 fortune index all fortunes
| | #4231 | | Mad, adj.:
Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence ...
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
| | | #4232 | | Madison's Inquiry:
If you have to travel on the Titanic, why not go first class?
| | | #4233 | | MAFIA, n:
[Acronym for Mechanized Applications in Forced Insurance
Accounting.] An extensive network with many on-line and offshore
subsystems running under OS, DOS, and IOS. MAFIA documentation is
rather scanty, and the MAFIA sales office exhibits that testy
reluctance to bona fide inquiries which is the hallmark of so many DP
operations. From the little that has seeped out, it would appear that
MAFIA operates under a non-standard protocol, OMERTA, a tight-lipped
variant of SNA, in which extended handshakes also perform complex
security functions. The known timesharing aspects of MAFIA point to a
more than usually autocratic operating system. Screen prompts carry an
imperative, nonrefusable weighting (most menus offer simple YES/YES
options, defaulting to YES) that precludes indifference or delay.
Uniquely, all editing under MAFIA is performed centrally, using a
powerful rubout feature capable of erasing files, filors, filees, and
entire nodal aggravations.
-- Stan Kelly-Bootle, "The Devil's DP Dictionary"
| | | #4234 | | Magary's Principle:
When there is a public outcry to cut deadwood and fat from any
government bureaucracy, it is the deadwood and the fat that do
the cutting, and the public's services are cut.
| | | #4235 | | Magnet, n.:
Something acted upon by magnetism.
Magnetism, n.:
Something acting upon a magnet.
The two definition immediately foregoing are condensed from the works of
one thousand eminent scientists, who have illuminated the subject with
a great white light, to the inexpressible advancement of human knowledge.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
| | | #4236 | | Magnocartic, adj.:
Any automobile that, when left unattended, attracts shopping carts.
-- Sniglets, "Rich Hall & Friends"
| | | #4237 | | Magpie, n.:
A bird whose theivish disposition suggested to someone that it
might be taught to talk.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
| | | #4238 | | Maier's Law:
If the facts do not conform to the theory, they must be disposed of.
-- N.R. Maier, "American Psychologist", March 1960
Corollaries:
(1) The bigger the theory, the better.
(2) The experiment may be considered a success if no more than
50% of the observed measurements must be discarded to
obtain a correspondence with the theory.
| | | #4239 | | Main's Law:
For every action there is an equal and opposite government program.
| | | #4240 | | Maintainer's Motto:
If we can't fix it, it ain't broke.
| | | | ... ... |
art computers cookie definitions education ethnic food fortunes humorists kids law literature love medicine men-women news paradoxum people pets platitudes politics riddles science sports wisdom work |
|
|
| |
 | |  | | You're not logged in! If you don't have an account yet, please register one and get your very own elite (but free) BGA account! |
| |
|  | |  |
| | |
| | |
| |
|
