MT_Head

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• Commented on Courage (and training) defined.
  On the original topic of the post: she is definitely my hero. Duty or no, knowing that there are people who can and do remember their training and their calling while in grave personal danger is what keeps my wavering...
• Commented on When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth full-cast audio drama
  I downloaded the MP3 a while back, and I'm just listening to it now, through headphones. I'm sorry to say it's actually a rather unpleasant experience: the mix is badly balanced. I keep having to turn up the volume to...
• Commented on You can still buy new dot matrix printers. Why?
  I don't use one myself, but I still have several clients who use them for multi-part forms and/or logs. Several of the medical laboratory firms still use 'em to send results directly to doctors' offices; recently, some of those are...
• Commented on Nikon unveils a couple of superzoom digicams
  What the heck? I do think that gigantic megapixel numbers for non-professional cameras are bogus, but I for one would like a LOT more optical zoom than I currently get. I use a Nikon Coolpix that my girlfriend gave me...
• Commented on Putin slaps down Michael Dell at Davos
  Xopher: A better translation would be "Your face looks lame." I don't know what he was getting at either....
• Commented on Man arrested for shouting complaints about "Arab types" on Turkish Airlines flight
  I suspect that "of German origin" was tossed in there because "Daniel Sussman Pincus" would otherwise be assumed to be an Ashkenazi name......
• Commented on Mac Mini "leak" causes excitement, ennui
  One possible way that "Apple's characteristic wordplay" might actually be in operation: if this is, in fact, a picture of an upcoming tiny laptop. Apple might then be saying that their new tiny laptop is a desktop replacement......
• Commented on Attractive toilet paper roll requires solving an obnoxious puzzle
  >> "overloaded with brain" That would actually be helpful in this case. But I suspect you meant "overloaded with BRAN"......
• Commented on The Nack utility knife has a barrel full of blades
  I have two Ryobi Nacks (lost the first one for a while, so bought a replacement, then found the original). I agree - for a serious drywall job (more than 2-3 sheets, I guess) I would use a fixed blade;...
• Commented on The Logitech Mice That Weren't
  I've been a big Logitech fan for years. These days I use a VX Nano on my laptop - when I have to use someone else's mouse, I feel crippled; I introduced it to a client of mine and now...
• Commented on Conservatives irked by "ostentatiously exotic" pronunciation of Pakistan
  I can't see how an Anglo-Portuguese version of the same word is any better. Does colonialism make local religion tastier? That argument rests on an assumption that is by no means settled: you assume that "Bombay" is a corruption of...
• Commented on Conservatives irked by "ostentatiously exotic" pronunciation of Pakistan
  Antinous - "Bombay" was home to an amazing diversity of cultures, languages, and races, and could fairly be called the cultural capital of India. "Mumbai" is the capital of Maharashtra and is ruled by a party (Shiv Sena) which would...
• Commented on Conservatives irked by "ostentatiously exotic" pronunciation of Pakistan
  A number of commenters have mentioned "Mumbai/Bombay" as an example of wilful Amurken ignorance... Not necessarily. Sometimes a name has political significance. Renaming the city from Bombay to Mumbai was the work of Shiv Sena, a fairly virulent Hindu-nationalist party....
• Commented on John Lydon's butter commercial
  Disappointed a few people When friendship reared its ugly head Isn't that... What friends are for?...
• Commented on Sink in a drawer
  We visited friends in Russia recently, and I was happy to see some nifty space-saving ideas in apartments there. Nothing ground-breaking, but I found it pretty cool: the toilet itself is in one small room, and just next to it...
• Commented on Christopher Hitchens waterboards himself
  Point 1 - American POWs have been waterboarded on many occasions (Korea comes to mind, as does Vietnam) and have confessed to the most outrageous bullshit propaganda you can imagine. Point 2 - The US has released prisoners from Gitmo...
• Commented on Soviet Winnie the Pooh cartoon
  In general, it seems to me that Soviet-era cartoons were much more... I think "charming" is the right word... than their American equivalents. Sweet without (usually) being cloying. Violence is rare to non-existent; children who go off alone in the...
• Commented on Soviet Winnie the Pooh cartoon
  We had new hardwood floor installed by a couple whose last name is Vinnikhan (they're Russian, but of Tatar extraction, I believe.) Every time I talk with them, I have the hardest time remembering NOT to call them "Vinnipukh"......
• Commented on Andrew Bush's "66 Drives" photographs
  Not to pick nits, but Las Vegas isn't quite in Southern California. Close, but not quite....
• Commented on 9 Common Idioms That Come from Technology
  #18 -"deus ex machina" I'd say it's a bit of a stretch to call that one technology-related - it's an old Latin phrase for a plot device in the even older Greek theatre, where a god was "flown" in on...
• Commented on Imperial pint glasses declare European conformity
  #42 - I also wish that pints were regulated here in the States. In general, however, there really aren't any (enforced) standards for bar quantities of any kind. Even shots, jiggers, etc. are "accepted" standards only, with no force of...
• Commented on Imperial pint glasses declare European conformity
  #2 - "It's not the punks you have to worry about in Camden Town nowadays; it's the Crack dealers with their knives and guns that loiter on every corner. (Yes, NIMBYism is alive and well in North London.)" Well, call...