Such a pity the Germans didn't pursue this more vigorously... the war would have ended so much faster, what with the wasted resources on such a ludicrous plan.
I read the article with great interest; I even read the comments. And one of the comments reveals that magnetic tape was in fact invented in... 1928, in Germany. By 1933 they had already invented the ring shaped tape head (source: Wikipedia). So the fact that AT&T shelved the "discovery" of the magnetic tape in 1934 means exactly nothing.
"However, phosphor powder is highly toxic and its price is expensive." So they replaced the expensive powder with gold. Genius!
Of course, I realize that, depending on the actual quantities, gold nanoparticles may well be less expensive than whatever quantities of phosphor powder was needed alternatively, and it's certainly not toxic. But still, it sounds funny.
@Pichu71: well, regardless of what we might think, we all make (and pass) judgments on aesthetic grounds. Even you, who prefer the word "different" to the word "ugly", are happy to point out French is a beautiful language (which I agree). For the record, there are several examples of ugly and absurd decisions in my own native Romanian as well (and I'm not thinking about irregular verbs and other natural particularities of the language) -- and some do have some interesting stories behind them.
Anyway, cool idea with the stitch -- and happy birthday to your brother!
@Pichu71, I'm a Romanian who speaks English, understands French and some Italian, and can get away with ordering from a German menu. I'm aware of the particularities of various languages, and am not quick to judge them.
This one however is seriously messed up -- not only that it looks awful from a typographical point of view (which it does, no matter how you look at it), but it's also an exception to their own rules (no spaces before commas and periods, but spaces before question marks, exclamation marks, colons and semicolons; also, no spaces inside brackets, but spaces inside quotation marks).
Anyway, I suspect there's a story worth telling behind these rules -- they're just too arbitrary to make sense (which, incidentally, qualifies as absurd).
I am gobsmacked to confirm your assertion (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Conventions_typographiques#Signes_de_ponctuation). In the name of all that is good and normal, why would they decide for such an absurd rule?
And don't forget the engineer take, which has been featured on Neatorama on Feb 9, 2008: "An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be".
"Secondly, because the majority of blood components have short shelf lives, even if there are enough donations to cover immediate needs, banks ideally want to have enough around in case of a national or local emergency."
Does that mean that, in the absence of emergencies, a lot of blood gets thrown away on a regular basis?
Unbelievable, they needed to explain that in 2010! Several sports take advantage of the same principle in so many ways -- in decreasing order of noticeability: table tennis, baseball, tennis, golf, and obviously soccer as well (where the curving is probably more noticeable than in golf).
@Jim M, pool and related games do use the same general principle, but the cause is friction against the table, not against air. Your example is not wrong, but it's counter-intuitive.
China might be worse off than other states at manipulating the press in general, but this particular bit is certainly what any space agency worth its salt would do.
The article, as it stands, presents two options: "Can you?", and "Give up?". I know I'm fringing on trolling here, but when it comes to Nicholas Cage, the third option is quite valid: "Care not".
I didn't know Betty White is hosting SNL this week-end. But I don't live in a cave -- I'm that guy you heard about once, back in high school, when they taught you about planet Earth. Yes, you guessed it: you're fortunate enough to be read by the guy living on the other continent generally known as Back There.
Kind regards from Back Here, The Different Continent Guy
Of course, I realize that, depending on the actual quantities, gold nanoparticles may well be less expensive than whatever quantities of phosphor powder was needed alternatively, and it's certainly not toxic. But still, it sounds funny.
Anyway, cool idea with the stitch -- and happy birthday to your brother!
This one however is seriously messed up -- not only that it looks awful from a typographical point of view (which it does, no matter how you look at it), but it's also an exception to their own rules (no spaces before commas and periods, but spaces before question marks, exclamation marks, colons and semicolons; also, no spaces inside brackets, but spaces inside quotation marks).
Anyway, I suspect there's a story worth telling behind these rules -- they're just too arbitrary to make sense (which, incidentally, qualifies as absurd).
I am gobsmacked to confirm your assertion (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikip%C3%A9dia:Conventions_typographiques#Signes_de_ponctuation). In the name of all that is good and normal, why would they decide for such an absurd rule?
I suppose us backward people in the EU are forbidden from watching this as that may hurt the formidable sales of Thriller in Europe.
Does that mean that, in the absence of emergencies, a lot of blood gets thrown away on a regular basis?
@Jim M, pool and related games do use the same general principle, but the cause is friction against the table, not against air. Your example is not wrong, but it's counter-intuitive.
I didn't know Betty White is hosting SNL this week-end. But I don't live in a cave -- I'm that guy you heard about once, back in high school, when they taught you about planet Earth. Yes, you guessed it: you're fortunate enough to be read by the guy living on the other continent generally known as Back There.
Kind regards from Back Here,
The Different Continent Guy