Id

Irvine Dataflow. A language described by Arvind, Kim Gostelow and Wil Plouffe at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), in 1978.

id

Latin: `it.' The standard translation of Freud's term Es (noun use of German pronoun meaning `it.') All nouns are capitalized in standard German, so capitalizing any other word (elsewhere than at the beginning of a sentence) usually forces it to be interpreted as a noun. (There are other exceptions. The principal ones are second-person pronouns, either familiar forms in personal correspondence, or polite forms in general. Vide ich.)

Of course, writers in English have from time to time independently used it (I mean it) as a noun, signaling the use by a determiner or adjective. There are also endless instances of ``an it,'' but here an is almost always the synonym of if, rather than the article. (You know -- ``an it please your worships,'' scrape, scrape.) Searching for ``the it'' in prose on the LION database, I find that all the modern instances either are instances of anacoluthon or really just mean ``the word it.'' I'm very happy about this, because if I don't find more occasions to use it, I'll never remember it (I mean the word anacoluthon, of course). A word pair that looks like ``the it'' occurs frequently in Old and Middle English, but the the is normally the word we now spell thee.

But poetry comes to the rescue. For example, A.R. Ammons published a poem in 1993 that mentions ``the it'' a number of times. He explains that `` `the it' is the indifference of all the differences.'' That sounds, encouragingly, somewhat -- let's say ``indifferently'' -- mathematical. In mathematics, terms are defined once. Everything else you can say about the thing defined, generally, either follows from the definition or is equivalent to the definition, if you've done your definition right. But Ammons also says that it (the it) is the finest issue of energy in which boulders and dead stars float. He says other things. The poem is called ``Garbage,'' and as the first lines make clear, the poem is self-referential (not to say self-obsessed).

James Broughton made good use of capitalization in ``Here's to It (A Metaphysical Drinking Song).'' His ``the It,'' also suffers from excessive definition, but at least the definitions rhyme. (E.g., ``It's a metaphysical hunting kit.'') The poem was apparently written in 1968. W.N. Herbert mentioned ``the it-iness'' of cities. Shouldn't that be ``it-ness''? It certainly makes better rhymes. Karl Jay Shapiro mentioned ``the it-ness'' of trees. Haven't any of these guys heard of the cooties?

IDA

Industrial Development Agency. In New York State, a municipal IDA is a ``public benefit corporation,'' and as such exempt from property tax. However, IDA-owned property remains subject to special district taxes. Come on -- it's New York! You gotta expect they'll find ways to tax you.

When an IDA in NY takes title to a property as part of a project (exempting that property from property tax), the project developer and the IDA usually enter into a PILOT agreement under which the developer pays the IDA for basic services. (I don't know how or if that revenue stream eventually makes it into the police and fire budgets, which are the usual basic services named.) The developer also pays the special district taxes.

IDA

International Dark-Sky Association. A bunch of ticked-off amateur astronomers. Since they oppose night-time outdoor lighting, it follows as night follows day that such lighting does not decrease accidents or crime. It's logic! Oh yeah, they've got some long garbage metastudies to prove these fallacies.

IDA

International Development Association. Part of what is officially only unofficially (though universally) known as the World Bank. More at the IBRD entry.

IDAPI

Integrated Database Application Programming Interface.

IDB

In-suit Drink Bag. [NASAnese.]

IDB

Inter-American Development Bank. Also abbreviated IADB, and BID in Spanish.

IDBA

International Drag Bike Association. Vide goracing.com, VROOM!

IDC

Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

IDC

Integrated Display[s] and Control[s].

IDC

International Data Center supporting the Copacetic Test Ban Treaty, or something like that (CTBT). See IMS entry below for details and links.

IDCAMS

IDC Access Method Services. The ``IDC'' is just the IBM product code for VSAM. Some IDCAMS functions can work with non-VSAM data sets.

IDCP

Internet Device Control Protocol.

IDDM

Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (DM, q.v.). Type-I diabetes. Also called juvenile-onset diabetes for its usual course, but it can first manifest at any age.

IDDQ, IDDq, Iddq

Quiescent Drain Current. As explained in the CMOS entry, one of the beauties of the CMOS design concept is that, apart from leakage, current is drawn through a gate only when it is changing state. Thus, the measurement of current (I) from the common voltage supply to the PMOS drains (V_DD) in the quiescent (q) state is a sensitive test that a circuit is working properly. IDDQ testing typically uses a variety of input vectors to check for stuck-at behaviors. One of its advantages is that it can test for some errors that are invisible (do not affect final output) in a given set of test vectors.

Prof. S. Chakravarty, of the Computer Science Department at UB, is coauthor of a book on IDDQ testing.

IDE

Integrated Development Environment.

IDE

Integrated Drive Electronics. A standard electronic interface between a computer's data bus and its disks. When ANSI group X3T10 adopted IDE as a standard in 1990, it dubbed it ``Advanced Technology Attachment'' (ATA), a name by which it is not known.

The IDE standard was based on a 16-bit bus (the IBM PC's ISA, originally); each drive with a built-in controller. It was largely replaced by Enhanced IDE (EIDE, q.v.), which is obsolete.

IDEA

Individual Development & Educational Assessment. The IDEA Center is based at K-State, which is in Manhattan, Kansas, so I think it certainly qualifies as a center.

IDEA

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

IDEA

Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.

IDEA

Institute for Development of Educational Activities.

IDEA

Inter-college Dev. of Entrepreneurship Assn. I presume that's Inter-college Development of Entrepreneurship Association. I guess they work behind the scenes. Apart from the website, which had some traffic in June and December of 2002, there isn't much net sign of their existence.

IDEA

International Debate Education Association. Affiliated with the AFA. There are other debating entries in this glossary. ``An Association of forensics educators from European countries seeking to establish an active tradition of forensics activities on that continent.'' Uh-huh.

It's sponsored by Soros's OSI and its over two dozen member nations are basically all the former Warsaw Pact countries and their fragments (and Haiti). It's a fine do-gooder idea, and they even have a ``Karl Popper debate format'' -- ``a three-person format developed specifically for this program to encourage teamwork and cooperation.'' (Famous people should have the sense to trademark their names so this kind of thing doesn't happen to them after they're dead. Hmmm, seems back in 1999 or so Pablo Picasso's last surviving son licensed the family name to Citroën for some van, and Marina Picasso, one of the artist's granddaughters, sought a permanent injunction against the licencing. I'll have to look into how that turned out.)

I imagine it won't do much harm, and if Soros wants to spend his money on these games, well, it's his money (now). But logical thinking is not the problem. These nations regularly produce ten-year-old grand masters who whup our ass in chess, okay? And formal rhetorical skills are not exactly hallmarks of the leadership cadres of the triumphant democratic West, either.

The problem of contending religions has only ever been humanely solved by tolerance, and tolerance is not logical, and not clearly defensible on principles, unless the principles are cooked in advance. Tolerance is merely peaceable and reasonable. On perfectly sound principles, it may be irrational. In that case, sound leadership requires noble hypocrisy and fluent dissembling.

Making a successful civil polity is a bit like making wine. It requires many small ingredients, as Soros understands, and balance which no one can impose, and it is not easily accelerated. A complete list of necessary ingredients would be long indeed, but I would name three that are in obvious short supply in the many countries that have free speech, free elections, an independent judiciary, and long-term ``instability.''

1. General personal security
2. Confidence in the law
3. Good will

Oh, yeah -- that-all is opinion, my idea.

I.D.E.A.

In the Defense of Earth and Animals.

idée fixe

Kenny Chesney had a hit with ``She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy.'' After his marriage to Renée Zellweger, he released a statement that said ``I may well be the luckiest man alive ... to be so in love with someone who is so perfect for me.''

IDEM

Indiana Department of Environmental Management. That's what I said already!

idem

A Latin word meaning ``Indiana Department of Environmental Management.'' Oh, that's not what it always means. That's just what it means here. Usually it means something different. But what it always means is `the same.'

The word idem is normally used in English scholarly texts to compress and make obscure a sequence of citations in successive footnotes or endnotes, and it is conventionally understood to mean `the same as the source immediately preceding, where source is understood as being specified up to the part -- typically a page number or page range -- that is indicated to be different here.' This is normally described as ``the same as above.'' Things are confusing enough as it is. If it could also mean ``the same as below,'' you might combine it with op. cit. to make a formidable illogic puzzle. Idem is often abbreviated id.

In Spanish, the word is used more widely in ordinary speech. Spelled ídem, it can mean `the same.' That's the same as lo mismo, but not exactly the same as el mismo or la misma, which are better translated as `the same one' (male and female forms, resp.). There are even colloquial phrases like ``ídem de ídem'' (a slightly mock-serious phrase, so it seems to me, meaning `just what was said before').

IDEMA

This is a premier example of dyslexic and thoughtless acronym neologism. Instead of calling itself MEDIA (``Materials and Equipment, Disk Drive International Association''), this group chose IDEMA (``International Disk Drive Equipment and Materials Association''), which sounds like a serious symptom. Their homepage is competently constructed, and it is no longer a sickly shade of green.

``Serving to promote the technological, manufacturing, marketing and business progress of the disk drive manufacturing industry.''

identifiers in PASTA

Because of the way that variables are scoped in the PASTA programming language, it is useful to have a lot of different identifiers. For this reason, PASTA reserved words are allowed as variable names. (However, variables that have the same name as a data type cannot be declared or explicitly cast on inexperienced compilers.) Also, PASTA identifiers are not just case-sensitive but font-sensitive; the standard IDE for PASTA is WordPerfect. See also PASTA----.

identity parade

The British term for what in the US is called a police lineup.

IDERA

International Development Education Resource Association. Based in Vancouver, Canada. There ought to be one in Pakistan called Iderabad.

IDF

Israel Defence Forces.

idid

Induced Dipole-Induced Dipole (interaction).

I did, did I?

Unlike ``He maps spam, eh?''
``He won snow, eh?''
or
``He sports strops, eh?''

this is the kind of rhetorical question that you can easily work into an ordinary, if somewhat belligerent, conversation.

I did not set out to write an exposé

Oh no, quite the opposite! Just as was the case each time I set out to research my fifteen earlier books, I approached the subject with an open mind -- sympathetic, in fact -- and my editor's comment that ``going negative'' would quintuple my sales had no effect on me because, after all, the facts speak for themselves. No, I began with only a sensible, reasonable skepticism, and I was gravely disappointed. Buy this book and read all the juicy details now!

IDIC

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. As explained on the IDIC page:

``The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.''
``And in the way our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.''

-- Dr. Miranda Jones and Mr. Spock, ``Is There in Truth No Beauty?,'' stardate 5630.8

The IDIC has become a very special symbol (and lifestyle) to Star Trek fans. Designed by the late Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, the IDIC symbol was worn by Mr. Spock in TOS episode, ``Is There in Truth No Beauty?'' Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations represents a Vulcan belief that beauty, growth, progress--all result from the union of the unlike. Concord, as much as discord, requires the presence of at least two different notes. The brotherhood of man is an ideal based on learning to delight in our essential differences, as well as learning to recognize our similarities. The IDIC symbol is a union of a plain circle and triangle, uniting to produce the beautiful gemstone in the middle. The circle represents infinite, nature, woman, etc; the triangle can represent the finite, art, man, etc.

IDIC remains the simplest, purest, most powerful idea in Star Trek, an idea that has clear implications for our own times.

If they say so, I guess.

The ``first interracial kiss'' (or perhaps the first black-white) on TV took place on Star Trek. Somewhere on the web, once, I read a recollection by George Takei (``Sulu'') of the the humility with which GR offered him what was rare in that day and still today: a role played by someone who simply happened to be Asian. Many (and to some degree all) of the episodes were morality plays about tolerance. Originally, the `emotionless' `logical' Spock character was supposed to be a woman, but there was too much resistance. Mr. Spock was, however, the child of a mixed marriage (human-Vulcan). ``Human'' is one of those old-fashioned words they used on Star Trek. It meant `terran.' Looks like Mr. Spock took after his dad. [But in this picture he is holding his hand as if giving a Jewish priestly (kohen) benediction. And he needs a shave.]

If it seems quaint or petty that an interracial kiss on TV was once a big deal, then it may be that you can thank Roddenberry for some of your effortless sophistication. The real heroism of Star Trek was his social daring, taking altruistic risks in a market governed by almighty ratings. If only more directors would make movies and TV shows that honored their progressive beliefs rather than pandering to popular tastes, the world would be a better place -- because people would get off the couch and do something. Hmmm... make that ``honored their progressive beliefs and didn't pander to popular tastes.'' I think the other experiment has already been done.

(Speaking of altruism... that interracial kiss was originally scripted to involve Uhura and some other character, but when Shatner learned about it he lobbied to be the guy in the scene.)

I.D.I.M.

Individually Designed Interdepartmental Major. Pronounced ``I dim''?

Idiot

A German word currently meaning `idiot' in all the usual English senses. The word is derived from the Latin idiota (one of those rare first-declension nouns of male gender). The Latin word meant `ignorant fellow,' and was derived from idiôtês in Greek, where it originally meant `ordinary man,' as opposed to a specialist. In other words, a `layman' in the loose sense. I can find no evidence that this earliest meaning was ever a normal sense of the derived word in any modern Western European language. In particular, I find no evidence of this sense for German in any of the dictionaries I have to hand, including the ten-volume Duden and the thirty-three-volume Grimm etymological dictionary.

I looked because of Der Streit der Fakultäten, Kant's most accessible and by far most amusing book (and his last, not counting posthumous stuff and stuff published for him by others during his last sickness). A fair translation of the title in context would be The Conflict of the [Academic] Disciplines. Somewhere in the three essays this book comprises (essays staking where the Philosophy Department's turf meets those of the Theology, Medicine, and Law Departments), he paraphrases some other discipline's protest as ``Sie heissen uns Idioten!'' [`You call us idiots!'] Presumably he meant that in the original sense. That's the trouble with learning too much: it makes your writing harder to understand.

The book is celebrated by Kantophiles as a heroic stand for freedom of speech in the academic context -- i.e., ``academic freedom.'' It does make a limited plea for freedom, but that is sadly modest, a reminder of the absolute monarchy under which it was written and eventually allowed (by one censor) to be published. This in 1798.

A ``nonce word'' is an invented word (like philosophunculist) with a sense that is obvious (from the putative etymology, say). The term ``nonce word'' does not cover the idiosyncratic, possibly idiolectical use of an ordinary word in an unusual but (by some) understandable sense. Perhaps we can say instead that Kant's Idiot is a nonce sense.

IDIQ

Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity. Refers to a kind of contract entered into by US government agencies that sounds like an option to buy. Maybe it's pronounced ``Aye, Dick'' and maybe not.

I plan to return to this entry at some point in time, and add some information.

I disagree.

I am slimier than pond scum. My pig-headed idiocy prevents me from admitting the God-given truth of your blazingly clear wisdom, and I'm going to be sanctimonious about it into the bargain. Bizarrely, I will also misinterpret your witty but courteous clarifications as vicious personal attacks upon my nefarious character, much though I deserve them. I fry gerbils alive for breakfast, but I prefer the taste of plastic and moist cardboard. I hate you. Die! Die! Die!

Newsgroup and listserv usage.

IDK

I Don't Know.

Well if you don't know, I can't help you. I mean, what are you saying here? Could you be more specific? Your paratactics are getting on my nerves. Scram!

IDKBIW

I Don't Know But It Works.

idl

Integrated Device Logic--a company name.

IDL

Interactive Data Language.

IDL

Interface Definition Language. Structurally similar to C++.

IDLC

Integrated Digital Loop Carrier. Supersedes UDLC: Allows T1 carriers from loop carrier Remote Terminals (RT) to interface directly to the EWSD system, eliminating the need for the Network Office Terminating Equipment (NOTE) required with UDLC.

IDLH

Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health. Look out! It's coming thi

IDMS

Isotope-Dilution Mass Spectrometry (MS).

IDN

Internet Daily News. ``A free daily serving the Internet.''

IDOM

Short for IDOMENEUS.

IDOMENEUS

Information and Data on Open MEdia for NEtworks of USers.

I don't consider myself a vain person.

Other people consider me a vain person.

IDP

Interplanetary Dust Particle. This looks like a job for Space Janitor!

If you take a good look at the Milky Way (I won't say a good close look) from someplace within it but toward the edge (from earth, say), you'll notice that the very middle is not as bright as the edges. That's because of all the IDP.

IDPOL, idpol

IDentity POLitics. Often the politics of resentment. Is there a bit of this at this entry?

IDRC

The International Development Research Centre (sic; it's written in Canadianese).

IDRISI

All-caps of Idrisi, an eleventh c. cartographer, whose name has been hijacked for a Clark Univ. project and GIS software that resulted. An extensive tutorial is available online.

IDS

Information Delivery Service or Information Dissemination Services. Both are used.

IDS

Investors Diversified Services, Inc.

IDSA

Industrial Designers Society of America.

IDSA

Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. In New Delhi, India -- ``an autonomous body to conduct study and research on problems of national security and the impact of defence measures on the economic, security and social life of the country.'' Social life?

IDSA

Interactive Digital Software Association. A computer-games industry association.

IDT

Integrated Device Technology, Inc., a semiconductor electronics manufacturer. Most of their stuff is in Adobe Acrobat files.

IDT

Improved-Definition TeleVision.

IDT

Integrated Digital Terminal.

IDU

Interface Data Unit.

IDU

{ Intravenous | Injection } Drug User. The ``user'' referred to is normally an abuser, but the terms with ``abuser'' explicit are less common. In any case, an IDU is a self-medicator and a prime candidate for comorbidity. ``Intravenous'' is the I-word I always heard, but ``injection'' is more common in the medical literature. Maybe it's technically more correct, but I'm unaware of any common drug of abuse that is injected intramuscularly. The slang term is ``mainlining,'' right? (``Autopsy'' is another term common in medical research that mentions IDU's.)

I dunno

I am stupidly ignorant. (``I don't know'' written in eye dialect.) Frequently ironic in intention, if not in reception.

A book described at the manual transmission entry contains this exchange:

How far is it to Fairfax?

Dunno.

Does this road go to Fairfax?

Dunno.

Say, you don't know much, do you?

Nope ... but I ain't lost.

I once lived in Fairfax County, Virginia, but what this reminds me of is an experience I had biking in rural France.

I was on a language-related mission: I biked to the town of Condom to buy condoms, just so I could say I had done so. (I have done so.) You cannot imagine my chagrin, when after 25 km that I recall to have been all uphill, I whipped out my pocket dictionary and did not find this word. A protective amnesia has settled over the period when I learned the necessary vocable (preservatif). I do recall that it involved pantomime.

On the way back, after I got lost, I received directions in sign language. For example:

English:

You are very far from Chateau de Bonas.

Universal sign language:

Repeat ``Chateau de Bonas?'' wide-eyed, slap forehead once.

I also encountered nasty little bicycle-chasing dogs, and also ruminants. The ruminants did not give very energetic chase, but they acted like they had never seen a bicycle before. Many of them trotted up to their fences to get a better look. French cows seem to be a different breed than American cows -- either more nearsighted, or more intellectually active (or both, conforming to stereotype as well as recent research on humans). The fences looked too flimsy to detain any seriously intrigued bovine. This concern became more acute over the last dozen km, which I had to walk on account of a flat tire, pushing the borrowed old cast-iron three-speed beside me, in the rain, in the dark (all uphill again!).

Because the road was narrow and I had no lights, after it got dark (I got back to Chateau de Bonas long after dinner) I would push over to the side of the road whenever I heard a car coming. Sometimes the car was one of those Peugeot Rattletrappes (I think Rattletrap is French for a `three-cylinder, two-stroke, zero-muffler engine,' but maybe it means `corrugated-tin roof resonator.') These were so loud and slow that I usually spent five minutes waiting for them to appear. For another Peugeot achievement in technologie hybride (that'd be moto/automobile-merdiquée hybrids), see the differential entry.

Back in the 40's or 50's, Vance Packard wrote an interesting popular report on studies of animal intelligence, issued under a couple of titles, one of which was Animal IQ. I understand that why dogs bark is an open and active research question. Presumably, why cows low is similarly unknown, but I suspect that they lack the intelligence to engage in very interesting communication. For evidence, read about ``hardware disease'' at the cow magnet entry. (Reports from England in 2006, however, assert the existence of distinguishable local ``accents'' in cow mooing, including something identified as a ``Somerset drawl.'')

IDV

InDinaVir. A drug used in the treatment of AIDS.

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