7,351

(9,083 replies, posted in General)

made the Queen's blacklist

7,352

(43 replies, posted in General)

but since esperanto is THE global language, aluminio > aluminium

7,353

(12 replies, posted in Community)

wow snuck up on us, happy birthday

7,354

(585 replies, posted in Community)

> [TI] Lateralis wrote:

> I'm currently stuck in the arsing US.  US Airways cancelled our flight back to Europe today for no reason whatsoever.  Last time I'm flying a US Carrier. 

Hopefully we'll be back in Blighty tomorrow, flying BA, but who knows.  Bloody volcano. 

*waves fist in direction of Iceland*


*******************

holy mother of God, who let YOU in???

/sets DEFCON 2

just arsin with you Lateralis, hope you find somewhere nice to stay in America

7,355

(43 replies, posted in General)

but it's "aluminio" in Esperanto

7,356

(15 replies, posted in Politics)

Belgium is more like a HueyDeweyLouiecracy

7,357

(43 replies, posted in General)

"Nomenclature history
The earliest citation given in the Oxford English Dictionary for any word used as a name for this element is alumium, which British chemist and inventor Humphry Davy employed in 1808 for the metal he was trying to isolate electrolytically from the mineral alumina. The citation is from the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: "Had I been so fortunate as to have obtained more certain evidences on this subject, and to have procured the metallic substances I was in search of, I should have proposed for them the names of silicium, alumium, zirconium, and glucium."[47][48]

Davy had settled on aluminum by the time he published his 1812 book Chemical Philosophy: "This substance appears to contain a peculiar metal, but as yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state, though alloys of it with other metalline substances have been procured sufficiently distinct to indicate the probable nature of alumina."[49] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, in a review of Davy's book, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."[50]

The -ium suffix conformed to the precedent set in other newly discovered elements of the time: potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, and strontium (all of which Davy had isolated himself). Nevertheless, -um spellings for elements were not unknown at the time, as for example platinum, known to Europeans since the sixteenth century, molybdenum, discovered in 1778, and tantalum, discovered in 1802. The -um suffix is consistent with the universal spelling alumina for the oxide, as lanthana is the oxide of lanthanum, and magnesia, ceria, and thoria are the oxides of magnesium, cerium, and thorium respectively.

The spelling used throughout the 19th century by most U.S. chemists ended in -ium, but common usage is less clear.[51] The -um spelling is used in the Webster's Dictionary of 1828. In his advertising handbill for his new electrolytic method of producing the metal 1892, Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling, despite his constant use of the -ium spelling in all the patents[44] he filed between 1886 and 1903.[52] It has consequently been suggested that the spelling reflects an easier to pronounce word with one fewer syllable, or that the spelling on the flier was a mistake. Hall's domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America; the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913, though, continued to use the -ium version.

In 1926, the American Chemical Society officially decided to use aluminum in its publications; American dictionaries typically label the spelling aluminium as a British variant.

The name "aluminum" is derived from its status as a base of alum; "alum" in turn is a Latin word which literally means "bitter salt".[53]

Present-day spelling
Most countries use the spelling aluminium (with an i before -um). In the United States, this spelling is largely unknown, and the spelling aluminum predominates.[54][55] The Canadian Oxford Dictionary prefers aluminum, whereas the Australian Macquarie Dictionary prefers aluminium.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted aluminium as the standard international name for the element in 1990, but three years later recognized aluminum as an acceptable variant. Hence their periodic table includes both.[56] IUPAC officially prefers the use of aluminium in its internal publications, although several IUPAC publications use the spelling aluminum.[57]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium


I propose we compromise on "Shakspeer"

7,358

(43 replies, posted in General)

nope, aluminum. comes from borax. which you don't have.

7,359

(9,083 replies, posted in General)

has a nose for news

where ya been marko?

7,360

(43 replies, posted in General)

"sod off" isn't it?

7,361

(13 replies, posted in General)

you just figured out why we're in NATO

well thats why we started in NATO

we're in it now because we're too FUBAR to reform anything

I find it disturbing nobody said "balsz those tactics are outrageously dishonorable"

I find it disturbing nobody said "balsz those tactics are outrageously dishonorable"

1: This is fairly casual... although it's competitive, I don't suspect it would be anywhere near as competitive as regular IC.<<

hell with that! It be on like donkey kong! let the rape party begin! wizard slapping, portal bombign hijinks from first tick! we make three different NAPs with different team members and break all of em! phone rings in the middle of the night, it's me announcing I stole your core! heeyaw!

7,365

(9,083 replies, posted in General)

is dead! I saw the head!
er
Welcome back!

I'd be interested but two things

1. I don't really have time to play
2. An All-American rightwing team would get its ass kicked by a global team unless it stayed up all night

7,367

(9,083 replies, posted in General)

nvm'd

7,368

(8 replies, posted in General)

excellent pop-culture reference!

7,369

(11 replies, posted in Community)

i asked some filipinos I know

they say they don't know what "mama say mama saw mamakusa" means either

7,370

(9,083 replies, posted in General)

is gonna get something to slap about

7,371

(585 replies, posted in Community)

the Republic of Turkey

7,372

(13 replies, posted in General)

Don't recall john paul II dropping the f bomb or telling colleagues "this is chickenshit" so I think the substitution would be noticed

Also Jp2 could draw 1 million people to a rally in AZ without sarah palin

7,373

(9,083 replies, posted in General)

Wears a burqa

7,374

(15 replies, posted in Politics)

pretty much, although, playas get they paper if they game is tight, and if htey want leverage thats for you to decide, but as long as you aint slippin and you doin it right, togetha they go hand in hand

oh yeah

7,375

(9,083 replies, posted in General)

ordered pizza