Posts by Sweep

Oh noes! New 'CRISIS DISASTER' at Fukushima! Oh wait, it's nothing. Again

Re: Who will be the Elon Musk of nuclear power?

Bruce Wayne of course

Boffin blends benevolent beer

A pint, or possibly 2 pints, of beer is already an excellent post-sports drink. Better than water alone anyway (after 1 or 2 in an hour post exercise the body has absorbed as much carbohydrates as it can use and the diuretic effects of the alcohol will start to have a bigger effect). It contains nutrients and electrolytes as it is.

Maybe what these Aussies have actually discovered is what the rest of the civilised world just calls "beer" already, as opposed to that koala urine Fosters

First burger made of TEST-TUBE MEAT to be eaten on August 5

I'd rather not take a centrum thanks;

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/07/vitamins-stop-taking-the-pills

Brit Skylon spaceplane moves closer to lift-off

Re: Had the UK only invested more generously in this earlier

If you'd bothered to read the article;

"Following testing, the ESA gave the precooling system the thumbs-up in November last year, prompting the British government to stump £60m towards the construction of a full SABRE prototype."

Things that cost the same as coffee with Tim Cook - and are way more fun

And some beer sacrificed on the stones for lovely malty steam

Stephen Fry explains… Alan Turing's amazing computer

Re: God I'm getting sick of Fry

"Brian Cox is a lecturer in Astrophysics"

No he's not. He's a particle physicist.

Hanging's too good for 'em - so what do you suggest?

Re: Anybody want this garbage

""If you have reasonable doubt about their guilt, you MUST find them not guilty." Whether the penalty is death or imprisonment *shouldn't* make a difference in deciding guilty or not guilty"

It shouldn't make a difference in deciding their guilt, however it should make a difference in deciding the punishment if capital punishment is an option. If there is *any* doubt about their guilt, reasonable or otherwise, then they should not be put to death.

For premeditated murder, with zero doubt as to guilt, then they should be fired out of a cannon as soon as sentenced.

Killers laugh in face of death penalty threat, say US experts

@ Jake

Balls to your sweeping statement Jake.

Drugs have always been an option, throughout human history, and across human cultures. From a champagne reception to a shaman's hut in the rainforest, people have always, and will always, like to get off their tits. . It's the prohibition of drugs that is new and is the problem, not the drugs.

Drugs are never going to go away, no matter what kind of social utopia you imagine you want to live. Me, my utopia would be one in which individuals are allowed to make their own life choices, to the extent that they don't harm others with those choices.

James Cameron back from dive to world's deepest point

Portholes?

Does the thing have portholes to look out of, or does the pilot just watch everything on viewscreens?

So, what IS the worst film ever made?

Showgirls

Has certain redeeming features

Re: outfield

I quite enjoyed Gnomeo and Juliet.

But then I was kind of high...

The Cat in the Hat

Starring Mike Myers.

Awful, just awful.

Re: Anything

A Scanner Darkly is good....

Royal astro-boffin to MPs: Stop thinking about headlines

You obviously *don't* know.

We have a parliamentary democracy in the UK. It is not a Repubic (sic), but a constitutional monarchy.

I would also argue that there was no pure, direct, democracy in Ancient Greece either. Certainly not "everybody" voted on every decision- you didn't get a say if you were female, or a slave, for instance.

Imagine if all the Daily Mail readers in this country had a say in every single decision o_O

Mars attacks! Morocco pelted with rocks from the Red Planet

And the nomads got?

How much were the nomads who found the rocks paid?

Former coder, NASA 'naut to lead DARPA starship dream

2 most irritating?

More irritating than Wesley Crusher???

China outraged by US cyberspying fingering

Moldovia?

Spelled Moldova, surely?

Mighty trash-bag balloon cluster soars above Nevada

Trash bags, I want some trash bags! traaash baaaags, I want some traaash baaags!

Reebok used 'very fit woman' in buttock-related deception

Pedant

"claimed......could fight the flab on leg and buttock muscles"

No. they don't claim that. They do claim that they tone the muscles. Toning and fighting flab are different things (and targeted fat loss is a complete myth). Although try telling that to women that attend thighs bums and tums classes at the gym to develop magnificent abs and arses which then remain hidden under a big pile of flab.

Google+ bans real name under ‘Real Names’ policy

Stop being a pedant

He probably didn't mean UK, as law is not consistent across the UK.

You have English Law in England and Wales, Scots Law in Scotland and Northern Ireland Law in Norn Iron.

In Scotland for example you do not require a deed poll to change your name, you pretty much just have to inform others (banks etc) of the name you will henceforth be known as.

A-level results accidentally put on interwebs a week early

No.....

Not sure about England but studies in Scotland have shown that exam standards have remained constant and pupils are just getting better at passing exams.

Also, you should Google the Flynn Effect- IQs are increasing steadily over time too. In a couple of centuries you would be considered an imbecile. Or perhaps you already are?

Obama gets personal V-22 Osprey tiltrotor

....what have they done to it?

Fuelled it maybe?

Mexico demands apology for Top Gear outrage

Cheese eating surrender monkeys

Napoleon was Corsican

Unarmed Royal Navy T45 destroyer breaks down mid-Atlantic

"the French........have been waiting a long time to get their own back"

Get their own back for what exactly?

Mounting a successful invasion of England back in 1066?

Winning the 100-years war?

Flakey scales brand Commonwealth boxers bunch of blobs

professional pugilists

Amateur, at the commonwealth games I would have thought. Answer is still not me though.

HABITABLE ALIEN WORLD discovered 20 light-years away!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Fire up the Orion- let's go!

Flying gyrocopter jump-jeep gets $3m from DARPA

@ Devil Dog

Nope.

Teufel Hunden- which the US marines allege was a nickname given to them by Zie Germans, meaning "Devil Dog"

Almost certainly made up by either the marines or a US reporter. There are no references to the term in German language sources (even today). It isn't even in grammatically correct German as any schoolkid will tell you.

Star Wars set for 3D rehash

Hmmmm

I don't see how this is going to be good. The 3 prequels are utter drivel to begin with (esp Phantom Menace) and I'm not sure how much I want to see 3D Ewoks either.

As I understand it proper made for 3D films are shot with cameras with little focal length (or animated) so that everything is in focus. Converted to 3D films don't really work (and bring on headaches) because everything looks almost 3D but you can't focus on everything on the screen because the camera wasn't focused on everything. I don't see any techniques which could bring everything into focus in the original films other than CGI....

I would hope also that they would use the original films rather than the "special edition" with added shit CGI....but it is Lucas..

Recession drives pies sky high

PIES!

Pie in Chorlton, Manchester. Great ales, lovely pies.

Lots and lots of lovely pies!

NZ woman pays motorised tribute to A RYAN 1

Title

From my experience watching the Wire;

187= US police code for murder. As tattooed on many a gangsta rappa.

50 = police. Apparently (and amusingly) this comes from the Yank cop show Hawaii 5-0

so I guess when you put 2 & 2 together.....

Organ banks on horizon as boffins prep tissue-freeze tech

Fruit flies holding the secret....

...I doubt that there's anything special about fruit flies, they're just a standard organism for this type of research, with very well understood genetics, like lab mice

Possibly the world's most pointless review

pointless (but fun) reviews

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B000JTOYLS/ref=sr_1_5_cm_cr_acr_pop_hist_all?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&qid=1279887464&sr=8-5

Plucky Finn attempts to drive length of Finland in small digger

pedant alert

I think Export to Scandinavia got their definition from Wikipedia (and presumably prefer the name "Export to Scandinavia" to "Export to Scandinavia and Finland").

Finland isn't part of Scandinavia but it is one of the Nordic countries along with Norway, Sweden etc.

And the Moomin books were written in Swedish. This is a useful fact if you ever need to really annoy a Finnish person.

And I dread to think what El Reg would be like if it was actually written in Common English. A bit like The Sun I guess......

Humanity evolved to cope with 30°C+ heat, says prof

Wolves

I was going to mention dogs/ wolves but another poster already has, and your answer sounds reasonable.

Human ancestors were bipedal long before they ate meat at all, never mind hunted, so I don't see being able to run down prey as a valid reason for the evolution of bipedalism, although it could certainly be a reason for humans being mostly hairless (one of my ex girlfriends being an alarming exception).

TBH I don't think there's any one reason why we are the way we are (although the aquatic ape theory tries to explain a whole bunch of human features) . I don't know if bipedal locomotion is any more/less efficient for walking than walking on all fours the way a dog/cat/horse etc does, and in any case that's a false comparison, the point is probably that it's more efficient than knuckle-walking on the ground the way other apes do, and has other benefits which would/ could have been an advantage and led to the increased fitness of bipedal proto-humans (leaves hands free, etc etc etc).

Question..

Why aren't other mammals in hot(ter?) environments not (relatively) bald too? Only other bald mammals I can think of are either aquatic, burrowing or really big...

And, if we evolved certain physical characteristics to cope with an extremely hot and dry environment, getting rid of lots of water in the form of sweat doesn't seem like a particularly good survival trait....it makes us ming too.

Expedition to seek out 'alien' ocean-abyss life sets sail

don't ultimately draw their energy from the sun

They do require the oxygen from the ocean water though, produced by photosynthesis/ energy from the sun.

Bill Gates goes (mini) nuclear

Newclear

Can i copyright this, do you think?

US Marine robot supply skyhook compo: Enter the A160T

out of ground effect

..........or up a mountain

Mole-cruiser planned to attack Iranian nuke bunkers

uhm....

Does the request actually mention burrowing? From the text it seems like it could be intended for it to just go in the front door? More like an exploding ferret in a rabbit warren than a mole....

Drought effect on rainforests is negligible

not reproducible

"These results are "not reproducible", according to the new analysis, which indicates that in fact nothing much changed down on the Amazon during the 2005 dry spell."

I am not going to go read the paper, but I would have thought that all that means is that there is not way to reproduce or test the conditions and results that the hypothesis is based on, no?

It certainly does not indicate to me that nothing much changed, only that the conclusion that the dry spell was good for the Amazon cannot be subjected to the scientific method.

Underground mole-satnavs to work off lightning strikes

@ but but but

yes, there are highly accurate cave surveys but they take a LOT of work to produce and are usually made by measuring line of sight distance dip and direction between base stations, then running it through some cave survey software. Most caves in the UK are mapped pretty roughly, as long as the height of vertical pitches is accurate so rope requirements are known they don't need to be particularly detailed.

Would you like to volunteer to be first down an Iranian bunker armed with a compass and a measuring tape?

Scots slam Germans for 'tight-arsed' slur

Marks and Sparks

Used to advertise in Vienna with the slogan "English quality, Scottish prices". In German, obviously.

Huge 'vampyrus' bats being hunted to extinction

Those aren’t big birds, sweetheart.

They’re giant vampire bats!

Brain-jacking fungus turns living victims into 'zombies'

@ Nextweek

Isn't logic a wonderful thing?

Unfortunately for you, that parasites can control host behaviour is well known, from directly manipulating the host brain by physical means, to releasing chemicals into the host (this can happen to humans too, by the way, google Toxoplasma gondii).

Also, if you read the article instead it states that this parasite was already well known, the latest paper is all about the actual mechanisms by which the parasite changes the behaviour of the host.

Is Gordon Brown safe to work with vulnerable people?

@ Gregor

You can get an individual disclosure, direct from Disclosure Scotland, which costs £23 Scots.

If you are applying to work with an organisation the organisation would apply through an umbrella group (CRBS). If it's a voluntary organisation and you are going to be doing voluntary work with vulnerable people, this service is free (as is the Disclosure Scotland check itself). If it's a commercial organisation they charge an admin fee (£25 Scots).

Mary Wakefield is talking out of her arse.

i don't know what the situation is in England, but in Scotland if you are volunteering (and presumably he will be volunteering in Scotland) there is no cost for a Disclosure Scotland check, the body you are volunteering for sends an application to CRBS (the umbrella body) and they apply to Disclosure Scotland. There is NO COST to the applicant or to the body/group you are volunteering for.

I have no interest in defending Gordon Brown btw, but I do volunteer work with young kids.

Too-tall terror snapper stopped by cops again

The Law?

can anyone provide a link, or information on exactly what the law is regarding photography, under what circumstances the police may or may not stop or search someone, and under what circumstances a member of the public is required to provide an officer with any details, or account for their presence in an area etc etc. For England and Wales and for Scotland, if possible.

I think i am justified in being a little confused as to what the actual law is- even the police have no idea!

Magno stimulation makes brain learn skills better - boffins

Gonna get me some mangoes

I misread the title, obviously.

Glasgow unbans Life of Brian

No news here

It hasn't really been banned for almost 30 years. In fact it wasn't really banned in the first place, the council refused to let it be shown as a cert 15 and the distributors refused to let it be shown on an adult certificate, as it says in the article.

Also i would suspect that this is the first application to show the film since 1980.

NASA unleashes Moon-attack probe

meh

WON'T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CLANGERS?!!!!