Recent content by mgb_phys

  1. M

    Energy weapons: reality and fiction

    Blasts tanks is a little optimistic - it might (just about on a good day with a following wind...) burst a liquid fueled ICBM's fuel tanks This is from a device that takes an entire 747 with enough nasty chemicals on board that you would do rather more damage to the target by simply landing on it.
  2. M

    News Federal Judge Strikes Down Prop 8: California Gay Marriage Ban

    Unless there is a Gospel I'm missing (actually there are quite a few but that's another story) there isn't an awfull lot of correlation between what Jesus said and christian beliefs.
  3. M

    Energy weapons: reality and fiction

    Laser tend to be line of sight - so if they are used their only viable purpose is close quarter anti-missile defenses.
  4. M

    News Federal Judge Strikes Down Prop 8: California Gay Marriage Ban

    Then you must acquit - if Jesus had hired Johnnie Cochran he would have got off.
  5. M

    News Federal Judge Strikes Down Prop 8: California Gay Marriage Ban

    I think they are on the dead sea post-it notes. Along with the bit about killing Jews and that everybody should follow Peter for 1600 years but then god wants them to all start their own churches.
  6. M

    News Federal Judge Strikes Down Prop 8: California Gay Marriage Ban

    Is that like the chewbacca defense? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca_defense)
  7. M

    Altitude, gravity, and air density effects on flight

    If the speed of sound was unlimited yes, otherwise things get a bit different when you want to go supersonic. Aerodynamic drag is proportional to the density of air * speed squared So going faster at the same altitude (ie same air density) uses more energy.
  8. M

    Other Solar Systems: What Are They?

    If history is any guide a small proportion of people will move there and then spend large amounts of time, money and effort keeping those other aliens out
  9. M

    Why do some of you use make-a-layman-scratch-head kinda words?

    I used the phrase "IEC power cord" in BestBuy in an attempt to buy a computer power lead. I think in the end I managed to make the sales assistant understand - "bendy wire thing goes into magic hole in wall where invisible stuff comes out and makes glowing box work"
  10. M

    News Federal Judge Strikes Down Prop 8: California Gay Marriage Ban

    They have a point, it's what happened when we let blacks or catholics or Jews marry, it's a slippery slope. Suppose we allowed people to marry Belgians - would you want your children growing up Belgian!
  11. M

    How reliable is an Expert Witness?

    Possibly the best you could do is agree that the particular witness was giving an honest and impartial opinion - which since the expert witnesses are hired by one side in the trial is almost by definition untrue.
  12. M

    IIT Student Asks: What CAD Software Should I Use?

    CATIA = biggest player. Somewhat expensive ie. unlikely to be using it unless it says Boeing or Airbus on your ID badge, ProEngineer/Solidworks = majority of the market. People argue endlessly about which is best which implies they are identical. Autocad Inventor = probably cheapest (still a...
  13. M

    US running out of places to store money

    To be honest their coffee isn't fantastic - I think it's more a case of not being starbucks! They call them small,medium, large, x-large for instance - not some madeup words, and they understand that tea should be made with boiling water, a technology that starbucks haven't discovered yet...
  14. M

    Test Prime Numbers - Peter's Program

    When you do if () ... this line ... another line Which line does the if() statement apply to in c/c++? In python, it's the indentation that controls the blocks, in c/c++ the indentation means nothing.
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