thornae

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• Commented on BookArmy: a last.fm for books
  Hm. It seems my google-fu was weak the last time I looked. Alexandria is still around, sort of: http://www.alexlit.com/history.html They'll apparently be returning sometime soonish. I wonder if I'll be able to resurrect my decade old profile?...
• Commented on BookArmy: a last.fm for books
  Also: Do they sort their ratings correctly?...
• Commented on BookArmy: a last.fm for books
  Okay, really showing my age here: Does anyone remember a site from the 90s that pretty much was a last.fm for books? I think it was called Alexandria or similar. Essentially, it gave you a list of books, and you...
• Commented on Review: the Trust KB-2950 isn't a wireless keyboard, it's a $25 HTPC remote.
  Huh - I just put in an order for what looks like this very keyboard, but for double the price. I want to see how it compares to our current HT keyboard, the Shintaro wireless. Comments on the Shintaro: first...
• Commented on Virtual actor looks eerily lifelike
  I actually saw Paul Debevec giving a talk at Adelaide Uni a few weeks back. He showed us the process for this (along with heaps of other cool CG work). Here's a shorter, earlier version of the same talk. For...
• Commented on Klingon knife scares the crap out of dumb British scandal-sheet
  Note that the photo is captioned "Force for evil", implying that they can't even get their basic SF reference straight......
• Commented on Aussies consider auditing music collections for piracy
  ... and this is yet another example of why I'm moving to Europe....
• Commented on Food that turns from liquid to solid?
  @ #85: I prefer the last word on the subject from xkcd....
• Commented on DIY: Headphone amp in a CD-ROM drive
  Could someone with rather more electronic knowledge than I comment on how this differs from the CMoy pocket amp? I can solder, but my theory is pretty lacking - is this essentially constructing your own op-amp?...
• Commented on Hammer and Tickle: book explores subversive Soviet jokes
  I have a book called "Russia Dies Laughing". It's got some decent jokes, but the main interesting thing about it is that it's essentially a transcription of a tape of one night that a bunch of Soviet ex-pats sat around...
• Commented on Londoners lukewarm on free £5 notes
  Australia's "The Chaser" did this some time ago... (If you're not an Aussie, you probably first heard about The Chaser when they got a fake motorcade within 200m of Bush's hotel during APEC.)...
• Commented on Post-Rapture document delivery
  I'm surprised no-one's mentioned the Post-Rapture Post yet. Guaranteed delivery by atheists, who obviously won't be joining the Rapture. Also, since they're actual physical letters, they're a lot less prone to abuse or mistaken early delivery......
• Commented on RIP, Robert Asprin
  Well, fuck. That's just capped my day. I'm just catching up on a bunch of web news after a week away. About two hours ago, I found out that Janet Kagan recently died. Now Asprin as well. The world has...
• Commented on Rats are ticklish!
  Awww. I miss my ratties now. )=...
• Commented on Derren Brown live in London's West End -- astounding!
  Derren Brown is fantastic. I'm a bit jealous of you being able to see him, being stuck here in .au. Oh well, another reason to travel. I'd just started watching the "Tricks of the Mind" series when you posted your...
• Commented on Model plane enthusiast claims magic powder helped him regrow finger
  I have had pretty much exactly this wound, from a circular saw. If you're not of a queasy disposition, you can see the pictures. For those of you not wanting to look at the gore, the top of my finger...
• Commented on Week in the Woods: Final checklist; Leaving tomorrow!
  Hey Joel, after all the discussion, what sort of backpack did you end up going with?...
• Commented on Penn and Teller make thousands of bees appear out of "nothing"
  What's really disturbing is seeing this video directly after looking at the whole earth covered in bees^W satellites....
• Commented on Speedy Pedalofit Turns Wheelchairs into Trikes
  Is that John Howard? I wondered what he was doing now......
• Commented on April Fool's Notice
  Good for you. I tend to agree with your sentiments. I started to avoid /. on the 1st of April a while back, as it was just one blatantly obvious April Fool's story after another. Ruined any impact it might...
• Commented on Aussie comedy duo explain subprime meltdown
  These guys are one of the few reasons I'd bother to watch TV, before I stopped completely. Their dry satire and willingness to puncture political targets of all stripes have stayed good for years, and don't look to be slowing...
• Commented on Voiceless microphone
  The first description of subvocalisation I read in SF was in David Brin's Earth. I remember the discussion of the technology needing a clear and focused mind, which is why the airforce trialled and abandoned it, because all their testosterone...
• Commented on Lessig publicly humiliates Andrew Keen
  "Never argue with idiots: They'll drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience." Or you could just google for "Arguing on the internet"....
• Commented on Remixing the London police's anti-photographer terrror posters
  And, finally: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24437939@N06/2314988887/ For Cory and Joel....
• Commented on Remixing the London police's anti-photographer terrror posters
  For those that think this is all a lot concern over nothing, here's a bit of the transcript of the radio ad for this campaign (from The Register): Female Voice over: How d’you tell the difference between someone just video-ing...
• Commented on Remixing the London police's anti-photographer terrror posters
  And another, just for the heck of it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24437939@N06/2312900753/...
• Commented on Remixing the London police's anti-photographer terrror posters
  I already posted this in the previous discussion, but here it is again: http://www.filenanny.com/files/44f7b9c9f14e0/brain.png Based on an idea of Romwell's. PDF version of same here....
• Commented on London cops declare war on photography
  Oh, and incidentally, this reminds me of one of the best ways ever to take photographs of subjects without being seen to. In the introduction to Manwatching, Desmond Morris talks about how he took photos of people without them suspecting:...
• Commented on London cops declare war on photography
  @61: Romwell, was this the sort of thing you had in mind? Image link here. Mirror it if you wish, I declaim all authority and responsibility....
• Commented on Scalzi's Old Man's War as a free download
  Well, Tor's strategy has worked. I downloaded this the other day, read the first few chapters, and now I've got a copy of the dead-tree version being held at my friendly local SF specialist bookstore. I like real books. Ebooks...