Piers W

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Commented on Online matchmaking site analyzes attractiveness vs. message traffic
#25 If the medium to most attractive section of the male population recieved proportionally more messages than another section of the population it follows that they've been sent proportionally more messages. It doesn't follow that most of the messages sent...
Commented on The return of BBTV: Boing Boing's former video acronym taken over by bedbugs
Er.. would that be the show where they're not sure what disease someone has, and it turns out to be something really really rare?...
Commented on Traffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestors
These two sites suggest ANPR is sold as stand alone tech. http://www.citysync.co.uk/go.php/en/sectors/homeland_security.html http://www.cctv-information.co.uk/i/An_Introduction_to_ANPR...
Commented on Couple charged with trying to sell fake Warhols
Depends on whose idea this whole scheme was....
Commented on Traffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestors
I misunderstood 'this way'. I doubt the congestion charge cameras are, at least not all of them, because if 'every time that license plate passes a camera, the local police force will receive an urgent alert' they'd get a lot...
Commented on Hope is fading
Hope is running badly?...
Commented on Traffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestors
London issues over five thousand fines for nonpayment of the congestion charge every day. Harry down the road in CarPoint Rental used to proudly display a pile five feet high. He was contesting every single one of them (something to...
Commented on Augmented reality rig that turns you into a character in a third-person game
Just looked at the site again. Ok. You do in fact have a camera cantilevered back from your bum. It's mounted in a concave mirror and connects to your headset. You dress in the avatar costume if the mood takes...
Commented on Augmented reality rig that turns you into a character in a third-person game
For this to be immersive you'd have to have a video camera mounted behind you, by a few feet, and software removing you from the frame and replacing you with the avatar. Plus motion capture software using sensors on your...
Commented on Traffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestors
EH #22 "MPs (and former MPs) are exempt, silly." Citation? Do cameras magically pixellate them or what? Antinous #26 "Although congress members can (and are) pressured to vote a certain way in the US, MPs can be (and are) forced...
Commented on Spectacular slow card-flourishes from Dimitri Arleri
That would surely depend on how well they do the card tricks....
Commented on Let's blow up the moon
A partial answer. http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Moon-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0440189993...
Commented on College students arrested for not tipping
I would guess that GraemeM is speaking from the UK, and from the northern bit, where people are careful with their money. Until recently in Britain ten percent was considered a perfectly reasonable tip in restaurants. I'd say twelve and...
Commented on EZ Cracker egg cracker
At 1.53 a piece of eggshell finds its way into the bowl. Easycracker wins. Alternatively: crack egg on flat surface holding it from the ends (if you do it right you get no fragmentation at all) and open from the...
Commented on Spray Paint The Walls: The Story of Black Flag
For a time during the eighties I thought Henry Rollins and Tim Rollins were the same person, and was mightily impressed by this punk rocker and cutting edge visual artist....
Commented on BREAKING: Leaked UK government plan to create "Pirate Finder General" with power to appoint militias, create laws
Peter Mandelson is a very clever bloke. It's just possible he's deliberately introduced all this crap now when it stands a very good chance of being talked out in the House of Lords. Thereby appearing to have attempted to give...
Commented on Jacques Vallee: Waterboarding's curious corollaries
If it's not torture then why is it done,and what exactly is it intended to be? A means for the torturer and victim to pass the time? A sort of amiable game they play together?...
Commented on The Art of Jim Campbell: Seeing In Pixels
Obscure image of boxing match. http://www.amorosart.com/artwork-duchamp-combat_de_boxe-359-en.html...
Commented on The Green Flash of the Sun
The Green Ray (Le Rayon Vert) by Eric Rohmer. Amazing film. You don't get to see the green ray, but you get to see someone seeing it (maybe)....
Commented on Do you understand my first-grade child's homework?
Hopefully if a child did that, the teacher would notice they'd drawn the coins in the 'wrong' place, ask them why, and set them a more advanced task next time. It needs a better explanation, and an example, but it's...
Commented on Real calculators modeled after desktop calculators
Or slide the calculator you have cunningly hidden behind the screen into view as you drag the calculator window off the desktop... Re above: Devon Tech also do the interesting DevonThink software: http://boingboing.net/2009/01/27/diy-how-to-write-a-b.html and another free OS X service module...
Commented on Father kidnaps daughter's killer
'I prefer to ensure that my genes get passed on to the next generation, and the generation after that.' What are you, some kind of animal?...
Commented on Spectator throws out public safety, embraces sensationalism and AIDS denialism
"Also, unless you have the credentials that would qualify you as an expert, you have no business stating an opinion on highly technical subjects in a public forum." I assume you must be an expert in cryogenics who's been asleep...
Commented on Spectator throws out public safety, embraces sensationalism and AIDS denialism
The Spectator might as well be ignored completely, it's been dead in the water for years, desperately trying to trade on a reputation that's more or less outside living memory by now. Addison used to write for it (I think,...
Commented on How To Eat a Horse
The French don't necessarily cook it either. Larousse Gastronomique recommends horsemeat rather than beef for steak tartare. I ordered it in Beziers once and was repeatedly asked if I knew what it was. I thought was being asked if I...
Commented on Biofuel Back to the Future
Or they could gear it up to a capstan with four horses pushing it round....
Commented on Spurning the "false god of coffee"
If you feel illy, you obviously need some of this: http://www.coffeeitalia.co.uk/products.php?cat=31...
Commented on The Magicians: a fantasy novel of wonder without sentimentality
When people get irked about the meaning of a word, it's often because the meaning of the word is beginning to change from the one they understand. A couple of teachers at my school used to get very upset about...
Commented on Mouse inside a PC case
When I was younger and poorer a kind relative handed an electric cooker on to me, with the caveat 'it doesn't seem to work as well as it used to'. When I opened it up I found a thoroughly mummified...
Commented on Pedestrian nearly drops briefcase
In some countries they do have right of way. At least theoretically. The people saying the pedestrian was in any way at fault are nuts. He starts crossing the road without realising what's going on, then realises he'd better cross...

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Tynam commented on Upside of squatters
Anon @23: You're missing a fundamental point there. People spend effort on rights of privacy and free speech because they extend you protection against the single most powerful and dangerous actor in your society - your goverment. So it takes effort to defend them, because there are powerful interests that gain short-term benefits by eroding them. Whether you have the right to prevent people using building that you own, but aren't using, isn't in that category. There are very few rich, powerful or governmental actors that gain by eroding property rights. So they don't get attacked nearly as much. Hence,...
arkizzle / Moderator commented on The return of BBTV: Boing Boing's former video acronym taken over by bedbugs
Brian, He's not lying. He just hates the drawing and is afraid to express it. The day his wife gave it to him, he died a little inside. I mean, sure, he is the bedbug guy, right? But that's not who he is. He has dreams and aspirations, just like any other red-blooded American man. He dreams of treading the boards on Broadway, or running naked through the streets of Dar es Salaam during the Runic Half Month Nyd. And what about his poetry? The pages and reams of manifest erudition coupled with a wit and insight unknown in his...
anthropomorphictoast commented on Online matchmaking site analyzes attractiveness vs. message traffic
I also have a OKC profile, and what you said about the rating system in Quickmatch is true (well, in my case, at least. I cannot speak for OKC sistahs.) If I think the guy seems alright, I'll give him a score high enough that he'll have a good score, but also not high enough that he'll be notified of my existence. Unless the guy's profile is made of complete win and awesome, I usually do not give out 4 stars. In addition to this, I have a very sharpened sense for recognizing an Asshole. No matter how good looking...
Clif Marsiglio commented on Online matchmaking site analyzes attractiveness vs. message traffic
"The way that looks ratings work on that site is that you rate the other person a 4 or higher (on a scale of 5), AND the other person does the same to you, it notifies both of you." Yeah, I had been thinking the same thing...even worse, and they may have changed this, but it use to be when the site was more 'fun' (i.e., they recently changed 'stalkers' to 'visitors' because they are looking for a professional image), it use to be that if you and the other person rated each other as 1s, you'd get a BURN....
claybarham commented on Hope is fading
Here's why Obama and his crowd are losing Americans. Martha Stewart, in a recent TV interview, demonstrated why the elite hate ordinary people who stray into the public eye. She earns the title of Mean Martha with her demeaning responses to questions about Rachael Ray and Sarah Palin. She did us a great service, however, because she gave us a concrete example of the differences between the elite herding class and the herd, them and us. The few elite rule the many, as is tradition in the world outside of America. The elite herding class has moved into most all...

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