So what if Rowling's work was rejected? I for one wouldn't read another after reading the first Potter book. It's derivative, predictable and dull. Much better fantasy works have been written for its target age group. I am, however, always puzzled by fiction aimed at teens. When I was that age I found most work supposedly aimed at me to be patronizing in the extreme, by the time you are old enough for teen fiction you are probably old enough for adult fiction. Those who are impressed by Rowling's oevre probably haven't read much other fantasy.

We should always be mindful of the fact that in fiction as in all other fields "popular" is not the same as "good".

I've always thought the infamous "elk test" used in parts of Europe is a bloody silly idea. The most common failure in the elk test is where a car rolls over. The manufacturers solution is usually to fit "stability control" which is a fancy name for deliberately making the car understeer, either electronically or by messing with the geometry. A stupid solution since a car that understeers is less manoeuvrable so it is more likely to hit the obstacle. It's also an irrelevant test since we are conditioned to brake when confronted with an obstacle. In all the RTAs I've seen drivers have panic braked rather than swerving, in some cases swerving would have been the better solution. So the manufacturers are making their cars understeer (i.e. handle badly) for no good reason.

Yay!

Unfortunately the news media will never listen. They are convinced that the public are so stupid that they can't tell one number is bigger than another without a graphic to illustrate it. Of course the real purpose of infographics is to mask how little work journalists actually do these days. The word count of the average newspaper is much lower than it was even ten years ago. And every news program is padded out by such techniques as anchors "interviewing" their own reporters, reporters repeating what the anchor has just said and pointless vox pops - actual content is down massively on what it was a few years ago. 24 hour rolling news? The same 15 minutes repeated 96 times.

Somebody needs to explain to those idiots that not every picture is worth a thousand words. Some of them are only worth one word.

Wow! You're not allowed to drink when you're 19. What sort of country do you live in there?

@fraoch

Oh dear, oh dear. Are you really one of those jerks who thinks girls are impressed by a handbrake turn. Next time there's a cruise in your area why don't you pop over. What do you see? Lots of spotty ados inpressing each other with their girl pulling skills, but not a girl in site.

Anyhoo, it's all well and good being able to park like that (and I can, I used to autotest) but once you've done it once you realise the only way to get your car out is to wait for one of the other cars to move or borrow a fork lift.

Kind of funny, but pain charts are hopeless anyway. Different people feel different amounts of pain for the same injury or illness. I could be that some of us are tougher than others, it could be that our whole nervous system differs. It is, however, a fact that levels of pain are not universal and are therefore a poor measure of the seriousness of an ailment.

Clever photography, but the flame path on that engine is screwed. Needs some work.

Got to ask, is there any photographic evidence? I suppose it would be too much to ask that there was a photographer in the area at the time.

@Felixthecat

So when did you start writing fiction?

@Wes

I just watched the video in your link and I can see why this new guy gets all the attention. That is the worst video quality imaginable, it's not just that it isn't worth posting on the internet its not even worth its own makers time in watching it. 10/10 for effort 0/10 for results.

Now go and look at the images captured by the dude from Huddersfield. Spot the difference?

Or he could drive them...

I was always taught that the Turing machine was a thought experiment. Surely, then, building one would be akin to putting a cat in a box with a vial of poison and some radioactive matter?