* Posts by Kevin Campbell

70 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Jul 2007

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Nintendo confirms 3D handheld console coming

Kevin Campbell

erm... HOW, exactly?

Love to hear how they plan to pull off 3d without glasses or some other special head-mounted kit. If they can really do that and keep it reasonably priced for the target market (yes, I AM thinking of the children), then good for them. Might even buy one for myself.

Canon Powershot G11

Kevin Campbell
Happy

G6 still suits me fine, but if I need a new one...

I've had my G6 for about 3 years and absolutely LOVE it. If I ever need to replace it, I will no doubt select the new G11. The G7, G9, and G10 didn't have the tilt/swivel LCD that my G6 and the new G11 has. I've you've ever used one, you understand the broadened capability that brings. Using the tilt feature, I was able to shoot over the heads of the crowd to get parade shots, etc, that I would have otherwise missed. For a shorter person, that is worth its weight in gold. Using the swivel, I am able to protect the LCD from incidental damage or scratches. Mine is as pristine as the day I unboxed the camera because of this feature.

I am by no means a pro, but my experience with the Canon G-series has always exceeded my expectations by a wide margin - including battery life. My G6 uses a Canon camcorder battery. A bit bulkier/heavier, but I've shot over 600 pictures at an airshow (including some flash interior shots) and never dropped the battery level below 50%. My camera sits in my carry bag for WEEKS at a time between charges. If the new G11 has similar battery life, then that's another reason for me to buy one.

One feature my G6 has that subsequent G-series units lack is the backlit status LCD on the TOP which displays resolution, flash state, #shots remaining, etc. This is incredibly useful when shooting at night. It's lit dimly - bright enough to read, but not so bright as to ruin one's night vision like the LCD. I wish Canon would bring this feature back to the G-series.

Overall, I've been more than impressed with this line of cameras and wouldn't hesitate to purchase a G11.

Hubble probes deepest universe

Kevin Campbell
Pint

Best Python song ever

Late one night in the corporate data center, I ran the numbers in the song and found them to be accurate within reason. I raise my glass to Eric Idle for my favorite* of all the Python songs.

*because I am neither a lumberjack, nor OK.

LHC smashes Tevatron record: Humanity enters the unknown

Kevin Campbell

Mostly Harmful

As EVERYONE should darn well know, the universe was sneezed out of the nose of the Great Green Arkleseizure. We fear the LHC will bring about The Coming of the Great White Handkerchief.

Collisions at LHC! Tevatron record to be broken soon?

Kevin Campbell
Joke

Douglas Adams was RIGHT!

He just had the wrong system. I bet it turns out that "Hrung" is an ancient PraxiBetal term meaning "quantum singularity."

Therefore the LHC will produce The Great Collapsing Hrung Disaster of Sol 3

Skinny Acer notebook delivers six-day battery life

Kevin Campbell

Windows 7 bug?

Oh, pshaw! [/dismissive wave]

nudgenudge, winkwink

Large Hadron Collider scuttled by birdy baguette-bomber

Kevin Campbell
Joke

wait just a farking minute

You mean to tell me that the Swiss eat electrically conductive bread?!?

Wallace and Gromit get the Google doodle treatment

Kevin Campbell
Unhappy

what I want to know is

where (in the former colonies) can I find Wensleydale cheese?

Would love to try it. Was also quite disappointed when the missus vetoed naming the new pooch Gromit. (Probably just as well. He turned out to be hyperactive and dumber than dirt)

Boffins working on biodegradable flexi LED implants

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

clever!

"allowing one to have an LED 'tattoo' beneath one's skin able to display... one's current blood-sugar count."

Now THAT's a clever AND useful application to everyday life. If the diabetes rate is as bad in the UK as it is over here, this will be extremely popular tech. Pricking one's skin numerous times each and every day is, quite literally, a pain.

US sees 'hot-tub related injuries' increase triplefold

Kevin Campbell
FAIL

no problems here, guv

I, for one, most certainly do NOT welcome the terminally stupid who can't read the warning label and use a hot-tub correctly. Such ilk exist merely to prove Darwin right.

Sonic 'hyperlens' offers hi-res ultrasound scans, naval sonar

Kevin Campbell
FAIL

sheesh! Lighten up!

didst thou not see the JOKE ALERT ICON? Twas merely a pun, nothing more.

(shakes head sadly, moves on)

Kevin Campbell
Joke

the use of "evanescent" sound waves?!?

So they'll be using goth rock music?

Ares I-X 'in great shape' to fly

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

could get amusing

"The booster stage will parachute into the Atlantic for recovery, while the dummy stage will come down with an almighty splash."

Bonus points if...

Aboard a Sudanese pirate vessel, somewhere upon the high seas:

Wiraj: "Hey Samir! Is that a big flaming ball falling toward the boat?"

Samir: "HOLY #$%& !"

El Reg launches 'Comment of the Week'

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

bad candy

http://www.bad-candy.com

some very clever writing and the most awful "candy" imaginable from around the world.

Haven't checked them lately, but wouldn't be at all surprised to find Camel Balls gum prominently displayed. Somehow, "WTF?!?" just doesn't cover this one...

Robot nuclear windjammer to sail patio-gas oceans of Titan

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

in the immortal words of Vroomfondel

(or was it Majikthise?) Now THAT's what I call thinkin'!"

Doctor Who fans name best episode ever

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

just wanted an excuse to say...

"wibbly wobbly, timey wimey..."

and

"reverse the polarity of the neutron flow!"

Church altar smites devout Catholic

Kevin Campbell

need "ironic" tag

Madame Moderatrix, may we please have a new icon? How about a clothes iron with a big "E" or "IC" after it?

Boffins: Give up on CO2 cuts, only geoengineering can work

Kevin Campbell
Grenade

Re: Pointlessness

'As Bill Bailey said, "Of course, the universe is gradually slowing down and will eventually collapse inwardly on itself, according to the laws of entropy, when all it's thermal and mechanical functions fail. Thus rendering all human endeavours ultimately pointless."'

um... no. Currently accepted science is that the universe is continuing to expand (some even say still accelerating) and will eventually expand to the point where gravity becomes so weak and diffuse that atoms no longer stick together and everything just dissolves.

That is, of course, grillions of years into the future. And right before the Master turns the remnants of humanity into little balls of flying mechanical nastiness to come back in time and kill us all.

Health emails from US voters overload fed website

Kevin Campbell

what I want to know is pretty simple

Yank here. Kinda on the fence. I hear a lot of pro-NHS and a lot of anti-socialized medicine talk. I'm not necessarily against socialized medicine except for one very important point: rationing.

The Republicans have made much hay about eventually being forced to ration care (to control costs). They frequently point to Canada's system wherein many near the border will actually cross to the US and pay out of pocket for certain tests (CT, MRI, etc) so they don't have to wait weeks in Canada. Is that true in Britain? I'm NOT talking emergency care, here. Rather what would be classed as "urgent". Not required for life-saving, but pretty darned important - such as an MRI or CT scan of a suspected cancerous tumor, etc.

Some Republicans have made much hay about the so-called "Death Panels." To anyone quick to poopoo this idea, rationing is exactly what they are talking about. If rationing of care comes to pass, eventually SOMEONE is going to have to decide what's "worth" treating and what's not. THAT is what scares the bejesus outta me. And the potentially crippling taxes.

If the UK NHS rations care, then I want no part of it. If the UK NHS costs an arm and leg in taxes, then I want no part of it. If, however, the UK NHS does neither of those then bring it on. This, of course, will NEVER work in the US because there are too many lawyers with not enough to do, but it IS a nice dream...

Minister attacks drunken topless lovelies with tangler-bazooka

Kevin Campbell
Pint

interesting

but only if the "bunch of topless lovelies... having had too much to drink" are stopped for the purposes of offering them still more drink in exchange for lapdances.

On this side of the pond, such drunken lovelies are most likely riding JetSkis or similar "personal watercraft." I know the article states "that new versions are forthcoming which are able to stop pump-jet/waterjet boats, as well as those with ordinary propellors." However, given that the waterjet's impeller is enshrouded and the underside of such a vessel pretty smooth, I think the "new version" is going to have to be pretty darned different in design.

Bill Gates-funded boffins develop anti-AIDS stealth condom

Kevin Campbell
Stop

right clever idea, BUT...

how do they intend to distribute? Who will pay for it and how? The intended beneficiaries of this tech are not free and empowered western women or even those in the more developed parts of the Asian world. Sub-Saharan women may not be able to trot down the the local chemist to pick up a new batch of cleverly engineered goo. Moreover, even if they COULD make it there, how much will this cost? Do Sub-Saharan women have that kind of cash?

Tattooed Swedish devil girls sexually molest cyclist

Kevin Campbell
Pint

Re: Why did he go to the police

simple, really - so that when he's bragging about it over a pint and one of his mates calls BS, he can produce a police report as evidence of his delightful afternoon, er, I mean vicious attack.

Mel Gibson to put hand up Jodie Foster's Beaver

Kevin Campbell
Coffee/keyboard

outstanding headline!

who gives a Shiite what the IT angle may or may not be? Them there's some good headline writin'

[opens browser, searches "coffee resistant monitor"]

Robot land-steamers to consume all life on Earth as fuel

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

is it just me...

... or should the 'biomass furnace which powers a steam generator driving a "waste heat engine" from Cyclone Power Technologies' be put into a passenger vehicle for trial?

THAT part of it sounds like a decent idea and a lot more likely to happen soon than the preferable Mr. Fusion.

Oh, and I do love the idea of having it feed on roadkill and Big Brother housemates.

Chickens could 'power hydrogen cars'

Kevin Campbell
Stop

I don't care HOW they store it

I still keep coming back to the same ominous word

"Hindenburg"

Seriously. The Honda stores H2 at FIVE THOUSAND PSI?!? With all the nutburgers on the road who are too busy shaving, texting, or applying (badly needed) makeup to pay attention to actual driving? No thank you. Now, fully automated cars that drive themselves, leaving the aforementioned shaver/texter/makeup applier to do their thing safely - well, that's a different story, but one I don't see happening any time soon.

Man+dog plunged into 'faecal lagoon'

Kevin Campbell
Go

what's that aroma?

Lester, you really have a nose for this kind of story, but I smell foul play.

Japanese lunar orbiter to go out with a bang

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

@AC 13:48 (Re: And...)

brilliant! Channeling Douglas Adams, are we?

Oh, and you owe me for a new monitor/keyboard.

Hackers scalp StrongWebmail to claim cash prize

Kevin Campbell
Pirate

Rules?!?

If this doesn't typify "FAIL" then I don't know what does...

"StrongWebMail ... are holding off in paying out the prize because they are yet to be convinced the Ruff and co stuck to competition rules, which prohibit the use of social engineering trickery (such as tricking or paying an insider to hand-over account access)."

To horrifically misappropriate a classic quote: Rulez?!? We don't need no steenking RULEZ!

Oh, and "ARRR!!" just for good measure.

Duke Nukem Forever developer defunct, says staffer

Kevin Campbell
Unhappy

sad

Duke Nukem ForNever . I'm also beginning to wonder if we'll ever see Diablo III or Starcraft II

Zango goes titsup

Kevin Campbell
Happy

aaaaaaaand STAY out!

Good riddance, Zango. Burn in hell forever.

Doc invents videogame sedation headset

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

<light bulb moment>

heeeeeey... could this be used to "calm" my wife before I bring up any argument-inducing topic?

dingdingding! Winner!

Teens reject Microsoft's Zune

Kevin Campbell

@Dave (8ollock)

The closest I've seen to what you wish for is Sandisk's Sansa line. Yes, there are shortcomings. As everyone knows, there are shortcomings to each and every brand/model player. However, I've found the fewest problems/complaints with the Sandisk line. I have a 16GB View. I bought my first Sandisk unit (e260) because it had the three capabilities an iPod nano did not: 1) expandable memory, 2) FM radio, and 3) user replaceable battery. The View is a bit larger, but thinner than the "e200" series, so weight is about the same. The only true drawback for me is overall capacity. Even though it's expandable, I'm limited to about 48GB total storage. Seldom a problem as I don't typically carry my entire library at once.

The biggest drawback for others seems to be online store compatibility (which doesn't bother ME as I don't use them - I just ripped my own massive CD collection into MP3s and was satisfied with that). I don't know the details of why this is (or isn't) problematic, but have read some online posts to that effect. All in all, the Sandisk is as close to perfect (for me) as I can reasonably expect.

Japan talks lunar 'bots as commies go hot

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

groovy!

Now Skynet can just launch the missiles from Moon Base 10101100

Verizon promises 4G for every American

Kevin Campbell
Boffin

not so fast there, bub...

[pedant] "sniffily compared the technology to Betamax, and consigned it to a similar fate."

O'Rly? If you will do the slightest research, you will find that most agree Betamax was actually a SUPERIOR format to VHS (at least on NTSC - don't know if PAL results would have been different). The reason it died was due to Sony's greed and idiotic marketing, not because Panasonic's format was better.* [/pedant]

* Yes, I am aware of the myriad other reasons Beta failed such as lack of pr0n, etc. I am speaking here strictly to the author's implication that Betamax was inferior.

Silicon Graphics goes titsup (again)

Kevin Campbell
Unhappy

How the (once) mighty have fallen...

... again.

About six years ago, when closing one of our smaller R&D facilities, I stumbled upon two small SGI workstations and one big one. At the time, I thought "Hey, cool!" Now, not so much.

DARPA orders hypersonic Nazi Doodlebug engine

Kevin Campbell
Boffin

RE: Ahhh Darpa

embarrassed? Heck no. I bet they proudly display "Mad Scientist" as the job title on business cards.

Now, where did I leave my pocket protector?

US killer robo-plane makes strike without remote pilot

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Down

History repeating itself

Once again, the military establishment (at least over here in the US) has failed to learn from history and is therefore doomed to repeat it.

Prior to the little excursion into Vietnam, military planners/designers thought the (aircraft) gun obsolete. After all, missiles could do all that from a safe distance, with greater accuracy, blah blah blah.

Reality, as most folks know, turned out to be rather different. Relatively simple and inexpensive MiGs and their cannon were kicking butt at the beginning of the war while complex and expensive missiles failed in that miserable environment. Defense contractors and military planners had to jury rig gun pods onto early model F4 Phantoms. Later edition Phantoms had internally mounted cannon, lessons having been learned the hard way...

If we proceed too far down this path, we are going to lose an even MORE valuable military option than aircraft mounted cannon. Even though properly trained pilots are expensive (and occasionally rather obnoxious in their swagger), they are an essential option in any military equation. Just as you can't win a war without "boots on the ground,"* there will come a day when you can't win a war without a HUMAN in the air.

* before anyone starts, I remind you of the tried and true maxim "conquest is easy, control is not". There are many ways to conquer without boots on the ground, but not control.

Hollywood to totally recall Total Recall

Kevin Campbell

Re: Ringworld

Absolutely! Agree completely. Excellent choice. Or the Lensman series. Or the Dragonriders of Pern. Or any of a HOST of classic sci-fi novels that HAVEN'T YET BEEN BUTCHERED, er, I mean, MADE INTO MOVIES.

If they can do a credible job with LOTR, then these CAN be done right - so long as the right people are involved. My personal faves would be the Larry Niven classic, "A World Out of Time", or even better "Inferno" by Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I re-read those two every couple of years.

NASA 'scope captures ferocious gamma ray burst

Kevin Campbell

Big Bang 1.1?

If this was 12.2 billion light years distant, then this happened roughly 1 billion years after Big Bang 1.0? Might this have been God's after-dinner belch?

I mean, assuming this is in the right direction, couldn't this have been a follow up Bangette?

(Mods, we need a an icon for "clueless git" or somesuch. Essentially, the antithesis of the egghead)

Time to axe Microsoft's Zune

Kevin Campbell
Go

Re: All the Hate

Agree completely with Jason's comments. My son has an 80GB current gen Zune and loves it dearly. He escaped the firmware brick issue of a week or two ago and has had zero other problems with it. The sound quality is superb, the stock earbuds that come with it are more than decent, etc, etc, ad nauseum. Price was the ONLY reason I didn't get a Zune for myself. If, as several have suggested, MS would just lower the price it would be seriously competitive.

As for myself, I prefer the flash-based models because I don't carry around my entire library at any given time. Therefore, the one other thing I'd like to see on (the flash-based model) Zunes is an expansion slot like that on most of the Sandisks. Rather than buy a new unit, I just added an 8GB microSD to my Sansa View and doubled its capacity for about US$25. For that reason alone, I remain loyal to the Sandisks.

Aussie air zealot savages prêt-à-porter stealth fighter

Kevin Campbell
Stop

umm... don't think so.

"And in fact, this seems to be the true reason why the F-35 is so disliked in the aerospace world: because if it is even close to what its makers say it is, it has a fair chance of putting almost every other Western fighter make out of business."

That's exactly what was predicted with the F-16. It was comparatively VERY inexpensive yet, in the hands of a well-trained pilot, could outfly darned near anything in the sky. Boatloads of them were sold to just about everyone, even some Arab nations. Yet, so far as I know Saab, Dassault, BAE, et.al. are still making and selling fighters.

However the most important point of all, apparently missed by many here, is that a superior PILOT will win the day nearly each and every time, even when flying somewhat inferior aircraft. The F35 is inferior to the F22. It may or may not be inferior to anything made by Sukhoi or Mikoyan. However, I'll bet heavily on the US or western European pilot over any non-Israeli. It's all a matter of skill and training. The west and the Israelis have it. The Russkies certainly USED to (and may still). As for the others, who knows until the shooting starts?

Supersonic fighters could snuff out hurricanes

Kevin Campbell
Boffin

@wonderkid (re: Tampering w/Nature)

as someone who resides in hurricane-prone south Louisiana, I can personally vouch for brick construction. However, that in no way protected my house against the SIXTY FOOT OAK TREE which crashed through the roof and wall.

Bricks and mortar do indeed make for hearty construction, but it's a bit unreasonable to try to build against the possibility of several tons of wind-driven tree.

Roofs are another matter entirely. After the infamous hurricanes of 2005 (Katrina/Rita), when the aforementioned Oak shattered my garage, I got a new roof with fresh asphalt shingles. During this past season, hurricane Gustav (which actually hit my area HARDER than the 2005 storms) only nicked a few shingles whereas my neighbors with older roofs were now facing the necessity of total replacement. A bit hard to brick a roof, yes?

MI6 agent's moustache falls off during TV interview

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

English. JOHNNY English.

So MI6 has actually employed Rowan Atkinson? Obviously, they didn't see the movie...

NASA: The Moon is not enough

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

Re: 'Because it's there!' and 'new toys', etc

Scratcher shoots... SCOOOOOOORE! ;-)

For those who say "first solve the problems here", let's tally what the space program and all those $$$ have given us. Upon close examination we'll see that, in some cases, there is a direct benefit to humanity from space exploration. Someone's already mentioned computers. But what about all the OTHER microelectronics we've come to know and love? How about pretty much EVERYTHING with a microchip - from video games to your programmable household thermostat. All that was a result of miniaturization made necessary by the needs of the space program. Or how about heart pacemakers? At least three of my elderly relatives have these to keep the ol' ticker running. Again, miniaturization brought about by the needs of space exploration. Then, of course there's satellite TV, GPS, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

The list is nearly endless. Yes, space exploration is dangerous and costs grillions of $$$. However, in the light of real and tangible benefits gained, I'd say it's money well spent. The coolness factor is, in my opinion, merely frosting on top.

Yes, we have problems here on our little blue-green ball. We likely always will. That shouldn't stop us from trying to improve ourselves and our condition in every way possible.

Volcanoes fingered in oceanic mass extinction

Kevin Campbell
Paris Hilton

@Mark

er, that's "Give me LIBERTY or give me death." Bit of a difference, no?

Not to worry, Ollie Stone will make a movie about it. Bush/Cheney and the oil conglomerates are responsible, of course. The plot gets weird when Al Gore and The Righteous Nannies Of Gaia And The Environment use a stolen time-travel device to try and stop this mess but are, instead, the possible cause.

Paris, because she makes about as much sense as what I just said...

Final Arthur C Clarke novel on the way

Kevin Campbell
Stop

erm...

not to be pedantic or anything, but wasn't Fermat's "Last Theorem" recently SOLVED?

http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/faq.fermat.html

Trekkies to flip lids over Star Trek bottle opener

Kevin Campbell
Go

@Aaron

Funniest thing I've read this week. Well said and a perfect skewer.

SpaceShipOne firm to build Stealth Bomber 4.0?

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Down

Hustler II ?!?!?

Why on earth would someone want to name the FB-22 on that "hanger queen" B-58? Granted, the B-58 was very sexy - beautiful, sleek lines and all. However, it was also a maintenance nightmare which resulted in it being pulled completely from service after only a few years. (IIRC, official service life was 1960-1970)

Sikorsky X2 superwhirlybird enters ground spin-up phase

Kevin Campbell
Thumb Up

@Sam

Yes, you are thinking of the Kaman Huskie from the 50's-60's

http://www.h43-huskie.info/

(Mod., we need a propeller beanie or some other icon to denote mastery of trivial BS like antique aircraft/cars, etc)

Mel Gibson to star in Edge of Darkness

Kevin Campbell
Pirate

@ all the anti-remake commenters

couldn't agree more. Why screw with what was a masterpiece in the first place? DOZENS of iconic classics have been ruined by remake or, worse, "reimagining." No, Mr. Lucas, I do NOT need an "updated" Episode IV where Greedo shoots first. Han shot first because he's just that kind of guy. Nothing wrong with that. Stop repairing that which is not broken!

The bozos in Gollywood continue to churn our this crap and then have the audacity to wonder why no one is interested in paying to see it. Here's a thought: how 'bout something ORIGINAL?!? Say it with me! O-RI-GIN-AL! NEW I-DE-A! NE-VER BEEN DONE BE-FORE! Now, that wasn't so hard was it? Oh wait, it was? Tough shitsky, comrade. If you want MY hard-earned cash, that's the only way to get it.

[/rant]

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