Strange people fallen from the nut tree

Definitely. I've been saying for years that these eco-fascist bastards (WWF, Greenpeace, PETA etc) won't be happy until they've got us all living in caves. And a lot of people around me told me (with varying degrees of politeness) that I might be exaggerating just a bit.

Well, this is the ultimate vindication!

I'll be showing this report around the office to all the green-loving idiots who actually gave money to these wankers on their last donation drive. Hopefully the total donation from our company next time will be a big fat ZERO.

Re: Titsup?

From where I'm sitting, looks to me like you're the one that's hanging upside down mate!

@ Michael Shaw

Sorry, I am right. You said it yourself: the lift <-> weight part of that formula is exactly what I'm talking about. The weight is the downward acceleration of 9.8 m/s/s imparted by gravity; the lift is the 9.8 m/s/s upward acceleration imparted by whatever means the aircraft is using to generate it, be that means air pressure along a wing surface, the displacement of a column of air by a rotor, the counterpressure of a jet engine, or the Newtonian thrust of a rocket.

A glider with zero forward velocity will fall out of the sky like a lead weight until it gains enough momentum to allow its wing surface to generate the equivalent lift required to counter the weight acceleration of gravity. However the craft does it, that 9.8 m/s/s downward acceleration has to be countered. That's basic high-school physics.

I always thought it was

"When we hang the capitalists, they will sell us the rope we use."

Re: Power requirements

Any form of flight will have vastly greater power requirements than ground travel. This is because in order to fly, you have to overcome gravity (duh!).

Now gravity is a constant downward acceleration of 9.8 m/s/s. This translates, in carspeak, to 0 - 100 km/h (62 mph) in 2.8 seconds. That's right, the acceleration imparted by gravity is greater than that of any production sports car, and greater than that of most sports motorbikes. You show me any commercially available ground vehicle capable of 0-100 km/h in 2.8 seconds! Even if there is one that I don't know about, I'd wager its fuel consumption would be a strong discouragement to commuter use!

In order to fly, any vehicle must overcome this downward acceleration with an equivalent upward acceleration. That means consuming the equivalent power required to accelerate from 0-100 in 2.8 s constantly, every second it's in the air, just to hover or maintain altitude. If it needs to climb, it has to surpass this power consumption; that is, be able to achieve the equivalent of 0-100 in less than 2.8 s!

This is why even little Cessnas have the equivalent of a Dodge Viper motor under the bonnet. It's the reason why aircraft get such shitty per-litre mileage. It's why flying is such a major cause of emissions. And it's why flying vehicles en masse is completely impractical - because it will, no matter how efficient we make such vehicles, always consume much more power than ground travel, just to stay in the air.

Re: Potential cash cow?

Not only will they slow down on passing advertisers' billboards and shops, the GPS will "mysteriously" plot a circuitous and serpentine route from A to B that will take you slowly past every advertiser in the country.

Birmingham to London via Leeds, Norwich and Exeter anyone?

Re: Taxis will be second

"Hi! I'm Johnnycab! Where can I take you tonight?"

Wonderful - a taxi that automatically rams the nearest building and explodes in a huge fireball when some chav fare-dodges, instead of just shouting and beating the shit out of them.

@ Jeebus Re: Orlowski

Nah, that post doesn't quite read like Orlowski. It's too up itself. Andrew at least makes an effort to put some justification into his rants. That particular one reads more like something Turtle would write.

Re: What was wrong...with micro USB

Well, for one thing, maybe astromech droids like R2D2 need to be able to tell the difference between a data port and a power socket?

Which will no doubt will only make the lawyers richer

since Apple will have patented bottle openers before that happens.

Re: No, You need to get real.

You do realise, Doug Glass / JimC / PirateSlayer / Turtle, that downvotes still count against your named account even when you post AC, don't you?

Re: Public overreaction in Daily Mails

The unit you refer to should actually be in microDailyMails (μDMs) because, just as 1 c is the maximum possible speed of sheep in a vacuum, 1 DailyMail is the maximum possible amount of public overreaction to any conceivable event.

Therefore, where μDM = any possible amount of public overreaction, the range is 0 < μDM < 1. Note that zero is impossible to achieve because there is always some public overreaction; likewise 1 is impossible to achieve (except in the pages of the Daily Mail itself) because total public overreaction (100% of the population) would result in the total collapse of civilisation past the Daily Mail Event Horizon (otherwise known as the Daily Mail comments pages.)

Re: What social sites ...

Both Facebook and Google+ clearly state in their ToS that they will terminate your account if they find out that you've supplied a false name, and they won't allow you to use a single nom-de-plume; you have to supply a first and last name.

Re: Breaking News ....

Hello, errr, can we have your liver?

Liver and onions?

I prefer mine with some fava beans and a nice chianti...

Re: Cost of living increase benign?

"Average house sizes in Oz have gone from approx 150sqm (1500sq ft or so) to over 240sqm (2400 sqft)"

That's true for the new McMansions getting built, but 1) plot sizes have halved since the 70s, so 2) most of those houses have no garden to speak of, the house goes practically to the fence line as a result.

My parents' place, which they bought in 1974, is around 160 sqm - but it's on a 1/4 acre block, and actually has a front and back yard. Just up the road from them is a 'new' estate (now about 10 years old) with an average block size of 1/8 acre. The effect is visually startling. My name for the new estate - Sardine City - reasonably conveys that visual impact.

Yet the valuation on my parents' house is around $430,000, and one of the McMansions near there recently sold for $480,000. So it's not house size that has much to do with the ludicrous prices mate. It's rank greed on the part of baby boomer property investors, the government, and real estate companies. A difference of 11% for a house three times the size IS an apples to apples comparison.

@ Graham Marsden

Not really a good question, since it's a yes-no answer, giving crooks a 50% chance of getting it. Oh wait, scratch that: you're pretty guaranteed to get it right by simply answering "no", since given Apple's track record of deliberately bricking jailbroken devices, no fanboi would actually admit to having jailbroken one to Apple, even if they have.

@ItsNotMe

I always put my DOB as 20 July 1969 (the day of the Moon landing). It's only a few years+months after my actual birth date, so it doesn't arouse suspicion with regard to my physical age, and Dad getting me out of bed to watch Armstrong give his famous speech on the telly, is my earliest childhood memory - hence the day I was "born" to my own awareness.

Only my bank and certain government agencies have my real DOB (which given said agencies' propensity for USB sticks, laptops and trains probably means world+dog have it by now anyway!)

And you think

that the kind of perv who would steal a tampon would prefer one that is white as opposed to, erm, "used"?

...and you pay us what we think is appropriate..."

...each and every time you watch / listen to something until we tell you it's no longer available.

@Steve Renouf

Considering how unjust the laws are these days and how our so-called "democracies" have somehow become corporate dictatorships there's plenty of things to hide that, while now illegal, are still within the realm of basic human rights - which our legislators are increasingly ignoring.

Just because lawmakers have become corporate puppets doesn't mean the public has given up its right of resistance.

Same here

Since Apple products are banned in my home, including their software, I guess I don't get to see the video either.

Re: @ Bob Vistakin

Nice strawman there AC. Bob never said everyone who disagreed with him was a shill. He merely remarked that this and other forums were "infested" by paid shills. Which I don't doubt. El Reg has a big enough readership and a far enough reach to be of interest to the big boys.

And if you think there are no shills on El Reg, you might want to look at this xkcd post and think again. There's a very good reason why companies like Apple and Microsoft would astroturf here.