Mark Gordon

bio:Software engineer
website:http://www.mtgordon.org

Recent Actions
Comment Threads

Recent Actions

Commented on Rethinking NIMBY: Why Wind Power Could Lead To New Ways of Defining (and Dealing With) Public Naysaying
I'd figured that once Ted Kennedy was dead, most of the impediments would go away. I'm not sure what's preventing wind power any more. There's another generation of Don Quixotes in positions of authority, I suppose....
Commented on College students arrested for not tipping
Two points. First, if parties of six or more are obliged to tip, then waitstaff are largely relieved of any incentive to provide service to parties of six or more. That seems to have been at work here. Second, the...
Commented on Last Galapagos Pinta turtle finally knocks up a mate's eggs
Technically, this is a tortoise, not a turtle....
Commented on Visa claims teen spent $23,148,855,308,184,500.00 on prepaid credit card
...and if she has enough Twitter followers, they might fix it....
Commented on Lawyer asks judge to force rival to wear nicer shoes
Hey, it worked for Obama. He posed in worn-out shoes while controversy raged over Palin's wardrobe budget....
Commented on Michael Jackson likes what he looks like and doesn't have to change at all.
#16 "A lot of people consider it to be very rude to criticize or mock the recently departed." You mean like Xeni?...
Commented on Supreme Court declares strip search of 13-year-old student unconstitutional
@51 "If you'd like your kid to get a medication, just take the bottle to the nurse with a prescription for when to take them." Given the extent of the hysteria, I suspect that many schools chiefly intend to have...
Commented on Supreme Court declares strip search of 13-year-old student unconstitutional
@38 If schools aren't qualified to make decisions, they should leave those decisions up to the parents and/or the students, with some weight given to the students' age. If an 18-year-old has her purse searched, and they find oral contraceptives,...
Commented on Supreme Court declares strip search of 13-year-old student unconstitutional
@22 The Govt is not of one mind. Certain portions of the government are pushing the agenda that "drugs are bad, m-kay?" Outside the narrow confines of the schools, there's a more nuanced reality in which it's recognized that almost...
Commented on ACLU sues TSA for illegally detaining and searching man carrying $4,700 in cash
#24 Crack? Crack is illegal. Rape? Rape is illegal. Hold them until real cops arrive, and don't bother asking them any questions. Cash? They haven't outlawed cash. Maybe it's a bit fishy, but in the absence of evidence of a...
Commented on Supreme Court declares strip search of 13-year-old student unconstitutional
I'm with Brainspore. As much as I roll my eyes at pedophile hysteria, I'm inclined to think that the people who ordered and carried out this strip search should face sexual assault charges....
Commented on ACLU sues TSA for illegally detaining and searching man carrying $4,700 in cash
While the suit is a new development, Cory first posted this in back in April....
Commented on Database of all the toxins in your cosmetics and personal care products
"Fragrance" and "citric acid" are both apparently noted for neurotoxicity, among other faults. Granted, fragrance is often obnoxious, but it's so general that we effectively can't really say anything about it, good or bad. If citric acid is toxic, all...
Commented on Was 1971 the best year to be born a geek?
One of the major advantages of having been born in 1970, and early 1970 at that: the Unix epoch just makes so much more sense that way....
Commented on DIY sex machine injury
Boy, this gives "unsafe sex" a whole new meaning....
Commented on "Citizen videos" spread online showing BART police officer shooting unarmed man to death
It looks like his lawyer doesn't believe the standard "he was reaching for something" defense will work. With one cop stepping on the victim's neck and another sitting on his legs, it should have been trivial to cuff him. Instead,...
Commented on Woman sues over child's toys landing in her yard
Well, she's learned her lesson, as taught to her by her neighbors and the police, and she's learned it well: when you have a problem, use legal means to resolve them. While this is arguably a frivolous lawsuit, it's been...
Commented on Oldest toy in Britain
OK, so that's the oldest rock to wind a piece of string around. But how old is the oldest prosthetic forehead?...
Commented on Nickname triggers bomb scare at Florida State University
Is it getting to the point where people will face criminal charges for using the euphemism "f-bomb"? I can't wait for something like that to happen in Boston....
Commented on Driver blames pterodactyl for crashing into pole
Maybe he saw one of the several R/C pterodactyls that can easily be found on the market and got so distracted he drove off the road. It does seem an odd hour for someone to be flying radio-controlled reptiles, though....
Commented on Vodka fan nearly kills self by glugging 2l rather than surrendering it at airport
Moon: Yeah, so, how's your liver? ;-) Crash: Understood, but I'd just as soon avoid doing even long-term damage to my liver, just in case I happen to survive this weekend's bender. Part of me thinks that absorption of EtOH...
Commented on Vodka fan nearly kills self by glugging 2l rather than surrendering it at airport
I'm not sure coating the stomach with bismuth subsalicylate is such a great idea. If the ethanol isn't absorbed through the stomach, it's absorbed by the intestine, at which point it goes into portal circulation, straight to the liver, undiluted....
Commented on Neil Gaiman helps fan propose to girlfriend through book inscription
This answers Tori's question: Where's Neil when you need him? When you need him, he's there. This is so cool....
Commented on Something familiar about cover of Rick Smolan's book
Savvy PR people know that the sure way to get posted on Boing Boing is to invoke goatse (subtly, subtly) on their product....
Commented on Guerrilla clockmakers fix famous Paris clock
I'm reminded of Harry Tuttle, the vigilante heating engineer played by Robert De Niro in "Brazil"....
Commented on Finnish folk band find a rude airport welcome
Swell: the other fairly recent news item out of MSP was Muslim cab drivers refusing to accept fares carrying alcohol. It's something of a moot issue these days, what with alcohol being a liquid and all....
Commented on Thai food sparks terror alert in London
The chief difference between London and Boston appears to be that the London authorities aren't calling it a hoax and filing criminal charges....

Recent Actions from Mark Gordon

Comment Threads

tigerad50 commented on Rethinking NIMBY: Why Wind Power Could Lead To New Ways of Defining (and Dealing With) Public Naysaying
I want one too...
Steak commented on Rethinking NIMBY: Why Wind Power Could Lead To New Ways of Defining (and Dealing With) Public Naysaying
My city sits at the foot of ranges identified as a "primary wind resource" by New Zealand power companies. The first turbines went in at the end of last century, just little things, with a tip-of-blade height of a mere 67m. Quiet as a whisper, too. In 2004 these 48 machines had their number increased to 103. They looked pretty neat up there on the ridgeline. Playing Zork as a lad, I developed an appreciation for technological artifacts in the middle of nowhere (long live FCD #3!) so I was in favour of this development. In 2005 another 55 turbines,...
Steak commented on Rethinking NIMBY: Why Wind Power Could Lead To New Ways of Defining (and Dealing With) Public Naysaying
Ack, I should have added that those trying to preserve the skyline are dismissed as "NIMBYs", usually by those receiving hefty cheques from power companies for the siting of turbines on their land!...
SamSam commented on Rethinking NIMBY: Why Wind Power Could Lead To New Ways of Defining (and Dealing With) Public Naysaying
@Anonymous #51: The cape wind project's problem is not NIMBY, but whether a for-profit company should be given the right to public space and waters. They enrich themselves with public subsidies and lands, and we get some high cost green power? Thanks but no thanks. A publicly owned wind generation system, like those in Denmark, is a much better idea. Otherwise it is socialism for the rich. While those might (might) be laudable reasons for disliking the Cape Wind project, you're kidding yourself, or kidding me, if you actually believe those are the reasons the opponents are giving. Robert Kenedy's...
billrafferty commented on College students arrested for not tipping
If the service is excellent, it's a comparable tip. If the service is passable, it's about 15% standard for the wife and I. If the service is poor it drops to about 10%. If the service really sucks then we pay cash TO THE PENNY. No tip. I have been to restaurants where a gratuity was added for large groups of my friends and I and if we didn't feel that the 18% was appropriate we simply didn't pay it. We didn't not pay the check, that's stupid. The customer decides what the gratuity is, not the business....

Responses to Comments from Mark Gordon

Mark Gordon

Recent Actions

Comment Threads

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States and other countries.