Julian Bond

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• Commented on British cops arrest people just to add them to the DNA database, claims inquiry
  Apart from the database, what happens to the samples? Perhaps in the near future when calculation of the DnaCheckSum() becomes feasible, they can run the ID system....
• Commented on SFPD cops from imaginary anti-dance-party squad steal laptops
  Jeez' And people think the UK is a Police state....
• Commented on Traffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestors
  #52 France has its own madness as part of their game. What's curious about all this security theatre is that the majority of people caught by the game are middle class, middle of the road, relatively normal people. So you...
• Commented on BREAKING: Leaked UK government plan to create "Pirate Finder General" with power to appoint militias, create laws
  The scariest thing about this? No matter who you vote for, Mandelson gets in....
• Commented on Oil running out faster than the International Energy Agency admits, says whistleblower
  I've been waiting for the world's consumption to hit one or both of the two brick walls of resource depletion and pollution since 1972 when I first read "The Limits to Growth". I wonder if I'll live long enough to...
• Commented on Venn diagram tee shows the bittersweet between happy and sad
  Shame about the feral apostrophe in the last line....
• Commented on Bicycle defense kit fits in Altoids tin
  Good grief, there's a lot of angry people on the internetz today. Chill out people, try to be better at it, try not to f**k up! The most glorious part of riding bicycles is that you're almost completely outside the...
• Commented on Science fiction as a predictor of the present
  "we have been out-evolved by our own progeny". I bet you're hoping that will happen to you though it might be a little while. ;) However, I'm surprised to see the implied ageism in that last sentence. I would have...
• Commented on Heavy illegal downloaders buy more music
  El Reg has more from the same survey. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/11/01/demos_music_survey/ At the end is a graph showing revenue against price for a hypothetical "all you can eat" download service which peaks at about £5.00 per month. What's missing is the same...
• Commented on Nokia sues Apple over iPhone
  Absolutely. But 25 years? In the mobile phone business?...
• Commented on Nokia sues Apple over iPhone
  "Doesn't this sound like a casual, almost unconscious acceptance of the idea that intellectual property exists to prevent competitive innovation?" Exactly and that's exactly why copyright protection is necessary. But what's missing is 4 words "For a limited time". And...
• Commented on US military data-mines America's kids for war recruiting
  "There's no Christmas in February." c. Lou Reed Damn, the USA is weird....
• Commented on Searching for the skinny on Ralph Lauren ad (UPDATE: "We are responsible," says Ralph Lauren)
  "the world has a problem where the best solution is cake." Surely you meant Brioche, not cake. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake...
• Commented on Noted steampunk arrested for tweeting G20 demonstration
  Are you now or have you ever been a member of the pirate party?...
• Commented on List of books read by backpackers
  Lucius Shepherd. Life during wartime....
• Commented on The Masonic Myth, by Jay Kinney -- a no B.S. history of Freemasonry
  "replacing the phony facts with the real story. " That's what they want you to think. "I became interested in the Masons after reading Robert Anton Wilson's books." That's what you want them to think....
• Commented on Neil Young Archives, 1963-1972 (Blu-ray box set): Metzger's review
  So where's the torrent?...
• Commented on Everything you need to know about dubstep
  Like every other genre there's ever been, 90% of it is rubbish. For instance, - Burial gets an A+ - Jazzsteppa at Cargo gets an A - Burial and Four Tet collaborating only warrants a B - Benga and Skream...
• Commented on Retro-futuristic motorcycle
  Motorcycles have a wonderful design purity because the only question worth asking about them is "how well does it work". Much as I admire the style and some of the engineering, this thing has some challenges. viz. - Harley (copy)...
• Commented on CCTV density-maps of the UK
  What's missing here is a record of the number of people watching the CCTV in real time. And as usual it only looks at Council run CCTVs and not privately run ones or ones controlled by other agencies. See Stross...
• Commented on Looking for Bill Barker (UPDATE: Found!)
  Schwa flashback leads to searching the internet, followed two days later by this. Yup, me too. Spooky warnings from Central Coincidence Control, or just plain statistical randomness? You decide. I've had a Schwa "Stay Awake" sticker on the back of...
• Commented on GreenWheel: Swap the rear to make any bike electric
  I have a lot of trouble believing these claims compared with this http://nano-motor.co.uk/ Hub motor which fits pretty much any front fork. Several battery options. Neat design. Not stupidly expensive. Fitting the batteries inside the hub and getting useful performance?...
• Commented on Detroit and the future of America
  As people above have noted (eg Pittsburgh), this is nothing new. Detroit is just the latest example. America has always been fairly good at coping with these upheavals. People fill the U-Haul move across the country and start again. It's...
• Commented on Christian salt, a wingnut alternative to Kosher salt
  I always salt the water before boiling the noodles in the Spaghetti Monster ritual. Now I'm worried I might accidentally end up using religious salt and that would never do....
• Commented on We are Fractal Sheep
  I'm reminded of a Phil Dick story about a planet sized lunatic asylum where the different neurosis types had taken over the various societal roles. So for instance the manic depressives tried to lead, the paranoids were in charge of...
• Commented on UK's top snoop gets finked out by her neighbours
  If someone's not a "normal everyday person" exactly like you, then they could well be a member of al-Qaida. Well that's every politician then....
• Commented on European Commission demands a single, standard phone charger
  And yes, everything that can be charged with 5V 0.5A should just have a mini-USB for that, and data transfer where applicable. Same goes for GPS, Cameras, Bluetooth bits, iPods, powered portable speakers. While we're at it, anything that will...
• Commented on Japanese Surgical Mask Culture
  Here in the UK, we're notorious for struggling into work with 'flu[1] when we really should be at home. When we get there we then have to shake hands with everyone and now we have to air kiss as well....
• Commented on Samsung Lapfit secondary monitors are exact height of primary display
  There's a totally awesome laptop type product in there somewhere. A laptop with a 2nd screen hinged so it can either be used as a tablet, or swung round and used as a 2nd display....
• Commented on Show Us Your Saints
  No more heroes (any more)! Newton-Leibniz for giving us the tools. Einstein for starting the revolution, Schrodinger for explaining it, Godel for blowing it apart and Popper for analysing how it happened. There's still a lot to do for society...