tomic

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• Commented on Campaign to get UK government to apologise for hounding Alan Turing to his death
  Wow, so many comments read like 4chan. Babies! Duh, "apology" is the form; the act is one of discussion for the living. Turing wasn't some random guy; the *enormity* of his work is hard to overstate. It's intricate and subtle...
• Commented on Jason Torchinsky at Dorkbake competition
  @2 ! I never! So rude! Nope, hanging on the wall at ACE (www.ace.uci.edu). I got them from Jason. They drawings are very cool. They STILL are cool after all this time....
• Commented on Iranian election uprising: Twitter tracks it real-time, Iranian bloggers evade 'Net Censorship
  I'd like to set up proxies for twitter on my well-connected server but I'm twitter illiterate (annoying fluff in the US, but clearly critical tech in times like this). Any how-to's anywhere on doing so? I know time is the...
• Commented on RIP, Atomic Ed Grothus, curator and proprietor of the Black Hole of Los Alamos
  --> theretroblog: that wasn't ed, that was probably frank. frank is, let's say, very vigilant. he is basically a nice guy but he has some odd hypotheses. --> patriot738: I don't doubt your experiences as a kid with grouchy old...
• Commented on Endocrinal economics: hormones versus the market
  Two thoughts: * Cause and effect reversed. * Economics has no functional science, this is as god as anything....
• Commented on Viridianism's last note: surround yourself with beautiful, excellent things and get rid of all else
  objects have no intrinsic value objects have no intrinsic value objects have no intrinsic value repeat after me...
• Commented on Electric Pacer
  Yeah, it's standard operating procedure to slam the Pacer (and to confuse the Gremlin with the Pacer). Yes, it had many problems but nothing like the silliness posted here. The maker, AMC, was tiny -- Ford made more Model T's...
• Commented on The Essential Groucho
  I would (have) love(d) to see Groucho Marx and Jon Stewart in an "argument". OK Marx is 10X funnier, no doubt -- but Stewart is a GREAT verbal battler. He's be a great straight man foil to Groucho. Stewart has...
• Commented on Jasmina Tešanović: Made in Catalunya / Lou and Laurie
  This is really great, thanks for posting this. I've always loved Laurie Anderson, and Reed, and it's wonderful when great artists continue to evolve and not get trapped in their pasts....
• Commented on Video of happy man vigorously swinging baby around room
  Eh, babies are cheap to make....
• Commented on Lutec's perpetual motion calculations a "basic mistake"
  (Nearly) everyone forgets that magnets ARE a power source. I mean, seriously, do these dimwits ever consider how much energy goes into producing one? Why do these things get any press? I realize that sometimes they are amusing enough......
• Commented on Biometric identifcation by body language
  And this is a danger of technofetishism. "Cultural background" please! It's 2008 -- anyone taking DoD money for stuff like this knows which side they're on, regardless of the verbiage they wrap it in. THe blue and red bars are...
• Commented on Tweethearts: blogger proposes to nerd girlfriend over Twitter, she tweets back acceptance.
  Why s ths vn ntbl? Wht mks t dffrnt frm prpsng n ml? V lttr? Tlphn? Twttr s clr bcs t's nwr? s vryn tht shllw nd trvl?...
• Commented on Shrooms to cure headaches
  // PRION @1, According to the article that I link to, he thought psilocybin mushrooms contained LSD. // LSD is extremely hard to find these days (actual LSD). Mushrooms are easy to find; they grown on cow poop. Both are...
• Commented on Airport shoe-scanner device could prevent stupid shoe-removal ritual
  It's an empty box with three LEDs on it, made by Halliburton at at cost of $73,234.71 each. Since there's nothing in shoes but stinky socks, this will suffice for all interested parties....
• Commented on Shava Nerad on The Epic Fail: it's the (information) economy, stupid.
  Oh please. "Deregulation" and "liberalization" of banking laws from Reagan days onward literally set the stage for the grand theft of all that kited, generated "value" as cash money. It was an engineered theft. Read about the mechanisms used to...
• Commented on James Howard Kunstler's "Eyesore of the Month"
  I think most (but not all) of you missed the point... go look at his website! The tattoo 'eyesore' is a bit inscrutable, but the rest are pretty hilarious. Yeah, he's on "our side". The 'long emergency' is a target...
• Commented on Radio documentary on RAND Corporation
  Eh, I listened to a good chunk of it yesterday. I'm unimpressed. Basically the story doesn't get past the "wow!" factor -- wow, they joke about 10's of millions of deaths! wow, they 'game' on soviet vs. us world war!...
• Commented on Martin K. Tytell, Typewriter Wizard, Dies at 94
  He perfectly typifies a social relationship that's often ignored and undervalued: the deep cultural value of one lone nut with an obsessive skill. Too many people do not follow their passion(s) because of what other people think or a fear...
• Commented on Argument over genital size leaves three killed
  Excellent. Now if we can get the rest of the d*ckheads to do the same to each other, and leave the rest of us alone, it will be good....
• Commented on Kevin Kelly on the history of Wired
  Yeah, Will Kreth got kinda screwed, as did a number of other people. I wasn't a wired employee, but I was there a lot, even before it published. I put in the first WIRED.COM machine for them (a modest little...
• Commented on McCain staffer slams Dungeons and Dragons players
  I think McCain is thinking of real dungeons and real dragons. He's that old, you know....
• Commented on Video: Dancing magnetic oil sculpture
  The Exploratorium in San Francisco had a similar, if simpler, device at least 10 years ago. When you pressed button(s) it made the oil rise up in patterns. Quite nice. It was magnetite dust in motor oil; they got the...
• Commented on Device clamps on face to preserve goatee
  Is it April First or something? What's with the inane products? Solar table? Goatee thingy? Sheesh, where's my SHarper Image catalog?...
• Commented on Solar table made from teak and stainless steel
  FINALLY! My ordinary tables, made of stupid things like wood or metal, have no power source at all! They're so backwards. And I always put MY tables in full sun here in Los Angeles, rather than in pesky shade or,...
• Commented on Scientists invent "meat spaghetti" to trick kids
  It's un-American to not eat a lot of cows!...
• Commented on Public string/cup telephone
  I waited and waited, but no one would talk to me....
• Commented on Rat-owning animal-hoarding rapture-obsessed twin elderly ladies versus the family next door
  Rats propagate at an almost unbelievable rate when necessary -- a young, mature female can drop a little of 8 - 12 every six weeks for a year. They're sexually mature around 6 weeks. Females don't live long when they...
• Commented on Rat-owning animal-hoarding rapture-obsessed twin elderly ladies versus the family next door
  I dunno why people read "rat" and hear "vermin". These are not NYC type norwegian rats they're So Cal tree rats. We have a pair in the bouganvilla; they are lovely and hilarious. Population is limited by food; we have...
• Commented on Man shoots lawnmower
  I don't see the problem here. Lawnmowers need shooting. Move along, move along....