UngainlyTitan

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• Commented on Fossil fuels are dead (and here's why)
  Would not kick starting an asteroid and/or a lunar mining manufacturing industry be more aligned with Musk's long term goal of a Mars colony. I would have though a functioning Earth Lunar industrial base make a Mars colony more economically...
• Commented on Normal service will be resumed eventually
  Deepest sympathy, take as much time as you need to recover your health....
• Commented on The Inevitable Brexit Thread (1)
  Not the answer to the question I thought I was asking, which is really a question for remainers. If Brexit is reversed I do not see anyway that will stop the Brexiters from continuing their campaign and if anything I...
• Commented on The Inevitable Brexit Thread (1)
  I have a question: would a fresh Brexit referendum that reverses Brexit stick? That is would the Brexiters accept the vote result or would it lead to a "Stabbed in the back" narrative where they spend the next 10 years...
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  The Matilda could kill anything it could catch but with a top speed of 12 mph (later 16) there was not a lot it could catch. This also, as you can imagine, reduced the operational flexibility of the Matilda. The...
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  Damian, I am not disputing your claims about the importance of the Caucasian oil fields to the Soviet war effort but to the claim that the Germans could attacked Stalingrad much earlier then they did in 1942. They did not...
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  Then the decisive element would how big was the Soviet strategic oil reserve in 1941. I am extremely sceptical that the Germans could extend a sustained supply line to Stalingrad in the winter of 1941/42 to hold the city. Though...
• Commented on Someone please cancel 2019 already?
  I really doubt the Germans could manage the logistics for a push on the Caucasus in 1941, Stalingrad may be as close to Rostov as Rostov is to Moscow but Baku is as far from Stalingrad as Stalingrad is from...
• Commented on Peak Brexit
  I dunno about leftist, I am not really a leftist, though I am one of those that have moved somewhat to the left as I got older. But there are a couple of things, Never underestimate the importance of No...
• Commented on Peak Brexit
  Racism, misogyny and corrupt oligarchy are ongoing strands in the US body politic, at least to my limited knowledge going back to the 1850's. The party political banners they operate under vary over time and they do not necessarily move...
• Commented on Peak Brexit
  It is not so much the attitude I don't get it the sheer ineptitude with which it is pursued....
• Commented on Peak Brexit
  Charlie @31 I agree with your analysis but I have a question, How did the Tory party become so inept? A bunch of 2 years olds would have done a better job of negotiating Brexit and shaping public opinion as...
• Commented on Peak Brexit
  @22 link now appears to be now working. Odd!...
• Commented on Peak Brexit
  The gentry managing customs is what the Tories mean by a technological solution to the border. The Backstop "as far as I understand it" is a legal commitment from the British government that the full single market rules and relegation...
• Commented on Brexit! Means! Brexit!
  It is my understanding that the main obstacle to using Irish grain directly for human consumption (aside from beer and whiskey production) is moisture content. Simply Irish grain is too wet for modern milling and it is cheaper to import...
• Commented on Brexit! Means! Brexit!
  Ok, commitment to join the Euro and actually joining are different things but would a UK application to re-join the EU on the same terms as Poland, get support in the Commons? Also would Spain be tempted to veto unless...
• Commented on Brexit! Means! Brexit!
  I do not believe that the UK would get to remain, I think the best offer it would get would be the current transition remains in force until the UK has re-negotiated admission. The new membership deal would be no...
• Commented on Do my Homework
  From personal observation when younger, not in my day. That is women by an large did not diet at least not at the ages where it would affect their growth. I cannot speak for younger generations of Irish women, but...
• Commented on Holding Pattern
  I would echo Elderly Cynic's comments. As someone that spent 10 years nursing my mother with Dementia, nursing a loved one through an long illness or even just visiting them in a care home as they decline is a seriously...
• Commented on Why I barely read SF these days
  Please accept my condolences on the death of your friend, Hugh Hancock. I would agree that bumping up against world building has knocked me out of many sci-fi in the last number of years. A reason that I turned to...
• Commented on The crazy years
  Don't knock gaming so much. Gaming on the xbox kept me same as I dealt with my mothers mental decline due to Alzheimer's over the last 10 years, I was her fulltime carer, particularly the year or so where she...
• Commented on Silence is ending (soon)
  My condolences, and take your time with the writing....
• Commented on Report on Seat 14C
  Would a wormhole capable of swallowing a jetliner intact, leave enough evidence now for the physics community to workout its exit point? I am pretty sure it would leave enough evidence that there was a wormhole. In the form of...
• Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
  We nick Shauble's idea of the EU paying for the dole (while finessing the Germany supervises part to something like the EU parliament supervises) add also part pays for primary and secondary education with a mandatory civics and Euro language...
• Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
  Well that source takes its figure from an excel spread sheet which is available on This site which says it is it "HMRC Tax Receipts and National Insurance Contributions for the UK" which I just downloaded and cross checked against...
• Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
  Well! according to This source 53% or so of UK tax revenue comes form income (32%) and NIC(22%) now I do not know how National Insurance breaks down between employees and their employers but VAT and Corporation Tax only account...
• Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
  The foreign exchange is the biggie all right, particularly with the UK's current balance of payments. As I recall this brought down more than one UK government in the past. That said the taxes and income of the 300k or...
• Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
  There is nothing in the article linked, to suggest that it is anything other than the authors opinion masquerading as news. Yes the French in particular may have been pushing for EU military integration but nothing in the article suggest...
• Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
  I am very strongly against legislation via referenda but would be very strongly in favour of referenda to stop/delay or force reconsideration of stupid and/or deeply unpopular governmental decisions (at national or EU level) the rest I have no problem...
• Commented on Constitutional crisis ahoy!
  A note on the Scottish situation, would not any negotiation with the EU be considered interference in the internal affairs of the UK? Would that not be illegal under international law. So it would seem to me that the Scots...