Posts by Rich Lock

Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First

  • Hard News: Dunce Dunce Revolution,

    cos-play

    I admit I still think first of a food fight rather than geeky dress-ups when I see this term.

    My suspicion is that cos-play was invented by some horny, frustrated male nerd (or nerds) to increase his/their chances of getting laid.

    I mean, back when I was a horny, frustrated early-teens male sci-fi obsessed nerd, the number of women around was effectively nil.

    Back then, if you'd suggested to your fellow losers that one day women would not only share close proximity with you at a convention, but would voluntarily - voluntarily! - dress up in princess leia slave costumes*, you'd have been sectioned.

    Unknown male nerd(s), I salute you! Live long and prosper!

    *Or Green Onion slave girls, obviously. And that picture was the first one that came up on a google search. No, honestly. Possibly very mildly NSFW.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dunce Dunce Revolution,

    It's worth remembering that there's no extra testing being implemented by National Standards - as yet. We are NOT being asked to teach to a test.

    National Standards Test: Q1 (10 marks).

    A wedge is shown in cross-section in fig.1. Please indicate by means of an arrow which end is the thin one.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Up Front: PAMJ: Better Than What?,

    Like having twenty-odd cocktails between two people, then drinking four jugs of beer so we could get the fifth one free...?

    You're an engineer, right?

    How exactly is this unusual behaviour?

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Speaker: How to Look Good as a Nazi,

    Keir, according to wikipedia, at the 1936 Summer Olympics, Germany won 33 gold medals.

    To win those medals, the sporting ability of those athletes would unquestionably have had to be first-rate.

    However, most, if not all, of those athletes would have also been ideologically committed Nazi's.

    Do you not think it is possible to separate out an admiration for their athletic ability from the reprehensible ideology they believed in?

    If they hadn't been nazis, would they have been better athletes?

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Hard News: Dunce Dunce Revolution,

    The Minister also talks about this pool of advisors that they can switch on and off for the different subjects one year to the next. It does beg the question as to what the science advisors will do for the next year. It's highly likely that they will change careers and so won't then be available when the Minister deems they are necessary at some arbitrary point in the future.

    They're science teachers. Don't we just power them down and store them in their pods in the Beehive basement?

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Speaker: How to Look Good as a Nazi,

    The wiki article you linked to uses the rather throwaway phrase 'built by political prisoners'.

    'State slave labour' is closer to the truth. Mostly those who fought on the republican side in the civil war.

    Franco's post-war purges were not on the same scale as Stalin's but were extremely vicious and sustained.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Hard News: Windows 7: Actually Not Bad,

    My loathing for Windows FAIL, I mean, Vista, is extreme.

    Guess what our IT department have 'upgraded' us to?

    Their suggested 'fix' for not being able to use some of the basic functionality of the system without causing a PC meltdown is.....to not use that functionality.

    I guess that makes the big plastic box on my desk a large paperweight, then.

    Not so bad, I suppose. We're probably only stuck with it for the next, ohhhh, six or seven years.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Speaker: How to Look Good as a Nazi,

    I thought I was the only one who still made Yakov Smirnoff jokes.

    If you make a Yakov Smirnoff joke about Yakov Smirnoff jokes (in Soviet Russia, Yakov Smirnoff joke make YOU!), does that cause some sort of rift or wormhole in the humourverse?

    Perhaps a sidesplit....?
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Coat, getting, etc

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Speaker: How to Look Good as a Nazi,

    Bravo, Simon.

    In our rush to (rightly) vilify the Nazis we should never forget that. But mostly we have, and that is what scares the fuck out of me.

    And with that, I think the thread has come full circle.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

  • Speaker: How to Look Good as a Nazi,

    Tom, I don't have a lot of time for him either. But:

    1) the opportunity to make the triple pun was irresistable.

    2) the discussion was purely focussed on his combat flying abilities, not his idiotic big-wing style strategic thinking.

    You'll get no disagreement from me that the treatment of Park and Dowding was disgraceful.

    Surviving Soviet wartime military medical care is also pretty damn impressive, as is downing the FW-190, arguably the finest piston driven fighter aircraft of all time, let alone three in a one fight especially as the German fighters were still, in those pre-1944 P-51 turkey shoot days, still being flown by some of the most highly trained and experienced pilots on the planet [Erich Hartmann].

    Erich Hartmann: Talk about yer baby-faced killers...

    Simon, that was my point about the FW190. Three in one go is damn fine flying.

    ...in those pre-1944 P-51 turkey shoot days...

    The US 8th air force didn't have it all their own way, even when the P51 was around....

    From the wiki on Erich Hartmann:

    On 1 June 1944, Hartmann shot down four P-51s in a single mission over the Ploieşti oil fields

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report

Last ←Newer Page 1 206 207 208 209 210 273 Older→ First