decius

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• Commented on Venezuela bans violent video games: a first-person guest essay
  I thought I'd crosspost my thoughts on this from my blog, where I link through to some older posts. In America we're familiar with efforts to censor video games because they are too violent, pornographic, etc. Its attractive because its...
• Commented on Scouts training to fight immigrants and terrorists
  Al'Q terrorists don't dress in traditional clothing. They are professional operatives. They blend in. Anyone know an alternative to the BSA that teaches wilderness orienteering, survival, and leadership skills to children without the right wing political indoctrination?...
• Commented on Chess pieces made from nuts and bolts
  My friend Cyan made me a chess set out of nuts and bolts for my birthday about 8 years ago. Here are a few pictures http://sizzo.org/photo/gallery.php?g2_path=Cyan/Cyan_art/chess1.jpg.html http://sizzo.org/photo/gallery.php?g2_path=Cyan/Cyan_art/chess2.jpg.html http://sizzo.org/photo/gallery.php?g2_path=Cyan/Cyan_art/chess3.jpg.html...
• Commented on IT Crowd third season DVD up for pre-order
  Cory, thanks for following up. Thats great news!...
• Commented on IT Crowd third season DVD up for pre-order
  Thanks everyone for the advice about technical means of getting these disks to play. However, at the risk of being cynical, if I'm going to go to all the trouble reripping them then why not just download the episodes instead...
• Commented on IT Crowd third season DVD up for pre-order
  I second #5, where are you getting that these DVDs are region free? The Amazon pages linked indicate that these disks are region 2. Furthermore, there is a separate page on Amazon.com offering that the first season will FINALLY be...
• Commented on TNH FTW! A final post and a question for you.
  A smartphone worm will temporarily disable voice services on a cellphone network. You account information on some social networking sites will be verified against a government database, most likely the DMV. This practice might first be popularized in the UK....
• Commented on Youngest Twitterer EVAR?
  NM, thanks Flamy. Bluetooth is correct IC....
• Commented on Youngest Twitterer EVAR?
  Anyone got implementation details? The Maker Shed botanicalls kit will post to twitter whenever your plant needs to be watered, but its not wireless. Is this one of those things where its easy as long as you have $1000 and...
• Commented on What do you call the shop on the corner?
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenience_store#Regional_names...
• Commented on Econopocalypse worse for economy than 9/11
  @SKR The public cannot simultaneously let Washington off less easily and in a less partisan way. The public has a big red/blue switch and they flip it when they aren't satisfied with the status quo. Our present arrangement doesn't afford...
• Commented on Econopocalypse worse for economy than 9/11
  @SKR 1. I have no idea if present regulations are sufficient if enforced sufficiently. Thats an incredibly complicated question. 2. A. Bad decision. The system for assessing risk was broken, because the people who bore the risk were greatly abstracted...
• Commented on Econopocalypse worse for economy than 9/11
  @Kaiser Leib Blaming the housing crisis on the CRA and the GSEs is a partisan talking point that has been mostly discredited. See this article. The core point is that by 2005 only 20% of subprime loans were being made...
• Commented on Palin's nightmare
  52: Thanks, I'd forgotten about that one....
• Commented on Palin's nightmare
  That arrests and prosecutes its political adversaries for imaginary crimes so as to eliminate them from the running in election cycles in which they could do some damage? Anyone know what this is in reference to?...
• Commented on Adult film director Max Hardcore sentenced to 4 years in prison on obscenity charges (UPDATE)
  @OPHITE I agree with you. I haven't seen these films and it doesn't sound like I want to, but if people really were abused by this guy, then there is a need for the state to step in. However, there...
• Commented on Adult film director Max Hardcore sentenced to 4 years in prison on obscenity charges (UPDATE)
  @NOEN Not sure if that was a troll. Of course, I never said that all actions are thoughts made external. You just burned a straw man. There is an obvious distinction between speech and action. I don't think all actions...
• Commented on Adult film director Max Hardcore sentenced to 4 years in prison on obscenity charges (UPDATE)
  I disagree. As Xeni put it at the top - "the story is complicated". Perhaps it's possible to move away from "nothing should be censored" without going all the way to "all speech should be restricted". That opens the question...
• Commented on The Maverick Family in Texas Asks: "Who You Callin' a Maverick?"
  @Theundreaming and @boeingboeing The article talks about multiple people in the Maverick family. The section quoted above says: ...a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble...
• Commented on The Maverick Family in Texas Asks: "Who You Callin' a Maverick?"
  I really enjoyed this article but then I made the mistake of searching for more information. Wikipedia has Samuel Maverick as one of the first Slave holders in Massachussets. Wikipedia seems to largely rely on this source which suggests that...
• Commented on Charles Platt on Akihabara, the Week Before the Massacre
  I was in Tokyo last month, and while I think the impressions in this article are accurate, I also feel that this is a somewhat one dimensional picture of Akihabara. One comes away with the impression that its a porno...
• Commented on Why can't America call its torture *torture*?
  Whats the source/context for the picture?...
• Commented on Large Hadron Collider hasn't sucked us into a black hole (yet)
  So, the Earth in THIS universe wasn't destroyed, but think about how the overall probability range for human outcomes has been narrowed due to all the universes in which the Earth WAS destroyed! Jerks!...
• Commented on NY Times editorial on laptop seizures by Homeland Security
  @ #48, TAKUAN: Nathan Sales mentioned a laptop search that turned up a terrorist in his testimony in the Senate hearing. More recently, in 2006, a laptop search at Minneapolis-St. Paul airport helped U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers detect...
• Commented on NY Times editorial on laptop seizures by Homeland Security
  I'm speaking on this subject next Sunday at Hope in NYC. I'll provide an overview of the case precedents that resulted in this situation, why I think some of them were sloppily decided, what the most recent developments have been,...
• Commented on Grand Theft Are You Fcking Kidding Me
  Ripley: As I mentioned to Lauren O, numerous comments on this thread, some of the organizations linked from this thread, and the political advocacy that surrounds this issue, directly support political action that constrains access to games like this and...
• Commented on Grand Theft Are You Fcking Kidding Me
  Lauren O: As a matter of fact the games cannot be purchased by teenagers, numerous people in this thread have herein supported constraints on its sale, and linked organizations whose sole reason for existing is to constrain the content of...
• Commented on Grand Theft Are You Fcking Kidding Me
  Ths thrd s dsppntng. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I understood this blog to be about high-tech counter culture. Perhaps you could say pop-culture but its hard to tell the difference any more. Vd gms r prt f tht...
• Commented on RU Sirius's two proposals
  RU: Thanks for your response... >>> I'm sure there are greater legal minds that I who can take this on, but the 4th amendment should be sufficient to protect organizations from ACLU to KBR as well as individuals from warrantless...
• Commented on RU Sirius's two proposals
  Does well meaning ignorance actually help or does it just further fuel partisan strife without contributing constructively to solving problems? Where should I start... Does R.U. Sirius realize that "corporate personhood" is the reason the FBI would need to get...