by Fearman November 05, 2007
1. The largest planet in the solar system, accounting for roughly seventy percent of the total planetary mass, and the fifth from the Sun. The largest and innermost of the gas giants, Jupiter makes an interesting sight through even a modest telescope. Orbits the Sun in 11.86 Earth years. Radiates over twice the energy received from the Sun due to gravitational contraction. Temperature at cloud decks about 143 degrees Centigrade below zero. Pronounced equatorial bulge; diameter through the equator is 88,846 miles (to within five miles, measured to the altitude where gas pressure equals that of Earth's air at sea level); diameter through the poles is 83,082 miles. Mass over 317 times that of Earth, volume over 1,321 times that of Earth. Composed mostly of gas, chiefly hydrogen with a considerable amount of helium; traces exist of ammonia, water vapour, methane, ethane, silicon compounds, carbon compounds and sulphur, among others. At greater depths the hydrogen enters molecular and then metallic states not found among gases on Earth; there may be a rock-metal core accounting for perhaps five percent of the planet's mass. The planet does not rotate on its axis as a solid body, but faster in the equatorial regions than around the poles, by about five minutes per rotation; the whole turns once on its axis in just under ten hours. The entire visible face of the planet consists of clouds in the upper reaches of a vast ocean of gas. Has a striped appearance with light zones of upwelling gas and dark, descending belts; there are numerous rotating storm systems, the largest and longest-lived of which is the Great Red Spot, a storm larger than the Earth. Jupiter's powerful magnetosphere, its trailing end still detectable at the orbit of Saturn, funnels considerable amounts of ionising radiation, carrying at its strongest one thousand times the lethal dose for the human body. Jupiter receives comparatively many asteroid and cometary impacts, recently including the string of impacts from the tidally disrupted comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994. Visited by Pioneer, Voyager, Galileo and Cassini probes. Recognised to have 63 satellites at last count; the largest of these, Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, are collectively known as the Galilean satellites because they were discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1609-10. (This made them the first extraterrestrial moons discovered, which made for an epochal discovery.) Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system and is larger than, though not as massive as, the planet Mercury. Europa is thought a possible abode for extraterrestrial life.
2. Jupiter's namesake is the big daddy of the gods of ancient Rome, equivalent to the Greek Zeus. Known in full as Jupiter Optimus Maximus Soter; Jupiter the best, the greatest and the Saviour. Popularly imagined sitting on a throne with a bunch of thunderbolts in his left hand. The patron deity of the Roman state, he ruled over laws and the social order. He was the father of Mars and hence mythologically the grandfather of the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
2. Jupiter's namesake is the big daddy of the gods of ancient Rome, equivalent to the Greek Zeus. Known in full as Jupiter Optimus Maximus Soter; Jupiter the best, the greatest and the Saviour. Popularly imagined sitting on a throne with a bunch of thunderbolts in his left hand. The patron deity of the Roman state, he ruled over laws and the social order. He was the father of Mars and hence mythologically the grandfather of the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.
Jupiter rose at eight o'clock that evening, and everyone was trying to grab time at the telescopes.
Claudius entered the great temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill.
Claudius entered the great temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill.
by Fearman May 12, 2008
Jimmy hasn't left the house lately. He's writing threatening letters to his great-great-great grandchildren and won't believe they haven't been born yet. It's kind of ironic that he seems to have sphenisciformosanikleptophobia; he won't go to the zoo. Ever.
by Fearman May 27, 2007
Osama bin Laden. From what is effectively US policy towards the supposed mastermind of the September 11 attacks.
He was Osama bin Laden. Now he is Osama bin Forgotten.
by Fearman August 12, 2007
Vaginal smoking, as demonstrated on at least one Internet video sequence with that gorgeous woman who says "and you don't cough, and it doesn't get your teeth yellow!" If you possess a vagina you stick the cool end of the lit cigar or cigarette in and use rhythmic contractions of the vaginal or perineal muscles to suck in and expel air. Try not to burn your pubes. To anyone halfway intelligent, whatever sex appeal there may be in the practice is entirely a matter of the organ used. Not recommended if you have a non-smoking partner who fancies going down on you. Probably not much healthier than the more familiar method. A contraction of "quim" and "smoking". Verb, to quoke.
Quoking looks interesting if you have a high gross-out threshold, no interest in the quoker's health, and it still has novelty value. Otherwise, forget about it.
by Fearman February 01, 2008
1. 22nd letter of the alphabet.
2. Biochemical symbol for valine.
3. Chemical symbol for vanadium.
4. Roman numeral rendered in Arabic numerals as 5.
5. Cool 1983 TV miniseries about an invasion of the Earth by aliens who are not as friendly as they at first appear.
6. Symbol of victory, used by the French resistance in the Second World War.
7. Main character in V for Vendetta, a graphic novel by Alan Moore, who dresses in a stylised Guy Fawkes costume and sets about tearing down the totalitarian government of Britain.
8. The same character as played by Hugo Weaving in the movie based on Moore's graphic novel.
9. Thomas Pynchon's first novel.
10. As the V sign, a hand symbol indicating either "we've got this under control" or "up yours", depending on the direction the palm is facing.
11. Sexual symbol; first letter of vulva or vagina, and the shape of the figure echoes the folds at the split in the groin. As related in the pop mystical tale of The Da Vinci Code, the letter is a symbol of the female principle or the womb, with an inverted V as that of the phallus.
12. With a full stop, informal shorthand for the word very.
13. Short for versus.
14. I could go on ...,
2. Biochemical symbol for valine.
3. Chemical symbol for vanadium.
4. Roman numeral rendered in Arabic numerals as 5.
5. Cool 1983 TV miniseries about an invasion of the Earth by aliens who are not as friendly as they at first appear.
6. Symbol of victory, used by the French resistance in the Second World War.
7. Main character in V for Vendetta, a graphic novel by Alan Moore, who dresses in a stylised Guy Fawkes costume and sets about tearing down the totalitarian government of Britain.
8. The same character as played by Hugo Weaving in the movie based on Moore's graphic novel.
9. Thomas Pynchon's first novel.
10. As the V sign, a hand symbol indicating either "we've got this under control" or "up yours", depending on the direction the palm is facing.
11. Sexual symbol; first letter of vulva or vagina, and the shape of the figure echoes the folds at the split in the groin. As related in the pop mystical tale of The Da Vinci Code, the letter is a symbol of the female principle or the womb, with an inverted V as that of the phallus.
12. With a full stop, informal shorthand for the word very.
13. Short for versus.
14. I could go on ...,
by Fearman November 06, 2007
Word used to mean whatever the speaker wants it to mean at the time, usually without further elucidation. From the character of Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson).
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.' ...
- Through the Looking Glass
'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.' ...
- Through the Looking Glass
Here come the right-wingers to this referendum. Expect to hear a lot about natural laws, family values and other Humpty Dumpty words.
by Fearman November 21, 2007