Thinkerer

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• Commented on Jonestown, 30 years Later: Inside People's Temple, the 1977 exposé.
  The more interesting part of this is that rather than being "investigated" with any vigor that might have protected his followers, Jones was effectively exported over the horizon in the hopes that the "deliverer of votes" would blow himself up...
• Commented on Merrill Lynch Needs a Dressing Down
  "Tell him times have changed and he won't be dressing anymore like he's made of money. " Baloney. Wall Street fleecing Main Street is the American way -- these people (or their homunculus clones) will always be there. The first...
• Commented on One Laptop Per Child's annual "Give One, Get One" program is on!
  Sort of a great idea (in the "To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail" mode of thinking anyway). My great fear is that mass deployment of these types of devices will move child/slave labor from industry to information...
• Commented on Retriever, the motorcycle that tows like a truck
  The great limitation on towing *anything* is seldom the motive power of the towing vehicle but their ability to stop the load once it's moving. I can't imagine any GoldWing having enough braking power for this application if only because...
• Commented on New US RFID passports manufactured offshore at a huge profit, transported by unsecured couriers
  What a great way to mass-produce RFID passports that are actually wired to a second chip -- inserted in the antenna installation process -- that mimics the first but is not "secure" even in the vaguest of security-theater definitions. The...
• Commented on High school student in Kentucky faces felony charges for writing a zombie story
  Although this brings to mind some of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's stories of arrest and exile to the gulag, a quick search shows that it's a story from March, 2005 and came to nothing . I think the BB blog editor zombies...
• Commented on The government subsidies behind Cindy McCain's family fortune
  "Joe the Plumber" seems to have appeared out of thin air to spare the McCains a lot of questions about "Joe Six Pack" who is paying a tithe on every bottle for John's $500 loafers....
• Commented on SanDisk slotMusic player is inexpensive and simple
  Given SanDisk's dismal device firmware and PC synchro software with the Sansa series, this is a logical step backwards for them....
• Commented on McCain-Palin campaign calls for respect for fair use
  Fairly typical -- it's only heinous when it happens to the anointed. I'm sure "fair use" will be allowed for political campaigns as a self-serving loophole much as everything from violation of "do not call" listings to FAA exemptions for...
• Commented on Duct tape bandages
  Duct-tape + paper towel = bandage. Duct-tape + any rigid material = splint. Duct-tape + duct tape = compression bandage. Duct-tape + ice bag = contusion relief. Duct-tape + bare skin = blister/abrasion prevention. Duct-tape + $2 million = MRI...
• Commented on Gecko-inspired glue
  There have been a number of interesting variations on this, some more successful than others. What the geckos still have on humans is keeping those pads clean as they go -- none of the biomimetic surfaces tolerate contamination and don't...
• Commented on Dave's Marble Machine
  @HeatherB, are you sure that this isn't the world economy?...
• Commented on Budweiser's promotional Beer Drive
  They submitted a sample of Budweiser to a German laboratory for analysis. The result: "Your horse has diabetes."...
• Commented on Artificial foreskin lets you keep your sensitivity AND the covenant of Abraham!
  The best part is the warning: "WARNING SAFETY NOTICE The SenSlip is NOT to be used for penetration."...
• Commented on Liar's Poker: a timely moment to revisit 20-year-old memoir of the rise and fall of a financial bubble
  Sorry but the hedge fundies were smart enough to get while they still could and have moved to Greenwich, among other places. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/opinion/28wolfe.html?scp=1&sq=wolfe&st=cse...
• Commented on Aircraft inspired by pterodactyl
  The late Paul MacCready built a flying pterodactyl model in cooperation with the Smithsonian in the 1980's and was the first to determine the head-vane's use as a control system. Some technical details here: http://www.twitt.org/QNStory.html...
• Commented on Ben & Jerry's Cleaner, Greener Freezer
  Did anyone (including the original poster and me)notice that "Hydrocarbon ∙ The New Cool" is prominently displayed on the front of the case?...
• Commented on Ben & Jerry's Cleaner, Greener Freezer
  Propane! "Ben & Jerry's unveils new 'green' freezers WASHINGTON - Leave it to Greenpeace to find a way to make ice cream green..(snip)..The freezer, which will eliminate dangerous F-gas emissions found in standard freezers, runs on about three cigarette lighters'...
• Commented on Olympics reach a new low: trademarking the Canadian national anthem and threatening lawsuits over competing uses
  Hmmm...so the year 2010 won't exist in Canada because of copyright infringement fears? Then I suppose there can't be a 2010 Olympics there......
• Commented on The Casbah
  Been short-listing them for many years. Lotsa retro and other groovy stuff...hopefully the Boing Miasma will lift soon and I can listen once again....
• Commented on Britain will make foreigners carry RFID identity cards and will put us in a huge, Orwellian database: the rest of Britain will be next
  The mandatory card program is both offensive and ineffective -- truly dedicated "undesireables" have always been able to produce forgeries or stolen identity documents. It may be that the best secondary weapon after the courts in a fight against this...
• Commented on Anti-suicide barriers on Japanese train lines
  Are they putting this in on the Lex. Ave. line at the Wall St. Station?...
• Commented on Cordarounds Bike-to-Work pants with reflective Teflon cuff
  One word: Gaiters....
• Commented on Styrofoam model of Concorde engine
  A wonderful project but I can't help but make a snarky comment about it being displayed in post-FOD-mode. (The engines weren't at fault for the problems with the Concorde, but still...)...
• Commented on "Every surface of FORM 6 is smooth and usable for sensation"
  Plunging a vibrator into the Netherlands would be most undiplomatic....
• Commented on Nite Ize Figure 9 carabiner makes knots unnecessary
  These things (in conjunction with their S-clips) are absolutely great -- I use them for cheapo barber haulers and vangs on my sailboat. The only hitch (sic) is that they have several different configurations, most of which are both printed...
• Commented on Corrupted Science: the history, cause, effect and state of bad science
  All too often, books like these focus on governmental and populist repression and fraud without mentioning the economics. Many of the fraudulent government programs existed because it was profitable to do so. Industrial sponsorship of research, either directly through contractual...
• Commented on Wind-powered light for cars is useless, but has fins
  Unfortunately if you dissect these I'll bet that instead of a clever little generator you find a couple of button cells and a wind operated switch,like most of this kind of craptastic stuff....
• Commented on SunLawn LMM-40 Push Reel Mower reviewed (Verdict: Smooth — but death in the long grass)
  $140 is pretty steep unless it's extremely heavy and well made (most of the new ones aren't). Look at garage sales or on the curb for old ones since they never wear out but people seldom maintain them correctly and...
• Commented on Mildly sexist washing machine ad touts that "steam thing" that women need
  "I need this wild cherry steam thing" is actually a failure of LG's Engrish translator. Using Google's translator and others in careless succession, this retranslates back to roughly "I need this chokecherry steam the matter" indicating the desire for a...