Paul

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• Commented on Dark-skinned nativity scene angers conservatives in Verona
  "ferret out foreigners without proper permits in Coccaglio, a small League-led town east of Milan". They've also advocated for separate buses and trains for immigrants, banning new mosques, and getting rid of all Chinese and kebab restaurants in the towns...
• Commented on Ad campaign for pro-assisted suicide group
  I agree with Anonymous and allen I like the basic idea, but I think the execution is poorly handled. Making more of the fact that these people *want* to have a dignified death that they can control is important in...
• Commented on Another Global Disease Bites the Dust?
  @CANTFIGHTTHEDITE That's irony, right? I find it so hard to tell these days, the real anti-vaxxers use such crazy arguments so often they've started to turn into a self-parody....
• Commented on Terrified London cops spending millions gathering useless intelligence on peaceful protestors
  At the next big demo in the UK, everyone, and I do mean everyone, should bring some kind of video camera with them. It could be a mobile phone, but you can get cheap cameras for about £35 now, or...
• Commented on 86-year-old WWII vet on gay marriage: "What do you think I fought for in Omaha Beach?"
  @Xenu - You are obviously reading a different version of this article to me, where it says his opinions are more or less relevant than anyone else's. I keep looking and all I can see is a brief comment about...
• Commented on Vegas uses computers to nab card counters
  Oh, and here is the researcher's home page: http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/staff/jessehoey/research/blackjack/index.php...
• Commented on Vegas uses computers to nab card counters
  Not Vegas. This has been developed at the University of Dundee in the UK with the help of Dundee Casino. So absolutely nothing to do with Vegas....
• Commented on Disney gags on "Ho White" beer
  I'm with Tensegrity on this one. While I hate agreeing with Disney, on this one they are in the right (legally at least). This is clearly visually riffing on the Disney version of Snow White and the Dwarves, but is...
• Commented on "Happy Splasher" could face charges for driving through puddle to drench kids
  @Ingmar The highway code which defines most of the rules of the road (in conjunction with various road traffic acts) in the UK is online at direct.gov.uk The key bit here is section 144 To quote: Section 144 You MUST...
• Commented on Watch What You Say About Welsh
  @danlalan I fully expect that to be the basis of the next Dan Brown novel. @maralenenok Agreed, it's the same for most languages. Most european languages have departed to some extent from their written form over the years, which doesn't...
• Commented on Moon bombing is bad, for it will make the aliens very angry indeed.
  @VagabondAstronomer Thanks for that link, very interesting. Nice to get a sense of how insignificant that impact really was to the moon, although I'm sure it would have smarted if you were underneath :) The last NASA post I read...
• Commented on Moon bombing is bad, for it will make the aliens very angry indeed.
  @morgaen Wasn't really meant as a rant, more a plea for sanity :o) @arikol Yeah, in hindsight she could be taking the piss, but it didn't read like that. Maybe my sarcasm detector is a bit on the blink today....
• Commented on Moon bombing is bad, for it will make the aliens very angry indeed.
  @Cory Good to hear it :o) And so succinctly put. It's especially important to Earth science because the evidence at the moment suggests that the Earth and Moon were once both parts of the same planet that got smacked apart....
• Commented on Moon bombing is bad, for it will make the aliens very angry indeed.
  "blowing bits of the moon up" They are not blowing it up, there is no bomb or explosives involved, just a hunk of metal, much like all the (much larger and energetic) metallic asteroids that have been slamming into the...
• Commented on In praise of IBM ThinkPad warranty service
  Cory, nice to hear a good service story. Interesting that you contrast it with Apple. I've had two Macs, and while I love OS X, I think my next laptop is likely to be a TP with Linux now. I've...
• Commented on Franken passes law denying fed contracts to companies that support rape of employees
  @Avram Agreed, how is such a clause even legal. I've heard of "no sue" clauses which stop you suing the employer about certain things, but how can a private job contract prevent you seeking justice? That's nuts. More evidence that...
• Commented on Roman Polanski on To Catch a Predator
  Can I just say thank you to BB for not being among the "he's an artistic genius, therefore shouldn't be prosecuted" camp. I really don't get the logic of some of the people defending Polanski. I don't see how having...
• Commented on Britain seeks ban on glass pint-glasses to prevent bar-brawl injuries
  @MBATEY That was exactly what I thought. A lot of clubs already do this, simply to prevent accidents and damage. And hell, if you are drinking cheap larger I don't think the plastic is going to ruin your taste experience....
• Commented on UK Border Agency's pseudoscientific "race-detection" DNA/isotope tests has scientific experts "horrified"
  I wonder how long it's going to take for this to all get chucked out by an appeals judge? Immigration lawyers will be lining up the expert witnesses for their first opportunity to get this stuff struck down as the...
• Commented on How Islamist gangs use chat rooms to lure, torture and kill Iraqi gays
  That's called "reaction formation" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_formation) It's an idea that's been around for some time. I seem to remember reading a paper that used brain imaging of people that showed men who had strongly homophobic attitudes were often (not always) noticably...
• Commented on Britain's postal-code database online at Wikileaks: produced at public expense, not owned by the public
  @EPLURIBUSUNUM You are technically correct but the reality is rather different. About the only *real* power the Queen has is in choosing who goes to Buck-Palace garden parties, and I bet the government has a say in that as well....
• Commented on Britain's postal-code database online at Wikileaks: produced at public expense, not owned by the public
  @Cory I kind of agree with you, but maps are only worthwhile if someone keeps them up-to-date. Personally I think that the OS could probable give away some of it's data, perhaps down to a certain level of detail, but...
• Commented on Britain's postal-code database online at Wikileaks: produced at public expense, not owned by the public
  Mapping is a bad example. You might want to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordnance_Survey#Access_to_data_and_criticisms The OS is in fact mostly self funding now, through the sale of maps and map data. There are still issues about some aspects of its work, and in...
• Commented on Opponent of Republican who shouted "You lie!" at Obama is given <s>$25,000</s> $69,000 by outraged voters
  @MDH If he was at PMQs he'd have been barred from the house for a while. Calling someone a liar in the House of Commons is considered *very* bad form. You are supposed to rebut "miss-truths" with facts, not by...
• Commented on Climate Camp to London cops: We won't tell you where the next camp is because you keep beating the crap out of us
  Lovely :o) The best way to deal with the kind of unreasonable violence they were subjected to is to be totally reasonable and peaceful, to through it into stark relief. I especially love how the voice over is done by...
• Commented on Pixar Grants Dying Kid's Last Wish to See "Up"
  @brett Agreed, it's a shame the hospice company couldn't have shown the same kind of effort that the guys from Pixar did....
• Commented on Pixar Grants Dying Kid's Last Wish to See "Up"
  @boinkology It's not uncommon for people to be in so much pain that any sufficient dose of painkillers would be fatal, or would essentially knock them out. In fact this is the area where the law gets a little vague....
• Commented on Pixar Grants Dying Kid's Last Wish to See "Up"
  This is one of those awful/heart-warming stories where you don't know whether to smile or cry. @samu - agreed, that is just such a horrible thing for a kid (or anyone for that matter) to go through. And well-done Pixar...
• Commented on Cartoonist Lucy Knisley's comic strip about a 7-day-fast
  Agreed, cute comic, I'll have to take a look at more of her stuff when i have time. I've done the fasting thing from time to time, and it certainly has a positive effect, I felt great, but it is...
• Commented on Japan: Man Beaten Into False Confession of Child Murder Set Free After 17 Years in Prison
  Of course the really sad thing about false convictions is that they are always a double tragedy. On the one hand, an innocent man spent 17 years in a Japanese jail (and yes, they are a special kind of hell),...