Guysmiley

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• Commented on Exclusive SpaceShipTwo unveiling gallery (Updated!)
  The "badminton cock" design allows SpaceShipTwo to re-enter the atmosphere as slower speeds than the Shuttle, producing less heat. Errrr, no. The Space Shuttle re-enters the atmosphere going about 17,000 MPH, because it's an ORBITAL spacecraft. It goes up, but...
• Commented on Senators draw maps of their home states
  North Dakota's eastern border is a river. It just gets averaged out into a mostly straight line....
• Commented on Hacklab.to's laser-cutter really *does* play the Mario Bros theme!
  Fun with CNC stepper motors: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKCX1CeXIjA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS8-vVE7iGI...
• Commented on Goldwag: The Sarah Palin Conspiracies
  "In what respect, Charlie?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrzXLYA_e6E She's a god damned moron. No amount of pandering to the conspiracy wingnuts will change that....
• Commented on Hitler Finds Out Balloon Boy Was A Hoax
  At first I was thinking "oh lord, another of these videos?", but when they busted out Flight of the Navigator I cracked up....
• Commented on Barefoot Burglar, 18, suspected of stealing planes, etc.
  As a pilot, I'll concur with what others have said here. Flying a light aircraft in real life is easy after a little practice with a computer flight sim. Taking off is a little harder, but still pretty easy, high...
• Commented on American health care UI: snapshot
  It seems that unnecessary improvements in that case, made things worse (or at least didn't improve the things that were wrong). I don't see how this supports your implied position. A simple LOOKING text based UI can still be a...
• Commented on American health care UI: snapshot
  But you know what? I bet it works perfectly. Uh, yeah, The THERAC-25 medical linear accelerator had a kludgy text UI, just look how well THAT worked out. There were only six massive radiation overdoses due to operator error in...
• Commented on Ghost fleet of container ships off Singapore
  #5: It's from the Daily Fail, it doesn't have to mean anything, it just has to feel....
• Commented on Big-ass flying boats full of water save LA from fiery doom!
  #20: Water isn't like bombs, it's not as dense per pound so you need more volume than what tactical aircraft have. Instead, you'd be better off using cargo aircraft. Something which they already thought of....
• Commented on Gizmo with a weight added for extra heft
  Looking at the placement, it may also serve as a solid backing for the port jacks. With a device like that having just the solder joints to push against can lead to busted connectors. The fiberboard looks like it butts...
• Commented on Photos from inside an abandoned Titan missile silo
  What amazes me most is the incredibly short operational lifespan of these bases. Development and building started in 1955 and continued until 1963. The Titan I bases were retired in 1965. Research and development costs were in the billions in...
• Commented on HOWTO make dust-goggles from a bra-strap, light-bulb screens, and an old biker jacket
  Hmm, they must have just sold out... My point was coming from a welding background that good goggles are most definitely not hard to find. You should try making stuff yourself, it makes one less bitter about the world in...
• Commented on HOWTO make dust-goggles from a bra-strap, light-bulb screens, and an old biker jacket
  They're not really particularly hard to find OR expensive. Here's a pair of brazing goggles for $12: http://www.amazon.com/BOS-Flip-Up-Welding-Goggles/dp/B000MNQRMK Or how about some Dr. Horrible style flip-up goggles for $9: http://www.amazon.com/Hobart-770129-Oxy-Acet-Goggle/dp/B001FOPXGG/ref=pd_cp_hi_1 Although for extended wear I'd go with a military style...
• Commented on Bill Maher: Birthers must be stopped
  Re: that graph: Mmmm, good ol' Southern racism....
• Commented on Photos of unusual animals
  Did anyone see that PBS show about cuttlefish? FREAKY animals. I'd never seen HD video of them changing colors before, it's instantaneous, very weird (and cool)....
• Commented on Water-fueled "jet pack"
  Powered needs to be in quotes as well. Is a car "rubber powered" because it uses wheels to move?...
• Commented on Shotgun expert shows his stuff
  #8: They're made of "natural" materials, that is limestone dust and petroleum pitch. They're supposedly "non toxic" because the pitch doesn't leech into water. As far as the ammo, for hunting loads the pellets are usually steel or bismuth alloys....
• Commented on Bye-bye, Boing Boing!
  #3: LCDR is the same rank as Major (O-4)....
• Commented on Hi-rez lunar astronaut portrait scans
  Those Apollo Lunar Surface Journals are a great read for anyone who's interested in the nitty gritty details of the Apollo missions, especially the ones that are annotated with explanations and links to images taken at each point in the...
• Commented on Time-lapse of 1990 LA mall
  #19: I think it's a corollary to the Loudness Wars. God help us if someone figures out how to compress audio on the fly in those Flash players....
• Commented on Documentary about building a steam boiler
  #1 Anon: No kidding. If it really is a "high pressure" boiler I couldn't make out any pressure gauge, sight glass or pop off valve. Maybe they were there and I just didn't see it in the grainy B&W images?...
• Commented on Documentary about building a steam boiler
  ill lich: Easy: Superheater tubes! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superheater :)...
• Commented on Meatcard contest -- recreate Frazetta paintings using live people
  Huh. Am I reading this right? # If there is a dinosaur in the painting, there had better be something awesomely dinosaur-y in your picture. Not a stuffed animal, or your cat. Unless your cat is six feet tall and...
• Commented on Miles O'Brien Blogging the Air France Crash: The Search for Black Boxes
  Palilay, Those maps that Google has that you keep going on about? Try zooming in to any decent level of detail. High resolution maps like you claim don't exist on Google, they're only available in very small areas to people...
• Commented on Miles O'Brien Blogging the Air France Crash: The Search for Black Boxes
  I hate to use a cliche, but it's really not rocket science. And just how long did it take to find the wreck of Steve Fosset's plane? And how was it found? Not by satellite photos, not by aerial surveillance,...
• Commented on Miles O'Brien Blogging the Air France Crash: The Search for Black Boxes
  Global surveying companies on a daily basis use gear that can provide an accurate, 3D model of vast squares of the ocean floor for clients, including sub-bottom profiling (telling people what's under the ground on the seafloor). At what resolution...
• Commented on Miles O'Brien Blogging the Air France Crash: The Search for Black Boxes
  What you COULD do is set up a system like an EPIRB. Basically they are little floating transmitters that you have on a ship on the outside. Essentially if they fall off the ship, they get set off. The emergency...
• Commented on Breathlyzer source-code sucks
  This flaky embedded code reminds me of the Therac-25 debacle. http://users.csc.calpoly.edu/~jdalbey/SWE/Papers/THERAC25.html Of course, a breathlyzer has never killed someone with radiation... yet!...
• Commented on 747 sucks a baggage container into its engine at LAX
  Not the first time something like that's happened. http://www.aviationpics.de/fod/fod.html...