mattharvest

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• Commented on Thieves who stole from child get a public shaming
  Why would bringing back the stocks be bad? Humiliation has a strong deterrent effect for recidivism; just look at the prisons were prisoners have been forced to wear pink uniforms....
• Commented on Taste test: Togarashi
  Yeah, capsaicin doesn't actually cause warmth; as randall wonders, it just causes the sensation of warmth. It will result in a minor flush of blood to the skin, but that will only speed the loss of heat from the body....
• Commented on In America, it is increasingly illegal to be poor.
  BTW, responding directly to one of the more preposterous points: "It appears that you're either a Calvinist, have Empathy Deficit Disorder or are simply incapable of complex thinking about the future." (a) It's nice that, apparently, you think you get...
• Commented on In America, it is increasingly illegal to be poor.
  I like that everyone who doesn't believe in full charity for homeless people are somehow evil in this thread. As if we're automatically wrong for not being 100% sympathetic with homeless people, regardless of their reason for being poor. The...
• Commented on In America, it is increasingly illegal to be poor.
  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? I work, I pay my taxes,...
• Commented on If you lose your Amazon account, your Kindle loses functionality
  Here's the thing: why does this surprise you? If Apple closed your account, you'd lose the ability to buy new products from the iTunes music store, regardless of the presence of DRM. Losing your Amazon account wouldn't delete anything off...
• Commented on Shoot the Baddies
  FYI, Olly posts pretty often on Penny Arcade's "Artist's Corner" message board, if you're looking for more of his stuff. Head over to penny-arcade.com and click on forum. (I'm not affiliated with PA in any way, though I'm a fan...
• Commented on Scammer targets people who've been ripped off already
  It's worth mentioning This American Life's episode "The Enforcers", wherein they tell the story of 419 baiters who run these scammers on their own con....
• Commented on A Boy Today…A Man Tomorrow: 1972 sex-ed manual
  So, even back then we were miseducating kids about the importance of penis size? Hilarious....
• Commented on Serial killers answer letters from guy pretending to be a 10-year-old
  In all honesty, is there such a thing as being "too mean" to a convicted serial killer/multiple murderer? I mean, what sort of niceties are owed to these people?...
• Commented on Experiment: 96% of passers-by ignore famous artist's street painting
  Art, quite frankly, isn't intended for most people. Art is intended for people who have invested enough time, energy, emotion and effort into learning to appreciate it. On the other hand, some artistic work is intended just to be pretty....
• Commented on Banks refuse to take title on repossessed crappy houses
  Depending on your state, there are laws on "adverse possession" and related areas that explain how land which is legally owned but not in use may be seized by squatters. However, these timeframes are usually on the order of between...
• Commented on Giant squid sex: violent, tangled and deeply weird
  The article is approaching three years old, and is out of date. Since then we have indeed seen footage of a living, swimming Giant Squid, thanks to a team of Japanese scientists....
• Commented on What are the laws in each US state on driving while cellphoning?
  This isn't legal advice, but why would they need to specifically address the Nextel PTT button? There is no fundamental 'right to talk on your cellphone' that these laws are limiting. They're simply restricting behavior permitted while driving, just as...
• Commented on Privacy urinals
  Are people honestly this concerned about people seeing their junk? That just confuses me that anyone cares that much...are you concerned about impressing others, or what?...
• Commented on How the UK government deals with a broken light bulb
  They're filled with mercury. A broken CFL is enough to render a scene a toxic hazard, requiring professional cleanup. Might want to have researched this one before ridiculing the gov....
• Commented on Vodka fan nearly kills self by glugging 2l rather than surrendering it at airport
  Necking is new to me. "Glugging" is an onomatopoeia. "Sculling" is an old term for downing the entire glass/bottle in front of you. "Chugging" is like sculling, but in my experience refers only to beer. "Swigging" is taking a single...
• Commented on Landmine activist/traceur tries to cross Central London without touching the ground
  Parkour is the sport/movement technique; a person who practices it is called a traceur or tracer....