* Posts by The Indomitable Gall

1657 publicly visible posts • joined 10 Jun 2009

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'Overweight' people live longer than those of 'ideal' weight

The Indomitable Gall

Re: @Raspy

@AC

"Actually, studies done on American Football players suggest that muscle weight is just as bad for you as fat-based weight so in this respect BMI is valid."

And does that necessarily have anything to do with muscle mass, or might it be related to any of:

* high incidence of steroid abuse among the demographic

* high incidence of brain-jarring, bone-shattering and soft-tissue-mangling injuries due to the use of safety gear as an assault weapon in the sport

* diet

* recreational drug use

All research into American footballers shows us is what American footballers are like.

Prof: Global windfarm could power entire human race

The Indomitable Gall
Thumb Down

@Liam Johnson & @Lewis Page

You've missed the point that people who said "you've missed the point" made.

They are suggesting that the authors of the report didn't set this out as a proposed solution to the world's problems, they simply worked the figures out for what scale of windfarm would be required to power the world.

The paper calculates the "Global potential for wind-generated electricity", and he is using the scientific meaning of "potential", which is a scalar value rather than the tabloid meaning ("it could be done). Just because the authors do not state explicitly that the required infrastructure is absurdly complicated and impractical does not mean that they do not believe it to be so.

However, these academics are to be applauded for doing something that is increasingly rare in the field of climate science: working out the relevant figures -- and ONLY the relevant figures -- and not trying to spin them.

Now we know from a scientifically dispassionate and objective standpoint what it would take to power the world by wind, we can make our subsequent *political* decision based on the figures... rather than making passionate and subjective political decisions and making our figures to fit them.

Lewis,

Shame on you. I thought one of your biggest bugbears was the love of spin over science. This report is pure science.

The Indomitable Gall
Boffin

Re:What about the ice caps?

@Hans

" Presumably the SHAPE of the polar ice caps don't matter because, as all gents will tell you, its size that matters. So if we build them upwards instead of outwards we could have fabulous ski resorts whilst we bathe in global warmth. "

No, a much more important factor is surface area.

Take a look at any satellite picture. Water looks black from directly above, but the ice-caps look white. The ice-caps reflect light into the sky, and similarly infra-red (heat) radiation. Water doesn't.

A wide, thin replacement ice-cap would start a cycle of cooling, thus freezing more water and thickening itself, until it started to cause sea-levels to drop.

People just not that into Blu-ray

The Indomitable Gall

Withnewspaper and I

The "buy all your favourite films... again" bandwagon has arrived at platform 2.0, Absurdville station.

I bought a newspaper a week ago for a free copy of Withnail and I. What was on the back of the DVD sleeve? "Buy this film on Bluray from the whateverth of June/July".

Yes, they actually gave away the *entire film* on DVD as an advert for the Bluray disc.

Student leader demands lectures be 'put against the wall'

The Indomitable Gall

Theatre?

Did TV destroy the theatre?

Is all our high culture beamed to the goggle box?

No.

The TV is stuffed full of Big Brother and World's Most Dangerous Fluffy Animals.

Clearly there's still some magic in things happening for real in front of you.

Nurse Lovelace gives hardened lag 55-hour stiffy

The Indomitable Gall

Re: Re: And?

Sarah,

Why does an article about 55 hours of "hard time" make you think of Miley Cyrus...?

London's e-van drivers club together

The Indomitable Gall

Nimbyism

Isn't this e-London nonsense just 21st century nimbyism? Let's improve the environment -- zero emissions in London! Stuff the vast inefficiencies of batteries, transmission losses etc. The most important environmental issue is a wee bit of smog in my garden!

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