Posts by Pompous Git

Re: Oblig Goon Show Quote

That's the guy who invented the toilet.

I thought it was the name of the guy who brought gonorrhoea from America to Europe.

Re: Amazing there's still things to surprise us

Well, if you knew a bit more about Alchemy you wouldn't have asked such a facile question.

My knowledge of what the Rosicrucian and Freemasons are up to is severely limited and likely to remain so. My knowledge of alchemy as practised by Isaac Newton is somewhat limited by his secrecy regarding his alchemical experiments. I have little interest in perfecting my soul especially since I doubt that I possess such a thing. OTOH the physical and chemical properties of water fascinate facile old me.

Re: Amazing there's still things to surprise us

If you want to have your mind blown about the properties of water, try studying Alchemy

There are 12 phase, 22 density, 12 material, 11 thermodynamic and 9 physical anomalies when comparing water with other liquids. Why the fuck would you be bothered with alchemy when there's still so much to learn about water?

Re: Mechanical efficiency FTW

I wondered if the heavier, more deliberate step of the obese would make a notable difference. Then I realized that such folks are generally not in the habit of walking very far, so still not a good power source.

From the ABC TV show Catalyst:

Dr Norman Swann: So can you be fat and fit? And it’s a really important question to answer because if you can be fat and fit it will make a huge difference to your health. I’ve got a photo of Pam here, Pam’s 122kg. I’m going to ask people what they think...

VOX POPS:

School Girl: She sort of looks really large around the middle.

Norman Swan: This woman is 122kg do you think she’s fit?

Young Man: No she’s not fit.

Norman Swan: Can you be fat and fit?

Young Man: Not at that weight no.

Norman Swan: Do you think you can be fat and fit?

Young Woman: No...no she’s not really fit.

Norman Swan: What if I told you she was a personal fitness trainer?

Young Woman: Oh no I wouldn’t be going to her classes.

FAT & FIT

Re: Don't forget the Calories

On the other hand, it might mean that people lose weight, get fitter and healthier.

It's odd that so many people don't notice the consequence of the lose weight/get fitter promotion means you get to die younger. Not arguing against fitness, just the Obesity Epidemic nonsense.

Association of bodyweight with total mortality and with cardiovascular events in coronary artery disease: a systematic review of cohort studies

And it's very economically viable, considering that a system with a projected lifespan of 25 years should have paid for itself in 3, even taking into account expected drops in efficiency.

I'd love to see the numbers. When the Australian government were heavily subsidising solar PV I came up with 18 years to pay for the investment. Australian consumer magazine Choice came up with 16 years, but didn't specify the exact location. Where I live there's lots of sunshine hours. Only Perth in Western Australia have more. Likely Choice were basing their figures on Melbourne, or Sydney.

The seller's estimated cost savings required the array to supply 140% of its rated output. They never responded to my questions. The estimated costings were based on excess energy being paid for at better than retail price per KW/hr. Feed-in tariff is now at wholesale electricity prices so I wouldn't be surprised if the time to repay the investment now exceeds the anticipated life of the installation.

Re: What I find aggravating...

I wrote: "I can recall ADSL going down once, but not for 24 hours. A tree fell over the power and telephone lines..." ADSL uses copper wires either strung up on poles, or underground.

Re: Telstra?

I remember the 'mericans switching over to STD in the early '60s. And as I recall, the last Australian manual exchange to cut over to STD was in 1991.

It's not so much the start date, but the end date that's important. I met a Merkin (several actually) when the USS Enterprise was in Hobart in the mid 70s. One told me that his folks were reliant on an earth return phone line via a pyramid switchboard. When there was drought there was no telephone service.

When we cut over surrounding exchanges to Smithton in NW Tasmania ca. 1972 I was told it was the last of the manual exchange cut overs. Perhaps I was misinformed and happy to stand corrected.

Re: Telstra?

It saddens me when they say they "aspire" to be a technology company, considering they were one prior to privatisation.

Ditto; The Git worked for Telecom when it was part of the PMG in the early 1970s. I remember the last manual exchange cutting over to STD and the Merkins were still using the old pyramid switchboards. Mind you, we used to update Directory entries in large hardbound ledgers using dip-in pen and ink.

Surely that's phushing lunks

Ah, a New Zealander. Met any attractive sheep lately? ;-)

Re: It would be interesting...

I imagine the number of people affected by this vuln is going to be quite small. In return the "cure" would affect 100% of the visually impaired. In fact the cure is actively deceptive, so adding insult to injury as it were. I seem to remember ever so may of us commentards being angry that MS decided the red button with an X on it was equivalent to the OK button.

Re: Note to all political leaders:

Ah, but violent protests are not banned, hence the news stories

Back in 1968 it was "elect a pig for president". When the Merkins get one they protest against their wish being granted. It's all an unfathomable mystery...

Re: Note to all political leaders:

When you ban peaceful protest, all protest must become violent because the arms of the state will make it so.

I could not agree more. I was completely unaware that peaceful protest had been made illegal in the USA. Mea culpa.

Re: Note to all political leaders:

And if you pay attention you will see that Captain DaFt didn't mention any of the things you list.

Are you claiming that because Captain DaFt didn't mention them, the riots I have paid attention to on TV are not happening?

Re: Note to all political leaders:

There can be no true Democracy without protesters freely demonstrating in the streets

Frankly I'm glad I live in a democracy where we don't riot on the streets, shoot each other and destroy property because we don't like the results of a general election.

Re: Not ethical

a quick search via google finds

I don't need to do a Google search to discover what Nazi medicos did to prisoners. A Jewish friend has horrendous scarring to his legs where the skin was removed without anaesthesia. Jews don't really feel pain apparently. The skin was used to graft wounds received by German soldiers, presumably to little effect given immunology. My friend was four years old at the time.

I thought of this when having my CRT-D implant when the anaesthetising nurse "forgot" to top up the local anaesthetic because he was "distracted". There's not much ethics in medicine.

Re: Torture works?

what I'm saying there are some people who CAN'T be intimidated.

I don't imagine that anyone believes that everyone can be intimidated. So what? Even if only a small percentage of people were intimidated by torture, torturers would still have loads of fun torturing them. Chances are that torturers even enjoy torturing people who aren't intimidated by torture. I wouldn't know because it's not part of my nature to torture people.

Re: You mean the US still has any secrets to share after they've passed thru Hillary's server?

Actually, most sane people lost.

Actually, you are missing the point.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H L Mencken

It matters not one tittle whether Tweedle Dumb, or Tweedle Dumber won unless you happen to be Tweedle Dumb, or Tweedle Dumber.

Re: Torture isn't even the biggest problem

Torture only yields evidence that the torturer wants to hear. Occasionally that might be the truth, but by and large very unlikely.

More correctly, what the torturer's employers want to hear. And what the employers want they get. And that is by definition the "truth".

Re: Scaremongering

Richard Nixon notoriously said that, "If the President does it, it isn't illegal".

Similarly so too did Charles I.

The Divine Right of Kings. Paradoxically Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (head of the Inquisition that tried Galileo for heresy) "did not believe that the institute of monarchy had any divine sanction". And as all right-thinking people know the Catholic Church was wrong about everything... [/sarc]

Re: Torture works?

Trouble is, what if the man involved has no family...

Try reading the literature. The main purpose of torture is intimidation, not extracting true confessions. Usually the confessions have already been written prior to torture. No participation by the confessor required.

Re: Re Big John

get more exercise (golf doesn't count)

WTF? I used to play golf at a 9 hole golf course ~20 years ago when I was much fitter. One time I played round twice and I was completely fucking shagged out! So was the retired US marine I played golf with and he played almost every day.

Re: Donald J. Trump

I've never found anyone who claims that "name calling" or "profanity" shows a lack of intelligence to be particularly intelligent themselves.

Wish I could upvote your post more...

Re: @nematoad - comparison with Brexit

They could pay them in pot though, which should keep the cost down :)

Dunno about being paid with drugs, members of the US military certainly subsidise their income with drugs. When the USS Enterprise visited Hobart in 1976 the city was flooded with LSD (branded red,white and blue) and cannabis in several forms. Hobartians were also introduced to smack and speed that had hitherto been rarely used here. I remember thinking: "These fuckers are in charge of nuclear weapons and flying supersonic aircraft while they are completely shit-faced". It was an interesting week to say the least.

Re: Prisoners of Geography

Do yourself a favour. Go buy (and read) Tim Marshall's excellent book...

Hmmm, I have two of Tim Marshall's books: Weed and Composting. The latter is inscribed "From one rotter to another". I must read this book whereof you squeak.

Trump seems a bit thick....And, BTW, if you know you are thick as a brick, DON'T EFFING VOTE!

As thick as you AC? You are supposedly living in a democracy. Yet I just saw on the TV news so-called Democrats calling for the deportation of their fellow citizens for not voting the way you wanted them to. Frankly, I find that disgusting.

Now there's a nice thought.

Providing her arse matches the rather attractive face. Sadly, Google Images was no help in this regard.