* Posts by Bleu

860 publicly visible posts • joined 16 Jun 2012

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Blade Runner sequel might actually be good. Harrison Ford is in it

Bleu

Re: What's so great about Blade Runner?

Your post is interesting in that it expresses much the same views (minus your mention of 'American') as those Harrison Ford was expressing over the many years before he signed up for this project.

Bleu

Might actually be good. someone who

is on record for hating his role in Bladerunner, H. Ford, has finally noticed the many who see it as his finest performance.

Give us a break.

Does he get to beat Rachel (Sean Young) up IRL one more time?

Can Rutger Hauer return?

I am sure it will be garbanzola.

For the OPs who are hating KW Jeter's sequel novels, sure he is not PK Dick, the latter has been deceased for rather a long time.

If you knew anything about the literature, you would know that Jeter was a housemate of PK, he is the character Kevin in Valis.

That to me seems to place him in a good position to write the sequel novels that attempt to reconcile the film with PKD's original novel.

The Jeter novels are flawed, but have some great passages.

Sure, Hollywood will ignore those on this project, perhaps grabbing a few impressionistic details, which is precisely how they treated 'Do Androids' in the first place.

I loved the movie, but am always a little disturbed by how it reversed the themes of the novel-which Ridley Scott proudly boasted that he'd never read.

This sequel is bound to be a crock of poo.

What's MISSING on Amazon Fire Phone... and why it WON'T set the world alight

Bleu

Re: Play store

Crap.

They have a few good preinstalled ones, I suppose it depends on the provider and place, I have installed precisely one, the file system and process controller.

All of the others I have installed were pre-installed in the first place.

Still a pretty good machine, does most of what one wants out of the box.

Point being that the 'app' and 'store' systems mean just about *nothing* to me and many others.

One program on Google looks interesting to me, as does one book that is exclusively on Amazon.

I still much preferred my old brick. As a telephone (and in several other ways, the provider threw up some clunky but hard puzzle games, other game demos, videos, enjoyable wallpapers gratis every month, special alarm tones, ran a closed blog service, etc.), it was more fun.

Bleu

Who does?

People with the same mentality as those who want to wear clothes or shoes with the brand as the highlight, or want to make a show of only carrying Apple products, for a couple of examples.

Give it a few years, and comment sites will have many commenters whose only desire is to display their devotion to Bezos, as they now do with Saint Steve.

Some of the comments here show that the process is under way.

I avoid Amazon like the plague.

Bleu

Re: an ersatz-3D image

Good question, so a vote from me.

However, Hitachi has such a system, demonstrated it at CEATEC around the middle of the last decade.

It requires multiple cameras around the space to capture the video, and the playback system is electro-mechanical, delivers much the same effect as the hologram viewers in THX1138, or Princess Leia in Star Wars.

Unlike holograms, you can walk around the playback system, and it doesn't have the same problems with colour distortion. One of the demos was a sumo match.

I thought at the time (and still do) that it was very ingenious, expected to see the system pop up in public spaces, but the costs of commercialisation seem to have been judged to be too high.

Respect for NDAs precludes more, but we are now restricted to 'jump out of the screen' 3-D, I like my 3DS, but have not seen any of the recent American blockbusters in 3-D.

I like the old ones, using it as a shock effect, for that, my prize goes to Paul Morissey for 'Blood for Dracula'. Flesh for Frankenstein, Jaws 3 in 3-D, all fun.

Renewable energy 'simply won't work': Top Google engineers

Bleu

Re: three "disasters" so far - Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima

I am not anti-nuclear. In fact, I think breeder reactors are a good idea in terms of efficiency and reduced waste, ours was taken out of start-up several years before the earthquake and wave that hit, not just Fukushima Number 1, but a huge swathe of the Pacific coast.

Sure, it was a natural disaster. Well over 20,000 dead. I had been planning to take a rail holiday there at the time, I thank the fates or god that I didn't feel good at the time, so didn't go.

Am yet to see a figure on how many carriages were swept away.

I still travel through the area at times.

In the southernmost city in Fukushima Prefecture, a lovely park, even this spring, a long way from the reactor, has been stripped of its soil. Why? Too radioactive. Signs were posted to display the before-and-after millisievert levels.

Try telling all of the evacuees that it wasn't a major nuclear disaster, on top of the quake and the wave.

Try telling the small army of day labourers actually working on the ineffectual cleanup that it wasn't a nuclear disaster. They enjoy being put up in good hotels on the periphery, but they are the ones who take the risks, and, according to our press, sometimes play (or used to play) tricks with the dosimeters to stay on in the work (nice hotel in the evening).

Only three major disasters so far, perhaps. There have been many smaller ones.

British had one earlier than the others listed. It was called Windscale, the government even renamed the location (to something like Sellafield?) in an attempt to make people forget.

Here, also two incidents at the Tokaimura reactor, on the other side of the island.

First was an explosion, limited venting of radioactive gas, but overexposure for about forty people.

Second, about fifteen years ago, workers were putting powdered fuel in buckets, it reached criticality, two were dead in short order, several others got a radiation overdose.

There must have been many similar incidents in other places.

France seems to have the best record in using fission for power safely. Germany also seems to have had a good record until they made the mad political deal to shut down all of their plants.

Useless 'computer engineer' Barbie fired in three-way fsck row

Bleu

Re: Life in plastic, it's fantastic!

The Barbie type will be aroud until the coming collapse, as will her male counterparts.

On another thread, some fool repeated the received wisdom that the population will start to fall after reaching 9,000 million around 2050. Not going to happen. Humans today are lemmings (yeah, I did enjoy the old game, thanks to those of you who are and are not at Rockstar, also loved Chinatown Wars).

Collapse is coming, it will be within this century. It will likely not be acknowledged at first.

Population growth will not magically stop at 9,000 million around 2050, it will continue until some kind of collapse.

Bleu

Re: Not far off

Your father sounds very sensible on the subject of 'Architects'.

My mother? Let me tell you about my mother ...

Bleu

Re: Pink crapfest

So you are reading the same articles. That comes from the Smithsonian on-line. I can't see any evidence for the article's claims of colour preference, but then, I wasn't around a hundred years ago.

I would love to ask Zelda or F. Scott about it.

Bleu

Re: Pink crapfest

With you on pocket monsters, they seem to grab a demonic hold on the minds of children.

I can never work out why.

Bleu

Re: 'Well said' to that.

I am embarrassed. However, I always try to post from memory.

I checked, the US navy renamed 'commodore', 'rear admiral (lower half)', typical grade inflation on their part. Personally, I think commodore is more stylish.

Bleu

Re: Life in plastic, it's fantastic!

I was going to throw in a comment on Aqua's great mega-hit, too, congrats to you for being in first!

Bleu

Re: Barbie films are just as bad

What is a 'kead role'?

I enjoyed the Barbie game on Game Boy. Right time. Haven't heard of the Barbie versions of fairy tales, they sound like a laugh.

I wanted to be an astronaut, too, will never happen.

Bleu

Re: MEN!

They usually don't have school furniture, the curriculum is mainly rote-learning lines from an odd book.

... and girls aren't allowed.

Though they may be receiving a favour there if the system is just madrassas.

Bleu

'Well said' to that.

'we can all think of a few bosses (male and female) who've turned this into a successful management strategy', although Barbie is not a manager in this scenario.

Amusing that the product had been around for years before the twit-storm broke out.

Also amusing that it is not a rare phenomenon IRL!

To the earlier poster who referred to Grace Hopper, who really did walk the walk, Cobol remains big in banking and finance after how many years? She was a commodore, not an admiral.

LIFE, JIM? Comet probot lander found 'ORGANICS' on far-off iceball

Bleu

Fred Hoyle

a great astronomer and writer, supported several heterodox ideas, while he did not go so far as to explicitly support panspermia (as far as I know), he was keen on the idea that many viruses have come from comets.

Who knows?

He also made a steady-state universe theory. Probably wishful thinking on that, but even more dependent on unknowns.

Bleu

Re: Secret mode?

It sounds like Space Channel 5 (I have synathaesia for sound and vision), but also looks like the Konami code. Not having used it lately, I suppose I am wrong.

Lef-righ-lef-righ, shoo shoo shoot!

I guess anybody under thirty will not remember how revolutionary Space Channel 5 was and looked. I have to reconnect my Dreamcast!

Oh no, I am also going off-topic!

... not completely, the Moon stage has some connection with Philae!

Bleu

Re: @dan1980

You are absolutely right but you are completely off-topic (sure, not alone in that on this thread).

Bleu

Re: Secret mode?

Psyx,

I was about to post much the same, but followed my usual custom of tracking until I found a sensible post.

Indeed, 'organic' meaning carbon-centric, also CHON as the main bits.

Amino acids? Maybe, sounds like the sampling was about as successful as our Hayabusa a few years back, a *very* small sample.

Most of the other posts are centred on cod-philosophy or religion, or denial that Philae largely FAILED. I hope that it reawakens under more light, but it sounds unlikely. If it does, it doesn't have a surface-sampling tool any more.

'Organic' produce seems a particularly unfortunate term, suppose that's what you have to expect from people who hate science and maths at school! Not that I don't check and prefer 'organic' produce at times!

Controversial on the reg., I know, but glad our govt. doesn't allow GM foods.

Mystery Russian satellite: orbital weapon? Sat gobbler? What?

Bleu

Re: Of course it's a weapon.

"Except for the UK". I saw what you did there. Not bad.

Bleu

Re: It's blatantly Putin

Baloon? Do you mean balun?

Bleu

Re: or...

Come on, the B-37 is a little pricey to be a mere decoy.

Admirable degree of paranoia, but are you paranoid enough?

Quiz question: which nation constantly chafes at the bit on the treaty against militarisation of space?

Hints: the air force has a nifty space plane, they like the occasional chat about "rods from God", are situated between Mexico and Canada, whoah, you've hit the buzzer!

... and the answer is ...

UK PM Cameron says Internet must not 'be an ungoverned space'

Bleu

Well PM Cameron

sounds the voice of all talent-free bureaucrats and politcians,luvvie class in general.

Rosetta probot drilling denied: Philae has its 'leg in the air'

Bleu

Japan space agency's

failure with Hayabusa in a similar micro-gravity environment already demonstrated the difficulty.

The lander failed.

The main probe did get there and back, pretty great, but it didn't manage to get much in the way of samples. A similar technical failure.

Bleu

Brian Aldiss

often a rather brilliant English SF writer, places an entity called Canquistidor in at least a couple of his stories.

Visitors to Europa (the one revolving around Jupiter) find edible seafood in the alleged ocean there, commercial interests (Canquistidor) arrive to wipe them out, then find more further away, and so on.

Bleu

That is differemt

and only comparable to the Soviet Venera probes, which did similarly well in surviving an incredibly inhospitable environment.

My vote is for the Venera project as all-time most wonderful automated missions to another planet, but Huygens was also wonderful.

Curiosity, fantastic landing technique, breathtaking, and unlike Rosetta's boxy little spawn, worked at every step on a much more difficult sequence.

Bleu

Indeed

I am not at all pleased for the people who planned and worked on the project, but have to agree with ROFLMAO about commentards and media people who have enjoyed mocking other failed space flights.

Turns out to have been an even bigger debacle than at the time the article was posted.

LOLLOLLOL.

Hell, I even get voted down for pointing out that the ESA is not an organ of the EU!?!

As of now, I am your only posivote. I am surprised there are no others.

Bleu

But it is

expensive.

Bleu

Shadenfreude

So many reg commentards made nasty comments about the failure of Phobos to ground, it is hard not to enjoy the failure of this.

Harpoons didn't fire, thruster didn't work.

Jony Ive: Apple isn't here to make money. And students shouldn't use computers so much

Bleu

Re: Those "6 months" are your advantage to make money, eejit.

The design 'language' of cars seems to me to have been largely static for a long time now.

The only big differences between new cars now and, say, fifteen years ago, are the shape of the hybrids to fit the giant batteries, and the absence of slightly charming products like Nissan's several retro designs at the time, though I gather they were not for export.

I still feel minor elation when I see one.

The New Way (rampant greed) got rid of such whimsy in short order.

ESA sends back PRE-LANDING COMET CLOSE-UPS

Bleu

Re: Scale.

Irrelevant comment. The ESA is not an organ of the EU.

Nice photographs!

What kind of generation doesn't stick it to the Man, but to Taylor Swift instead?

Bleu

Re: market value

With you until you mentioned Billy Bragg. The original was painful, self-righteous and hypocritical enough, who would want another?

Only memorable and worthwhile thing was a cover by Kirsty McColl.

Behold the Lumia 535 NOTkia: Microsoft wipes Nokia brand from mobes

Bleu

Re: Meh

You can activate the gadgets for switching programs off or download programs to do the same thing at task level on Android even without getting root.

Agree with most of your comments, though.

Bleu

Re: Meh

Not a great fan of Microsoft in general: except their few genuine innovations, DirectX, DLLs, object linking and embedding, sure, the latter now leads to idiots making unreadable spreadsheets that have nothing to do with what a spreadsheet is for, and Microsoft didn't invent the DLL concept, but they did lead the way in introducing it.

I prefer OpenGL, but it wouldn't be what it is without concepts from DirectX,

but really, who cares how many 'apps' they carry for their phones?

This looks like fair value for the many fbook, twit, instagram addicts of the world.

I have found precisely one Android 'app' so far that I am really interested in downloading and paying for, but won't do so until I see a much better description of its specs.

Games? I still prefer to carry a separate machine for that, I am sure there must be exceptions, but I see Android and iPhone games people are playing on trains, just a mindless distraction for two minutes, generally graphic design with no character, very low difficulty. I see DS and PSP games, some look interesting.

GOD particle MAY NOT BE GOD particle: Scientists in shock claim

Bleu

Re: Just to be clear...

In a language sense, it is much more sensible and convenient to use it as plural. The only reason it was messed up in the first place was sloppy usage in merika.

For one example, we have silly constructs like 'data point', datum would do quite well.

There are several others.

Bleu

Re: Occam's Razor

They never did claim it was definitive proof, IIRC, despite holding self-congratulatory press conferences. They only claimed high probability. Perhaps that it is all that is possible at this stage of theoretical comprehension?

Let's not forget that many properties of mass are well understood at the macro level, Newton still holds in most situations, but the relation between mass and the production of gravitation remains the least understood of fundamental force phenomena, particularly at the level of fundamental particles.

I strongly agree on fund-fishing re. this latest.

Bleu

They were never really interested in SAVING BOS'N HIGGS

All along, the plan has been either to

create a mini-black hole that is sustained and eats the earth

or

creating a sufficiently energetic event to attract the attention of their beloved many-angled ones and RESTORE CTHULHU & CO. TO THEIR RIGHTFUL PLACES AS OUR OVERLORDS!

Igor, it's ah-alive, I tell you it's ALIVE!!!

WTF is a tekni-quark (or techni) supposed to be? I did study quantum, sure only to a shallow level on sub-elementary particles, very non-descriptive term, suppose the tekni is supposed to have the meaning of 'artefact produced by a non-related quark'. Never heard of a type of quark called 'tekni'.

Firefox decade: Microsoft's IE humbled by a dogged upstart. Native next?

Bleu

Re: Firefox Sucksess is due to PORN

Made me laugh, dorsetknob.

Bleu

Re: @dellusional AC

I also never had a problem with FF in years of running it under Linux (unfashionable Turbolinux). Boot device I was using (ingenious Wizpy) is pretty much dead, Linux boot partition lost data so can't boot from it, battery is dead and not replaceable, other data are mainly still on it, though.

Sob.

Bleu

Seems quite reliable to me

but you are posting as AC, so we have to suspect some rabid fandom interest.

Not to say their small-device interface is not a little clunky, version on mine is out of date, must try the latest.

It offers much better control than the Android built-in or Opera (which I like and also use, yes I know it is out of fashion).

Bleu

As the OP says

I have never had FF crash or freeze, whether on doze or Android. I use Opera as main browsers (mini and the former mobile) under Android, mainly for the data squeezing (low limit), but I use FF too, and *exclusively* FF on PC for years. Never found it anything but reliable.

That said, I am not at all convinced by Gal's (and many others') 'everything in the browser' vision. Sorry, I want everything from the text editor through to the word processor, spreadsheet, compiler or interpreter, and graphics software running on the local machine.

If the old 'thin clients' idea had taken off on a mass-market scale, it might be different.

I can see a point when it comes to avoiding dedicated Javascript programs for, e.g., news sites in favour of using the browser. I can't see the point of 'apps' like that, they just clutter up the screen.

Branson on Virgin Galactic fatal crash: 'Space is hard – but worth it'

Bleu

Re: Oh no it is

I am sure that some of the people at Scaled understand aerodynamics and rocketry rather well.

I still think the X-prize would've been much more interesting with their team disqualified on the grounds of US government dependence and the contest running longer. They were the least independent participants, despite the fig leaves. Flights were impressive.

One of the many lies on Wikipedia, they say it was entirely privately funded, easy to refute.

Scaled was the employer of one of the test pilots. Is the employer of the survivor.

Bleu

It is not a re-entry system, it is a return system that is not useful at orbital velocities.

Even after siowing a craft that is in orbit down enough, it is pointless. Possible use cases: fun -fair ride for the very wealthy; platform for launching small satellites into short-lived LEO, whatever else NASA gave them money for. My guess, atmosphere and lower ionosphere studies.

Not connected to the recent explosion, I am sure they've run many simulations, but I wonder if the far greater angular inertia of this one may not prevent the shuttlecock return?

Bleu

Re: Oh no it is

I agree with you on the value of the project. Your analogy on that is pretty right.

You are being extremely cruel with regard to the brave test pilot who died! Your analogies are completely wrong on that. He would have not expected to ride an exploding vehicle. Have a little respect!

Now though, if Branson himself had been along as the trial passenger, a little schadenfreude may have been in order.

... but he wasn't.

He also seems to have been pretty inattentive, even following serial resignations of important managers.

Bleu

Re: Untested engine? @ MD Rackham

9°F? Fahrenheit scale? Really? I'd have thought it would be relatively stable at such a low temperature.

Perhaps you are referring to nitrous oxide confined in a largish (9 farad) capacitor under other non-specific conditions?

Bleu

Re: To eternity and beyond...

At least double may be wrong, but clearly, over thirteen for pilots and crew on orbital missions from the USA alone.

Former Soviet programme, several acknowledged deaths, others rumoured, but it is likely that they are dinsiformation.

They never had a disaster in carrying humans to match Apollo 1 or the two shuttle disasters.

Certainly not only thirteen as you claim on the basis of a quick Google search and a scan of the headlines on the first page of results.

Losses in flight training, playing too hard in the allowed flight time, I don't know, only that Gagarin was the most noteworthy. There were several others.

In testing, who knows?

It looks as if your beardie has been more than a little irresponsible here.

There are a couple of interesting articles out there about safety warnings for Virgin Galactic and Scaled not being too careful and having been warned.

The Reg has become slow, they don't beat mainstream sites for speed on sci. & tech. info too often (at all?) lately, unlike the days where mainstream papers would copy slabs of articles from here.

Maybe they are too busy censoring quite inoccuous posts that say things some trick-cyclist-type posters don't like to hear, my recent experience.

Bleu

Re: To eternity and beyond...

I agree with your thoughts on 'beardie', but the number you give doesn't seem to correspond to reality (actual number has to be a little higher, at least double) and is only for orbital flight or attempts at that, it is simple arithmetic.

Two shuttle disasters, Apollo 1, several deaths in the Soviet programme, more.

Also doesn't take deaths in the development processes into account.

Bleu

Re: human endeavour

It is not just naive and impolite, it is a completely odd comparison, reflecting on the troll mentality of the OP.

Bleu

Re: It is not in a loop.

Difficult, of course. Should have looked at the preview.

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