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Was reading the latest xkcd: Plutonium[^]
And remembered exactly how stupid people can get.
I give you the plutonium powered pacemaker[^]
The program was cancelled in 1972 because cremations.
Note the manufacturer. Next time they tell you that their products are perfectly safe and nothing can go wrong, point out this product to them. (Any answers regarding this should probably be posted to the soapbox)
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I give you the Shoe-fitting fluoroscope - Wikipedia[^]
Yes, that's right: a foot x-ray machine you look directly at run by shoe shop sales people ... what could possibly go wrong? 
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I'm old enough to remember them vaguely. It was kinda cool to see your foot like that.
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Well, actually....
Both Voyagers have been on their way with nuclear batteries since 1976. The launch was the most dangerous moment, since we would not really want to have some Plutonium flying around as debris in case the launch failed? But after that? In the outer solar system solar panels would have not been of much use. The nuclear batteries have given the Voyagers a far longer life than planned, giving us some data we would not have gotten so easily. Unfortunately, even nuclear batteries do not last forever. The day when they are not strong enough anymore to keep the computers going is forseeable and they are happy about every day the probes still last. We will not get there again any time soon.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Yes I know, but the risk of getting a Voyager falling down in your garden is pretty small.
Putting a tiny rod of one of the most poisonus materials known to man inside us is a bit different I think.
(Thinking of my father that had to exchange his pacemaker after a fall in the garden)
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Yes, they did not know it any better until they studied the effects of radiation after dropping two nuclear bombs on cities. Remember the pictures of soldiers coming out of their holes after nuclear tests or the men extinguishing fires on the ships that had survived the (I think) Castle Bravo Test[^] at Bikini.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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If it's good enough for V-GER, it's good enough for my phone!
Correction: For Your phone -- I don't want the bloody stuff in my pocket!
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I used to say that about my favorite little processor. Too bad it most probably was a myth, even if the Voyagers' computers were indeed made by RCA and with early CMOS logic to cut down the power requirements.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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So - would you accept one or die?*
How many surgeries would you go through to replace one with batteries that die?
Now - they can recharge externally - hopefully not with the same battery "failures" that have become every more common (talk about bad heartburn . . .).
* Obviously rhetorical as you're not presently committed to the outcome.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos wrote: So - would you accept one or die?*
Since there are alternatives the question is moot.
W∴ Balboos wrote: How many surgeries would you go through to replace one with batteries that die?
In the case of my father: two.
Half a day at the hospital for checks, but the actual op took only a few minutes. They put the box just under the skin below the collarbone.
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You should have read the answers before answering...   
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Two weeks of sun shine, blue sky, and midteens temperatures (thats almost 60F).
Loving it!
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60 feet! that's some big surf. no wonder the teens love it.
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Absolutely lovely: 19C here in (normally darkest, dampest) Wales.
I suspect that it's a combination of Brexit and the English Rugby Collapse that causes this good weather!
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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WHat! We stuffed the Frogs, thats all that matters! 
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Hah! That's old news, we stuffed 'em as well! 
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Ouch! THats got to hurt.
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Just wait until the grockles invade.
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We will have a few months yet. Mind you, I wont mind if it is as good as last year. 32C, blue sky, blue sea, it looked like the Med.
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I have been looking up, what poisonous snakes we have here. It mostly came down to the Common Adder[^]. Does anyone here know how dangerous the Half Adder or Full Adder[^] are?
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Depends on how they are optimised.
Sent from my Amstrad PC 1640
Never throw anything away, Griff
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Ok, and how does the application of Booplean algebra make them more or less dangerous? Just in case I will ever have to build my own ALU.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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watch the black ones, they are ... different.
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