Jay Levitt

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• Commented on Music from a strange CD-r found in Joshua Tree, Calif.
  Is there a Guitar Center close to Alpha Centauri? Where do you think Mars Music got its name? Duh. (Pro tip: Only the Terran stores went bankrupt.)...
• Commented on Change, alright -- at Little Green Footballs
  If you want to see what LGF used to be like at its worst, check out the Little Green Footballs? or Late German Fascists? quiz....
• Commented on Visualizing up to ten dimensions
  A counterpoint to the string theorists here who say that, while this may be a nice bit of multimedia, it's lousy physics: I've studied voiceover narration, and he's no good at that either. If someone can confirm that the Flash...
• Commented on Bob Dylan mistaken for hobo, 40 years after Woodstock
  @PlanetTom: It is truly hard to bargle nawdle zouss....
• Commented on Compuserve shuts down
  @Jimtron: Yes, they did. Fun fact: Per the guy who invented it, they're pronounced "jiff" - the G is soft....
• Commented on Godaddy: Don't Buy dot-TV Domains, The Island is Sinking.
  I think the story-behind-the-joke is that GoDaddy can't offer .tv domains, so they're spreading funny(ish) false rumors about it instead. I have an .fm domain, and I think the same company maintains the .fm, .am and .tv registries. For one...
• Commented on Are kidnapped children tax-deductible?
  I think we need to be forward-thinking about these issues. What are the implications of this for tax planning?...
• Commented on Theremin controls electronic gear
  Y'know, I keep thinking, "I want a gesture-based mode-switching device for my Mac." F'rinstance, I could wave my left hand, and my mouse would go from "pointer" to "window mover" (courtesy MondoMouse). But no such thing exists. Then I see...
• Commented on Dead body delivered to pet store
  No, no, I said he was swimming with the fishes now.....
• Commented on Emailing while asleep
  @Hallpass: Nice! I always say "Side effects may include shopping." I have a friend who got a surprise delivery from UPS: Shoes. Really ugly shoes. Really ugly shoes she didn't remember ordering. I, myself, have a Total Immersion Swimming DVD,...
• Commented on Magenta isn't a real color?
  @54: For that matter, magenta toner isn't all that standardized, although cyan and yellow seem to be. Many printer manufacturers use a magenta that's much closer an RGB "magenta-ish" photo target than to magenta. I assume that's to get better-looking...
• Commented on Carl Malamud, rogue archivist, in Wired
  That's awesome. Wasn't he Mr. Multicast? I always wish that hadn't been made mostly-futile by routers; it'd be handy for lots of applications....
• Commented on False Memories of tragic and happy events
  Derren Brown talks about the process of creating false memories in his book Tricks of the Mind. For example: Say there's a coin trick that involves passing a coin from his right hand to his left, and then disappearing; in...
• Commented on Singularity Summit: Oct 25, San Jose CA
  Interestingly, in an attempt to get ahead of negative publicity, the Singularity itself has scheduled its own summit at the Aspen Institute in late June, 2009....
• Commented on Stasi-themed bar in Berlin
  I've always wondered why all the tacky witch/Halloween theming in Salem, MA isn't just as bad as the idea of, say, a Six Flags over Auschwitz park. I guess I won't have to wonder too much longer....
• Commented on Man electrocutes pickle to demonstrate power of Christianity
  @Iwood: "It's big and green and just says "Jesus". WTF does that do?" I believe it makes them say "Jesus! Did you see that? Jesus Christ!" @GE Gardner: Actually, this debate goes back to before the Common Era. Rabbi Akiva,...
• Commented on Sabotage manual from 1944 advises acting like an average 2008 manager
  @Teresa: Thanks for chiming in; I know just enough about typesetting to be dangerous. You're right, of course; in a day when only typesetters could set type, any type that was set was going to be set RIGHT, ligatures and...
• Commented on Sabotage manual from 1944 advises acting like an average 2008 manager
  Takuan's right; same document. Which doesn't mean it's real, but Occam's razor argues that it is. Weird....
• Commented on Chabon's "Yiddish Policemen's Union": wonderful blend of hard-boiled and Yiddish ironies
  Never-before-seen excerpts: "Go ahead, remain silent. No, it's fine; it's your right. You can do that. I don't mind." "Could I see maybe some identification, if you're not too busy?" Busting a noisy party: "So, nu, what's with the racket?"...
• Commented on Sabotage manual from 1944 advises acting like an average 2008 manager
  @Klenow: I think you're right; it's too good to be true. I don't wanna be the guy in that College Humor video going "Photoshopped! This chart is Photoshopped", but... - Funny how the cover page is in Futura but the...
• Commented on Bananas are atheist nightmares!
  Critically important note... In case anyone else hasn't seen this clip before, and has a short attention span, and only watches the first part: Kirk Cameron has NOT turned into a funny-looking middle-aged guy with a mustache. Kirk Cameron comes...
• Commented on Laptop thieves nabbed with help from Mac software
  They had to use "alleged" because style guidelines require it when the claim is an obvious fake, as this one is. I mean, come on... IPv6 worked? Over a network? What sort of gullible suckers do these fraudsters take us...
• Commented on Backwards singing video with comedy reverse-film effects
  I forwarded this to my old music teacher, Davey Rakowski, who used to use a "Yak Bak" recording pen to say and sing backwards phrases backwards, and play them back forwards: http://home.earthlink.net/~ziodavino/album1_025.htm But then he reminded me that he once...
• Commented on Chicago police ask you to report people using maps or taking notes in public
  So if you park your car somewhere and walk away (which I do a couple times a day) @Air: First, I wish you wouldn't discuss terrorist techniques here. This is a public forum. They might get ideas. Second, I really...
• Commented on Fun flash game - Chat Noir
  Tip: The Flash version is OK, but the real-life version (marketed in the U.S. as "Get Your Kitty Into the Carrier to Take Him To The Vet For His Weekly Glucose Reading") is much, much more challenging, and the graphics...
• Commented on Albums reissued on reel-to-reel tape
  @Joe: Say what? CDs allow 96 dB SNR. A quick Google is showing people talking about 60-70dB on tape. I gotta say, 15ips on 1/4" is not all that impressive, it's certainly not any better than your average CD, and...
• Commented on Facebook will sink under the weight of socially obligated "friendships"
  Compartmentalization might work, but it's probably too complicated for people to set up. And when you think about it, there are even gradations of those compartments. Yes, you have your club friends and your work friends, but you also have...
• Commented on David Lynch's "invincible university" effort off to bad start in Germany
  I understand his plans for a German championship bracket-style marathon series fell through as well. Apparently he was going to hold a bunch of qualifying rounds, or "apprentice races", and then the winners of those rounds would compete in a...
• Commented on Science and carbs - A big fat lie revisited
  @Ogvor: Genetics would be too depressing. It's the Jan Brady "I don't want to grow up to look like Aunt Jenny" problem. (Although my maternal grandmother is slender and fit enough that on 9/11, she was able at age 89...
• Commented on Due process too much hassle for DC dept. of motor vehicles
  @Crash / @Pyros: Do you both really not know that D.C. residents don't have a voting representative in Congress? @Stadanko / @the article: I guess the implication is that it was hard for administrators to say "no" to appellants in...