Posts by handleoclast

Re: They just bunged it in a cupboard...

They just bunged it in a cupboard and didn't bother to tell anyone about the problem?

They were doing things by the book. The book being Pterry's Going Postal.

Be very careful not to go near that strange-looking machine in Crapita's basement.

Re: I'm guessing stoners (again)

The problem is that people who like the odd joint really aren't interested in working for the military.

Indeed. That's why they want the alcoholics. Most of them are itching for a fight when they're half-cut.

Isn't the human circadian rhythm ~ 25 hours? If I'm right, why? Surely it should be shorter than 24, not longer?

Do some research on phase-locked loops. When free-running they hit one or other end of their frequency range.

The human circadian rhythm, when free-running, isn't 24 hours. Take the humans out of the isolation enclosure and put them where they can see daylight again and it will regain its synch to 24 hours.

There's a similar effect with crabs and tides. Put them somewhere there are no tides and their activity slowly drifts from synchronization.

Re: No, Microsoft, judge us by our action.

The toxicity doesn't vanish with the name.

Here's your starter for five points: name the chemical company responsible for the Bhopal disaster.

And now your bonus questions for ten points each:

1) Name the company which bought out said chemical company and runs it as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

2) Can you cite recent major boycotts of the owning company's or subsidiary company's products?

3) Is the owning company's share price lower than expected given its price prior to that takeover and performance since the takeover?

4) How well are that subsidiary company's products selling?

Anyone get all 45 points?

Re: Homeopathy placebo NOT ok

Homeopathic sugar pills aren't very effective at dealing with diabetes, either.

@Andy The Hat

all good technicians should have an HSE-approved protective pad of hard skin on the heel of their hand

Seriously, don't do that. Do it enough times and you cause serious medical problems. Irreversible ones.

Re: Ya' think?

So when was he ever "up to speed"?

Always.

Speed, coke, heroin, shrooms, ganja, all the time.

Re: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

One of my favourite books. The ending always makes me cry.

Re: All it is is PEBCAK.

If your user interface design doesn't take users into account,,.

I wish I could upvote you more than once.

Re: This is not making physics any easier

Niels Bohr was more eloquent: 'If quantum mechanics hasn't profoundly shocked you, you haven't understood it yet.'

Richard Feynman said "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics."

He probably also meant 'batshit crazy.'

I'd trust my mother to install a light bulb without electrocuting herself, but less so to change a light fitting.

There's an easy mistake to make if you change a light fitting without knowing what you're doing. Explained in this examination of a failed light switch.

Re: the dogs bark, but the caravan goes on

The cat listens, but continues to eat

Really? Not in my experience. The cat goes deaf, dumb and blind whilst eating. Total concentration on the food. That's my experience.

Re: Start it off with an easier challenge

I love the implied "half-life of humour". I think that is why most knock knock jokes are entirely devoid of humour as one hears more of them more times.

I beg to differ. Most knock-knock jokes are as topical now as they ever were, because most of them are not topical.

Knock-knock jokes becoming unfunny as you encounter more of them is more likely down to Information Theory: the information content of a message is related to its surprise value. Once you've heard enough knock-knock jokes you can often predict the punch line.

I find the same thing happens with sitcoms, except they get stale faster for me than for most people. I become bored with them long before everyone else does. When I was young two series was enough for me before they degenerated into (seemingly) nothing but predictable punch-lines. As I aged I became better at predicting content of new sitcoms because the underlying format was so familiar. I watched every episode of Friends by watching one episode.

The same thing can happen with other comedy formats (at this point I predict most of those who upvoted me based on what I wrote so far will change it to a downvote). I watched everything Reeves and Mortimer ever did, and ever will do, in 10 minutes. "You wouldn't let it lie." Frying pan to face. "You wouldn't let it lie." Frying pan to face. Repeat ad infinitum.

Re: Veto power

Not quite there yet IINM. They can START World War III but may lack the arsenal to FINISH it. Russia, the US, and so on CAN.

Yes, but the UK couldn't finish it either, nor could France. Doesn't really matter. All you have to do is lob enough nukes that Russia or the US or China lob enough back to finish it. Bonus points if you can lob nukes at the US and make it look like they came from China. Chances are the fallout and nuclear winter will finish most of the rest of us too. But even if the big boys don't retaliate, they don't really want one or two of their biggest cities destroyed. So the minor players still ought to get a veto.

BTW, I forgot to add Israel. But they don't admit to having nukes anyway, so we shouldn't let them have a veto.

Re: Open letter to Zuck

Nah, not their style.

They'd just send him a link to Yulia Skripal's Farcebook page. No explicit threats.

Re: The Galileo defence

They laughed at Galileo. The laughed at Newton. They laughed at Einstein.

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They also laughed at Koko the Klown.

Re: Or...

@John H Woods

NB indicative pseudocode, but the general point is that few people writing business software need to be explicitly coding a loop these days

You ought to use the joke, coat or troll icons when you post something like that. Or end it with "/s".

Because you didn't do any of those things, 11 people (so far) took you seriously and thought you really believed the examples you gave were simpler, clearer, and more efficient on resources than a humble for loop.

Let these downvotes be a lesson to you. You should mark your humour lest somebody take it seriously.

Ummm, you were joking, weren't you?

Re: "Everyone is allowed to make a mistake"

It's both smug AND arrogant to always assume that NOT thinking "liberal" means that you're "intellectually challenged".

It's a simplification, I'll grant you.

Let me put on my "Republican" glasses. Now the only thing that motivates me is selfish greed. What's in it for me? OK, to continue...

Extremely rich liberals are (remember, I'm wearing Republican glasses) stupid. They want to tax the extremely rich in order to aid the poor. They're voting against their own interests. That's stupid.

Poor Republicans are stupid. The Republican policy is to tax the poor to give to the rich. They're voting against their own interests. That's stupid.

There are a fuck of a lot more poor people voting Republican than there are extremely rich people

voting Democrat. So it turns out that the stupid overwhelmingly vote Republican. So it's a simplification, but not far off the truth, that Republican voters are fucking stupid. Republican politicians aren't so stupid, because they get good pay and a fuck of a lot of bribes for stealing from the poor to give to the rich, but the voters are thick as pig shit.

Re: Oh Lord

It looks like wetware 1.0 is still better than the crapware they are using.

There's a reason for that. Many variants of wetware care about their own survival, at least to some extent.¹

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¹May not apply where the wetware is also running religious algorithms.

Re: italics and/or bold (and sometimes strike) for emphasis work better in this forum

Nobody should ever use Arial. It's fscking hideous.

Arial, like all sans typefaces, is a vile choice for body text. Sans faces are good for signage (in most cases: there's a road sign in Lincolnshire which Illuminates some of the many failings of sans) but a very poor choice for body text. Even Tsichold, in later life, recanted his enthusiasm for sans faces.

However, given a choice between Arial and Comic fucking Sans, which would you go for? Well, my local county council are fuckwits so about 10 years ago they advised students and unemployed people on their training schemes that CVs should be in Comic Sans. Had I been an employer receiving such, that application would have been filed in the circular cabinet.