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Happy Mutant Profile

Mithras

Website: http://mithras.blogs.com

Bio: A typical liberal, pervy lawyer in Philadelphia.

Weekend Mayhem: Come Play Team Fortress 2 With Boing Boing!

May 2, 2008 8:35pm

Thanks EAI. That worked.

Weekend Mayhem: Come Play Team Fortress 2 With Boing Boing!

May 2, 2008 7:42pm

launch the game, bring up the console by hitting ~

Now you're just messing with us. ~ does nothing, and it doesn't appear in options.

Weekend Mayhem: Come Play Team Fortress 2 With Boing Boing!

May 2, 2008 7:13pm

Not in the custom list, not in the internet list. Oh well.

BBG Weekend Warfare: Boing Boing Team Fortress 2 Server Now Live!

May 2, 2008 6:39pm

Don't see the server in the custom list.

MythBusters tackles "plane on a conveyor belt problem"

January 29, 2008 2:35pm

Shorter explanation:
It slides, it doesn't roll.

MythBusters tackles "plane on a conveyor belt problem"

January 29, 2008 12:23pm

Now I get it!

This at Modern Polymath cleared up my confusion:

"If you still don’t believe me, hold two matchbox cars at the top of a declining platform (Like a propped up book.) Put a piece of paper underneath one of the cars. Let go of the cars and pull out the piece of paper from under the one car in the opposite direction the cars are traveling. Both cars will reach the bottom of the platform at the same time."

An better example would be to put a glider on a skijump with the conveyer belt under it. Gravity starts to pull the glider down the ramp, but the conveyer belt starts to spin backwards at the rate the wheels are turning. At first, I thought, this would hold the glider in place, but of course it doesn't. Why not? There is insufficient friction between the turning wheels and the conveyer belt. In essence, the glider starts sliding down the ramp. Same thing with the powered plane on a level surface with the same conveyer. As the physics people have said, there is no countervailing force to offset the thrust of the engines. To us non-physics people, it seems intuitive that the wheels have to turn to allow the plane to move. But that's not true. The wheels can slide over the conveyer belt without turning faster, so the plane will move forward until it reaches takeoff speed.

Arnold's Fables: What Koko Wants

December 21, 2007 8:14pm

@Stend: You're absolutely right. I meant to say, it's the primary caregiver's instructions to Kendra that constitute the harassment.

Arnold's Fables: What Koko Wants

December 21, 2007 7:17pm

I would guess that the answer is yes, it is harassment. In the facts as presented, Kendra was not made aware that disrobing for Koko was a condition of employment, and doing so is not the usual responsibility of someone caring for a gorilla.

MPAA censors torture documentary, gleefully approves of fake torture

December 21, 2007 8:11am

@ 14

There's no loophole. The trailer and the poster have to be rated suitable for all audiences, while the actual film does not. (That is, trailer has to be G even if the film is PG or R.) So of course they are rated separately.

MPAA censors torture documentary, gleefully approves of fake torture

December 21, 2007 7:34am

@ #12

"Can't they just print it anyway."

Sure, they just can't hang the posters in movie theaters. It's a contractual thing. Movie theaters have agreements with distribution companies that prevent them from showing content that is unrated or rated NC-17. Effectively, the MPAA has total control over what appears in movies.

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