KineticLensman

8 ms·

61.
by KineticLensman 10mo ago
space-elevators require various types of unobtanium and have their own logistics challenges not to mention failure modes that involve spattering fast moving debris round the entire equator
62.
by KineticLensman 10mo ago
They broke my ribs when I had a cardiac arrest, doing vigorous CPR. Would not be posting this now if it wasn’t for them. I was basically alive when the air ambulance landed, but wouldn’t have been otherwise
63.
by KineticLensman 10mo ago
> Running a family was a brutal two-person job -- and the kids had to dive in to help In many societies before (say) the 18th/19th Century, extended families would have been the norm, e.g. with elderly relatives living in the same h
64.
by KineticLensman 10mo ago
"Galaxy" (in the UK) is the obvious one. Incidentally, Mars bars were named after the Mars family who owned the company that made them, not the planet.
65.
by KineticLensman 10mo ago
Yes! I did a fire training course back in the old days when it involved a real fire extinguisher rather than just PowerPoint and it was interesting how many of us failed to put out a small fire in a cardboard box. You really do have to get
66.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
In London's Shard, the gent's toilets of the observation deck (on approx the 70th floor) have glass walls behind the urinals so if you look straight ahead while using them it is as if you are peeing on the city of London from a
67.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
My pet peeve is noisy fridges that clatter and whirr at night, and whose plug is inaccessible behind fixed furniture.
68.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
I agree that the aesthetic made for an excellent film but I always thought that if they had sufficient power for FTL travel (e.g. massive fusion reactors or something) they could have powered a few extra light bulbs. Although the ship in Da
69.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
I remember being told that the secret of good consultancy is knowing what to read on your way to the meeting
70.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
There was also the April fool Guardian article about the fictional island of San Serriffe as a new holiday destination
71.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
Classic gatekeeping quote: "Everyone has a book in them, but in most cases that's where it should stay"
72.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
> Land ownership is quite a contentious issue in Scotland. Yes, I saw an article recently that said that approx 50% of Scottish Land is owned by just 420 families. It's actually worse than England in that respect.
73.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
As does Newton, very quirkily
74.
Entrances to Hell(entrances2hell.co.uk)
2 points by KineticLensman 11mo ago|1 comments
75.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
(UK only, unfortunately)
76.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
Off-topic but that reminds me of the quote from "Stand on Zanzibar" where 'impossible' is defined as IIRC "1) I can't be bothered or 2) I don't approve or 3) God can't be bothered"
77.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
(Brit here) My first encounter with a foreign PL was a French Prolog implementation in the mid 80s whose only compiler error message was IIRC something like 'Erreur syntactique'. This seemed superbly Gallic, if somewhat less than
78.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
> Those Cathedrals only exist because they had a few resources and so they could build them over time They also only exist because they used architectural techniques that the Romans never developed, namely the flying buttress, which coul
79.
by KineticLensman 11mo ago
Athens too - the vast majority of the population were slaves or 'metics' - non-Athenian foreigners. Some slaves worked as partners with their citizen master and it wasn't unusual for such a slave to be adopted into a family a
80.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
Alternatively[0]: MRS. BROWN: 'Ere. What's going on? MAN: Uh, he's donating his liver, madam. MR. BROWN: [screaming] MRS. BROWN: Is this because he took out one of those silly cards? [0] http://www.montypython.50we
81.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
A similar type of robot is key to the plot of the superbly quirky film 'Brian and Charles' [0] in which a nutty inventor build a robot that looks exactly a weird old-man's head stuck on top of a washing-machine shaped body. [
82.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
Some microorganisms have cilia that rotate like a propeller. With complex molecular structures to provide a rotor effect
83.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
I always found it amusing that KSR's Greens were the side that would have in effect have destroyed the natural environment of Mars (by terraforming it), unlike our Greens who in general want to preserve the environment.
84.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
For anyone wondering, it means blown into the air (‘hoist’) by your own bomb (‘petard’). From Shakespeare
85.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
(Brit here). When I used to travel to the US for work / holidays I was always amazed at how many breakfast options were available compared with UK ‘greasy spoon’ cafes. I used to make it a game to try to order breakfast specifying all
86.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
Urine collection tubes - like a condom with a bag attached.
87.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
Nobody stayed in a Mercury capsule for 14 days, although Gordon Cooper's flight (the last and longest Mercury) lasted 34 hours
88.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
> They are both incredibly tight. ISTR an astronaut saying that you didn't 'get into' a Mercury capsule, instead you 'put it on'.
89.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
There are loads more in [0], including 'brilliant agreement' for 'smart contract', 'bosom malignancy' for 'breast cancer', and many, many others. [0] https://dbrech.irit.fr/pls/ap
90.
by KineticLensman 1y ago
> that you should never listen to journalists or economists on this topic These journalists do not say that Britain is bankrupt. Their article was arbitrarily cited by someone else to support his claim about Britain.

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