ndollak

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• Commented on A girl at the 1978 comic-con
  Girls (of all species) have ALWAYS been more than welcome. C'mon, ladies! Mingle!...
• Commented on Peter Tchaikovsky (and Friends) Messing Around With A Wax Cylinder Phonograph
  That was fun! I come from a musical family, and we used to play with tape recorders all the time, fooling with the speed settings, running stuff backward, etc. Sounds like we're in good company! I've heard of the Brahms...
• Commented on Do you understand my first-grade child's homework?
  I teach, and I often find these worksheets terribly confusing. It's mostly because these workbooks are "simplified" (read: "dumbed-down") with the misguided idea that kids are too easily confused by straight information. The over-simplification results in the omission of so...
• Commented on 3D medical viz system with Xbox controller
  I almost blew up all the kidney stones on level 5... Then this stupid aneurism showed up and killed my perfect score. Game over....
• Commented on Alien Appearance
  @ kaiza (#28) The insects you're thinking of were from the Carboniferous Period, before dinos and even before synapsids like Dimetrodon. In addition to higher temperatures, the oxygen content of the atmosphere was higher. (Fires touched off by lightning were...
• Commented on Vader and Death Star pregnancy costume
  I like how the primary weapon laser beams mimic the popped-out belly-button. Congratulations, and may the Force be with you!...
• Commented on Baby Star Trek Classic uniform onesies
  I agree with Ernst on the detailing. The above photo is pretty cute, though, with the Starfleet-captain-to-be gazing into a hopeful future... Or just gurgling at the plush Tribble the photographer is dangling......
• Commented on Flu, and You: The Basics
  Thanks! Very informative (although it wasn't anything I didn't already know). It would be nice if this were to be aired on the 6:00 news so the hand-wringers could hear about it from someone other than myself. @sjthornton - I...
• Commented on 1.7 sextillion dollar suit filed against B of A
  BoA is crippling our business with made-up "overdrafts" and ruined my credit rating. Does anyone know of a class action suit against them in which we could participate?...
• Commented on It's Gadhafi Mania!
  Back when the movie "Innerspace" came out, the character called "The Cowboy" was a dead-ringer for Gadhafi at the time....
• Commented on Scary alien hand in real estate listing photo?
  E.T. sell home....
• Commented on Unusual police sketch
  @ #23 (JFrancis) - Some police sketch artists know the correct proportions for the face, some don't. I applied for work as a police sketch artist, and was told I was "over-qualified." So apparently drawing ability is considered a secondary...
• Commented on Botfly maggot removed from head -- the video
  C'mon, guys, Belize is not to blame. You can pick up botfly larvae anywhere botflies & mosquitos live in harmony. Brave lady! I like. Not knowing that "Nature Break" is the name of her organization/website, when I saw "Nature Break"...
• Commented on The pleasure of reading stories that don't bore
  Reading this article and the resultant thread reminds me of something sadly funny. A number of years ago I edited a novel written by an elderly woman who had never had anything published (and had apparently never written anything other...
• Commented on HOWTO defeat the Klan with humor and bravery
  @ #3 (LYSY404) - In some parts of the deep South, the KKK's influence permeated far into the local government. In such cases, Klansmen did just about whatever they felt like, restricted only by fear of reprisal by angry mobs....
• Commented on Dutch government tries to stop 13-year-old girl from sailing around world solo
  @#38 (Anonymous) - I would hope that, being Dutch, she knows better than to challenge the Cape of Good Hope, esp. during a storm. The last Dutchman who tried that wound up doomed to sail endlessly, playing an interminable game...
• Commented on Beatles covers from the Muppet Show
  Sesame Street's where I first heard "Yellow Submarine" ("Yellow Strawberine")! However, although I enjoyed (and continue to enjoy) the movies "Yellow Submarine" and "Help!", I never became a Beatles fan. Consequently, I never heard "Ob-la-di" until AFTER I'd studied Latin...
• Commented on Wikileaks publishes large cache of US neo-Nazi group's emails
  Geez, not these 'tards again. The worst of it it that there are plenty of people, of ALL shades of skin tone, dumb enough to get suckered into the same line of "thinking." Basically, "national socialism" (i.e. naziism) is supposed...
• Commented on Sf great Geoff Ryman seeks aspiring composer to set Dante to music for podcast of the award-winning novel THE CHILD GARDEN
  Talk about a lost opportunity! Occasionally I get the opportunity to compose music (in a neo-classical vein); and when I was in 7th or 8th grade and read Dante's "Divine Comedy," I thought it would make an excellent subject for...
• Commented on Midcentury Mexican sci-fi kitsch movies: an appreciation
  @#3 (Fred H) - "...and we don't need a windowpane on such a sunny day!" --- from an old novelty song called "Manana (is Good Enough for Me)" - NOT a very PC song at all, as it portrays Mexicans...
• Commented on Former French President says Bush invaded Iraq to thwart Gog and Magog's apocalyptic mission
  Actually, the Biblical reference of Gog & Magog seems a bit too obscure for the likes of Bush, who probably slept through Sunday school. The man was unarguably one of the most stupid people my Dad ever had the displeasure...
• Commented on Bees swarm under bike seat: the thrilling conclusion
  C'mon! Let's take it back to the hive! On the count of three, everyone start flying......
• Commented on Filmmaker John Hughes has died.
  #6, 9 & 15 --- I'm glad to see I'm not alone. While there are bits & pieces of "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" that I find amusing, overall, they're sappy, vulgar and nonsensical without building...
• Commented on What is the meaning of this unusual tombstone?
  Regarding the dates & ages: I found it a little odd until I clicked on "here" and saw the other pictures. Evidently, the above photograph was taken before the deaths of Mr. Drake and Ms. Gwinavier, hence, no death dates....
• Commented on The Amazing Unseen Hitler Films
  @ #66 (Anonymous) - Cameras in general were bigger back in the 1930s than they are today, or were in the 1960s. The cameras used to film the Olympic Games in Berlin used 35mm stock and were certainly too bulky...
• Commented on Rich NY town tries to shut down children's library because poor kids might use it
  Irony is completely lost on morons. The Feds need to step in and make sure public libraries remain available to the public, not just to the "animals who are more equal than others."...
• Commented on Amsterdam: O'Reilly Factor vs. reality
  I have no idea how accurate any of the statistical data are (yes, "data" is plural in this case), but I do know that a great deal of irresponsible behavior results from a combination of poor education and a desire...
• Commented on Living things glow with visible light
  For those of us who can see this without too much trouble, it's easier to see under fluorescent light. When someone gets nervous (usually if they're lying and really don't want to get caught), a pattern appears on the face...
• Commented on Neutrally buoyant balloon
  Pop culture references, in case anyone's puzzled: #1 - Stephen King's "It" #6 - TV series "The Prisoner." (Love how you got your comment into exactly the right spot on the thread, #6!) @#9 - #13 probably explained why it's...
• Commented on Race and book covers: why is there a white girl on the cover of this book about a black girl? -- UPDATED
  I never really "got" racism, or even how people arrive at these labels of "black" and "white." As a person with partial color-blindness, everyone's skin looks gray. As an illustrator, I know that all skin color is brown (with the...