Re: Nothing to contribute-Will the winner please take a bow?
The shed needs its own out-house. A poop deck.
Posts by Martin Budden
2493 publicly visible posts • joined 27 Apr 2007
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Upturned boat sails to Shed of the Year title
Cosmic blast mystery solved in neutron star's intense death throes
Monday 8th July 2013 00:53 GMT 
Firstly: Let's NOT leave out the duplicate "suddenly" because the original quote has the duplicate, and we don't dare correct Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Secondly: I claim boasting rights for the tagline on this article!!! See the first comment on last week's article.
FRBs and variable forces: a big week for astronomy
Monday 8th July 2013 00:22 GMT
Re: The laws of physics do NOT change in different places. @itzman
Yes, it is semantics. What I apparently failed to convey to the downvoters is that the way the universe works *is* the laws of physics, and if the way the the universe works changes then the way it changes is also part of the laws of physics. In other words, the meaning of the phrase "laws of physics" is defined by the universe itself, at all its different moments, simultaneously.
Friday 5th July 2013 01:59 GMT 
The laws of physics do NOT change in different places.
If it turns out that local environment does affect the value of alpha and alpha is actually variable rather than constant as previously thought, that is a newly discovered law of physics - but it has always been true. Laws are laws and always are, it is only our understanding of them which changes.
Decade to 2010 was hottest, wettest: WMO
Thursday 4th July 2013 01:44 GMT
The only thing we can do . . . is slow the process down by a miniscule amount.
The commonly-shown hockey stick graphs would suggest that the rate of natural warming is indeed miniscule (in the context of a human lifespan) but that the rate of anthropogenic warming is significant. If* these graphs are correct then prevention of further anthropogenic warming ought to be cheaper and easier than dealing with the effects.
*that's the "if" which generates the most debate**.
** I'm being generous when I say "debate".
3-2-1... BOOM: Russian rocket launches, explodes into TOXIC FIREBALL
Thursday 4th July 2013 01:11 GMT
Re: mass driver
Apart form the very exotic materials need to construct it, the biggest problem with a space elevator still involves listening to crappy Muzac for hours until you get to LEO.
Nope, a space elevator can't get you into LEO. It can get you to the same altitude as an object in LEO, but without any lateral velocity any attempt to orbit will result in you plummeting like a bowl of petunias.
A space elevator *can* get you to GSO without any problem: step off here (42,164 km up) and you neither fall nor rise.
Go even further up the elevator and you can step off and float to other destinations: letting go 50,960 km up will get you to the moon (if you time it right), letting go at 144,000 km will get you to Jupiter and then out of the solar system (again, you have to let go at just the right moment).
Carbon capture to biofuel process gets go-ahead
Thursday 4th July 2013 00:43 GMT
Re: How does this reduce CO2 emissions?
Cut *nearly* in half: there are still losses to take into account such as building the new infrastructure and transporting the biofuel. But yes you are both right: yes it is an efficiency measure, and the carbon will move from locked in the ground to unlocked in the atmosphere. Not ground-breaking but better than nothing.
What would be better would be a system which grows algae which are then burned in the power station, the emissions from which are then used to grow algae, which are then burned in the power station, the emissions from which are then used to grow algae, which are then burned in the power station, the emissions from which are then used to grow algae, which are then burned in the power station, the emissions from which are then used to grow algae . . . sunshine input and electricity output (but would it just be easier to build a PV array?).
Innovative solution to modern art found: Shoot it into space
Eww! What have you done to the layout?
Chinese 'nauts return to Earth after vigorous space coupling
Boffins create tabletop ANTIMATTER GUN
LOHAN cranks up old-school clockwork failsafe
Monday 1st July 2013 00:50 GMT
It will still twist!
Even if you pass the line through the centre of a bearing (great idea by the way) the line itself may still twist, which means you also need a small swivel in the line itself. Fishing supplies shops sell very cheap small ones which will be ideal, they look like this:
https://www.google.com.au/search?q=fishing+line+barrel+swivel&safe=off&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=y9HQUdLcHOPSiwKb5IHADg&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=1083&bih=904
Spaniards deploy self-propelled ROBOT BALLS
Boffins find evidence Atlantic Ocean has started closing
Monday 24th June 2013 03:01 GMT 
TSUNAMI ALERT!
Where is the icon for Not Joking? The 1755 Lisbon quake caused a tsunami in which "great loss of life and property occurred upon the coasts of Cornwall". The new subduction zone is active and growing so the next quake could come along any time now. The UK (and presumably also France & Ireland) is at genuine risk of a serious tsunami.
I, for one, welcome our GIANT TITANIUM INSECT OVERLORDS
Ferocious fungus imperils future of British gin and tonic
Hubble spies unlikely planet being born in hostile neighborhood
Scientists investigate 'dark lightning' threat to aircraft passengers
Nearly-transparent screen adds solar charge to phones
ROBOT COW teaches Saudi kids where milk comes from
Boffins hide cute kitty behind invisibility shield
Waving an Eye-of-Sauron pulsating mock cock? Stop immediately
Reg readers tumesce as they get their tongues round 'podule'
Mind control hat makes quadcopter do what brain says
Who should play the next Doctor? Nominations needed!
Albert Einstein brings cheese and clean pyjamas to space station
Gourmet chemists sniff out ultimate cheese on toast
Boffins build gesture recognition using WiFi
Hitchhikers' Guide was WRONG, Earth is not in a galactic backwater
LOHAN team regroups for second pop at SPEARS
Graphene QUILT: A good trampoline for elephants in stiletto heels
Quantum boffins send data ACROSS TIME AND SPACE
Tuesday 4th June 2013 02:07 GMT
If all this is true...
... we can now use a photon detector to receive messages sent to us from many years in the future. This is it! The moment that we learn everything there is to know about all technology that is developed from now until the eventual end of the human race!
Except that it's not true, and there is no such thing as sending information back in time, and the researchers' statement "In the scenario we present here, measuring the last photon affects the physical description of the first photon in the past, before it has even been measured. Thus, the 'spooky action' is steering the system’s past" is utter bullshit.
Tuesday 4th June 2013 01:57 GMT
Re: Help me, Obi Wan Quantobi!
How do you know the characteristics are not set? You can't know that for certain because you haven't measured them yet. All this entanglement stuff only makes sense if the characteristics of the pair of photons are actually set at the moment they are created: this way Einstein needn't get upset because there is no spooky action occurring; it's just us reading the state of one, from which we can deduce the state of the other.
IANAPhysicist but I can spot a fallacy when I see one.
CRUNCH: 'Drunk' chap cuffed in high-speed car nookie prang rumpus
NASA: Trip to Mars would exceed 'fatal cancer' radiation risk
Thursday 30th May 2013 23:12 GMT
You are absolutely right, by the by the mid-2030s treatment for cancer will have improved dramatically so the risk of getting what probably won't be a fatal condition is therefore a much more acceptable risk. Even better: the cancers most likely won't happen until two or three decades after making the trip, I'm confident that by 2060 we'll pretty much have cancer beat. Therefore, cosmic rays are no longer of concern.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
