Posts by Ben Pierard

Boffins develop 'Hidden gateway to Hogwarts girls' loos'

@ Doc Spock

I believe that device was used in The Forever War (Joe Haldeman) but not on Earth. IIRC they were doing the testudo thing with some sort of dampening field generator and getting stabby from the inside, then the aliens cottoned on and went all Hastings on their arse. Or something.

One-eyed man creates prosthetic 'surveillance' eye

Xenocide anyone?

Mine's the Orson Scott Cardigan with the elbow pads

Is the earth getting warmer, or cooler?

Trillions of dollars?

Hate to come across as inflammatory, but I've seen from the above posts that there's a large number of people who appear to think that cost is a major reason for not doing anything about an imaginary threat..

From 2007

http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/news/2007/02/sec-070208-usia01.htm

"The White House is seeking $294.8 billion to fund global counterterrorism operations, including $99.6 billion for fiscal year 2007, $145.2 billion in 2008 and $50 billion in 2009."

...

"Since 2001, Congress has appropriated more than $425 billion for anti-terrorism activities across the U.S. government. The fiscal year 2008 funding request is the largest made for anti-terrorism programs to date; if approved, it would increase overall funding allocated to fighting terrorism to more than $700 billion since the 2001 attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania."

Well there you go I suppose. Got to love picking data out of Google.

Oh and I saw this article in New Scientist today

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19826543.100-censorship-exposed-at-us-environment-agency.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

Why is the EPA as a US government organisation being censored about global climate change issues, while NASA, another US government organisation, appears to be a hotbed of babyeating greedy agenda-driven pinkos?

I give up :)

Scientists create 'no-tears' onion

Sharp knife is good but..

I'd been looking for a useful solution to this predicament for a long time when I came across a gem, along the lines of the "pelvis floor exercises at the bus stop" genre.

Rather than show your talents in gag reflex inhibition, simply imitate most fellow members of your species and breathe through your mouth whilst cutting. This changes the airflow around the face and makes cutting onions almost pleasant. Works for me at any rate and has for years.

Any brave Registards willing to feed back on this one?