Posts by jake

Re: what's old is new again

About fifteen years ago (or thereabouts) a company called "Moon Publicity" was going to sell advertising on the Moon itself, using a technology they called "Shadow Sculpting". These forever visible adverts were supposedly going to be sold for as little as $46,000 each.

I have no idea what happened to the company, I assume they folded after "suddenly" discovering that it would cost far more than $46,000 just to survey the regolith to be sculpted ... But not before the owners trousered a couple million from credulous investors, of course.

But the pR0n industry knew they had something that was nearly universally wanted.

The advertising industry? Not so much. Some would say quite the opposite, in fact.

Not just American, but proper English, too.

I believe it was Henry Watson Fowler (the great English lexicographical genius) who wrote "solder without the "L" was the only pronunciation I have ever heard, except from the half-educated to whom spelling is a final court of appeal ... " and was baffled by the OED's statement that it was the American usage.

As the OED puts it (paraphrasing to avoid copyright hissy-fits): The modern form in English is a re-Latinization from the early 15c. The loss of the Latin L in that position in Old French is regular, as poudre from pulverem, cou from collum, chaud from calidus.

Re: Not union, it's the law

I was adding to the list, not claiming exclusivity.

"Not ideal for long-distance travel."

Depends entirely on what you are hauling and what you mean by long distance.

Mom, dad, 2.7 kids+dawg(s), towing a boat, with kit for a three day weekend ... I see this combination by the hundreds on Hwy 121 and 128, heading for Lake Barryessa on warm summer weekends (9 or 10 months of the year here in Northern California). Even more on Hwy 80 heading for Tahoe, or on 50 heading for Comanche, and more heading to all the other lakes in the Sierra. Sadly, the station wagon is long gone.

And of course, EVs are shit at towing ... Well, to be more accurate, they are GOOD at towing (gobs of low end torque, and they are heavy with a low center of gravity), but their range goes to shit in a hurry, making them all but useless as tow vehicles.

Re: The Holy Grail

Cheer up. It'll be job security for somebody ...by the time they are finished replacing the lot, the first one will need replacing again.

Those details are only true (maybe) in your jurisdiction.

Typically such rules only apply to people who drive for a company or belong to a union, not to individuals working for themselves.

Re: Don’t try this at home

"Basically this concept just sounds like threatening an occasional big bang at the recharging station."

That's not a bug, it's a feature.

Or pretty much anybody who drives stuff around for a living.

I expect there will be a lot of resistance. People are being forced to go electric with great reluctance. The general public's capacitance for this kind of nonsense has about maxed out.

Re: Feels like a Friday already

Perhaps that should be re-written ...

"by removing up to 24.22 kilowatts of heat and conveniently sweeping it under the carpet."

Re: To be clear ...

Chill, Liam

I was agreeing with you, just consolidating it for the tl;dr set.

—jake, evil meany poo-poo head commentard

Re: To be clear ...

You think my reply was serious?

Yeesh.

Re: To be clear ...

GREAT idea! I'm so happy you volunteered. You'll want to get right on that, before someone else steals your thunder. When can we expect your first release?

Last time I noticed, the mascot had no preference of gender and could be called whatever you like. Including late for dinner, no doubt.

Ah, yes ... here ya go:

https://www.rust-lang.org/learn/get-started#ferris

Kind of refreshing in this modern era, actually.

Re: Pardon?

Confessions obtained under torture are hardly legally admissible. Even in Scotland.

_{The funny thing is you are effectively admitting that playing the Pipes is an act of torture ...}

Re: Pardon?

Feeling pretentious today, are we?

Re: Scaling?

That's what cats are for.

Re: Bastards

You lot ain't taking over.

The Tardigrades took over about a hundred million years ago, and they ain't lettin' go.

Re: You wait till evolution kicks in...

Then we change the frequency of the laser.

Simples.

Re: "more effective and environmental friendly approaches are needed"

Yep.

"requiring them to hook up or their property will be condemned."

Shouldn't be happening in California anymore. Changes to Title 24 should have put a stop to that. Mind you, you still have to pass the inspection, which can be quite draconian. Especially local laws that only exist to fill the coffers. Suggestion: Do homework BEFORE purchasing that "perfect" off-grid retirement property.

Re: Not "Half the Power"

California buys electricity from out of state utilities that burn coal. Lots of it, in fact.

Re: The older the OS...

The 16-bit PC/GEOS[0] operating system (later just GEOS, then Geoworks Ensemble) ain't nerdcore. Early AOL floppies came with a runtime version of PC/GEOS that could be modified to become HDD bootable. I know a couple of folks who used this as a primary GUI to get computer illiterate folks online.

_{You want nerdcore? Try DesqView. Ran Win3.x in a window.}

[0] Note that the 8-bit software also called GEOS, and from the same company, for the C-64 and Apple ][, is a completely separate code base and mostly incompatible with the later 16-bit code.

Re: Real breadboard builds

I've got some small galena crystals on display, and an old 9V transistor radio earpiece in the desk drawer.

I know how to use 'em, too ... https://forums.theregister.com/forum/containing/4229475

OK, I'll try again.

How do you explain the functionality of a cathode ray tube?

Re: "The team believes Mars must still be geothermically active"

"if the core was that hot, the ice would have melted."

It would appear that it is that hot, and there is an equilibrium point where there is an ice/water boundary.

Or so the data suggests.

Re: They keep saying that ...

Mars may have had ice asteroids raining down on it faster than the water could escape just long enough for life to have been bootstrapped. Once life takes a hold, it seems it's incredibly hard to get rid of it.

Who knows. At this point, it's more about the journey than the destination.