* Posts by Swee' Pea

26 publicly visible posts • joined 4 Oct 2007

US women protest for the right to bare

Swee' Pea

Tempest in a B-Cup

My personal observation from the ladies' locker room at the employer's gym suggests most gentlemen have no reason to fear opportunities for arousal from bare breasts.

Within that environment, there are ladies of ages from 15 to 75. Modesty is inversely proportional to age and attractiveness. The young women with beautiful bodies go to extreme measures to stay covered whilst changing, showering, and drying. The oldest ladies let down their "venetian blinds" front and back and proceed to visit with no thought to the view they offer.

If the attractive ladies cannot bear to bare in front of other ladies in a women's locker room, they probably will not remove their shirts in public. Hence you are saved from perpetual stiffies The real concern is whether you'll be able to function at all.

There are a lot of unattractive people in this world -- maybe we should all give ourselves an objective viewing and keep our clothes on!

Me? I'm old enough that if I LOOKED like those 20-somethings, I'd show it off. That's the dilemma of being in-between.

Marie Curie voted top female boffin

Swee' Pea

First Scientist

What about Eve?

BMW opens up to haptic car doors

Swee' Pea

All Well and Good

but can it detect a mugger in a dark parking lot?

UK scientists hit by lack of brains

Swee' Pea

I'd like to upgrade...

It needs some work: It's got some focus problems, undersized and faulty memory, and mal-adjusted. Maybe I could get a refurbished model for the old brain and some cache?

What's the cost of global warming?

Swee' Pea
Thumb Down

Disappointing

This article was billed as "What's the Cost of Global Warming? - The Answer May Surprise You"

with fancy fire graphic.

Well, I'm not surprised and haven't learned anything useful. No conclusions, no answers, not even a table comparing costs side by side.

Reg, I can get the same from CNN and Fox News.

Fellow commenters, you took the bait.

Did the width move for you, darling?

Swee' Pea
Happy

Right Site? Other Moderator?

Other than wondering if I had reached the right site, I see no reason to complain. The previous Register format looked out-dated years ago. So what? It was easy to read and worth it. I don't think the new format is particulary up-to-date looking but then, that's part of "Biting the Hand that Feeds IT" -- no gloss, no hype, just deliver the goods. Just like "Playboy" I read "The Register" for the articles.

As for all the griping, I bet if Sarah Bee's byline were on the article, commenters would be cooing over fixed widths and fonts. Perhaps your next format change should accompany a gender-related staffing change.

Boffinry bitchslap brouhaha: Higgs and Hawking head to head

Swee' Pea
Happy

God Particle, Weight Loss, Shiney New Toys, and Bets

I'd LIKE to believe in the mass-donating properties of a particle as an explanation about my own over-mass situation. It seems so elegant compared to the more mundane explanation of too much beer and chip molecules. And I bet there are physically tons of others who want to believe, too. CERN has just turned on the technology to remove the God-particle from protons and they're sitting on a gold-mine.

Assuming success, it's just a matter of time before late night TV marketers will be offering personal hadron colliders for effortless, in-home use for three easy payments of 29.95 per month (plus postage and handling). Can I order one in advance?

Oh yeah. The story was about Hawking and Higgs. I guess I just WANT to believe that Higgs finds his particle and proves the God-model and creates a market for in-home hadron colliders so I can have one.

Of course, if the particle isn't found that won't prove the Atheist-model is correct but it won't create a weight-loss product either.

Maybe like the SETI project they'll decide that hobbyists could collect and analyze data and they'll* offer in-home colliders to anybody who can cough up 6 easy payments of 39.95.month (plus postage and handling). Then I can have my toy anyway.

And meanwhile Hawking will have to devise a test device to prove the Atheist-model -- potential for a new toy in 10 - 20 years to replace the worn out the collider.

Anyway, I'd happily help Higgs and Hawking settle their bet, especially if I could lose a few God-particles in the process.

*It's hard to say specifically who "they" might be but we see their reps on infomercials.

Welder in DIY penis enhancement nut mishap

Swee' Pea

Chris or Lester?

This seems like a Lester story. Granted, I had to look up "tumescence" but I also had to double-check the by-line.

Today is not Hadron Collider Day

Swee' Pea
Thumb Up

@Alternatively

Hah! Accelerate politicians!

Now that's a political race to follow! And it should be ready just in time for the US electron -- election.

Oz minister walks plank for dancing drunk in his smalls

Swee' Pea

Will the Real Matt Brown Please Stand Up?

Apparently there is only one Noreen Hay but google yields MANY Matt Browns.

Perhaps this is a case of misplaced identity.

Site guesses your sex via age-old web flaw

Swee' Pea
Alert

Outing

A functional gender test isn't necessary. All that's required is to test "wrong" and the user "corrects" it.

Google and the End of Science

Swee' Pea
Joke

A Million Monkeys Typing a Million Years

I can't help but wonder if Google et al, through its data mining effort won't be just as likely to discover the complete works of Shakespeare as the Unified Theory of Life, The Universe, and Everything.

Oh yes, they have millions of PEOPLE typing -- so it probably will be the complete works of Joan Collins.

Swee' Pea
Happy

@Mike Taylor

Possibly there is a "model" for this but I've derived my conclusions off my "extensive" data-set obtained from the pharmacy and news media.

Swee' Pea

The Pharmacuetical Industry Beat Google at its Proposed Game

Ever read the fine print on that patent medicine? Beyond the list of side effects there will be a statement that essentially says the manufacturer does not know why the drug is effective. Essentially, enough data has been collected to deem it "effective" by the (in the US) FDA.

We are bombarded with health recommendations based on statistical evidence. There may indeed be correlations such as obesity and high cholestoral, or stress and heart disease but the underlying cause, if known, is lost in the noise of telling us we are "at risk".

The drug industry, which finances the research, doesn't care about why your body decides it must reinforce its arteries with plaque, but will gladly invent a pill to disolve it when somebody decides it's bad for you.

Having decided to develop a particular treatment, research goes into selecting, refining, and testing the end-product. But because the original cause is unknown, the product is not a cure. But then, cures are bad for business.

It's not that there aren't people diligently investigating blood pressure regulation, but it takes a lot of time, and once understood, there may not be a payout. Compare that with the decreasing cost of collecting and analyzing data, and it doesn't take much imagination to see where business/government will put its money.

So meanwhile, we sheep line up at the witch-doctor's for a potion to treat our complaints, real or socially imposed. As primitive as it is, it's the best we've got.

Gas crunch: Jatropha, kudzu, algae and magic to rescue

Swee' Pea

RE: Cannabis?

AC,

You got the order wrong.

If you start with "Recreational products from the flowers to produce fun" then the requirements for the other products reduce. The only travel required is to the fridge and then the grocery, when the fridge is empty!

Ohio table-shag man gets six months

Swee' Pea

Life in Prison

How do you explain this particular crime to the other inmates?

Robbery

Drugs

Assualt

.

.

Sex with inanimate object

Swee' Pea

It is Impressive

that the charge was more than public nudity. March in Ohio is COLD!!!!

Enraged devil dog lover locks on to Reg photo team

Swee' Pea

Ultimate Price?

At least Lester will be spared the sacrifice of being educated.

'Mad Scientist' developing powered suits for US military

Swee' Pea

Electric Leash

Makes me think of that grade b- movie "The Electric Chainsaw Massacre".

Sure you can terrorize the entire cast but when you reach the end of the cord, you're either done or you have to add another. Add enough cords to reach those running victims, hit the switch, and ..... BROWN OUT.

PETA offers $1m for test tube chicken

Swee' Pea

And now time for the judging...

Judge #1: (Cuts and and examines piece): Interesting texture. Cuts easily but has a definite grain. Nicely browned.

Judge #2: (Cuts piece and smells piece): Smells appealing.

Judge #3: (Cuts piece and eats it): Tastes okay but it's missing something... I think it could use a little meat.

Vatican updates list of mortal sins

Swee' Pea
Paris Hilton

Picture

Who's the guy with the bow-tie in the photo? Is he somebody I should recognize?

Should the IT department be accountable for energy use?

Swee' Pea

A Different Perspective

I'm an engineer in the employ of a large entity with multiple locations and disparate business processes. Over two years ago one of the national departments had me buy and *implement* SQL, Sharepoint, and Web servers at seven locations. I've been back to most of these sites and the servers are turned on but the local IT department hasn't done anything with them -- no users, no content, NOTHING. The department that bought this equipment put it there as a "shared" resource but never told anybody what to do use it for or that it was available for the asking. The IT department had no incentive to advertise. So they sit there humming and heating, thereby costing the electricity to power both the CPUs and the BTUs.

(Obviously the term "implement" is used loosely since loading and testing software is NOT an implementation and after two years this still bothers me.)

Lest you think it's just my wacky employer, I was visting a colleague at another large organization with multiple locations and disparate business processes (entirely different business sector). This colleague had just been assigned to a new office. It full of old furniture and in one corner he discovered a 3B2 minicomputer humming and heating his new digs. He proudly demonstrated he was able to logon as root and determine it hadn't been rebooted or accessed in over five years!

I don't know WHO should be responsible for power consumption but someone should. There's plenty of waste and no incentive to challenge the status quo. It's more likely a security manager will pull the plug on these unused machines for not being maintained than because they are power hogs.

And to those who think it may not seem like it's much power, perhaps you'd like to send me your pocket change everyday for the next year.

US woman fingered for Porky Pig drugs outrage

Swee' Pea

Re: Lessons Learnt

"My name is not very common but I know of several others with identical names."

Yeah, it appears there are a lot of you. Better hope no one is doing background checks on "Anonymous Coward". Surely one of you has done something inappropriate!

Virgin Mary appears in Google's Iowa data center

Swee' Pea

Imported Employers are not Enough

My local town has been giving tax-breaks to big-box stores and warehousing/distribution centers to bring jobs and revenues to the area for the last 20 years or so. The local gov drools over the jobs and "prestige" and rests on its laurels after landing the big fish. It looks good because these businesses require a lot of labor but the jobs are low-skill.

When the tax deal expires the business moves leaving vacant buildings. As far as I can tell it hasn't really stimulated any significant local business development and certainly no tech jobs.

While the construction is a boon and 30 jobs for a rural community is positive, there's too little information to know what incentives were offered to Google or how the community plans to leverage this opportunity. If the community doesn't do something, they'll have 25 minimum-wage operator jobs and 5 management jobs. If that happens, it's not Google's fault.

3,000 chickens paralyse central Scotland

Swee' Pea

Re: I'm shocked that no one suggested

GO and *don't* stop for you coat!

Australian court rings to the sound of satisfaction

Swee' Pea

Positive Reinforcement?

With so many grouches in this world, maybe we all need to hear sounds of satisfaction.