Posts by Martin Budden

SpaceX blasts a mischief of mice, a 3D printer and a cuddly toy* into SPAAAACE

Has no-one else made the connection between the payload on this launch and the payload on SpaceX's maiden flight?

What are the four towers around the launchpad? They look like mobile phone towers but I doubt the mice needed really good reception in the minutes before launch.

Re: 57.7-foot ... robotic arm

One of only three!

Plucky Playmonaut parties as LOHAN hits Kickstarter goal

Re: Fantastic

No need for propellers. See here.

Edge Research Lab to tackle chilly LOHAN's final test flight

Re: The secret is...

"....most of the ascent"

It's the bit at the end which matters.

Was Earth once covered in HELLFIRE? No – more like a wet Sunday night in Iceland

Yes that is where the name comes from.

India's MOM Mars mission makes final course correction

Every time there is an El Reg article about MOM there are comments about poverty vs science, unwanted aid, and general racism. Every. Fucking. Time. Can we please stop with this crap and concentrate on the mission itself? Please???

Re: The danger of kerning

The main title contains the words "MOM Mars mission", which highlights the danger of PNS Syndrome.

SCREW YOU, Russia! NASA lobs $6.8bn at Boeing AND SpaceX to run space station taxis

Re: What a total rip-off!

Unless Boeing performs better than SpaceX

I suspect SpaceX will perform better.

Re: ... the greatest nation on earth ....

...fried Mars Bars, no underwear with skirts for men(!), bloody awful bagpipes...

Re: Indeed, and it gets worse

What gets bigger the more you take away?

Hole.

Why would he be thinking that?

Boffins: Searching for ALIENS is like looking for PIZZA among students

Re: But even his theory...

Let's start with a life form which doesn't require pizza for example... then what?

ftfy

Europe prepares to INVADE comet: Rosetta landing site chosen

Re: wow!

I agree that the name "Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko" is a bit confusing. The comet is made of stone, and the spacecraft is called Rosetta, so to avoid confusion we should call it The Rosetta Stone. Not confusing at all!

Re: The region lies at the top of the comet

Just look at the label.

Re: Philae will make a seven hour descent before slowing to "walking speed"

Actually Philae does have an engine: an "Active Descent System (cold gas thruster)". clickety-linky

Icon: what Philae can do using the ADS.

It's official: LOHAN's arboreal avoidance algorithm is PANTS

Re: I've just had a thought

And if you are going Down Under, pants are all over ;-)

Re: Serious Stuff!

There are many many places where PANTS could, and should, be used. Stepping out of a limo springs to mind.

DUCKCROCZILLA 'alien' dinosaur could emerge from THE SEA

"dinosaurs gave origins to birds"

Or to put it another way, birds are dinosaurs. Some of them are big and scary dinosaurs.

Boffins: Behold the SILICON CHEAPNESS of our tiny, radio-signal-munching IoT sensor

Re: Everything except ...

Not everything in this world needs to be secure.

LOHAN enjoys some hot hardware-in-the-loop action

UAV Challenge

As a Canberran I look forward to El Reg providing in-depth coverage of the UAV Challenge, and I wish Tridge all the best.

TROUT and EELS in SINISTER PACT to RULE the oceans

Re: I smell something fishy ...

Puns are never out of plaice on El Reg.

California blue whale numbers soar to historical levels, say boffins

Re: TOO MANY HUMAN BEINGS? @ AC

It's ok if the population falls only slowly so that improvements in food production can compensate for the slightly smaller next generation. We might also need to proportionally increase the pension age as life expectancy increases (depending on just how good those improvements in food production are).

LOHAN premieres spaceplane mission summary vid

Re: I see no pipe...

It doesn't matter any more, Merkins don't grok boffin.

Beer in SPAAAACE: Photographic PROOF

Re: An opportunity

It would need to be high-alcohol, low-carbonation, and with lots of residual unfermentable sugars. Barley wine.

Vote NOW for LOHAN's arboreal avoidance algorithm acronym

I don't want any of LOHAN's systems to fail, of course, but there is a part of me secretly looking forward to the tree avoidance system not working so we can get the headline "PANTS down!!!"

You are here => Earth is in 'the suburbs' of an immense heaven

Re: and to think that ...

As any fule kno, the Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe "after drinking heavily".

Crack team weighs LOHAN's substantial box

Re: Double Entendres @Goldmember

That's cutting it a bit fine, isn't it? Bare-faced cheek if you ask me.

Cave scrawls prove Neanderthals were AT LEAST as talented as modern artists

@Dr Who

With your moniker I'm surprised you hadn't suggested that it said "BAD WOLF"

Brookhaven boffins boggle at baryons

Re: Sounds fascinating...

I don't think it's real. There isn't a single use of the word 'quantum'.

Para 7 starts off with "Quantum chronodynamics..."

What a pain in the mass! Euro craft Rosetta to poke its probe in 10-BILLION-tonne comet

Re: Chuck-a-duck

Useful link, thanks.

I see that the cold gas thruster is powered by Cologne, which should make the duck smell nice.

Chuck-a-duck

Philae has no thrusters, so does Rosetta "throw" it at the comet?

Duck's arse

Will Philae land on the flattest part of the comet, i.e. the "underside" of the duck shape?

SpaceX prototype rocket EXPLODES over Texas. 'Tricky' biz, says Elon Musk

Skylon just looks so damn cool.

Gigantic toothless 'DRAGONS' dominated Earth's early skies

Re: No teeth = excellent flyer @ phil dude

How does a bird in Egypt help the crocs in Australia???

Re: I still dont get the asteroid thingy and why its got so much traction

What do you call a killdeer with one eye? A Doyouthinkhesaurus.

Re: /but @ Paul Crawford

According to the font of all (mis)information, Wikipedia, "The series creators have said that the Clangers, living in vacuum, did not communicate by sound, but rather by a type of nuclear magnetic resonance, which was translated to audible whistles for the human audience."

More excitingly, the Clangers are coming back!

TRIANGULAR orbits will help Rosetta to get up close with Comet 67P

So if Philae has no thrusters, does Rosetta "throw" it at the comet?

Vulture 2 takes a battering in 100km/h test run

And the backronym for the roofrack, and the backronym for the van? Suggestions have been made ;-)

'Leccy racer whacks petrols in Oz race

Re: What's with the video?

And for those outside Oz who are unfamiliar: Wakefield is a *serious* racetrack. A win there is a proper win. Good on the team!

Re: That's nice. @ MJI

I am trying to work out if this is sarcasm or not, I do hope so.

Nope, jake doesn't do sarcasm. Pompous self-aggrandising fictitious claptrap yes, sarcasm no.

Cargo truck crammed with garbage explodes IN SPAAAAACE

Re: The council have sent a court order to the Space Station

Now you've made me think of dog poop burning up during atmospheric re-entry. Yuk.

@Michael Habel

Are Micro Bacteria even tinier than normal bacteria?

Why your mum was WRONG about whiffy tattooed people

Re: watch this

Perhaps if your hand stopped swinging for a while you might be able to hit the right keys on the keyboard.

Re: Human physics !

A banana also produces antimatter, although not enough to (ahem) matter.

What does a flashmob of 1,024 robots look like? Just like this

...verifying that the updates have all been applied to each of them isn't going to be a fun task...

Maybe use their coloured LEDs to indicate the software version: for example if you have 1021 green bots and 3 red bots, it's easy to tell which didn't get the upgrade.

Vulture 2 spaceplane autopilot brain surgery a total success

In that case we'll also need a bacronym for the van itself, and in honour of a certain starlet's ankle bracelet I suggest:

SCRAM - Speedy Carrier for Relocation of Aircraft Mission.

Vulture 2 spaceplane brain surgery begins with remote incision

Excellent boffinry from Linus and Tridge. Have a virtual beer each.

And if Tridge would like to convert that to a real beer, I happen to in Canberra too...

Re: Tits Up Bail Provision

It's all very well keeping the sun off LOHAN for the final 1000' of plummeting, but a parachute might provide a softer landing.

Mary Poppins she ain't.

Re: Other Similarity

It might also explain the identical levels of daylight on opposite sides of the planet ;-)