Posts by MrT

Re: [satire] I see what you did there

Especially if it was posted on the T&C pages, particularly if the icon goes near phrases like "Privacy" and "How we protect your information..."

Re: on-screen logos...

... ah, now the penny drops why most of the TV channels plaster a ghost logo in the top corner...

Re: Central Government...

... the owners of services like 192.com having influenced whichever wonk they buddy up to in Central Government to push this through in the first place. Very similar to the proposed NHS patient data sell-off, to the insurance industry wallahs who play croquet or polo, or went to Eton with, Johnny Thisthator-Theother MP.

Even better than that...

...Dell sent someone to my house when the Nvidia graphics card went in my (then) 4.5yr old laptop. Swapped mobo and graphics card, leaving me with one that had twice the RAM. I guess it helped that in the US that Nvidia had been subject to a class action for knowingly shipping faulty GPUs to big players like Dell and HP.

No Gregorian Chant CD or cat bra needed...

Re: Pass me my towel...

But, according to my talking penguin companion, given the level of improbability at which we were crujsing at the time, that positional transference was also entirely probable.

It's a nice day so far - I wonder of there's a match on at Lord's? Ah, SEP, unless my giant running shoe-shaped conveyance can zap me there quickly...

Re: Moodle...

...and pretty good it is too - I've been using it since 2005. However, it does need a bit of skill to support - I've also been lucky to have excellent techs backing up my systems.

What made me laugh about the article was Google's epiphany moment that teachers talk to students in between setting work and handing it in - what's known as 'formative marking', and absolutely expected in most courses on the way to the final grade. It's how many courses show students making progress - the dialogue between student and teacher that may otherwise have been marked in an exercise book where comments and interim grades have a direct response from the student in the next version submitted.

Here's another...

... Brian Shul giving a great account of his time as a pilot, and how nearly burning to death in a crash changed his outlook on life. He's the SR-71 pilot in the famous LA Center speed check story, which he mentions near the end (it's an hour long, and please ignore all the 'trendies' at Le Web who can't do anything unless it involves a smartphone or tablet). Brian is also a photographer and it seems he has more photos of the SR-71 variant of the Blackbird family than anyone outside of the Skunkworks, many included in his presentation in this video.

Research sponsored by IKEA...

... with money saved from not having to include an Allen key in every pack. Help desk support calls also reduced to a single recorded message - "Please insert batteries into your <comical-name>** and direct it to the location you prefer..."

** As just one of many, many examples, they had a range of wooden storage crates called Dick, but on one visit to the Park 27 branch near Leeds they only had the small size on display... yes, MrsT did ask the question about other sizes, to a guy who had, apparently, heard it all before...

Even skinny spares are a problem...

Picked up a sharp in the NSF some time during flood-dodging in Hampshire in Feb this year, but didn't realise it until I'd joined the A34 about 5 miles up from Winchester. Resulting blowout and shower of sidewall rubber (tyre face had separated completely from both walls) put me in pickle because the skinny was only rated at 50mph for 50 miles, and I had 250 or so to do that day.

Green Flag came out to check the braking etc hadn't been damaged so it was safe to continue to a tyre fitter that had winter rubber in stock, which they contacted and arranged so it was only about 90 minutes delay.

Luckily the alloy only had one small ding in the outer rim and was serviceable with the new rubber (and hasn't leaked since), because I'd have been in a fix if the wheel needed replacing as well - not many tyre fitters carry wheels for any and all makes of vehicle.

That's not to say I haven't had punctures before - one time on a narrow country back road something in the hedge bottom ripped a sidewall out - but in all other times I've had a full-size spare to continue on without restrictions. MrsT's current vehicle is spare-less and I'd be looking at a no-spare recovery instead of wasting time with the tyre-wrecking gloop.

Zynga has no USP...

... just a bunch of copycat games that add nothing to the various genres. The whole business stems from following a trend, aggressively pushing their seemingly carbon-copied version until the originators curl up and go away. They might stand a better chance if they changed their track and created something worthwhile, instead of knocking off Madden and Scrabble.

It'll still give...

...anyone left on Earth a helluva suntan though when it does finally run out of huff and puff. Though by that time Earth wouldn't be a very nice place to stand - no more shady trees, and the fishing would be difficult.

Deadlocks...

...I had some nonce just pull the door window frame on an old mk3 Cavalier, but the 'expert' went for the passenger door (deadlocks were activated by turning the driver's doorlock an extra 90°). So, no joy for the crook, but luckily it all bent back into place without shattering the glass.

Same thing happened to my sister's FIAT Cinquecento - thief got away with a pack of mints and a pair of prescription sunglasses. When telling the police, she said they'd be on the lookout for someone with fresh breath and a headache...

Point of order!

"...pump steam..." - you don't pump steam, just the condensate to get it back to the boilers. </pedantry-alert> ;-)

Sheffield was always held up as the biggest example of CHP/district heating in the UK (possibly Europe), but things might have changed in the 20-or-so years since I last turned the pages of my Spirax Sarco design guides. There are probably studies out there into just how effective it all is on a city-scale project. Back in the late 80's, big campus-sized entities like major hospitals, (LGI and Jimmy's, Hull RI, Bradford RI and so on, in my past working life), plus big users like Fison's Pharmaceuticals in Loughborough, (all steam-based sites, at least until YRHA decided to move to MTHW) still tended to consider power and heat separately, with CHP as an incoming option when smaller sizes became better on efficiency and cost.

On another note, I've been told several times that, whilst the tech on PV panels is jumping forward, storage tech is not. The advice last year was to leave storage for at least 3 years. I don't think it was in response to the Gigafactory, but at some point battery tech will move up a notch.

Re: 2000AD...

Wow - haven't seen those pictures in about 30 years - thanks! Had forgotten that the Mk3 looked double-decked... and all the bus jokes too.

Cheers!

Re: Realism

I can think of one example where added realism lowered the ESRB rating of a game...

Half-Life v1 was rated 'M' for Mature (17+) in its unadultered 'head-crabs with everything' version. Apply the Day of Defeat WWII mod to it and the official age rating drops to 'T' for teen (13+). The explanations that I saw centred on the historical relevance of the scenarios as the reason for the shift, although the DoD source code is still 'M' and therefore this suggests they also dialled some of the violence down from 'intense' for the DoD release. Maybe it's not stoving things in with the crowbar that tipped things...

"We don't know who struck first...

...us or them, but we know that it was us that scorched the sky. At the time, they were dependent on solar power and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun."

Or, to quote another movie, "Life finds a way..."

</we're-all-doomed-Captain-Mainwaring>

Re: Note to Casio...

...or even Seiko - genuine diamondique glass set in a stainless steel, black or mock gold case. IIRC, the clip-on keyboard didn't get that last option...

Re: Fire all missiles! ...

... Charge the lightning field! Dispatch war-rocket Ajax to bring back its body!

Re: All that money...

... market opening for a protective case made from finest thinly-sliced lemon 'leather', held in a pouch made from Egyptian cotton towelling.

Ouch...

...they don't have to be that cruel, Shirley? :-)

True enough...

... anyway, I thought the problem was very specific to at least one country...

Re: Reg unit?

So, 1 BD has approx 2GoT storage? Sounds okay to me...

But what about the BD version of GoT? If BD GoT-S1 comes on 3 BDs, then 1 GoT takes 6GoT to store.

Meep. Bzzzt. Maybe that's why we need 6TB drives to store more of the same? ;-)

The reference seems deeper than that...

... the only game that teaches the best lesson is the one that isn't listed ;-)

B-E-A-utiful...

... "I'm free on the seventh at seven."

Sir, I wish to complain about the Fitzall Universal Gloves you sold me, as they no longer fit like a glove...

OOOK!!!

Ooook...

ASTEROIDS...

..."If you're gonna claim a comet, stick a flag on it. If you're after space resources stick a flag on it..." it's Destiny, Spacechild.

And the bacronym writers were having a field day there: ASTEROIDS Act, named by the same department that brought you the study into Ballistic Objects Launched Locally over Conflict Zones (bulk quantities, aged stock preferred)...

Re: "Telescope for Christmas"...

... or the next level of dance classes? :-)

Ooh, can we name ...

...one of that planet's moons "Hillyar"? Hits the military no-no button too - James Hillyar RN ;-)

Some say...

...he has shares in an online dictionary and is even now earning cash every time someone looks up 'turpitude'. The rest of the story is clickbait...

Seen in Private Eye 1369...

... this cartoon. Seems to catch the current mood spot on :-)

Re: a navalised Typhoon

True re: Flankers, but the test simulations I've read about were for a 'full load' Typhoon on peace-time power (thrust-to-weight would be about 1.16 nominal, max fuel, no weapons, down to 0.76 for max everything). They can push harder if required, at the expense of engine life, on the current state of engine development.

They also calculate the T2W with the dry weight of the plane (not ever going to fly like that though), however, max payload would be less than 7500kg from the RAF aircraft; according to Eurofighter GmbH, the additional weight of a navalized typhoon would be around 500 Kg above the land-based aircraft. In most cases, a naval Typhoon would be on fleet defence unless in a conflict situation, so would fly a lot lighter without the more bulky stores - maybe 1000-1500kg (half-a-dozen air-to-air missiles about 150kg each, not really much need for extra fuel, but there if needed). For conflict, add air-to-surface cruise missile at 1200kg or so, drop tanks, etc. and push through the gate to get off the deck.

It still beats the F35B - maybe a max of 6800kg, with over 4000kg of that hanging unstealthily outside the fuselage bays (why have a stealthy jet that isn't that stealthy until after it's dropped stuff? Not all will be drop-tanks...). Naval Typhoon makes more sense in so many ways.