The English system is better for many things, like pints for beer and Fahrenheit for telling people what the weather is like today.
Huh? Celcius makes way more sense. 0=melting point of ice. Anything less is freezing. 100=boiling point of water. Anything in the lower teens is cool enough to warrant a jacket, anything in the 20s is warm, 30 and above and it's uncomfortable heat. How's Fahrenheit better?
These things are a great way to make a beautiful landscape hideous.
Did you ever read the old Asterix comic books set in Roman occupied Gaul/France? There was a little scene (one of many insightful little bits of commentary) where this huge valley was being spanned by the construction of a big Roman aqueduct complete with all the beautiful arches and remarkable engineering. One of the little French guys remarks "The Romans are spoiling the landscape with all those modern buildings."
Take up a competitive sport, preferably something athletic such as running or bike racing. I'd imagine bike racing would have lots of geek appeal because of the level of tactics and technology involved. I'm a competitive cyclist and I can assure you that being competitive concentrates your mind in a way that the more mundane goal of 'trying to avoid gaining weight' never can. When you sign up for those races and find yourself on the starting line with your teammates, you're going to make sure that you've put in the training necessary to get in good enough shape that you can compete. You're going to want to avoid the humiliation of being dropped off the back of the pack or being dropped on a climb. That's one hell of a motivator. The part about losing weight and staying healthy just comes as an incidental by-product of the more intense need to WIN!
While it is sad that he'd have been forced to go through the humiliation and embarassment of being questioned/searched/etc.. but honestly.. who in their right mind would carry something like a terror script through airport screening? Comic book, hell.. it could've been a movie script and he would've received the same response.
In short: He was asking for it. No.. he was begging.
So someone brings a DVD of Executive Decision through security. Are they 'asking for it?'
For real news, let a thousand relatively uncensored blogs bloom.
"Real news" involves professional reporters, investigative journalists, phone calls, interviews, and a strict editorial process that vets anything before it goes live.
Blogging involves leeching off the above with the commands Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v and frequently adds nothing more but spin.
I take a walk if it's one of those small bugs that holds you up for days and then turns out to be a semi colon in the wrong place.
If I can't motivate myself to work on a particular project, I work on something similar for personal projects at home, because that's always more interesting than doing something because you have to. Once I get into it, I get little moments of inspiration like "Ah, that'd be a really useful feature to use at work." That makes the work more interesting and there are times at work when I get little moments of inspiration like "Ah, that'd be really useful to use on my home project."
Mod up. Soyuz is still going strong since 1966. The ISS has two of them permanently docked to use as lifeboats. And yes, it was first developed by a socialist society. So what? Are our mods so socialistophobic that the mere sight of the word is enough to attract 'flamebait' and 'troll' mods?
Once back on Earth, the shuttle contracted, wedging the knob firmly in place
Simple solution: take the shuttle back up. Others have done it before.
TFA disagrees:
'Fly as is' is not an option, unknown damage and loads to the glass could result in failure during the flight, with no redundancy; dynamic failure could result in redundant pane failure.
FAO any other Monday morning quarterbacks, armchair rocket scientists, and other self-appointed experts and "why don't they just" merchants out there who never seem to consider that the people working on the thing might actually have thought about what they are doing, quoth TFA:
"Induced damage of the knob being wedged between the glass and the dashboard closeout panel structure, or from removal of the knob could result in unacceptable damage.
"Consequences of unacceptable damage to the glass pane: Replacing the pressure pane would result in a significant impact to ground schedule (potential 6+ month impact). Requires de-configuring dashboard structure and instrumentation to remove window assembly for refurbishment. Windshield pressure pane removal has never been performed at KSC.
"Knob removal must be performed carefully; exhausting all risk free options first, then attempting more intrusive (higher risk) options, if others fail."
It's just that in the UK and Ireland, anything around the weight of a car and above is usually given in tonnes, which aren't much different from tons. I find it a bit odd seeing something as heavy as a ship with its weight given in lbs, it reads like the distance from one city to another being given in inches instead of miles. Oh well.
I haven't studied it in depth yet, but I'd imagine it contributes a bit of energy to the system to get things running, kinda like a starter motor on a car, or a solar powered oil pump that can't wait for the oil to be extracted, refined, and fed into the pump's engine to get it working.
A pump powered by children playing? I did a double take when I saw that. Then there was a link to it. I tip my hat to the person who thought of that. Bloody ingenious.
My older sister (11 years older than me) was taught imperial, I was taught metric. I have this conversation with her sometimes. I ask her how many pounds is x ounces, and she fumbles around, does a calculation in her head, and says, "there, that wasn't hard was it?" I then say "1,200mm is the same as 1.2metres, or 120 centimetres. I was able to tell you that while hardly even thinking about it, to say nothing of doing a calculation."
Maybe they should be re-thinking their plan to use 30-year-old technology on their flagship 21st Century project.
I disagree. Wheels are a pretty old technology, they work pretty well.
In fact, the Russian space program showed that sometimes it's better to use the same fundamental design that's been incrementally improved over decades of use, testing, and development. I was pretty thrilled when Columbia first took off, but as time wore on it quickly became clear that the ability to re-use a spacecraft is not as easy as it sounds. It's reusable in the same sense that a Formula 1 race car is reusable - i.e. it more or less has to be re-built with every race/flight.
From memory: Pioneering engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel tried to introduce a wider gauge because it allowed for more stable trains, and for a while he succeeded in getting significant portions of the network in England laid in his new gauge. He eventually had to give in though, the older narrower gauge was just too well established. It was an early format war where the superior new format was trumped by an inferior but better established one. Today if you check out some of the train stations in Cornwall and the South of England, like Bristol Temple Meads, you'll notice big gaps between the rails and the posts holding up the station roof. That's a hangover from the days of the wider gauge.
Slashdot Mirror
With the possible exception of helium-3, the moon contains basically nothing worth shipping back to earth.
Au contraire. The place is full of Titanium.
The English system is better for many things, like pints for beer and Fahrenheit for telling people what the weather is like today.
Huh? Celcius makes way more sense. 0=melting point of ice. Anything less is freezing. 100=boiling point of water. Anything in the lower teens is cool enough to warrant a jacket, anything in the 20s is warm, 30 and above and it's uncomfortable heat. How's Fahrenheit better?
These things are a great way to make a beautiful landscape hideous.
Did you ever read the old Asterix comic books set in Roman occupied Gaul/France? There was a little scene (one of many insightful little bits of commentary) where this huge valley was being spanned by the construction of a big Roman aqueduct complete with all the beautiful arches and remarkable engineering. One of the little French guys remarks "The Romans are spoiling the landscape with all those modern buildings."
Does masturbation count?
Yes
Take up a competitive sport, preferably something athletic such as running or bike racing. I'd imagine bike racing would have lots of geek appeal because of the level of tactics and technology involved. I'm a competitive cyclist and I can assure you that being competitive concentrates your mind in a way that the more mundane goal of 'trying to avoid gaining weight' never can. When you sign up for those races and find yourself on the starting line with your teammates, you're going to make sure that you've put in the training necessary to get in good enough shape that you can compete. You're going to want to avoid the humiliation of being dropped off the back of the pack or being dropped on a climb. That's one hell of a motivator. The part about losing weight and staying healthy just comes as an incidental by-product of the more intense need to WIN!
Shouldn't this sort of thing be called an Ornithopter?
I'm sorry, but anything from the Heritage Foundation is to be taken with a large pinch of salt.
"Offtopic" or "troll" would have been more appropriate.
While it is sad that he'd have been forced to go through the humiliation and embarassment of being questioned/searched/etc.. but honestly.. who in their right mind would carry something like a terror script through airport screening? Comic book, hell.. it could've been a movie script and he would've received the same response.
In short: He was asking for it. No.. he was begging.
So someone brings a DVD of Executive Decision through security. Are they 'asking for it?'
For real news, let a thousand relatively uncensored blogs bloom.
"Real news" involves professional reporters, investigative journalists, phone calls, interviews, and a strict editorial process that vets anything before it goes live.
Blogging involves leeching off the above with the commands Ctrl+c and Ctrl+v and frequently adds nothing more but spin.
I'll give the author a pass on the libelous misattribution,
You can't libel the dead.
What site brings real news? (except Slashdot, of course)
news.bbc.co.uk
www.channel4.com/news
www.economist.com - A good place to go if you want to see the news before it happens
PHP. No compiler.
I take a walk if it's one of those small bugs that holds you up for days and then turns out to be a semi colon in the wrong place.
If I can't motivate myself to work on a particular project, I work on something similar for personal projects at home, because that's always more interesting than doing something because you have to. Once I get into it, I get little moments of inspiration like "Ah, that'd be a really useful feature to use at work." That makes the work more interesting and there are times at work when I get little moments of inspiration like "Ah, that'd be really useful to use on my home project."
Mod up. Soyuz is still going strong since 1966. The ISS has two of them permanently docked to use as lifeboats. And yes, it was first developed by a socialist society. So what? Are our mods so socialistophobic that the mere sight of the word is enough to attract 'flamebait' and 'troll' mods?
Simple solution: take the shuttle back up. Others have done it before.
TFA disagrees:
'Fly as is' is not an option, unknown damage and loads to the glass could result in failure during the flight, with no redundancy; dynamic failure could result in redundant pane failure.
FAO any other Monday morning quarterbacks, armchair rocket scientists, and other self-appointed experts and "why don't they just" merchants out there who never seem to consider that the people working on the thing might actually have thought about what they are doing, quoth TFA:
"Induced damage of the knob being wedged between the glass and the dashboard closeout panel structure, or from removal of the knob could result in unacceptable damage.
"Consequences of unacceptable damage to the glass pane: Replacing the pressure pane would result in a significant impact to ground schedule (potential 6+ month impact). Requires de-configuring dashboard structure and instrumentation to remove window assembly for refurbishment. Windshield pressure pane removal has never been performed at KSC.
"Knob removal must be performed carefully; exhausting all risk free options first, then attempting more intrusive (higher risk) options, if others fail."
It's just that in the UK and Ireland, anything around the weight of a car and above is usually given in tonnes, which aren't much different from tons. I find it a bit odd seeing something as heavy as a ship with its weight given in lbs, it reads like the distance from one city to another being given in inches instead of miles. Oh well.
Just curious. Do USAians measure all weights in lbs? Do you not use tons?
I haven't studied it in depth yet, but I'd imagine it contributes a bit of energy to the system to get things running, kinda like a starter motor on a car, or a solar powered oil pump that can't wait for the oil to be extracted, refined, and fed into the pump's engine to get it working.
A pump powered by children playing? I did a double take when I saw that. Then there was a link to it. I tip my hat to the person who thought of that. Bloody ingenious.
My older sister (11 years older than me) was taught imperial, I was taught metric. I have this conversation with her sometimes. I ask her how many pounds is x ounces, and she fumbles around, does a calculation in her head, and says, "there, that wasn't hard was it?" I then say "1,200mm is the same as 1.2metres, or 120 centimetres. I was able to tell you that while hardly even thinking about it, to say nothing of doing a calculation."
Maybe they should be re-thinking their plan to use 30-year-old technology on their flagship 21st Century project.
I disagree. Wheels are a pretty old technology, they work pretty well.
In fact, the Russian space program showed that sometimes it's better to use the same fundamental design that's been incrementally improved over decades of use, testing, and development. I was pretty thrilled when Columbia first took off, but as time wore on it quickly became clear that the ability to re-use a spacecraft is not as easy as it sounds. It's reusable in the same sense that a Formula 1 race car is reusable - i.e. it more or less has to be re-built with every race/flight.
From memory: Pioneering engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel tried to introduce a wider gauge because it allowed for more stable trains, and for a while he succeeded in getting significant portions of the network in England laid in his new gauge. He eventually had to give in though, the older narrower gauge was just too well established. It was an early format war where the superior new format was trumped by an inferior but better established one. Today if you check out some of the train stations in Cornwall and the South of England, like Bristol Temple Meads, you'll notice big gaps between the rails and the posts holding up the station roof. That's a hangover from the days of the wider gauge.
half the population think that the metric system is (like the euro) just another damn frenchie scheme to undermine our sovereignty.
Funny thing is, it was an Englishman who proposed the Metric system, and the Imperial system was devised by a Norman.