Posts by stuart meadowcroft

Scientists lay bare Irish potato famine blight

Potatoes?

Of course it was the blight that was to blame - not the British refusing to allow them access to the rest of the crops that they'd snaffled for themselves...

Tesco causes couple condom catastrophe

They sent you 4 year's worth?

I didn't know they sold in packs that small.

Mars suitable for growing asparagus

Ringworld?

And what's going to stop the puncturing of your ringworld by flying debris then? eh? EH?

"Oh no, there goes the atmostphere. Again!"

And what about any unfound life-forms in those asteroids or that frozen snowball? Bad Karma man.

Aussies deploy bovine facial recognition

Emmigration

"We have had a little rain this year heading into winter. Most rural properties have a tinge of green. Last spring/summer they were simply bare earth. That's climate change for you ~160mm rain this year so far."

And people move there from Blighty why?!

Prosecutors target first 'Facebook harassment' conviction

Pull, surely

you pull a little string, it opens a latch on a trapdoor and piles of steaming dung stream forth from it

mines the sou'wester... (how do you spell this?)

AI prof: The robot terrorists are coming! Aiee!

And who's best at building robots?

"Invading a country could be turned into the international league of Robot Wars. Definitely has the potential to make some cracking TV."

Super, but I for one have no inclination to learn Japanese :/

Spirit discovers life on Mars

Duh!

It's aliens alright, but a curveball from those from far-off planets - if they can keep us guessing within our own solar system long enough they'll have time to perfect the force field that will stop us from ever getting beyond pluto and infecting the rest of the galaxy.

Acquisition-happy Game not anti-competitive

2 sides to the story

I'm moving from Grimsby which has one of each to Liverpool which does as well (and 2 CEXs now). My personal sentiment is similar to many ppl's in that I don't like Game's pricing, stocking or attitude.

However, how about a blanced view on the subject?

Game may have other reasons for buying GS than just shutting all their stores (there's the ongoing liability of the leases on the property to consider for a start!). Maybe they want to make sure they have a 2nd-hand arm of their empire to make more room for new games in their main stores.

Only really unprofitabe stores will get shut quickly - many high-street chains delibrately have dual representation to have more floor space (even if selling similar product lines). Would you make a business decision to shut a profitable shop hoping all the customers will go to you other store when there's always the internet stores or onlineauctions as direct competitors?

Maybe there's a computing journo who has the time and contacts to ask Game what their plans are and stay on the story as it develops?

I'm not saying they WON'T close GS stores, only that they may have a strategy - I for one don't know and don't jump to conclusions... I'm not a tabloid newspaper you know ;)

(I'm going back to my day job now)

Space shuttle launch knocked back again

What's the point?

Am I the only one who can see this another way?

You put the fuel in? Check

Is it pissing out the bottom? negative

Right - blast off!!

It's not like you can stop and refuel half-way into orbit, so why need to know what your fuel level is?

Arthur C Clarke lists three wishes on 90th birthday

Cheers - drinks for him tonight :)

Happy Birthday old chap

NASA aims for 2 Jan Atlantis launch

Similarity

My mrs. has a mk2 Vauxhall cavalier with a similar fuel-tank sensor problem so I know how NASA feel.

Mind you, I'd rather runout of petrol halfway across the M62 than their potential problem. rolling downhill to Leeds or Manchester is somewhat less fatal that their gravity potential.

Terry Pratchett has Alzheimer's

Waaaah!

And I thought I had a bad bat with my IT problems yesterday :(

3 drags rivals into court over number porting

Bitch bitch bitch...

Can I have a go too?

Orange PAYG - Middle-eastern call centres and only a 50-50 chance they'll speak English well enough to understand (in my experience obv.). Mediocre reception at best.

BUT - the cheapest way to speak to your loved one when you're away :)

UK firm 'recalls' 575 knee implants

lawsuit

i understand that (at the moment) each leg joint can only be replaced the once, with a prosthetic that lasts 15 years or so (depending on how fat you are?)

if one of these potentially "defective" joints lasts significantly less long than that, surely they've wrecked the individuals mobility?

take them to court! they wouldn't have a leg to stand on!!

(sorry, someone done that one already? damn!)

there must be some room here for a hip-hop joke, but I don't know any.

TV heavyweights build on-demand supersite

And again.

several good points well made, none more so that that last one.

that said, Licence fee=£13/month for poo service of repeats, soap and "reality" rubbish.

hmmm

Victim turns to Facebook in hunt for brazen burglar

The opportunities

Of course, this could be turned about for nefarious reasons, posting to the site from a made-up identity and ruining the reputation of an innocent party. Or less innocent, naturally.

Whatever next? Pictures of people having affairs being blackmailed?! That'd make interesting reading...

Tesco takes fight to Sainsbury over Medion PCs

Once again, the big boys copy Aldi

, who have been selling medions for at least 18 months that I know of - although as part of their weekly offers rather than all the time, but quite regularly.

www.aldi.co.uk has the latest multi-media offering (and i'm actually tempted for once) - or should I wait for the inevitable price war!!!

IBM: Dinosaurs were green

Income anyone

yeah, go on - poke fun at your advertisers, you know it makes economic sense ;)

MIT in Matrix 'Crowd Farm' plan

Energy

Is everyone forgetting the principle of conservation of energy?

Each person on this stupid bouncy floor would have to pick up their feet an extra couple of inches to 'step up' to the next paving stone, like climbing a slight incline, and would need to eat or drink the same amount of energy to replace that which is lost by the action of climbing around on a level surface.

Isn't there already a shortage of food production land now that crops are being farmed for bio-fuels?

I am of course ignoring the fact that the majority of people in the West are fat ba57rds who could use hooking up to a grid to electrically harvest their excess intake whilst they stick burgers and lager into their faces, but it's about the scientific principle.

Astronauts chuck fridge off space station

Get away!

If the thing is filled with a coolant gas, couldn't they have made a hole in the system and aimed it at (say) The Sun, allowing the coolant to act as propellant?

Then it would have had a 1 in 5000 chance of hitting a crap newspaper reporter.