Posts by ian 22
524 posts • joined Wednesday 17th June 2009 14:20 GMT
Re: Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment
Another quote not certain I agree with but interesting nonetheless.
"Yer a fool if you drink before yer 50, and a fool if you don't drink after yer 50."
Re: "Once you eliminate the impossible, etc."
Diplomats caught spying are only ever expelled (Iran notwithstanding). If this fellow had no diplomatic cover, he could have been in deep, deep trouble.
But can I wrap fish and chips in it?
Bleeding obvious
I've known about solar flares and CMEs for donkey's years, only now do I relate them to controlled fusion. Of course we've failed! We've failed because our reactors (Tokamaks, etc.) are creating flares as does old Sol, however our reactors have limited quantities of plasma, unlike the sun. Perhaps emulating the sun is the wrong path to controlled fusion.
"There's no such thing as free"
Nor markets. They quickly devolve into monopolies.
Re: Front row seat...
All those "homes" are a mere 3 meters above the sand, any good sized wave will rearrange the furniture within. From Pacific Coast Highway, most of them are rather pathetic looking for billionaire lodgings, and if we're in for some sea level rise, most will be within the mean high-tide line, and become public property.
A fool and his money are soon parted.
At last
LHC begins to justify its expence as it opens doors to new knowledge.
Re: Bottom line?
Perspective? No doubt.
The Anthropogenic Climate Change or not, I'm much more concerned with the die-off of the honey bees. They do far more than churn out honey! Without them we'll bloody starve.
Mine's the one with the bacon sarnie.
The drain at the centre of the galaxy
Existentially, we are all just swirling around the crapper's bowl. Philosophically what does it mean that the universe has a dark heart?
Questions too deep for me. Beerman, another pint!
Impressive findings
Especially the "men and women differ" finding. Truly?
Face, meet palm.
Re: He cannae take much more o' this Captain!
@Tom:
Rumour, speculation, and hearsay! Let the excre^B^B^Bperiment proceed to its logical conclusion, and may Lester (and Spain) survive to tell the tale.
He cannae take much more o' this Captain!
For an eruption of truly volcanic proportions, you might consider adding beans to the mix.
Re: Nicked from an old edition of the Glasgow Herald joke column*, not necessarily true
Not food related, but clearly survival related.
A stalwart lad of the Black Watch marches into the chemist's and produces a French letter, and asks "How much to rrrepair it?"
The apothecary inspects the condom and replies "10p."
"And how much to rrreplace it?"
"15p," replies the apothecary.
"I'll be back," says the lad, collecting the condom and marching out the door.
Several days later the lad returns to the chemist's and produces the condom, saying "The rrregiment voted to rrrepair it."
Optional title @ Rapant Spaniel
Paperclip? Posh lodgings, eh?
Re: £1? Luxury!
That were when there was 240 pence to the pound! Time erodes all things, especially money.
Garbanzos au Anglaise? The French wept in frustration.
Re: Last all week?
Fighting your food will indeed burn a fair few calories. Food that bites back? That's paying the iron price, that is.
Re: 67 Billion Reasons
If I had 67 Beelion in my pocket, I'd keep my hand in. Bloody yoinkers are everywhere.
@Hungry Sean Re: @Lars G
Thanks, good to know. The impression I'd had of the Koreans was derived from the press (NOT the Daily Fail!) and they seemed the most xenophobic lot in existence. Not that I could blame them, having been enslaved by the Japanese for much of the 20th century.
Restless legs?
I'm legless and leaves me bloody shattered. Shirley the NHS can do something for me.
Re: At least the vote isn't veto-proof.
Veto-proof? Why do you think President O'Bama would veto it? No USian president has ever willingly relinquished any additional powers granted him by the Congress.
War powers act? What war powers act?
At last! May I be the first to say...
... Will no one think of the rats?!?
Triumph is sweet!
Re: a thief?
To reiterate: there is nothing new under the sun.
Re: a thief?
As Sir Isaac said "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."
Henceforth no one may use the Calculus unless attribution to Sir Isaac is made? As there is nothing new under the sun, can nothing be patented?
I suspect all the whinging about patents is by people who never invented anything.
Fire is a perfect example. Nothing requiring heat treatment may be patented.
"Eternal Leader"?
He's not eternal, he only seems that way.
May I be the first to say....
Hmmmm, brains!
Re: Meanwhile...
"Goal"?
There's yer problem right there. It's not about the bleeding goal, it's about the process. Have a bit o sativa and it'll all come clear.
Brilliant
"Random numbers to important to be left to chance"
Dear Sir, you owe me a keyboard.
Re: sad
I must be prescient. I knew what they looked like before seeing the piccies. What a cynical bastard I've become.
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
Carried to logical conclusions ( or reductio ad absurdum - you decide), mankind will at last be freed of daily toil to do... what?
But that's freedom innit. Each of us will work out our own answer.
Re: RS232 is still relevant
Will that be one stop bit or two, sir?
Lovely technology that. Never could understand data rate in Baud, though it was amusing.
Re: But it's true......
Me and my monkey want and need our privacy....
Re: Hunger Games!
Robotic hunters? Release the drones!
Reminds me of that animated classic "Bambi Meets Godzilla". Running time approximately 30 seconds.
Re: Facepalm...
Far too easy El Reg. The Republican Party is the habitat of lunatics, bizarre quotes originating there are numerous, and any lazy hack can find some outrageous statement to build a story around.
Black is white, up is down, war is peace in that alternate reality.
Re: All enemy comms readable by dawn each day
This is not a criticism of the excellent work done at Bletchley during the war, but in fact the breaking of the German codes was not as impressive as the hacking of the Nazi high command's brains by the Doublecross Committee.
Early in the war it found that MI5 had captured and turned (or shot) ALL of the German spies in Britain, permitting the Doublecross Committee to feed the Germans carefully crafted "intelligence". Ultra allowed MI5 to keep watch as the massive misinformation campaign (Operation Bodyguard) influenced German strategic thinking, causing Hitler to believe the main thrust of Operation Overlord was to be Norway and the Pas de Calais, with a feint into Normandy.
So convinced of this were they that it was weeks before Germans realized that Normandy was the true invasion route.
Posted in SpaceX Dragon eventually snared by ISS
Re: I wonder
NASA do not build any space vehicles. They buy them from Boeing, etc. Private globo corps all.
You may be in favour of a corporate state and believe they would make the launches run on time, however government by/for/of the people contract with private industry for hardware.
Re: *potentially* very good indeed.
Hobson's choice. Power my thirsty car or down my pint(s). While it may reduce drink driving, I'm not in favor of this idea at all.
Re: Accent
Mandarin with Beijing accent required? I'm out then. I speak Cockney accented Klingon, so it's all wrong.
Re: When bubbles collide!
Angles? I'm sure the Saxons will have something to say about that.
Re: I never believe these stories
My bollocks detector was triggered by the association of "200Kph" and "Renault", particularly as the area described has no steep inclines.
Regardless, the story would have been cut short if the car had been electric.
Is this yet another batterie breakthrough...
... that vanishes into a black hole?
Is some vastly wealthy individual buying up these breakthroughs and burying them to protect his own interests?
Re: WE . ARE . ALL . GOING . TO . DIE !!
Is today a good day to die?
Mine's the one with Old Bushmill's Embalming Fluid in the pocket.
Look! It's a dron....
Someone will pay for this. There are empty cells at Guantanamo awaiting.
Re: Utility Engineer Perspective
Excellent post.
As a engineer, what do you think of either PV or solar thermal? Also, what is your opinion of using solar across multiple time zones to expand the hours of solar-supplied energy (I.E. west coast power supplied to the east coast for hours after sunset on the east coast)? Such schemes would work in both Australia and the USA.
Posted in El Reg contemplates the ultimate cuppa
Tea heresy
No doubt Orwell would march me to room 101 straight away for this:
1. Place 1 bag of Yorkshire Gold and 1 tea spoon of Indian Chai in the strainer from a broken glass Bodum tea pot.
2. Put the charged strainer into a large ceramic mug.
3. Pour boiling water into the mug until within 1cm of the top.
4. Wait 3 minutes exactly.
5. Withdraw and save the still charged strainer.
6. Add two teaspoons of honey and two tablespoons of full fat milk.
7. Stir until honey and milk are evenly dispersed throughout the fluid column.
8. Enjoy.
9. WHILE tea .NOT. WEAK GOTO 2
Pardon the GOTO, but I have been using this procedure since before GOTO was considered harmful.
Re: Excellent
As the little lass attends a religious school, I would expect her examination to resemble the following:
1. Did Kitty see the face of God? If not, why not?
2. How high is Heaven, and can it be reached by a balloon?
3. Which prayers contributed to the success of your project? List all that you applied.
4. Essay question! Explain how this project will make you a better wife and homemaker.
Re: Computer Languages
RE: "programs that could not exist in the languages current today".
Language creation follows certain well-defined rules, and much like the plethora of algebras created before those rules were understood, many new ones are destined to fall by the wayside.
However, I do wonder if new language creation rules might not flow out of cultural differences, such as cultures with number systems like "one, two, many", or those that do not distinguish between past, present, and future. A language created by such a culture might be particularly useful in a multiprocessing environment. However, developers using that language might need to learn to speak Hopi (a particularly difficult language). A fitting revenge for all of the English-based programming languages we've inflicted on the non-English speaking world.
Learnt hex codes AND entered them into memory using switches on the front panel! Doesn't mean I would return to those dark days, or inflict them on the younglings.
Arrr, when I were a lad we lived in a hole in the road and ate gravel. Cold gravel.
Re: Didn't enter a safe shutdown
So fail safes designed by Boeing (or Yuasa)?
