* Posts by Resound

21 publicly visible posts • joined 5 Jun 2012

Apollo 15 commander's lunar timepiece goes under the hammer

Resound

Well that was unexpected...

Because the sun is far enough away that the rays of light are parallel and perspective makes them appear to converge. Funnily enough, if it was faked in a studio, the source of light would be closer and the resulting shadows would point *away* from centre. Those shadows are proof that this photo was *not* taken in a studio.

Emma Watson urges UN to back feminism – trolls threaten to leak her 'nude selfies'

Resound

And presumably they shouldn't be working on any other crimes either? Just that one worst one. The whole "As long as there are starving disabled baby seals being trafficked for sex in Syria by paedophile dictators your problems are trival" schtick is the laziest rebuttal ever. I tend to assume anyone trotting it out has nothing more relevant to offer.

Five eyes spies good for us: Tony Abbott

Resound

While I'm still gioing to be at pains to point out that I constructed my vote as carefully as possible to keep this loon out of power, I'm still dreadfully sorry that he's being inflicted on the rest of you.

Very fabric of space-time RIPPED apart in latest Hubble pic

Resound

Re: Blue jellyfish-like tendrils?

The speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s You may be thinking of 186,000 miles per second which *is* about the speed of light.

Fleet of driverless pods to take over Milton Keynes town centre

Resound

They'll take the stairs.

Behold, the MONSTER-CLAWED critter and its terrifying SPIDER BRAIN

Resound

Re: "Giant" is not a valid metric unit @xeperroni

The Normans were just transplanted Vikings anyway. (Norman meant "north men") Now hush or I'll bring up Agincourt...oops, too late.

'Modern warming trend can't be found' in new climate study

Resound

So this makes how many (possibly) peer reviewed studies refuting climate change? Must be nearly 30 by now.

NSA in new SHOCK 'can see public data' SCANDAL!

Resound

I still find it bizarre that they're allowed to spy on citizens of other countries - over whom they have no juristiction - but not citizens of their own country. I can only imagine the lurid tantrums that would be thrown if another country's intelligence agency was known to be gathering as much information as it could about US citizens.

Valve shows Linux love with SteamOS for gamers

Resound

I wonder how many devs will get on board and port their games though. It might actually be a few given how huge Steam is these days. Not that I'm a target market, mind but I am curious.

Cavemen innocent in MAMMOTH MURDER case: DNA evidence

Resound

Just make sure you don't worry about things like the rate of change when you talk about these things. That might be awkward.

Leaked photos of iPhone 5C parts portend ugly Google legal battle

Resound

My first thought is that this colour combination has also been prominent in the Microsoft logo for close to twenty years. I bet it appears in plenty of other corporate branding as well. This is a bit of a stretch.

Nissan to enter 300 kmh electric car in Le Mans endurance race

Resound

I've seen that shape before

So that's what they've done with their Delta Le Mans car. There was a fascinating video of Chris Harris driving that a while ago and the fact that it was competitive with much less horsepower than other cars was touted as one of its advantages. I'm guessing that's at least partly down to tiny frontal area. I'm going to be fascinated to hear how this goes.

Soylent days and soylent nights

Resound

Re: "if it's not chilled, it's utterly disgusting"

That's what you get for being silly enough to drink the stuff we export. Beer manufatured by Carlton United Breweries really isn't intended for internal use.

Increased cell phone coverage tied to uptick in African violence

Resound
FAIL

Re: sigh

Right, so the social groups brought into conflict as part of the disruption brought on by colonialism wouldn't have migrated from those borders into the cities over the past 150 years? Because they're clearly going to be immune to the whole urban migration thing that happened over the 20th century.

Wikileaks reveals Icelandic FBI shenanigans

Resound

...because everyone asks for co-operation from the local police with interviewing people while they're on holidays. What's a holiday without a few interrogations?

Belgian finds missus was born a MAN after 19 YEARS of marriage

Resound

Re: Eh? - Thomas

Wow, you must have put whole minutes into your view of gender identity. Firstly, the surgery is only a part of the physical transition and I'd argue that the hormonal aspect, which *does* affect the entire body is far more significant. On top of that, the social and personal identity aspect of gender identity trumps the physical by so many orders of magnitude it's not even funny. This is *not* a man who decided he wanted to lop of the floppy bits, she's a woman whose body played some really unpleasant congenital tricks on her. This stuff isn't intuitive and it doesn't always make immediate sense. I've personally been going through the process for several years and I'm *still* hammering away at it teasing out the gnarlier bits, and that's consciously, rigorously thinking through it Every Single Day. Don't think you know better than we do. You really, seriously don't.

FaceTime now on patent troll list

Resound

Any respose to this should describe the litigant as "adorable" and the action itself as "so cute, almost like real patent law".

Boffin named Jubb to fire whopping hybrid thruster

Resound

Ancilliaries

Did I just read that they're using a 2010 Cosworth Formula 1 engine as the oxidant pump?

Earth bathed in high-energy radiation from colossal mystery blast

Resound

Re: I wonder what they saw that they interpreted as a "red crucifix"

They can be a trifle sketchy. I seem to recall that they started as annotations to Easter tables which were set up to calculate when Easter would fall in a given year. There were a couple of ways that these could be out; again, I'll have to try to remember to look at this when I get home rather than at work. At least this post-dates the Synod of Whitby :)

Resound

Re: hitsorical record

Well that says the same thing and places it actually in the year mentioned in the article rather than the year before. It also more firmly ties the phrase "after sunset" to the red crucifix. Win!

Resound

hitsorical record

The Anglo-saxon chronicle had something:

"A.D. 774. This year the Northumbrians banished their king,

Alred, from York at Easter-tide; and chose Ethelred, the son of

Mull, for their lord, who reigned four winters. This year also

appeared in the heavens a red crucifix, after sunset; the

Mercians and the men of Kent fought at Otford; and wonderful

serpents were seen in the land of the South-Saxons."

I wonder what they saw that they interpreted as a "red crucifix". I don't have the original text handy, only a translation.