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User: c4miles

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Comments · 86

  1. Re:back in my day... on Aion Shaping Up For US Launch · · Score: 1

    Actually, according to the link you posted, 'Aught' (or 'owt' in Northern English dialects) should really mean 'Anything' or 'All'. 'Aught' meaning zero is a false division of 'A naught' that has gained common use, like a napron or a nadder (snake).

  2. Re:That's an easy one! on Why Don't We Invent That Tomorrow? · · Score: 2, Funny

    If only there were some way to account for both Time And the Relative Dimension In Space.

  3. Re:More Exciting on Newfound Planet Has Earth-Like Orbit · · Score: 2, Informative

    Gas giants have solid, liquid, and gaseous phases in their planetary sphere, and don't have a surface as such. 'floating' would pose no mobility problem in such an environment, regardless of gravitational forces. Iain M Banks' 'The Algebraist' revolves around a gas giant ecology.

  4. Re:Let's see.... on PS3 Finally Ready to Rumble? · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Orientation of the motion sensor circuit board is irrelevant. There is a constant 'acceleration' due to gravity that can be used as a baseline to zero the accelerometers.

  5. Re:KeyFobs still linked to PID on Mini Introduces RFID-Activated Billboards · · Score: 1

    Dude, 'fob' is a word, not an acronym, unless your keychain is Fresh Off the Boat.

  6. Re:hm on Creating Water from Thin Air · · Score: 5, Informative
    The word you're looking for is Hygroscopic. From the article you linked to:

    The similar sounding but unrelated word hydroscopic is sometimes used in error for hygroscopic. A hydroscope is an optical device used for making observations deep under water.

    A related word, deliquescent, refers to substances so hygroscopic they will dissolve themselves using water absorbed from the air.
  7. Re:Successful Test?!? on Space Elevator An Impossible Dream? · · Score: 1

    Fibres can be braided, just like we have with wool, cotton, or hemp for many centuries. If compressed radially, the tensile strength could conceivably be brought back up to somewhere near the ideal.

  8. Re:A geek's favorite past time on Computer Buying Experiences at B&M Stores · · Score: 1

    It doesn't work when spoken, either, despite what the song would have you believe. UK & US pronounce potato the same. We pronounce tomato differently.

    Oh, and before someone starts ragging on the Brits for being inconsistent, they have to explain Kansas vs Arkansas.

  9. Re:IMHO Kyoto is dead anyway. on Where Computers Go To Die · · Score: 1

    Because Iceland and Canada get much of their energy from renewables and have arctic climates (more heating required). Luxembourg has a small enough population that it's a statistical blip.

  10. 300K Canadian? on Star Wars Kid Cuts a Deal With His Tormentors · · Score: 1

    Yeah, that's like, what, $300k US?

  11. Re:or maybe not... on Scientists Find Preserved Dodo Bird Bones · · Score: 1

    I believe it was the introduced pigs that escaped and bred, as well as the omnipresent ship rats, that wiped out the dodos - or, more specifically, their eggs. The dodo itself was probably just killed on sight on general principles, for practice or fun, rather than for food - I'd imagine you could just run after them and catch them if you wanted to. As a fresh-off the boat settler, it'd be a pretty unsettling thing to have wandering through your newly claimed farmland.

    In a situation with no predators, the selective factors (within a single species) would be resistance to disease, ability to reach food sources, and efficient use of heat (doing more with less). I'm not sure about resistance to disease, but the other two would favour size over other factors such as speed and agility. Basically evolution led these things to being walking targets.

    Douglas Adams's favourite book of his own is 'Last Chance to See', a travelogue about searching for near-extinct animals. He describes New Zealand's kakapos, a similarly flightless island-bound bird currently under threat from rats. This one's a type of huge parrot, whose best method of defense is either a) freezing or b) running up a tree and jumping in the hope that it can suddenly remember how to fly (they can't), neither of which works against stoats or feral cats. Big, naive birds that Darwin's after with a vengeance. Only 86 remain.

  12. Re:Because it gets reported on Why Do Computer Games Claim Lives? · · Score: 1

    No one publishes an article every time it happens, wondering "why beds claim lives".

    Viz once published a 'letter' along the lines of:

    Sirs,

    I am repeatedly reading of people's last words from their deathbeds. That manufacturers are allowed to continue producing these deathbeds is a disgrace.

    Yours, etc

  13. Re:Answer to the Sample Question on Your Favorite Math/Logic Riddles? · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you balance all of the quarters on their edge you can choose any two arbitrary groupings - no coins would be heads up.

    But I prefer your solution.

  14. Re:Bah. Send Double Oh Seven on the job! on Some Rights May Have To Be 'Eroded' For Safety · · Score: 1

    Close. More likely, M was based on Stella Rimington, the first publicly named Head of MI5 (Intelligence), although Bond is affiliated chiefly with MI6 (Counter-Intelligence).

  15. Re:You'd have thought... on Europe to Join Russia Building Next Space Shuttle · · Score: 1

    How about calling the wings "re-entry control surfaces"?

  16. Re:That shouldn't happen. on Russia's Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered · · Score: 1

    Because you're tired from a gruelling travel itinerary, its late at night and you're just happy to see a sign you recognise?

    Come on. Travel can be difficult, and the parent poster admits they ended up preferring the local alternatives. Your horse really isn't that high.

  17. Re:It's for the children! on U.S. House Votes to Extend Patriot Act · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36

    "He who sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed." Exodus 22:20

    "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Exodus 22:18

    Likewise, just quoting from a (hehe) holy text.

    You can shut the fuck up now.

    Ditto.
  18. Leeds? Why? on Britain to Pilot GPS Speed Governors · · Score: 1

    It seems worthwhile to point out that after RTFA, the pilot was held in Leeds; the scheme is now being tested in London. For those who don't know, Leeds is about 200 miles from London.

  19. Re:Geek Candy Bars on First Picture of new Motorola iTunes Phone? · · Score: 1

    Candy Bar is a form factor. The other major form factor is Clamshell. A candy bar phone (like the nokia 6600) is one that has the screen and keypad on one side, and is about the same size as a candy bar.

  20. Re:Rose on Dr Who Rolls On · · Score: 1

    The Doctor has 13 incarnations, or 12 regenerations, IIRC. there's some debate over whether Paul McGann counts from the movie.

    However, I seem to remember that there is a McGuffin that allowed The Master more than his 13 allotted regenerations - shouldn't be surprised if something similar is written in for the Doctor when his time finally comes.

  21. Re:Not always.... on Gene Therapy Ages Human Cancer Cells in Lab · · Score: 1

    Glaxo-Smithkline-Wellcome? ICI? Shell Petroleum? BOC?

    That's off the top of my head, of course.

  22. Re:Fingers Crossed Dressed... on Dr. Who Series Star Quits · · Score: 1

    I was thinking particularly of his performance in the three-part mini-series '40', in which he played the straight role of a flamboyant advertising exec amazingly well.

  23. Re:Fingers Crossed... on Dr. Who Series Star Quits · · Score: 2, Funny
    (I, for one, welcome our new time-travelling Boris Johnson [wikipedia.org] overlords!)

    In this case, the "for one" subclause is entirely appropriate, I feel.
  24. Fingers Crossed... on Dr. Who Series Star Quits · · Score: 2, Funny
    Other contenders for the role include Bill Nighy and comedian Eddie Izzard.

    Eddie Izzard as the Doctor could be the best thing to happen to television ever.

    If it ever happens though, I'm sure the BBC will go out of their way to cock it up in a typically British fashion; though the new series does give me some hope.
  25. Re:UK rules OK on UK Officially The Most Hacked Country · · Score: 1

    The trouble with the UK is that you can't do the 'Yoo Ess Ay!'-while-clutching-a-miniature-flag chant because there aren't enough syllables. You could add in a cha-cha-cha to make it 'Yoo Kay, cha-cha-cha', although that's perhaps a little too flamboyant.

    For the majority of the UK's population, the 3-syllable pronunciation 'Ing-er-lund' will suffice for such purposes.