Malabar is 25 or something isn't he?

Happy birthday though. Young git.

"Don't fall for this bullshit, fall for a completely different line of bullshit"

Generic cheap spuds in the supermarket are "forced" - i.e. they are watered very heavily and continuously to ensure a good size and thin skin. I know this because I live next to an enormous potato farm which supplies Tesco.

Malabar is 25 or something isn't he?

Happy birthday though. Young git.

Maybe for the generics, but the Asda Extra Special Marabel potatoes are very tasty indeed and cost about £1/kg. That doesn't strike me as a lot of money.

26...Miss Malabar says he cries when she calls him old though, so I wanted in on that action.

I agree with Chinny.
Generic cheap spuds in the supermarket are "forced" - i.e. they are watered very heavily and continuously to ensure a good size and thin skin. I know this because I live next to an enormous potato farm which supplies Tesco.

Who cares!? The point is you've grown them yourself.

Are potatoes really that important?

Food that has a taste is important, yeah. It's likely more nutritious and certainly more enjoyable.

And thanks for the birthday wishes, chaps. I've still got two days off work, and am now in town having a nice day out with Miss Malabar.

Old news possibly but I never heard of it before. Inspired by a thought experiment some clever people reckon to have made a vehicle capable of sailing straight downwind quicker than the wind propelling it:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/f ... rthanwind/

Old news possibly but I never heard of it before. Inspired by a thought experiment some clever people reckon to have made a vehicle capable of sailing straight downwind quicker than the wind propelling it:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/f ... rthanwind/

WTF did I just play?

http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blo ... sform.html

I can see why people were so sceptical, though. It's still fucking baffling even when you see it done. If it had a clutch or something and you put blocks behind the wheels and faced it into the wind then I guess you should be able to set off forwards, into the breeze, which is amazing.

Although, I'm dubious about the "straight downwind" bit. That shouldn't work! Reporter fail.

That's the whole point of it isn't it?

Well I can't see it working unless it's "tacking" across the wind. Haven't seen the video or read the article properly yet though.

But if you think about the "straight downwind" case, the wind that's propelling it obviously runs out once the vehicle speed matches it.

If I transfer money to a my paypal account can I use that to put money into my bank account? It says there's a £5 charge in withdrawals, so that means I can do that right?

Yes, and there's no fee if it's over £50 if I remember rightly. Takes about 3-4 days for the money to reach my account.

Whatever it is I'm doing, it's 400times better than being a scientist.

Except for, perhaps, being Brian Cox, as I like his radio program on R4. He sounds like a clever, thoughtful man.

So you just like his voice and hair?

As you say it's possible to sail a boat downwind faster than the wind by tacking, I think the idea is that the propellor is somehow harnessing those same crosswind effects and transferring them to the wheels

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_fa ... n_the_wind

Am I reading this correctly:
http://www.tethers.com/HiVOLT.html

The way this reads suggests that this wouldn't be a localised modification, but a systematic degrading of the (targeted) Van Allen belt(s). Preliminary analyses indicate that a HiVOLT System can reduce the MeV particle flux in the inner electron belt to 1% of its natural levels within about two months. WTF?

I think the upper bit of my brain kind of gets how that works, but some lower down, sub concious section is yelling "THAT CAN'T HAPPEN! DO NOT WANT!"

DO WANT.

Except for, perhaps, being Brian Cox, as I like his radio program on R4. He sounds like a clever, thoughtful man.