Remember how the Animus works, the genetic memories of the ancestor end when the next generation of their family that leads to the subject is conceived. (See the scene with Altair and Maria in ACII). So, we know the playable section of the game with Ezio must end before he conceives the child that eventually leads to…

Why don't we have nuclear container ships? It seems like a very safe use for nuclear power, if the reactor has an accident it's likely to be offshore and it has unlimited access to cooling water. Unless it happens in port, and contaminates one of the two densest urban areas on earth...

Two stroke diesels are very different from two-stroke gas. They use supercharger boost pressure to blow the exhaust gas out when the piston is at the bottom of the stroke, doing intake and exhaust at the same time, then close the exhaust valve before the intake to trap some pressurized clean air inside the cylinder.…

Not pictured: gigantic freaking warhorse bred to haul his plated butt around.

If they cost less to make and operate the incandescent would already be dead. Technologies only coexist when there are tradeoffs between them, if one was a clear winner it would monopolize the market.

I think a lot of the Tea Partiers think that regulations on anthrax and endangered birds are undue restrictions on liberty as well.

For the completely blind, what about a haptic feedback device? A 3D model of the area in front of them, that they can feel with a force-feedback device built into a cane? Or a flat topographic map that reproduces itself as bumps on a tablet, which can also function as a braille e-reader and text translator? Also, add…

One of the defining characteristics of being blind is that it's harder to find and keep work, so on average they get by on less money. Even if a lot of their compensatory technology and disability benefits are paid for by "the government", the state doesn't have an unlimited budget in any part of the world, and not…

If they had the good sense to make it plug in with USB, then it would work with all three current consoles, PCs, Macs, and all currently known future consoles as well. Much bigger market.

Broadband services are natural monopolies, meaning that it's not really sensible for more than one physical connection to be built all the way to your house if you're only going to pay for one. So most people are ever going to have one or maybe two options for broadband in most of the country outside major cities. In…

A lot of these home remedies are impossible to market because of shelf stability or batch processing issues, so it makes sense that the commercial brands tend to compromise. Kind of like how tomato breeders have to worry about appearance and bruise resistance for shipment, while home growers can concentrate on how it…

In one of the first-look videos there's a dock connector on the bottom with charging contacts, so I must assume there's a rechargeable battery inside. You can kind of see it in the pic above, but when you look at it straight-on there's clearly some copper contacts inside those two holes on either side of that bottom…

When you pronounce "H" as a letter, it's said like "aitch", which is pretty unambiguously a vowel sound. Just like M or N, the pronunciation of the letter's name influences the choice, so "an mp3" or "an NSA agent" sound better.

@BleedingThumbsMurphy: Day two: "Classic chest", in seven-polygon hyper-rigid glory.

You say mod or update, and I hear free DLC. Heavily supporting the game for free between releases helps ease the sting of splitting it into three parts.

Rich Hall, aka Otis Lee Crenshaw, aka the token American on QI. Yes!

@ObviousFanboyShill: It would cost like several thousand dollars... so yes, probably.

@Jonn: Wing roots. The actual wings - for want of a better word - haven't been installed in that shot.

@gblock: Those are the roots where they attached the bladeywing things.

Where is dark sorceress Tron Bonne in 9? It's really missing something without her.