Should be adopted as a new SI (Slashdot International) unit, along with Libraries of Congress per Second.

They're probably no different from regular battery terminals. Minor metallic taste, nothing special. The taste when wire-cutting with your front teeth is more interesting as you get the plastic overtones. Sniffing molten leaded solder (produces a thick smoke) is also fun. Reminds me a bit of slightly burned cinnamon toast.

I'm not normal, am I?

It's cheaper, the shielding is lighter, gives about the same results, and the press doesn't hate it so much.

However, it doesn't much matter which you'd use, you'd get superior results. Provided things didn't break in the bounce. That was a particularly nasty prang. The yellow flags are out for sure. I wonder if Murray Walker had predicted it would go smoothly.

The way I would have done it would be to have a radioisotope battery that could run the computers and heaters (if any) but not the instruments or radio. Those should be on a separate power system, running off the battery, although I see no reason why the computer couldn't have an idle mode which consumed minimal power specifically to top off the battery.

The reason? The instruments take a lot of power over a relatively short timeframe. Same with the transmitter. That's a very different characteristic from the computers, which probably have a very flat profile. No significant change in power at different times. The computers can also be digesting data between science runs.

Well, that's one reason. The other is you don't want single points of failure. If one power system barfs, say due to a kilometre-long vault and crunch, the other has to be sufficiently useful to get work done. The problem is weight constraints. It's hard to build gas jets that can steer a fridge-freezer through space, but much harder if there's a kitchen sink bolted on. That means less-than-ideal for both power sources, which means if both function properly, you want to match power draw profiles to power deliverable. That reduces sensitivity to demand, which means you can remove a lot of protection needed for mismatched systems.

What we really need is a collaboration with ESA and NASA to produce an "educational game" where you design a probe and lander (ignoring the initial rocket stage) by plugging components into a frame, then dropping the lander on a comet or asteroid with typical (ie: high) component failure rates. Then instead of abstract discussions, we can get an approximation to "build it and see", which is the correct way to engineer.

That's the problem. One or two civilized actions and people will start expecting it. Before long, the country will be peaceful and almost murder free. It is absolutely essential, to maintain current levels of paranoia, schizophrenia and xenophobia, to eliminate all vestiges of ethics and morality.

Wasn't that done in User Friendly?

You're right regarding age - they've hung up on me in the past if I've sounded too youthful, so when I'm trying to get a scammer to stay on the line, I make my voice all quavery like an old man.
I have a friend who signed me up for a free trial of adult diapers as an April Fool's joke... my guess is that's how they got my number.

Incidentally, the Fake name generator is great for keeping them on the line for a long time, giving fake credit card numbers and addresses until they catch on.

The Knights Hospitalers (I think, could have been Templars) had a fortress that was never conquered. Attackers would be bottlenecked, relative to defenders, were forever being harassed on the flanks and faced numerous blind corners.

Simply build a reproduction of this fortress around the White House. They can build a moat around it, if they like. Ringed by an electric fence. Oh, the moat needs sharks with lasers. Any suggestion for shark species?

The great thing about this is that the White House can remain a tourist attraction. Everyone loves castles, and taking blindfolded and handcuffed tourists through the maze of twisty little passages (all alike) would surely be a massive draw. BDSM is big business these days.

You mean, you've discovered politicians do one intelligent thing? Albeit for stupid reasons.

Immigration? Seriously? Puh-lease, go cry to the Native Americans already. How about those "annexed" Hawaiians who then had their land filled up with "immigrants" from the USA until a large enough number of them had moved in to vote for statehood. You worried that's what South Americans might do to your little paradise too? Turnabout's a bitch. Suck it up.

Massive? Well, that's relative. Last time I checked the plan it was most certainly NOT the plan to have a collection of small daemons long-term, many more functions will be rolled into it over time.

If that is true, then cite to her FB page. Otherwise, we only have Gjoni's word that those posts existed, and as noted above, he has significant reasons for fabricating them.

If they're adopting standards, then shouldn't that make using third-party hardware easier, since that hardware merely has to be standard-compliant?

The polygraph is just a modern version of Trial by Ordeal. Where about the only thing modernized is the type of witchcraft it detects.

It has the reliability and reputation of tealeaf-reading. Actually, more people probably believe in mysticism than lie detectors.

Under these circumstances, any organization relying on polygraph testing deserves everything it suffers. Believe Mystic Meg's advice on lottery numbers? You aren't entitled to a refund on either. Same applies here. Such devices should have been consigned to the scrap yard (and/or the museum of failed criminology) decades ago.

It's no more easy to be sympathetic to the ex-cop. The fact that he's basically correct is irrelevant. First, he's milking the market. Ten greenbacks for a digital book that's likely to be yanked by officialdom. Even Dangermouse was content with one. Besides, most of the tricks are well-known and meditation can take care of the rest.

From the looks of it, the guy also harasses negative reviewers. That's definitely strike two.

And I'm willing to bet that he has abused authority a few times himself. That's becoming par for the course.

Nonetheless, despite despising the lot, police harassment and the de-facto classification of failings within authority are absolute no-go areas and that supersedes my dislike of Doug Williams and his profiteering.

Pilkington's "Activ" glass will self-clean in the rain. Though with credit to your comment, they recommend hosing it during prolonged dry spells.

That "citation" is by Eron Gjoni. You can't say "according to her" when she didn't write a single word in what you're claiming for support. At best, you can say "according to this guy who really hates her, she believes [x horrible thing]" , but then everyone would be rightfully skeptical.