If you need the security of definitive, classic recipes in which every ingredient and garnish is specified with no room for deviation or inspiration, pick up a copy of Escoffier.
This summer, Le Monde published definitive evidence that state security agents, who have repeatedly been accused of spying on journalists at Sarkozy's behest, had hacked into the phone of its reporter covering the Bettencourt investigation.
Not definitive, just definite.
But the Iranian official, Ali Akbar Salehi, does not have the power in the Iranian system to decide these matters on his own, so his comments were viewed by European and American officials as more atmospheric, intended for the trans-Atlantic audience at the Munich Security Conference, than definitive.
Last week I posted about David House, a man who got his laptop, camera, and USB cable snatched by Homeland Security for no definitive reason beyond his association with an organization supporting Bradley Manning.
The city's voters will also provide a fairly good early reading, though probably not a definitive reading, on the potential that security and leadership issues have to affect elections in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
More than fantasy, Disneyland provided security or as Karal Ann Marling's definitive study of Disney design put it, "the architecture of reassurance".
Even if he fails to secure the role of prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, the Likud leader, will play a definitive role in formulating the next government's security and foreign policies.
Computer manufacturer Dell announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement that will allow it to acquire SonicWall, a security vendor specializing in firewalls, network security and data protection.
She eventually wrote, for the Calculated Risk site, "The Compleat ÜberNerd," 13 lengthy articles on mortgage origination channels, mortgage-backed securities and foreclosures that constituted a definitive word on the subject.
