allen

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• Commented on Musician's open letter, sung to Lily Allen
  @23,39 Your posts were well written (although composed mainly of ad-hominem and empty slogans), and your status anonymous. Which, at a time where I know that there is funded astroturfing on the issue, makes you seem disingenuous. @50,23,39 Here are...
• Commented on Hot chili grenades
  @4 agreed Also, I think that when discussing where something sits in scoville units, the best tern is "Scovillocity"....
• Commented on We Want the Public Option, a novel approach to online petitions
  Freddybear, right- and clearly unregulated corporations are the way to go because they would never need a clown congress to bail them out....
• Commented on Infographic: all US one-time expenditures vs the bailout
  comments #1&2 are exactly what I was wondering, but looking at it, and knowing that the louisiana purchase was for =~ 15 billion, the values represented seem to have been adjusted for inflation...
• Commented on Zogby poll: 52% of Americans support legalization of pot
  a fun statistic to compliment the prop 8 tyranny of the majority type arguments....
• Commented on Why neutrality is more important than connection speeds
  I hate that we are STILL having to have this conversation- and will for the foreseeable future. Every few months someone is going to try to pass a law somewhere that enables the cable companies to restructure their pricing for...
• Commented on Reaching for the Apocalypse
  @10 13STRONG Do you think that is because of a new susceptibility to that kind of imagery, or just an escalation of tactics between news agencies combined with a gradual desensitization to imaginary threats? If you look back at the...
• Commented on Reaching for the Apocalypse
  I always just assumed it was vestigial psychological survival trait. We're wired to take threats seriously, and have our internal context switcher chooses potentially threatening thoughts as having higher priority. I'm not certain it comes from a modern sense of...
• Commented on Hand-cranked phone charger in a hollow log
  favorite translated comment from source site: "can malenkim donkey?"...
• Commented on Podcast of the story that Michael Bishop wrote for his son, Jamie, killed in the Virginia Tech shooting
  IAMINNOCENT I'm sorry that you thought I was attacking you. I tried very carefully NOT to attack you, because I thought you were coming from a place of vulnerability. I suspect I am just having a hard time projecting the...
• Commented on Podcast of the story that Michael Bishop wrote for his son, Jamie, killed in the Virginia Tech shooting
  #5 I'm sorry- I am unable to complete your thought. Could you finish it for me?...
• Commented on Podcast of the story that Michael Bishop wrote for his son, Jamie, killed in the Virginia Tech shooting
  #2 "I don't know: from my own experience we never forget, we just learn to live with our wounds." From this quote, I am going to guess that you might have your own related experiences. If so, I respect whatever...
• Commented on US customs officials think famous pianist's piano has funny smelling glue, so they destroy it
  D: I'd just suggest you boycott artists that disagree with you. The position that an artist's role in society includes commenting on it is one that has a very long history. You are certainly not going to convince me that...
• Commented on Bank ad from Argentina, about several kinds of "change."
  I think #1 pretty much summed up anything that could be said about this. This commercial was like looking into the future....
• Commented on Boing Boing apartment in Comcast Town
  Am I missing whatever it is that is supposed to make "comcast town" cool or fun (or interesting)? Can you do anything other than drag clipart around a cheesy apartment, or watch their (painfully uncool) commercials? It's a lot of...
• Commented on Naked man tasered at Coachella for refusing to wear wizard's robe
  Excessive force. I'm not contesting the arrest (although I do think that it really shouldn't be a big deal if someone wants to get crazy at what is, essentially, a bacchanal), but I AM contesting the force that was used....
• Commented on freaky food fun: Insert dried spaghetti into hot dogs, then boil
  now you just need to suspend it in jello and you have a triumph of form vs flavor....
• Commented on Court turns down challenge to jury's use of Bible
  That he was apparently guilty and found so: good. That religious material was treated as though it had any jurisdiction in the law of a country that has a separation of church and state: bad. That the bible was used...
• Commented on Harvester: a concept design for a Lorax-terrifying tree-extractor
  I really think it should be named "HarvestOR", and have its' own theme song....
• Commented on BB Exclusive: John Waters on the Origins of Teabagging.
  @41 Couple comments on your article: 1) I have to admit, phrases like "President Barack Obama insists that the massive $800 billion stimulus package " invoke extreme eyerolling. My post will get too long if I really go into that-...
• Commented on BB Exclusive: John Waters on the Origins of Teabagging.
  @21 Normally I am all against government spending, but in a recession where business isn't spending (or employing), and the citizens aren't spending (because they are terrified of losing their jobs)- this is basically the one time the government SHOULD...
• Commented on BB Exclusive: John Waters on the Origins of Teabagging.
  I think "DirtyDignus" (who reminds us all that immature humor is bad) is actually right in this case regarding the origin of the term http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/04/14/teabagging_guide/ Although retea.org did call for people to "teabag washington, and Fox news reporter Griff Jenkins...
• Commented on I Got Your Unicorn Right Here, Maggie Koerth-Baker.
  I'm in awe...
• Commented on United Airlines wants to charge large people for two seats
  @Takeshi I also conceded that the cost went up accommodating larger people. My point was that we do this in many walks of life already, to be inclusive. There is usually a price in providing equal opportunity. If you look...
• Commented on United Airlines wants to charge large people for two seats
  "the airline rents space" No. The airline sells transport. How they accomplish that is an engineering problem. You don't buy "a tiny seat for 3 hours", you buy "a ticket from Pheonix to San Diego". And YES- accommodating EVERYONE is...
• Commented on United Airlines wants to charge large people for two seats
  @91 "It is the airline's job to make sure I am safe and comfortable on my flight. When a person takes up more than their purchased space (with body or belongings), I am neither safe nor comfortable." Comfort goes back...
• Commented on United Airlines wants to charge large people for two seats
  I get the sense that this is a difficult subject to talk about because there are a lot of people that get a visceral thrill out of beating on the "guilt free" targets of smokers and fatties. It's such a...
• Commented on Raquel Welch (On Cross)
  Next thing you know Boingboing is going to post something that pokes fun at white males. Is nothing sacred??...
• Commented on Solar cells that imitate plants
  Gadgets, movements generate cliches ("small town values", "compassionate conservatism"). Maybe the biggest cliche of all is members from one camp tossing rocks from a glass house. That said- your example has nothing to do with efficiency. Just because a sponge...
• Commented on In-game cash marketplaces and Napster -- the arbitrage of time-rich and cash-rich users
  "Kids will be grown ups. And they are likely to continue getting music/films/media the way they way they are used to (illegally)." You know- you are right to a degree. I grew up getting music illegally- I had hundreds of...