jerwin

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• Commented on How Britain's Pirate Finder General is trying to save the Analog Economy at the Digital Economy's expense
  Frankly, Antonius, you're going to have to do better than that. Elizabethan candles were either made from tallow (cheap, smelled a bit, smoky) or beeswax (pretty expensive, no smell, no smoke).Large candles were often called torches, and, of course, your...
• Commented on Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
  I don't have the book; I've only seen the Amazon previews. But it does remind me of "Godot Action Comics" Here's Episode #37: The Wrath of Vladimir. http://www.hdschellnack.de/?p=680...
• Commented on Animation: Lil Cthulhu
  The Littlest Shoggoth's hilarious. Thanks, snig....
• Commented on Everything you want to know about the scary, secret copyright treaty
  I don't think he explains "De minimus" very well....
• Commented on 2012 Debunking: The Short-Attention-Span Version
  The relatively unpolished grammar ("Also, different Mayan cities had different long counts") detracts from the elegant motif....
• Commented on MPAA shuts down entire town's muni WiFi over a single download
  The Geneva Conventions apply to armed conflicts-- war. Outside of that context, countries are not bound by it....
• Commented on Afghanistan: Poppy Palaces and "Narcotecture"
  I suspect the balconies are for your bodyguards. Nothing says "class" more than a guy with an assault rife....
• Commented on Afghanistan: Poppy Palaces and "Narcotecture"
  The monocle video shouldn't be missed. Many of those new houses are won't survive the next earthquake, so the blight should pass. Pity that so much was razed away in order to build them, though...
• Commented on The original 40-button mouse
  Old style graphics tablet "pucks" were often supplied with a multitude of buttons. A dozen autocad commands at your fingertips....
• Commented on The original 40-button mouse
  The editorial copy suggests that the magazine was in need of a copy editor. "If a three-button mouse seems like a luxury, try the PowerMouse 100. Its standard two buttons are surrounded by 38 small, programmable buttons." Well, if I...
• Commented on Hitler: football coach?
  What's this? "Which country launched the first ever atomic weapon?" Britain 4.97 Japan 30.59 Germany 18.67 America 40.89 China 4.87 Such a shame that "Soviet Union" wasn't among the choices. I'm sure that they could have gotten some people to...
• Commented on The $147.72 "audio grade" power socket
  Some houses have old, noisy electrical circuits that don't deliver the amperage that audio amplifiers seem to require these days. A couple of McIntosh power amplifiers will overload a 15 amp circuit. So, the audipophile brings in an electrician to...
• Commented on Animating the XKCD "I Love the Internet" strip
  After seeing today's xkcd, I'm feeling rather pessimistic....
• Commented on 27" iMac rules Apple's new gear
  On the other hand, it is $199. Might that be a tad too much to pay for a router that "just works?" The time capsules, on the other hand, will over heat and die....
• Commented on 27" iMac rules Apple's new gear
  Also announced today were better-performing routers and Time Capsules (Joel Johnson reports that buying a router from Apple is the final point where you've basically given it all up to them) and new aluminum remotes. Why's that? Is the airport...
• Commented on Joey Roth's Ceramic Speakers
  In my limited experience, thrift shops tend to be in crowded, uncarpeted rooms with poor acoustics. You really can't get a feel for how a speaker will sound in a thrift shop. So, it's a gamble, particularly with computer speakers,...
• Commented on Joey Roth's Ceramic Speakers
  These look incredible and compared to the price tag on the tin can speakers Gizmodo just covered, $495 seems like a steal. Ah, but there are dozens of speakers that cost $4000, and hundreds that cost $495. Some of them...
• Commented on Greenpeace praises HP for killing most PVC from supply chain, Nokia still cleanest
  Not to reflexively defend Apple, but Greenpeace's criteria may be somewhat flawed "A lot of companies publish how green their building is, but it doesn't matter if you're shipping millions of power-hungry products with toxic chemicals in them," CEO Steve...
• Commented on Oligarch's yacht has a laser anti-photo screen
  "even if you're using $100 bills as ballast, i dont see how a yacht can cost $1.2 billion..." The lasers cost $1.1 billion. Yacht was regular price. Let this be a lesson to you. When someone's designing and building a...
• Commented on How to make chai tea syrup
  Another source for inexpensive cardamom, if you can't find an Indian market, is "World Market/Cost-Plus"....
• Commented on Working handcuff keys printed on a 3D printer
  @Grimc, @anonymous, @amuderick, It's my understanding that dutch handcuffs cannot be picked with a paperclip, and the key is only sold to "law enforcement". The standard American key, which can be bought at any S&M shop, will not work. Look...
• Commented on Wondermark's steampunk helicopter
  I retract my comments. It's wonderfully absurd....
• Commented on Wondermark's steampunk helicopter
  I'm unable to suspend my disbelief-- especially in light of the fact the recent record breaking steam car tips the scales a 3 tons (with just 140 kilos of that being water). Amusing, and perhaps reminiscent of Jules Verne, but...
• Commented on Normalcy is the future
  That ought to be easy, right? It already happened, so we don’t have to make anything up. Let’s consider the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453). The big story back then? The English invade France, and they burn up everything including Joan...
• Commented on Photo of laptops in zero gravity
  At least it won't overheat? Don't be so certain. On earth, heat rises, and engineers can take advantage of that fact. In a microgravity environment, heat does no such thing. Convection ovens are a must....
• Commented on What's the best multiple-button mouse for Macs?
  I've get the mighty mouse. No, I won't claim that it's the best. Far from it, in fact. The mouse seems to delight in detecting a button press when none is forthcoming. I believe it has something to with capacitors...
• Commented on Video tour through the history of SFX
  @airshowfan: nice find....
• Commented on Video tour through the history of SFX
  My immediate, curmudgeonly reaction is that it's poorly edited. Some of the clips are captioned; others are not....
• Commented on HOWTO Make A Cheap Version of Muji's CD Player
  >The pull cord is play/pause and the other buttons are on top. Not on the "cheap version". >And the "FAIL?" Lame and rude. Of course it is. Personally, I'd like to see the meme die, and if it's widely seen...
• Commented on HOWTO Make A Cheap Version of Muji's CD Player
  The holes seem a bit large.You could probably get a much nicer effect if you stretched speaker grill cloth over a suitable frame. Where's the volume control? And the search/seek buttons? FAIL....