darth_schmoo

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• Commented on Boing Boing Gift Guide 2009: nonfiction! (part 4/6)
  Oh, last one: * Your kids aren't fighting for your love and affection. They're just fighting. Bonus: some ideas for teaching siblings to play nice with each other....
• Commented on Boing Boing Gift Guide 2009: nonfiction! (part 4/6)
  I just read Nurtureshock, and thought maybe it deserves a mention. It's a good overview of the up-to-date research on child development. A few things I picked up: * Praise specific behavior, not intelligence. * Kids don't handle sleep deprivation...
• Commented on To the anonymous gay teen who asked for help in a Boing Boing comment thread
  Freddy No No: You think it's faked. So what if it is? There are probably tens of thousands of kids who could identify with it in a meaningful way, so the many sincere, well-intended comments are of real service. And...
• Commented on Bicycle defense kit fits in Altoids tin
  As a bike commuter, I'd like to say that anyone who uses this kit is, in their own diffuse way, trying to get me killed. Getting more people angry at cyclists is just counterproductive. Cyclists think they can get away...
• Commented on Lawyers for TV überdouche Glenn Beck go after satirical website, saying the url itself is defamatory
  Compare and contrast. My limited understanding is that it's only libel if A) the allegations are false, and B) a reasonable person might believe it to be true. With anybody but Glenn Beck, they wouldn't have much of a case...
• Commented on Music downloading penalties are harsher than arson, theft, or starting a dogfighting ring
  @phaedral (#16) As has been said above, there is simply no credible conflating of time served in prison with any amount of money.Actually, in economics terms, you can. You simply explain the range of prison experiences to the person in...
• Commented on How free ebooks are good for well-known and obscure writers
  @Hamish Very clever use of reverse psychology. Now how do I find a copy of your books? :)...
• Commented on Burning Man Responds to EFF over fair use and photo rights attack
  #94 seems like an excellent, positive suggestion. Everyone should read it, and I'd love to see ActionGirl's comments on the idea. #109 - I think you're mischaracterizing the nature of the "green product event" back in 2007. My understanding was...
• Commented on Burning Man Responds to EFF over fair use and photo rights attack
  MDH (#45):My concern here is that there appears to be a lot of potential for overreach with this action - all in order to stop a few bad actors and placate the people whose inner prude is only silenced for...
• Commented on EFF criticizes Burning Man for limiting attendees' fair use rights
  #64 ASIFA All three of those things are protected already by law. You can't use an image of a person for commercial purposes without a model release. Why does burning man see the need to take away all photography rights...
• Commented on In America, it is increasingly illegal to be poor.
  @mattharvest (#29) I don't understand, why is this bad? Because it sucks for the poor person? Why are we so much more concerned with the rights of poor persons than the rights of the tax-paying citizens?Generally, the number of people...
• Commented on Interview with Congressman Barney Frank on his plan to legalize pot
  @Takuan (#2): Mother Jones thinks the U.S. actually cares which treaties it has and has not signed, or what words are in those treaties? That is just so cute!...
• Commented on Achieving Happiness on just $800,000
  Ivan256 (#8) wrote:Simply because somebody wrote it in a book does not make it true. If this is the conclusion Mr. Gilbert came to, I will say with 100% certainty that he used flawed methodology to reach that conclusion.The science...
• Commented on Health insurance versus health
  I'm in favor of a public option (compared to the status quo, not to a single payer system). One thing that confuses me, though: how do you do an apples-to-apples comparison between the public option and the private insurers. Will...
• Commented on HOWTO ask good skeptical questions
  JDavid wrote: "SETI people think that a culture which has evolved completely separate from earth, all human interaction and thought processes, as well as possible environment alterations...would use some sort of communications that we can detect. That, is not science....
• Commented on Infographic: all US one-time expenditures vs the bailout
  I'm not buying the chart. It's tricky to compare the value of dollars between very different time periods. The chart here says an 1800 dollar is worth about $19,800 in today's dollars (going by the Louisiana Purchase). Another source says...
• Commented on Young Conservative rappers explain Jesus, Ayn Rand, and ANWR drilling
  I don't know if taking out my brain and scouring it with bleach would erase the memory of this video, but at this point I'm willing to try anything. If you want musical political commentary, might I suggest Sex With...
• Commented on Is Crohn's disease on the rise because we've eliminated hookworm infections?
  According to Scott Westerfield's "Peeps",* Crohn's disease was almost unheard of until about a century ago. Then it started out primarily as a rich person's disease, and slowly trickled down to the middle class and poor, as sanitation improved.** No...
• Commented on Astronaut Reaches Mt. Everest Summit (BB Video Update)
  Now, if he'd gotten there by dropping down onto the summit, that would be more interesting....
• Commented on Future of news and business
  @teufeldortsch - The Cloud is magic, IP-enforcing pixie dust. Got it. @theamazingyeah - Mostly agreed. It's dangerous to put the government in charge of news collection, just as dangerous as putting the same power in the hands of our corporate...
• Commented on Future of news and business
  Whew! The free market will take care of everything. Thank god. Just like it's figuring out how to stop global warming all by itself. Just like it's figuring out how to cure malaria all by itself. Just like it figured...
• Commented on Long-exposure photo of Roomba coverage
  @William I find your calculations... unlikely. First, the Roomba only draws 30 watts, yes. But it takes three hours to charge, and there's a 5w trickle charge that keeps the battery topped off whenever the Roomba is docked. Somebody did...
• Commented on San Francisco Muni begins to enforce imaginary no-photos policy
  Delightfully Kafkaesque. From the photography policy (thanks to whoever found it): If you are a paying passenger making your way from point A to point B, then there is no specific prohibition to taking photographs in areas that are accessible...
• Commented on Vernor Vinge predicts singularity by 2030
  @greg london Clearly, I didn't get my point across. I'm not saying "Sure, the Internet is intelligent. You can hop on it and chat with millions of intelligences." That would be such a stupid thing to say, that I'm a...
• Commented on Vernor Vinge predicts singularity by 2030
  @Anonymous #78 Newegg has a 1.5TB SATA hard drive for $129. If a 2TB hard drive isn't available for any price, that seems odd to me. The answer may not be that technological progress has stalled, but that flash memory...
• Commented on Vernor Vinge predicts singularity by 2030
  @greg london Sure, the Internet is intelligent. It contains vast amounts of data, which is being constantly analyzed, collated, indexed, tagged, backed up, etc. It contains vast quantities of information about itself, at every level. It incorporates models of itself,...
• Commented on Obama tells country "Serve Satan" (or not?)
  I played Obama's victory speech backwards. "Yes we can" sounds a lot like "Hey Hussein" when played backwards. Otherwise, Obama sounds a lot like Swedish Chef....
• Commented on Dangerous Minds w/ Charles Hugh Smith
  I don't think that we can get the best economic advice from playwrights. There are dozens of basically socialist countries, and not a one of them has complete income inequality. I don't think that any of them force most government...
• Commented on Visualizing $1 Trillion as an endless field of bales of C-notes
  Looks nice. I'll take three....
• Commented on Saving Newspapers, Part MMIX: Collude and Conspire
  @zuzu I'm not understanding how a "dominant assurance contract" would work in general, much less in this specific instance. How would you use this mechanism to create a viable professional news organization?...