Posts by Abremms

Shed Xmas flab and debug code with treadmill laptop contraption

its been done

Can't find it at the moment, But I remember reading an article a while back about a WoW player who dropped some 150 pounds by using one of these setups while out farming several hours every evening.

he was also on a 1300 calory diet, but it was all about the treadmill laptop! Also, apparently sweat is a big deal on setups like this. Something about electronics not mixing well with the buckets of salty secretions us fatties are prone to produce under even the most leasurely of physical exertion.

Mythbusters cannonball ‘myth-fires’

"I'm glad someone's thinking of the children!"

only the hypothetical ones though.

NASA: 2012 solar flares could DEVASTATE CITIES!

what about zombies though? the internet said there would be zombies reanimated by solar flares. NASA is being curiously silent on that front. obviously they don't want to cause a panic by telling people about the coming zombie apocalypse as predicted by the Mayan's calander, but I think by remaining silent on the subject they are just confirming that the zombie threat is real and they can't stop it.

NASA unveils its chosen Shuttle successor

in this case NASA is avoiding innovation by direct order of congress who said they had to use exsisting STS and/or Apollo kit so that congress could write thier corporate leash holders a nice check without inconveniencing them overmuch... i mean "create jobs" I always get the two confused.

Ballmer's breaking point: Is Windows 8 already too late?

early?

i'm just a consumer, no IT professional or any of that, but April? really? that seems mighty quick. 7 hasn't been out that long has it? doesn't seem like its been around long enough for MS to put together enough new features to make a compelling argument to upgrade.

maybe i'm wrong though. still, I'm in no hurry to upgrade again. 7 might be the next XP for this consumer.

Hot bodies get super-slippery when wet

In Which I Fully Submerge My Hand in Liquid Nitrogen

Popular Science did a cool (get it?) article about this some time back, complete with video, heres the link: http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2010-08/cool-hand-theo

he wussed out on the molten lead experiment that Mythbusters did though.

Naturaly it ends with "ACHTUNG! Do not try this. If liquid nitrogen soaks into your clothes, you will not be protected by the Leidenfrost effect, and you can get frostbite very quickly."

Police ROBOT attacks and BURNS DOWN HOUSE

nope

I was right there with you. my next thought was "Who gave the robots combustable lemons? damn you Aperture!"

Stealth hovercraft armada poised to invade South Korea

stealth?

that bit is easy! first, you say "stealth" to the press so that every thing seems more scary, then you just build normal hovercraft because stealth hover craft is a dumb idea. they *may* be able to do something about the radar cross section, i suppose, but you'll still be able to hear them ten miles out.

Mummy, mummy, there's a nuclear monster!

@Andydaws

ah, your info is more current than mine was, thanks for the articles, interesting stuff there!

still not cheap, but a very far cry from the "hundereds of billions" some of the more anti-nuclear folks would have us believe. and downright insignifigant compared to the tsunami and earthquake.

fearmongering

it wasn't the nuclear problems that caused the evacuation or the food bans, it was widespread misinformation and fearmongering coupled with a heavy dose of "play it safe and cover your ass".

as far as the cleanup costs, I don't know what it is in pounds, but 3 mile island cost around $1billion to clean up (0.6billion pounds? something like that, if google is to be believed.) so for cleanup of all 4 reactors (probably only 3 are beyond repair, but they are at the end of thier life cycle anyways), thats $4billion (2.4billion pounds, again according to google). compare that to the earthquake and tsunami cleanup which is estimated to be well over $100 billion, and fukushima really would never have been anything more than a footnote in the larger disaster, were it not for the unfounded abject terror caused by the radiation monster.

Fukushima fearmongers are stealing our Jetsons future

solution

the solution to polution is dilution!

and what better way to dilute radioactive water from fukushima down to completely harmless quantities than the worlds largest ocean? the redioactive iodine will be inert in another couple weeks anyways, getting rid of a good bit of the bad stuff.

not misspelled

its not misspelled. did a quick google search and while "toeing the line" does seem to be the more popular form of the phrase, i saw nothing saying outright that "towing the line" is wrong. to my mind they both represent similar ideas.

besides, there are far better things to comment here than people's word choice. how about the actual post content?

and yet

not a single number posted in regards to how much radiation the works have actually received. that information is readily available, by the way, and so far none of the workers have reached the 250msv limit at which point they must be withdrawn from the plant. and that 250msv limit is very low, its not a limit set because "at 251msv YOU WILL DIE" its a limit set because its the lowest reasonably possible.

that article is EXACTLY the kind of fact-free fear mongering that these El Reg articles are seeking to counter.

also, the comments on the fox article? they made my brain explode.

and scientists to!

its them educated bastards that made all the atoms in the first place! burn them!

Fukushima scaremongers becoming increasingly desperate

re: Oddly Enough

If BBC News is anything like US news channels, there is probably a 1:5 ratio of news to utter shite. they'll do a proper news report every 6 hours, give everyone decent reporting and facts, you know, like how news is supposed to be. problem is, they then have 5 more hours to fill before the next dose of realative sanity.

24 hour news is a TERRIBLE idea. there isn't that much news!

fear

I get the impression from looking at what numbers are available that the food bans and "don't drink the water!"s have far more to do with the general public's fear and a need to see their leaders doing something to address those fears than it does with any real signifigant threat.

in this way, the media is being unhelpfull in the extreme. there are people in Japan who cannot get aid because the rest of the world is too afraid of the radiation boogie man to help out.

re: bullshite

I think we can be reasonably sure that the NYT numbers are exagerated. even if it was on the low end of 2sv, the workers would be in far FAR worse shape than burned leg and a 4day stint in the hospital for observation. they would be treated for severe radiation sickness and possibly die.

if they took 6sv, they would already be dead.

chart

that chart is brilliant, but you have to remember, the workers aren't being exposed constantly, they work in shifts and avoid areas with higher radiation whenever possible. also, the 50msv is for non-emergency normal day to day operations. for lifesaving emergencies, the limit is 250msv, and when its downgraded to just saving the equipment it will be 100msv.

100msv is the smallest amount of radiation linked to an increased risk of cancer, but its the smallest measurable increase to an already sizable risk. I doubt the workers are "screwed" since thier radiation intake is monitored and they are pulled when they hit 250msv, which none of them have so far. only 4 (?) have gone over 100msv.

did you know

did you know that, thanks to coal ash, and the complete lack of containment, you actualy receive higher doses of radiation living within 50 miles of a coal plant than you do within 50 miles of a nuclear plant?

not to mention all the other horrible bits that get released by the daily operation on a coal plant. a Nuclear plant might let out some nasty stuff in a disaster, but coal does so on a daily basis.

Fukushima's toxic legacy: Ignorance and fear

cost.

It bothers me when people talk about the financial cost at Fukushima. It's like they don't even realise there was a massive quake and tsunami there.

I said this elsewhere, but I think its worth repeating. Last estimate I read was that Japan's cleanup would cost over $100billion, about 2% of thier GNP. 3 Mile Island cost the US about 1 billion, so we can guestimate from there that Fukushima, having 4 reactors to be scrapped and various other repairs to make will be between $4 and $5 billion. Sure, its a lot of money, but its less than 5% of the total cleanup bill.

you know...

you know there was an big earthquake, right? and a tsunami? Those will have a vastly larger economic impact than 4 reactors being scrapped.

last estimates I saw put the cleanup above 100billion, 2% of Japan's GNP. 3 Mile Island in USA cost about 1 billion to clean up one reactor, so estimate 5 billion on the high end to clean up the 4 reactors at the Fukushima plant. kinda puts it in perspective. for all the media attention and fear and vitrole thats been directed at this sideshow, it is only going to be about 5% of the total cleanup bill. Thats not even going into the human cost. The Fukushima plant will foot only a tiny tiny percentage of that bill.

Fukushima explained in crap cartoon

second guessing 40 year old design descisions.

second guessing 40 year old design decisions is only useful if you are drawing constructive conclusions in order to rule out a repeat performance. Assigning blame or talking about how it should never have happened in the first place doesn't really do much good in situations like this. It happened, It was touch and go there for awhile, but it's under control now.

Every time a disaster happens that exceeds design parameters, engeneers compensate in the next itteration, its been happening since the dawn of archetecture and its why Japan came out of this as well as it did (not that it came out "well", but it could have been a lot worse). I have to wonder though, a 9.0 earthquake immediately followed by a 12+ foot tsunami, if it gets much worse than that, would anyone be around to care if the reactors meltdown?

brilliant

Saw this yesterday, It's brilliant. great way to educate young children about whats going on without scaring them. If their parents have been watching the news without really knowing whats going on, then the kids are probably scared enough as it is.

Fukushima: Situation improving all the time

@Seanmon

I definatly agree that we need to focus on the real disaster here. the fact that there are people in Japan not getting aid because of this sensationalist, ignorant fearmongering in the media is shamefull.

wind turbine

the problem with this argument is that wind turbines, with current technology, are incapable of providing the power we need without taking up unfeasable tracts of land. Thus, we have to make the choice between being able to provide enough power at a minimum acceptable risk, or drasticaly lower the amount of power we use so we can get away with safer forms of energy.

Given the civil nuclear industries track record, it really does seem to be the safest option available given current technologies without making drastic changes to the way our civilization works.

longsuffering sigh

there is radioactivity, and then there is radioactivity. As has been stated in Lewis' articles and elsewhere, the vast majority of radioactivity at the fukushima site is from short half-life isotopes in the steam. when they vent the steam, it is very dangerous in the immediate vicinity, but that majority of the radioactive material has decayed by the time it crosses the street.

back to the topic at hand, I used to work with a guy who had previously worked for the EPA on cleaning up nasty nasty chemical spills and Very Bad Things. he always used to say "the solution to pollution is dilution". things that are very nasty at 100% concentration become decidedly less scary at .001% concentration.

Besides, as stated earlier in this thread, we should be far more concerned with the chemicals washed out to sea by the tsunami from other sources.

Heat wave

I won't say I dissagree with you, but I'm not sure what this has to do with Fukushima. or Nuclear power in general. If they had been using any other form of power generation, they would likely be in this same situation. the lack of power is caused by the earthquake and tsunami, not thier inability to restart thier reactors.

if they had used Hydro and the dam was damaged, how long would it take to repair? If they used coal and that plant was damaged, how long would it take to repair? it's all just useless speculation. If you want to question the old descisions that led them to have a split power grid, thats all well and good, but its academic and mostly pointless.

Thousands may die as you say, but it will be as an indirect result of the massive natural disasters. I don't see how any blame can be laid at the feet of nuclear power for this one.

Rift

people who hate MMOs shouldn't review MMOs

this is a pretty awful review. the writer clearly didn't play much of the game. I thought that was why MMO reviews take a couple weeks after launch to come through? so the reviewer has time to play the game and experience a good bit of the content?

either way, Rift is sitting at 82 on meta critic right now with reviews ranging from 70-90. pretty good for an MMO since all MMOs recieve a 5-10pt penalty for not being WoW. Its not a perfect game and does deserve some critisism for not taking many risks. However, Rift does just about everything WoW does at least as good as WoW does them, plus a few other neat tricks besides.

If you ever enjoyed wow but got tired of it over time, or didn't like some of the design descisions in recent years, Rift is worth a try. It really is an impressive game. and the first MMO to be released that is technicaly stable, realatively bug free, and it has far FAR more launch content than most recent MMOs (I'm looking at you, DCUO), at least as much as WoW had at launch.

regulos god of bran

i think that "regulos god of bran" bit was just the writer trying to be witty to cover up the fact that she was to busy playing World of Tanks to get past lvl10 in Rift.

Mass Effect 2 for PS3

ps3 graphics

graphics in the PS3 version will be better because they are using the new engine they are working on for ME3. I can't speak to load times, but the PS3 graphics should be signifigantly better than 360 with sharper textures and better shading.

The difference may not be as noticable vs. the PC version on a solid rig, but I would imagine it is still there.

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

only #3?

D&D got robbed, clearly.

lols

not sure it can be explained

not sure if it can be explained to someone who doesn't play. there is 6 years of game developement since the original release...

best bet is to hop over to worldofwarcraft.com and hit up the free 10day trial. I can tell you one thing, there has never been a better time to start playing wow. like the review says, they greatly improved the learning curve for new players.

this.

was just coming here to make this very same post. I agree with the reviewers score and conslusions, but all the stuff along the way makes me question whther or not the reviewer REALLY plays wow, or if they just spent an afternoon skimming forums.

<nerd>

your average player spends far more time at the level cap than getting to it, so I would much rather Blizzard spend more time making level cap content than leveling content (though the new 1-60 is a very welcome improvement). and they have certainly done that with 80-85, which took me about as long to do as 70-80. the pacing and speed of leveling is very good at the moment, i think.

and there is SO much to do at 85 now! dungeons, heroics, raids, quests, professions, guild leveling, new achievements, new rares to hunt, new arena season, rated battlegrounds, new battleground... anyone who gets bored at 85 anytime soon is entirely too narrowly focused on what they want to do in the game. Archeology alone is good for weeks of gameplay (not all at once though, that might kill you.)

regarding gear, in both previous expansions, the top tier epic of the previous raids has lasted into the first tier of the new raids. this is absolutely not the case this time around. I replaced the last piece of my shaman's t10 at 84. holding on to your lvl 80 gear isn't doing you any favors, itemization is drasticaly different this time around, and with ilvl requirements for heroics and dungeons, you will absolutely need to upgrade asap.

</nerd>

MOON SHRINKING FAST - shock NASA discovery

title? TITLE!

when we don't understand something, we bomb it. thats how we roll.

Moon actually dryer than dem dry bones, say boffins

no water on the moon? theres a fix for that!

giant water cannon, imo. SUPER-supersoaker. it would be fusion powered, obviously. we have plenty of water here on earth, im sure we can spare a couple billion gallons to moisten the moon.

Elon Musk plans new Mars rockets bigger than Saturn Vs

XXX?

the Falcon XXX will also have two spherical fuel tanks at the base.

Apple bars radiation nanny from App Store

good reason

see, THOSE are good reasons, i can get behind those. the alarmist reason given, while true, seems a bit weak. I disagree whole heartedly with the kind of profiteering the app makers are trying to pull off here, but im also against censorship and i think if they comply with all the correct technical guidelines, the content should be allowed.

basicaly, if gullible people want to throw thier money away, thats thier problem. but if the app doesn't meet the technical requirements thats a whole other ball-game and apple has every right to block it, and no petition will (or should) change thier stance on it.

from the article we get the impression that it WAS rejected for problems with its API and all this press is being manufactured by the app maker trying to make a quick buck.

Tinfoil Condition Red! LHC 7 TeV mega-blasts today

@hang on

after a year or so of 3.5TeV beams colliding at 7TeV, they are taking the machine offline for upgrades. when it comes back online the beams will run at 7TeV for 14 TeV collisions. i think that may be what the article was refering to.

LHC particle-punisher in record 7 TeV hypercollisions

title? title!

one of these days, that site should be changed to say "Yes." just for funsies.

Telegraph trips over the Large Hardon Collider

ahaha

that one never gets old. cheers!

'The LHC will implode the Moon or PUT OUT THE SUN'

prometheus!

SHHHHH the X-303 is top secret!

if rogue NID elements get wind of this...

New airlock mini-sub for US Navy SEAL 'operations'

title!

interesting article, doesn't it sorta defeat some of the purpose if you need a surface ship to tow the sub within 10 nautical miles of the destination? kinda takes away a bit of the stealth, one would think. hopefully they can figure out a way to use it with the big nuke subs.

Paris, cuz she knows all about Advanced Swimmer Delivery Systems.

Enormous raygun-on-a-lorry project acquires lorry

oshkosh

i remember reading somewhere that the company Oshkosh was developing a truck to replace hummers in terrain like afghanastan, it was to be signifigantly more durrable and built from the ground up to defend against insurgent tactics (IEDs and RPGs and such.)

my guess is that this is the same truck modified to carry a raygun.

LHC knocked out by ANOTHER power failure

Einstien'd!

"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?"

-Albert Einstein

IBM lab builds computerized cat brain

cat brain?

"...or gain sentience shortly after its placed in control of all of the US military's weaponry and decide humans are a threat to existence when its operators try to shut the system down. 50/50 chance, we'd reckon."

given a feline brain, isn't it more likely that it would just take a nap? besides, if it DID try to nuke the everything, we could just distract it with bits of string.