Do I need to break out a.5dm x 1dm and beat some sense into people?
See, just doesn't roll off the tongue. 5cm x 10cm doesn't either.
Now 2x4, that's nice, simple, sounds good and gets the point across.
Even there, we suffer from a lack of standardi[sz]ation; in the UK, this has always been called 4x2*(pronounced 'four-be-two'), which to my ears is even more tongue-rolly than 2x4. One of us needs to give that sucker a quarter-turn.
* Even though it has actually been 100mm x 50mm for decades
Lister: What d'ya think of Betty?
Cat: Betty Rubble? Well, I would go with Betty... but I'd be thinking of Wilma.
Lister: This is crazy. Why are we talking about going to bed with Wilma Flintstone?
Cat: You're right. We're nuts. This is an insane conversation.
Lister: She'll never leave Fred, and we know it.
A good "duct tape" program would allow you to peel off the tape shift the part slightly, then tape it back up.
If this is a requirement, "duct tape" is the wrong analogy - it should be "gaffer tape" programming. In fact, it makes sense on a few other levels as well, since it is generally used by professionals rather than cowboys and it doesn't leave an unsightly sticky mess when you finally get round to removing it.
Nice gesture. Now they should give him the honour he deserved while he was alive. Considering his contributions to the war effort and Computer Science, he should be knighted.
He can't be knighted; he's dead. It doesn't matter how much he deserves it (or deserved it), it won't happen because it's not an honour which can be given posthumously.
Nearly all of the tracks on the four Rick Rubin produced albums were covers, usually of material by much younger artists - that was pretty much the point of them. I'm not sure where the idea that Reznor wasn't cool with it comes from, as far as I can tell he had some reservations at first, but changed his mind when he heard it, especially when he saw the video.
I love the way Neil Young and Bob Dylan are finally cool again; it's like the world gave them each a 20 - year sentence for 'Trans' and 'Slow Train Coming', but now we're prepared to forgive and forget on the condition they never do anything like that again.
I'm not sure the Beatles were ever considered rebellious, (except perhaps in the American Mid-West). Certainly in the UK they were seen as the clean-cut, parent-friendly option, especially when set against the Rolling Stones. This was played up by both camps at the time, as it was seen as driving sales and popularity.
Personally I never really liked The Beatles music, although I can appreciate the influence they had on many bands who followed. I wouldn't call them 'Easy Listening', as to my mind that implies a much safer, blander style of music, but they were definitely 'Pop' rather than 'Rock'.
Okay, none of these people are allowed to drive any car with an automatic transmission, ever again. They can drive when they can think.
In the UK, nearly all cars have manual transmission, but many people still drive like plonkers. I think you are taking a self-selected group of manual drivers, who are predisposed to be better drivers, and assuming that those skills will be magically transferred to the muppets by a change in transmission type. Anyone who has driven on busy roads in the UK will tell you there is very little evidence for this.
Being a foreigner, I have no clue where Barstow is exactly, but 'somewhere near Barstow' is on the edge of the desert. Definitely. And it's full of bats.
I'd have to go with Brian Cox as well; his enthusiasm really comes across in the BBC documentaries he has fronted. Plus he was a Rock Star before getting his PhD (OK, keyboard player for one-hit wonders D:Ream, but still...). Plus he's married to a TV Sports presenter. Oh, and for anything maths related, Marcus du Sautoy has many of the same 'enthusiasm combined with real knowledge' qualities.
Can someone tell me what the icon is supposed to be for GNU is Not Unix??
It's a gnu - I'ts a gnu
The g-nicest work of g-nature in the zoo
I'ts a gnu - how do you do?
You really oughtta g-know w-who's w-who
I'ts a gnu - spelt G - N - U
I'ts not a camel or a kangaroo
So let me introduce, I'ts neither man nor moose
Oh, g-no, g-no, g-no, I'ts a gnu!
Um, half a liter is more than a pint, what the fuck are you bitching about?
Um, half a 'liter' may well be more than a US pint (473+ ml), but as we were discussing British pubs, the measure in question is an Imperial pint, which is 568+ ml. That means I'm paying 2.70 GBP for 2.37 GBP worth of beer, hence the bitch.
Not that people who use SI really use it properly, mind you. 20 cm? Should be 2 dm.
That all depends on what you mean by 'properly'. Preferred use in a lot of fields is for prefixes with exponents divisible by 3, so 200 mm or 0.2 m would be 'correct', whereas 20 cm (or 2 dm) would be 'wrong'. If you use centimetres in building or engineering in the UK, you are likely to be derided for using 'dress-makers' units. (Nearly all the steel rules and tape measures are marked in cm, though - I've never really worked that one out).
I like the attitude of Russ Mitchell regarding speedometers - when someone asked how you ride a bike with no speedo he said "Just go as fast as the car in front. If there's no car in front, just go as fast as you want."
Spirits have not been sold in fractions of a gill since the 1980's, the standard pub measure is 25ml. Bottled beer is sold in ml, so are glasses of wine - in fact draught beer is the only drink still sold in imperial units, and the legislation required to change that would be as trivial as it was for wine and spirits.
I really don't care if draught beer goes metric (although apparently a lot of people do) - I just wish they would fill the bloody glass to the proper measure without being asked - most of the pubs in Britain are already serving half-litres of beer and then charging you for a pint!
I'm not sure how many major countries it takes to fill a hat, but it seems to me like the UK is the only one with this strange eternal duality. Do you have any examples from other countries?
So to do physics right you should feel like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting yourself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lies all undiscovered before you?
Slashdot Mirror
Do I need to break out a .5dm x 1dm and beat some sense into people?
See, just doesn't roll off the tongue. 5cm x 10cm doesn't either.
Now 2x4, that's nice, simple, sounds good and gets the point across.
Even there, we suffer from a lack of standardi[sz]ation; in the UK, this has always been called 4x2*(pronounced 'four-be-two'), which to my ears is even more tongue-rolly than 2x4. One of us needs to give that sucker a quarter-turn.
* Even though it has actually been 100mm x 50mm for decades
a 7 meter object has less than a third of the mass of a 10 meter object.
7 cubed is 343, so slightly more than a third of the mass.(Given equal density and similar shapes)
My Neurontin costs me $5 per month.
How uncivilised - more enlghtened parts of the UK abolished prescription charges years ago:-)
Has anyone ever really killed off a group of people?
I'm afraid they have; we (the British) managed to wipe out the entire indigenous population of Tazmania in the nineteenth century.
Oblig Red Dwarf:
Lister: What d'ya think of Betty?
Cat: Betty Rubble? Well, I would go with Betty... but I'd be thinking of Wilma.
Lister: This is crazy. Why are we talking about going to bed with Wilma Flintstone?
Cat: You're right. We're nuts. This is an insane conversation.
Lister: She'll never leave Fred, and we know it.
A good "duct tape" program would allow you to peel off the tape shift the part slightly, then tape it back up.
If this is a requirement, "duct tape" is the wrong analogy - it should be "gaffer tape" programming. In fact, it makes sense on a few other levels as well, since it is generally used by professionals rather than cowboys and it doesn't leave an unsightly sticky mess when you finally get round to removing it.
Nice gesture. Now they should give him the honour he deserved while he was alive. Considering his contributions to the war effort and Computer Science, he should be knighted.
He can't be knighted; he's dead. It doesn't matter how much he deserves it (or deserved it), it won't happen because it's not an honour which can be given posthumously.
Two men who have been given the countries highest honour ....
Just a nit-pick, but Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire isn't even close to 'the countries highest honour'.
Nearly all of the tracks on the four Rick Rubin produced albums were covers, usually of material by much younger artists - that was pretty much the point of them. I'm not sure where the idea that Reznor wasn't cool with it comes from, as far as I can tell he had some reservations at first, but changed his mind when he heard it, especially when he saw the video.
I love the way Neil Young and Bob Dylan are finally cool again; it's like the world gave them each a 20 - year sentence for 'Trans' and 'Slow Train Coming', but now we're prepared to forgive and forget on the condition they never do anything like that again.
I'm not sure the Beatles were ever considered rebellious, (except perhaps in the American Mid-West). Certainly in the UK they were seen as the clean-cut, parent-friendly option, especially when set against the Rolling Stones. This was played up by both camps at the time, as it was seen as driving sales and popularity.
Personally I never really liked The Beatles music, although I can appreciate the influence they had on many bands who followed. I wouldn't call them 'Easy Listening', as to my mind that implies a much safer, blander style of music, but they were definitely 'Pop' rather than 'Rock'.
Windows isn't like Budweiser, it's like the urine that's produced from drinking Listerine.
So slightly better than Budweiser then. Splitting hairs if you ask me...
Okay, none of these people are allowed to drive any car with an automatic transmission, ever again. They can drive when they can think.
In the UK, nearly all cars have manual transmission, but many people still drive like plonkers. I think you are taking a self-selected group of manual drivers, who are predisposed to be better drivers, and assuming that those skills will be magically transferred to the muppets by a change in transmission type. Anyone who has driven on busy roads in the UK will tell you there is very little evidence for this.
... an argument over whether Stihl or Husquvarna chainsaws were best.
That's just silly; everyone knows Victorinox chainsaws are best.
Should we also debate what's the best tool. A hammer, a screwdriver, or a wrench?
I would go for a Swiss Army Chainsaw
Heh, what a bunch of sissies. Real woodsmen use an axe. :)
REAL woodsmen set the universal constants at the start such that the universe evolves to fell the tree they want.
Being a foreigner, I have no clue where Barstow is exactly, but 'somewhere near Barstow' is on the edge of the desert. Definitely. And it's full of bats.
I'd have to go with Brian Cox as well; his enthusiasm really comes across in the BBC documentaries he has fronted. Plus he was a Rock Star before getting his PhD (OK, keyboard player for one-hit wonders D:Ream, but still...). Plus he's married to a TV Sports presenter. Oh, and for anything maths related, Marcus du Sautoy has many of the same 'enthusiasm combined with real knowledge' qualities.
Can someone tell me what the icon is supposed to be for GNU is Not Unix??
It's a gnu - I'ts a gnu
The g-nicest work of g-nature in the zoo
I'ts a gnu - how do you do?
You really oughtta g-know w-who's w-who
I'ts a gnu - spelt G - N - U
I'ts not a camel or a kangaroo
So let me introduce, I'ts neither man nor moose
Oh, g-no, g-no, g-no, I'ts a gnu!
(with apologies to Flanders & Swan)
Um, half a liter is more than a pint, what the fuck are you bitching about?
Um, half a 'liter' may well be more than a US pint (473+ ml), but as we were discussing British pubs, the measure in question is an Imperial pint, which is 568+ ml. That means I'm paying 2.70 GBP for 2.37 GBP worth of beer, hence the bitch.
Not that people who use SI really use it properly, mind you. 20 cm? Should be 2 dm.
That all depends on what you mean by 'properly'. Preferred use in a lot of fields is for prefixes with exponents divisible by 3, so 200 mm or 0.2 m would be 'correct', whereas 20 cm (or 2 dm) would be 'wrong'. If you use centimetres in building or engineering in the UK, you are likely to be derided for using 'dress-makers' units. (Nearly all the steel rules and tape measures are marked in cm, though - I've never really worked that one out).
I like the attitude of Russ Mitchell regarding speedometers - when someone asked how you ride a bike with no speedo he said "Just go as fast as the car in front. If there's no car in front, just go as fast as you want."
Spirits have not been sold in fractions of a gill since the 1980's, the standard pub measure is 25ml. Bottled beer is sold in ml, so are glasses of wine - in fact draught beer is the only drink still sold in imperial units, and the legislation required to change that would be as trivial as it was for wine and spirits.
I really don't care if draught beer goes metric (although apparently a lot of people do) - I just wish they would fill the bloody glass to the proper measure without being asked - most of the pubs in Britain are already serving half-litres of beer and then charging you for a pint!
I'm not sure how many major countries it takes to fill a hat, but it seems to me like the UK is the only one with this strange eternal duality. Do you have any examples from other countries?
So to do physics right you should feel like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting yourself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lies all undiscovered before you?