Posts by Marvin the Martian

Einstein the entomologist

Biology is probably the science which suffers most from others meddling in it, as if brightness elsewhere has a bearing on the natural world. So stories by Albert on bees and their place in the world are worth as much as the man who told him this. As if you can go into some detail without understanding the basics because, well, I live so it comes natural.

This is the unfortunate thing with inteligent design etc, all the same symptoms. You hear physicists ask `hey that theory about evolution, when will you get the proof finished?' and similar.

Re: "distances checked"

Ross, I may have lost the thread of the argument somewhere, but I guess starting point was supposed to be Teheran or closeby, not Pyongyang --- in that case it's much closer to California than Blighty.

Of course stuff flies a bit faster eastward than westward due to high-speed winds.

Re: "Taleban is the right term"

Well look up the definition and you'll find it's not a terrorist but a rather fanatical (Wahabist) Quran scholar. So much for sounding smarmy.

I'd say Kraut is indeed the right term, depressing et al.

Will the Welshman recognize the poodle?

It's of course not clear how to find a Welshman in sheep-free Japan, but if the Welshman sees a poodle, wouldn't he classify it as a sheep?

Because it's not like he'd mistake it for a dog, such a ninny misbred thing.

Viva Brussels!

Indeed, I'm a bit disappointed by the britnocentric delusions of both article writer and most commentors... you're wanting to have your cake and eat it as it were.

It is indeed as Rich remarks the evil british cadbury and similar poisoners who keep fighting to mislabel their crap as chocolate. [Hm, maybe Ms. Crow can represent them, she's an expert on this topic I gather.] So looking surprised that the US does it only now, no, that doesn't pass well. Am I the only one having lived in both continents (UK and EU) and having noticed that in Britain you have the choice to eat either overpriced organic food OR absolute rubbish (but cheap)? Knowing that sometimes even the organic stuff would not pass ordinary EU standards? It's a bit of burocracy, but don't you care? My impression is that the ruling class stick to their organics, and screw the rest.

Of course, after a generation of conditioning, the population starts to prefer the childhood memory taste of bad chocolate --- but this comfort food will be still on sale and bought because of the brand name and type, not because of `choc/no choc' labelling; so no losers here.

How does this economy work?

Could theRegister at some point write a background piece on processor pricing? I do not see how this works out, given physical laws of diminishing returns.

How can a 7% speedbump 2.8-> 3.0Ghz justify a 42% price increase 1500->2100$? We're not speaking irrational or exquisite spending on a slightly better rare wine, but about the commodity called processing power. Given that a 7% faster processor will not give you much more than a 3% faster end product (or does it?), how does this work? If the 3% faster end product is only 2% more expensive, after this 600$ extra spending, then it makes sense probably. Any insights?

Finally a celebrity talks sense!

When visiting a beach, you see the toilet paper everywhere... Dolphins and birds drown after getting stuck in toilet paper abandoned by fishermen everywhere. That nearly-indecomposable material traps animals and clogs drains everywhere! Also as it's made from non-renewable sources like fir trees and recycled cloth, we should be tough on toilet paper and tough on the causes of toilet paper.

Remind me never to give her a hand, anyhow, knowing what origami skills she probably has used just recently.

Shared experience

"operators need to deliver the shared social experience that goes with TV as well as the service itself"

Sharing implies equality, which in the TV comes also from simultaneity. This equality is lost if you're staring around one person's mobile, or when you're looking at a youtube click your mate mailed a link to. The TV programme is shared, even when sitting in different houses; next morning all talk about the same shows seen at the same time -- there's no `leader', `discoverer', `giver'.

How this experience is to be replicated is not discussed? You'll find people hate being on the receiving end, trailing the others.

Strong connections

Well, I wouldn't like to be "properly connected to the titanic" if it involves having a sizeable chunk of it connected to my wrist...

The entire DNA-metaphor and anything using it should be avoided like the plague, as it comes with a 98% chance of being a dimwitted misrepresentation. (e.g. "The sourcecode is the DNA of an operating system" --- yes, and methylation then? Do you mean that two identical copies of the OS will over time grow to differ more and more while still having the same source? That's extremely worrying! Oh you didn't mean that, you just meant I heard something about DNA and understood it to be modern 'n fancy? Thanks Richard Dawkins, you bastard.)

Improvements

I've been using my own two self-made ones, and I reckon they're even better: they tilt the base of the laptop to 45degrees, hence the alledged cooling effect should be much stronger as there's a better flow of air.

Also one of them consists more or less of two triangles with a hinge, making it easily transportable.

And both are wood painted with hammerite, THE choice for vanguard fashionistas --- coloured half-transparant plastic is out, white plastic is past, shiny black is passe...

Why the photo?

I fail to see the justification for adding a large colour photo of a suicide to a story.

It's not like it's someone we can now recognize later on the street (and even that would only be useful for those you'd really want to avoid, like robbers and captain cyborg).

Hamilton Home for the Terminally Bewildered

The outpatients have been busy I see.

After the video I'm still doubting between cruel joke and incureable insanity. `pepper spray with 1% capsicain will take out a man but not a bear --- how to take out a bear, or 30--40 insurgents? 3% spray!' Mkay...

I guess the `world clock with 20 locations' on his crotch clinches the verdict. Loveable YouTube comments though, `someone push this muppet in a river and see if he floats'...

Rage of the Impotent

I'd think the grammar and spelling of the second are too consistent (and even English) to be an acceptable FotW. The last line makes it extra funny; reminds me of http://Attrition.org/postal and specifically the `wrath of the impotent' section. Yet this threat is so toothless.

That being said, sue the bastards, for slander or whatever. This common internet writing style has being taken up as `normal style for asking things to your neighbours', by several (financially successful) people in my appartment --- my favourite was a note ending "For F***'s Sake, RESPECT!" as an opening note about a (alledgedly in-)correctly parked car.