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
The latest Windows Update was supposed to be SP2. But it downdated several things, so I had to update them again.
by Downstrike September 14, 2004
Literal meanings:
1. N., A roadway paved with a track made of rails, upon which locomotives push or pull a train of cars or trailers carrying people or freight.
2. Adj., Pertaining to such a roadway or the trains that travel upon it.
3. N., The industry of transporting people or freight by rail, or one or more of the companies within that industry.
4. Adj., Pertaining to that industry.
5. V., Transport upon a railroad.
Slang meanings:
1. V., to coerce, trick, or seduce others into a course of action that they would not otherwise choose. This includes, but is not limited to, specifically sexual situations.
2. N., Eleven, as if the two parallel numerals were the rails of a railroad track.
1. N., A roadway paved with a track made of rails, upon which locomotives push or pull a train of cars or trailers carrying people or freight.
2. Adj., Pertaining to such a roadway or the trains that travel upon it.
3. N., The industry of transporting people or freight by rail, or one or more of the companies within that industry.
4. Adj., Pertaining to that industry.
5. V., Transport upon a railroad.
Slang meanings:
1. V., to coerce, trick, or seduce others into a course of action that they would not otherwise choose. This includes, but is not limited to, specifically sexual situations.
2. N., Eleven, as if the two parallel numerals were the rails of a railroad track.
Literal: Southern Pacific (3) railroad's old (2) railroad cars can still be found along abandoned stretches of (1) railroad, because the industry can't be bothered to (5) railroad them to (4) railroad stations.
Slang:
1. Popular culture isn't going to be railroaded into adopting a narrow-mindedly specific sexual situation as the definition of railroad simply because someone described his favorite life experience as an UrbanDictionary definition.
2. We use the 802-railroad-G wireless protocol. (See WAP and 802.11g.)
Slang:
1. Popular culture isn't going to be railroaded into adopting a narrow-mindedly specific sexual situation as the definition of railroad simply because someone described his favorite life experience as an UrbanDictionary definition.
2. We use the 802-railroad-G wireless protocol. (See WAP and 802.11g.)
by Downstrike October 10, 2005
What the British write when they mean to write ass. As with most words, their pronunciation is quite pretentious too.
There's nothing wrong with the way the British spell America. It's arse that they spell incorrectly.
There's nothing wrong with the way the British spell America. It's arse that they spell incorrectly.
by Downstrike January 02, 2007
My aunt sent Billy Graham some money once, and after that, his harassment specialists pestered her for more money every month until she changed her number. She never did that again!
by Downstrike September 13, 2004
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