Posts by Thorsten 114 publicly visible posts • joined 18 Jan 2008
Tyre noise only dominates at speeds higher than about 30 km/h (higher for lorries). Take away the engine noise and you might not be able to hear the approaching car before it's too close. So such a system does make sense.
Though I would like to see a law that forbids anything but some standard sounds. Penalty for uploading "Crazy Frog" or similar aural atrocities should be permanent loss of driving licence.
I'm just curious: how does welding a motorbike smell differently from welding a bicycle? Or a car?
Personally, I think the "hot metal" and "fried steak" smell components come from the interaction of high-energy particles with the space suits' metal parts and organic filling, respectively.
Does that mean they intend to build light sabres?
What else could be meant by "terminating" a beam at the "end of its useful path"? Either it gets absorbed by the target, or it travels through the target. How do they want to "terminate" it??? Or did I miss something in physics class? (admittedly, it's been a while...)
(completely off topic: what happened to the additional icons that were promised a while ago?)
Optimus Prime - for RotM stories
Tunbridge Wells sign (as suggested above) - in case I need to complain about the icons again
Glider (Conway's game of life) - for anything technical/hacker-related
Flying Spaghetti Monster - for anything religious
Grey goo - if Bill Joy gets mentioned
Technicolor goo - if Google gets mentioned
I moved (back) to Germany two years ago, and my daughters now attend a kindergarten where they got one of these Siemens-sponsored experimental kits. Two of the kindergarten teachers got a training course in order to be able to use the kit. Unfortunately, they don't. My guess is that if they were interested in science themselves, they wouldn't be kindergarten teachers.
The point of these kits is not that the children actually learn that much about science, but that they get interested in this kind of stuff, and keep being interested when going to school. (which, BTW, children nowadays usually start when 5 years old, not 7)
There are several organizations in Germany now that provide such kits to kindergartens, not just companies like Bosch and Siemens. The city of Stuttgart is now introducing a scheme called "Einstein in Kindergarten", which is supposed to enable children to investigate whatever they fancy, in order to help them develop a "scientific mindset". I suspect that very few kindergartens will actually introduce this scheme successfully, since at the very least it would require a much more intensive mentoring than the teachers can currently provide. (I think its two teachers per group of 15 children)
Alas, no joke. Quote from their website (snapin.net):
"SelfService Care is a powerful, cost-effective alternative to the IVR or Web self-service. SelfService Care intercepts customer care calls by diagnosing problems and offering a solution, all without the involvement and cost of a live care agent - saving millions every month, and a user experience that is easier and more convenient than any other method of providing customer support."
Actually, it might well be that the "user experience" is really more "convenient" than talking to a call-centre agent in some location where they are genuinely unable to speak intelligible English. Anything north of the Midlands, for example.
Some years go I had to talk to my bank (who is proud of using only British call-centres):
Agent: "kjh kjsfdl lawjfw ejl?"
Me: "Sorry, could you repeat?"
Agent: "jas lkdjsf sfldkjsdfl asldjka?"
Me: "Sorry, I still didn't get it. Could you repeat again?"
Agent: "slkdj sdlfjksdlj sdf klsjdfl sdjf?"
Me (non-committal): "Yes (?)"
Agent (angry): "NO. YOUR BIRTHDAY."
Give me Indians any day.
It's only a recommendation to reduce the funding of the public radio stations.
This recommendation now needs to be cast into a treaty, which needs to be ratified by all 16 German states' parliaments, and the head of the broadcasting commission already said he's not happy with that particular recommendation, so expect some horse-trading.
