Toby

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• Commented on IRS goes after mother who makes $10 an hour
  It would "certainly pay" as you say, but only if you didn't make any mistakes. A large chunk of what you're paying for when you have your taxes prepared is accountability. Tax preparers are supposed to know what they're doing,...
• Commented on Unmanned aerial "Predator" drones to patrol US/Mexico border
  So Alex Rivera's Sleep Dealer is looking more like a documentary all the time, then?...
• Commented on 8-way video card
  Except that the iMac doesn't have any slots for this card... unless you meant geting eight iMacs, and just using their displayports to drive them as monitors. When you weren't using the wall of screen, you could do some serious...
• Commented on Alien Appearance
  Well, given that our biosphere is only 3.5 billion years old, and the universe is around 13 billion, I'd say instead that we're late to the party. Of course, we are on the edge of a galaxy, but that provides...
• Commented on The $147.72 "audio grade" power socket
  "Grainger sells hospital grade outlets for $108." Those are 20A and have integrated surge suppressors. They carry normal 15A hospital grade outlets starting at $6, but running as high as $55 or so. I use the $6 ones, personally....
• Commented on Hand carved bicycle saddles
  Who is this Brook? Perhaps you mean Brooks saddles. And yes, they will kick your butt, by design. After years of being stylishly tenderized, I'm much happier on my dowdy Terry Fly....
• Commented on GRISTLEISM: Throbbing Gristle's unusual new "box set"
  @10 - At a guess, the point is to encourage fans to buy a novel but largely useless toy (discouraging public performance is an added benefit). I can't say I've gotten much more than a half-hour's worth of amusement out...
• Commented on Public fountains are disappearing because the concept of public is disappearing
  @18 - Given that flat-out disagreement rarely furthers relationships, I'd suggest a campaign of uncooling. Aside from being an environmental atrocity in landfills, plastic bottles leach spooky endocrine disruptors into your water (sorry to say, this includes your Brita pitcher...
• Commented on The Planet of Storms - 1962 Russian science fiction movie
  @octopod: No, but they did just make a Strugatsky adaptation, The Inhabited Island. Supposedly the most expensive film ever made in Russia, but I didn't find it interesting enough to finish......
• Commented on Poop on the moon, and how to protect it
  I don't believe said poop could literally be "moldering on the moon." The temperature is rather hostile at 107C, to say nothing of the lack of atmosphere to protect it from radiation, so most life (molds included) would find it...
• Commented on $134.5 BILLION worth of US bonds seized from smugglers at Swiss border
  Shouldn't 40% of $135B USD be $54B? Not that it will matter much if they're counterfeit......
• Commented on Lawsuit loser Airborne changes its packaging art
  @#39 Apparently a link between Vit. C and kidney stones hasn't been established. Fizzy and/or chewable forms will take their toll on your dental enamel if you eat lots, though....
• Commented on Hundred-year mechanical clock
  The electric motor might make it to the end, but I'm skeptical about the belts. There are indeed public clocks which have been running (with some downtime for regular maintenance) for hundreds of years, but they use gearing, not belts....
• Commented on Pedal powered electricity generator
  @#10: Ten thousand calories per day? I'm impressed - riders in the Tour de France are generally estimated to use slightly less than that, while riding more than 100 miles per day, at better than 25mph (my apologies to most...
• Commented on Thomas Doyle's marvelous diorama art
  We appear to have crushed his server. I did find a few nice large photos elsewhere....
• Commented on Vintage Japanese toy robot auction
  I'm having a sudden flashback to James Gunn's The Toy Collector....
• Commented on Argentine philosophy prof faces prison time for posting unofficial translations of out of print Derrida texts
  It appears that his site is hosted by servidoraweb.net in Argentina. Which makes me wonder what would happen if he switched to hosting somewhere else entirely....
• Commented on Our Food is Full of Crap. Also, Rodent Hair, Mildew, and Bugs.
  It does make veganism more of a shades-of-gray proposition, you have to admit......
• Commented on Homage to Arizona: 3
  It looks to be a Disocactus, to me. I have one in a pot, in my decidedly non-arid PNW window....
• Commented on The death rattle in the Mac Mini's throat
  It is a shame. I've upgraded my Core mini about as much as I can (7200rpm drive, 2G). So I'll be crossing my fingers that January will bring some choice of a mac that's about as brawny as an iMac,...
• Commented on Physical security maxims from Argonne National Laboratory
  Insider Risk Maxim: Most organizations will ignore or seriously underestimate the threat from insiders. Doesn't the Argonne Lab have a proofreader on staff, among all those untrustworthy insiders?...
• Commented on Pneumatic clock from 1940
  An interesting approach to electrifying traditional mechanical clock movements. But I beg to differ with #2, I think the Atmos is more elegant: no electricity needed....
• Commented on Extrasensory prosthetic devices
  #2, #4 - Presumably this project, as well the designers of the Cylons' erotic nightlight, live in fear of legal action from the producers of Species....
• Commented on Gerber Artifact multitool has tiny, replaceable blades
  I swung by REI on the way home from work and picked one up for $11.95. It's nicely thought out - the Xacto blade locks open with a little tongue, like a liner lock, and has a stop halfway closed,...
• Commented on Riot cops relaxing
  #20, I don't doubt that your theoretical scenario is possible, but you might have strengthened your case somewhat by posting actual links to critical press coverage. A quick spin through google news looking for "feces RNC" reveals that those highly...
• Commented on Ripple Mini Chocolate is Atom-based, Mac Mini-like
  I can't quite imagine why it'd need 60W (twice what my mac mini uses flat-out) if the Ripple is Atom-based. I built a low-power machine in a lunchbox that's whirring away in my closet, and it's drawing 35W with a...
• Commented on iPhone Hacks with Xeni
  Not that we shouldn't all have control of our devices, but doesn't it seem odd that there's a Hacks book coming out now for the iPhone and Touch, given that official App Store is set to launch next week (presumably...
• Commented on Books as home decor items
  It's a not just a fashion statement, it's that chance we've all been waiting for to teach ourselves Danish (well, all of us other than the Danes, that is)....
• Commented on NYTimes.com hand-codes its HTML
  I can't believe that in the middle of two-dimensonal flamewar (platform x editor) that no one has mentioned TextMate. I must say that it's made my hand-coding life much better, since any given document may be a mash of php,...
• Commented on Cheap and tiny submicros rounded up and compared
  Odd there's no mention of the OLPC XO. While plenty of adult users (and possibly some of the intended juvenile audience) aren't fond of the Sugar interface, pretty much everyone agrees that the hardware rocks. It's tough, has a long...