Posts by Jan 13

Bumbling NJ firemen, cops blown up in 'huge fireball'

Creepy ether

Long ago, I poured a litre of diethyl ether onto a soon to be bonfire. I wanted to see how well ether 'crept' (in the words of various chemistry teachers). I approached with a very long stick, with a flaming brand at the end, until it met the vapour front. It didn't explode, but the garden around the bonfire was instantly transformed into a pool of fire. The bonfire caught nicely too!

Unlike the firemen, I was expecting the outcome. However, if I did it again, I'd probably wear some eye and ear protection.

Belkin Powerline HD Gigabit mains Ethernet adaptor

@Peter Gathercole

Ahem, I do live in a ~100 year old house with solid walls. Long drills go through them easily, although the holes usually end up bigger than you want. Run your cables along or under the skirting boards (where you push the carpet) with holes through connecting walls. Use the space under stairs to get between levels, or you could go via the outside I suppose.

More measurements, please.

As well as measuring transfer rates, it would be good to know:

The power consumption of each unit.

The power and spectrum of radiated power (I.e. "interference" as far as your neighbours are concerned.)

An Ethernet cable adds nothing to the former and a little to the latter.

Besides, it's really not hard to run Ethernet cables around old houses and flats. (New build may have brick that is easier to drill, but I guess that getting under the floor boards is trickier.) Where's the problem that this technology solves?

Sony designs 360° 3D TV

@Matthew 17 AND the AC who responded

The 20's to 80s technology that you're thinking of is stereoscopy.

It's true that Sony isn't the first to try 3D moving images, but it is very recent technology.

Previously only still image holograms (1960s technology) could do 3D.

Steroscopy gives an illusion of depth by showing different 2D images to each eye.

Stereoscopy has a single point of view and a single (optimum) viewing distance.

A 3D image gives the illusion of both depth and parallax, even if you only use one eye.

3D images change when you change your point of view or viewing distance.

I'd like to see this scaled up at least 20 times:)

Royal Mail lawyers demand closure of postcode lookup site

Stop ranting, start delivering!

If you have a GPS device, you could be delivering postcodes to freethepostcode.org whenever you're out and have an idle moment. Just read a postcode from: signs on buildings or promotional literature, then capture and send in the latitude and longitude. I do it with "iFreeThepostcode" on an iPhone, there's "freethepostcode" for Android phones and "Free The postcode" for Windows Mobile.

Or you can take the GPS home and transfer coordinates directly using http://freethepostcode.org/

Cameron condemns Tweeters as tw*ts

Vagina?

I think you'll find twat's an alternative word for "vulva". I'm not aware of any english word slang or otherwise for "vagina".

Anyway, most people who use the word "twat" seem to have no idea of its origins and think it's just a synoym of "fool".

GSMA talks up embedded phones

Ah, convergence revisited!

For all of us still waiting for someone to put a phone into a high quality camera.

Mine's the one with the phone rattling against the D5

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

@Jon Wilson

> ...doesn't know the difference between "e.g." and "i.e."

Well who does nowadays? It's a lost cause.

Why don't people without the benefit of a classical education just write "for example" and 'that is"?

Plain English innit:-)