Re: Nice work!

I quite agree. He's really made the grade.

Re: Matter/anti-matter

...Anyway the wind blows...

Re: University challenged...

Sounds like someone ought to be writing a book or a website... ;)

Leave the ethical hackers out of it.

I know someone doing a degree in Ethical Hacking and it's good, hard IT stuff like Mama used to make. None of your wishy-washy Jeremy Kylology here.

I do remember people getting all hoity-toity with me when I objected to Blair's original aim (50% of school leavers to gain a degree), claiming I was being elitist. My response: damned right. That's the idea...

Re: *IT as in

Actually, Anon, I agree with you as well. It shames me that I forgot so many important topics (Art, of course. Music, PE, Philosophy, finances, all good...) but just 'cos there's a lot to get through doesn't mean we shouldn't bother. It means we should bloody well get on with it and stop pussy-footing around.

My old school had time for most of these, PLUS eurythmy, handwork, woodwork and occasional school trips. Slightly science-light, if I'm honest, but that's tree-hugging hippies for you. Sadly, I'm more grateful to them now than they ever knew.

Re: Google vs Microsoft

"It's literally impossible for any company to be nice..."

I'm not sure I agree with you there. The company I work for is profitable, successful, growing and has a genuinely earned reputation for being super-nice*. And this isn't a marketing gimmick, it's just how the company is run. It's a priority for the founders, the executive team and everyone down to the new hires.

Here's a clue: part of the reason we do well is because people love doing business with us, and word spreads. Helps that we're also shit-hot. ;)

So, not impossible, but not common either, more's the pity...

* 'Scuse Americanism, but it is an American company...

Re: Problem is not Fry

I guess we can all be a little relieved that you're not having your way.

Re: Douglas Adams thought the idea ludicrous 30 years ago, and this version is no better

Wasn't there an Iain M Banks novel that had a message being sent as a transcript of the sender's mind-state so that the recipient could question them for all the details that were necessary? I remember the feeling of distaste when the temporary mind was destroyed after the message had been delivered...

Re: Silent Running

...Although I did find the question of how his dickish shipmates ever landed a job, let alone a job in Space, something of an unanswered mystery...

Re: Would

What is with the spelling around here these days?

I think you mean "Wood."

Naughty boy.

While I entirely agree with your sentiments...

...I think you mean "Body dysmorphic disorder" - dimorphism means having two forms, for example male and female.

That said, right on!

Re: a crappy fortube spent then

...and the Tuba Mackerel random post generator prize goes to... Alan Denman!

Re:Grandfather's Axe

Perhaps we should deploy Ganto's Ax instead...

Re: "The ribbon makes more features visible" @Jaruzel

"...By then of course, all the users who NEEDED to customise the ribbon had defected to OpenOffice or upgraded back to 2003 (and are probably still using it)."

Fixed that for you.

Re: option of reverting to the old style menus.

@tom 13: It shouldn't be about what makes sense from MS' point of view, but what makes sense to the user.

MS never really seem to have grasped this fundamental point...

Re: "Liquid Metal"

I read "Australian accent" and had a brief headful of imaginary Crocodile Dundee / Terminator 2 crossover.

It wasn't bad, actually...

"Hasta la vista, mate!"

Re: Where I work -

How does this fit with equal opportunities regulations?

Au contraire...

My Samsung Note was anything but cheap when I got it, albeit some time back, but it's functional as all hell and damned good value, all told.

Cheap? Pah.

@Spoddy

I'd upvote you but I like the fact you've got 69 supporters. Wouldn't want to spoil that...

Re: Shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather...

Yeah, me too. One for two; not Derren Brown material, but pretty cool...

Re: Geometry fail

But lots of tiny spheres give a higher surface-to-volume ratio than a single sphere with the same mass, which is (I think) the idea.

The way my Dad explained it to me when I was a nipper was something like: "If you take a big lump of ice* and split it in half, you've got the same volume of ice, but two whole new surfaces where you split the halves apart. Now split those halves in half, and you've got the same volume again, but some more new surface. Keep making the chunks smaller, and you increase the surface area while always keeping the volume the same. Now go find me the formula..."

* We were talking about big ice cubes vs small ice cubes, as I remember...

Re: "That's not art"

Not that I trust the internet, but apparently that's a Mark Twain:

"If God had meant for us to be naked, we'd have been born that way."

http://quotations.about.com/od/marktwainquotes/a/twainreligion.htm

(A new favourite for me too...)

@ Dave 126

Thanks for the clip from that lame Jay and Silent Bob movie. Those guys are clownshoes...

Oh hang on, that's my doorbell...

Another difference with cars...

...is that cars are designed to carry people and payloads from one place to another. That's their purpose, and it's what they do well. If used as a weapon (or even if causing injury through accident) it's as a side-effect of their primary purpose - the fact that they are heavy and move fairly quickly and hence have potential to do damage.

Guns are designed to kill people. That's what they're for, and it's what they do best. Okay, you can use one to hammer a nail into a wall, or to abseil down a ventilation shaft, or to scratch an itch in the small of your back, but you're not using the tool to its best effect. It's designed to be used to kill people with the greatest ease and efficiency possible.

There you go, Matt. More lovely troll food. Mmm...

Re: That blooper always annoyed me... @relpy

Ah, good point. My mistake. Real it clearly is.

Re: That blooper always annoyed me...

In the name of all that is holy and good, Star Wars is NOT Science fiction. It's Space Opera, to the extent of having leitmotifs and everything. There's nothing wrong with that, and it's fun as hell to watch, but straining your brain to figure out how to make the dialogue work or why you'd design droids that needed interpreters is like trying to figure out how Alberich's ring could fit so many different-sized fingers. (Oo-er missus.)

It's not important. Move on.

Re: How about ....

Dammit, I came on here to say " Yo momma's so fat she demands a re-assessment of theories about the universe." thinking I was being all hip and street and original, and you guys got there first with funnier variations.

You guys... :)

Re: Disrespectful to investors

"...ties just seem to strangle you, end up in your food and dangle around uselessly..."

There's a joke about ex girlfriends or male genitalia in there somewhere but I can't seem to spot it this morning. Need more coffee.

*insert punchline here*

Re: provided that all your property is forfeited [...] when you die

I'm guessing you don't own a house?

Dammit Tony, you got there first...

I was going to say that doesn't sound like a bad deal - and after Microsoft have paid them to take the software they don't actually have to install it, do they?

Re: Ironic!

No, geese in glass kettles shouldn't throw sauce. Pay attention.

Re: What!

You don't write for Doctor Who by any chance, do you? That prose was just about the right shade of purple...

Re: Obligatory XKCD cartoon...

"...people hate wikipedia..."

[Citation Needed]

Re: Stop the presses

@AC 13:24

Good point, quite true. But you posted it anon, so I don't trust you.

Re: Useful to scrutinise charities

There was an interesting report on Radio 4 last night about more-or-less this subject. The author founded a charity that isn't in the least bit interested in that self-perpetuating-keep-asking-for-money model, but has a proper, strategic plan to deliver sustainable solutions on the ground and they're working on a timetable to shut themselves down in 2018, with their job done.

An incredible, inspirational woman. Can't recommend the article enough: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20762278

Re: 4 years from now

I like the solar sail idea, but would it be a terrible thing if we forgot to pack the sail and just turned on the lasers anyway?

Re: Micro gravitation changes?

@ BoldMan - Is that the fastest you can go? I'm travelling at an average rate of 60 minutes per hour, although some afternoons it seems considerably slower...

Yes, I liked that too... :)