this would be a good time to check and see whether the computer actually performed the function.
3. A user who clicks a window's title bar, while that window is in the background, doesn't want the window re-sized. He wants it to come to the foreground, and if he's done so several times, he's becoming impatient about it.
4. When a user repeats the same instruction to the computer that he gave several minutes ago, and the computer hasn't complied with it yet, the user doesn't need to be informed that two instances of that function cannot be performed at the same time. He simply needs to be reminded that he already gave that instruction. Better yet, since the computer has messed around so long that the user forgot that he already gave the instruction, this would be a good time to comply with it.
5. When an application window freezes up, its application is waiting for something else to happen. If the computer has enough resources to tell the user that the application is not responding, it has enough resources to determine what the application is waiting for and remind it to happen.
6. The user wants his typing and mouse clicks applied to the interface that was on the screen when he started typing or clicking, not to the window that popped up in front of it, so apply them to the intended interface and put back the work the user had in the popped-up window before the computer replaced it with the input meant for the previous window.
7. When the computer pops up an alert stating that a function aborted because the Internet connection has failed, and the alert only offers the choices to Work Offline and Try Again, and the user has tried several times to restore the Internet connection, don't wait until the user chooses "Try Again", to admit that the computer is already connected to the Internet. The user is waiting until the computer connects to the Internet before choosing "Try Again", because it would be senseless to try again without a connection to the Internet. It would also be nice if the computer identified which function aborted.
8. When the computer reconnects to the Internet after being disconnected, and the computer has enough awareness of that fact to react to it by alerting the user at that very moment that various functions failed due to the disconnection, then the computer has enough information that it could just as easily retry those functions at that time, instead of blathering at the user about it.
9. MyCrudSoft sWindles XP Procrastinal!!! What the heck do you mean, Keyboard failure Strike the F1 key to continue..."? Who do you think you are? MS-DOS 3.0? Grow up, already!
1. The more repeatedly the user strikes a particular keyboard key or clicks on an interface button before the computer performs the function assigned to that key or button, the more likely it is the user wants the computer to perform the function already, instead of what ever it's messing around with right now.
2. If the user continues repeatedly striking a particular keyboard key or clicking an interface button after the computer performed the function, this would be a good time to check and see whether the computer actually performed the function.
3. A user who clicks a window's title bar, while that window is in the background, doesn't want the window re-sized. He wants it to come to the foreground, and if he's done so several times, he's becoming impatient about it.
4. When a user repeats the same instruction to the computer that he gave several minutes ago, and the computer hasn't complied with it yet, the user doesn't need to be informed that two instances of that function cannot be performed at the same time. He simply needs to be reminded that he already gave that instruction. Better yet, since the computer has messed around so long that the user forgot that he already gave the instruction, this would be a good time to comply with it.
5. When an application window freezes up, its application is waiting for something else to happen. If the computer has enough resources to tell the user that the application is not responding, it has enough resources to determine what the application is waiting for and remind it to happen.
6. The user wants his typing and mouse clicks applied to the interface that was on the screen when he started typing or clicking, not to the window that popped up in front of it, so apply them to the intended interface and put back the work the user had in the popped-up window before the computer replaced it with the input meant for the previous window.
7. When the computer pops up an alert stating that a function aborted because the Internet connection has failed, and the alert only offers the choices to Work Offline and Try Again, and the user has tried several times to restore the Internet connection, don't wait until the user chooses "Try Again", to admit that the computer is already connected to the Internet. The user is waiting until the computer connects to the Internet before choosing "Try Again", because it would be senseless to try again without a connection to the Internet. It would also be nice if the computer identified which function aborted.
8. When the computer reconnects to the Internet after being disconnected, and the computer has enough awareness of that fact to react to it by alerting the user at that very moment that various functions failed due to the disconnection, then the computer has enough information that it could just as easily retry those functions at that time, instead of blathering at the user about it.
9. MyCrudSoft sWindles XP Procrastinal!!! What the heck do you mean, Keyboard failure Strike the F1 key to continue..."? Who do you think you are? MS-DOS 3.0? Grow up, already!
by Downstrike December 28, 2005
Get the Contextual Cognition mug.Groups of bigoted religious zealots whose primary goal is to label the religions of others as, cults.
I looked at some Apologetics' web sites and every one of them was calling some other religion, if not several religions, a cult. If they really were cults, the Apologetics wouldn't have had to make such crap about them.
by Downstrike December 28, 2005
Get the Apologetics mug.1. Literally; n., a pin or keeper, placed through or around an axle, that prevents a wheel from slipping off of its axle.
2. Slang; n., Any part or person that is so vital to something that if it went missing, the whole thing would fall apart.
2. Slang; n., Any part or person that is so vital to something that if it went missing, the whole thing would fall apart.
1. You have to pull the linchpin to adjust the bearings.
2. Someone has to take the snap, so the quarterback is the football offensive team's linchpin.
2. Someone has to take the snap, so the quarterback is the football offensive team's linchpin.
by Downstrike December 28, 2005
Get the linchpin mug.n., Excitement, usually Sexual or romantic, causing a hard on of the pecker and/or clit and nipples, but it may occur with other forms of thrill-seeking, such as extreme sports, extreme amusement park rides, or space monkey.
The occurrence of tit as the first syllable of titillation is purely coincidental.
v. form, titillate.
The occurrence of tit as the first syllable of titillation is purely coincidental.
v. form, titillate.
The road between Merced Falls and Hornitos, where it passes around the buttes, has such perfect hills for a roller coaster ride that little kids get titillation riding in a car driving on it.
by Downstrike December 28, 2005
Get the titillation mug.1. Literally, a motorist who is a moron.
2. A motorist who drives irresponsibly, at the risk of bodily harm or death to self, passengers, and other motorists. A moronotorist passes on blind curves, passes motorists who are signalling for left turns, drives too fast for visibility and road conditions, ignores warning signs, and neglects ordinary precautions.
2. A motorist who drives irresponsibly, at the risk of bodily harm or death to self, passengers, and other motorists. A moronotorist passes on blind curves, passes motorists who are signalling for left turns, drives too fast for visibility and road conditions, ignores warning signs, and neglects ordinary precautions.
Moronotorists on Hwy 395 frequently try to pass you when you're turning left. A lot of them don't wear their seat belts, so they get ejected. Then they get run over by other moronotorists who are driving too fast to see them in time to stop.
Moronotorists would run over the ambulance crew too, so CHP has to stop all traffic going both directions, and the ambulance crew needs squeegees and dust pans to pick up the pieces.
Moronotorists would run over the ambulance crew too, so CHP has to stop all traffic going both directions, and the ambulance crew needs squeegees and dust pans to pick up the pieces.
by Downstrike December 28, 2005
Get the moronotorist mug.Nickname for Modesto, California, so named because George Lucas based the script for American Graffiti upon events that occurred there during his senior year at Downey High. He just changed everyone's and everything's names enough so they couldn't sue him for defamation of character.
Modesto also used to host the biggest Graffiti Night rallies for a few years after the movie came out.
Modesto also used to host the biggest Graffiti Night rallies for a few years after the movie came out.
by Downstrike August 14, 2006
Get the Graffiti City mug.A little, five-year-old Cuban boy who made headlines in 1999 by surviving the trip to Florida from Cuba in an inner tube. His mother died to get him to Florida, but she made the mistake of naming him a name that sounded far too much like the word, alien in English, and having him fathered by a man who would have nothing to do with Elián until being Elián's father was suddenly very patriotic.
If Elián González wasn't named a name that sounds like alien in English, maybe the feds wouldn't have been so obsessed with sending him home, or scared him into going back to Cuba by shoving an assault rifle in his face.
by Downstrike August 14, 2006
Get the Elián González mug.