Modusoperandi

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• Commented on Understanding the psychology of authoritarianism
  He should've just, oh I don't know, called it the "authoriarian scale" or the "established authority scale". Alternately, using "Twilight" would capture quite a bit of the critical tween/teen girl demographic....
• Commented on Fantastic faux-floor illusions
  Sure, it's funny, but only up until the point that it kills grandpa....
• Commented on People speak out on library censorship incident: “It’s dangerous to democracy when an interest group imposes its views on another.”
  Didn't you know? Freedom of Speech/Thought/Conscience and the like only apply to things that the Popular Majority agrees with. The Constitution and Bill of Rights, you see, only protects the "right" people, not the nebulous "them". No, I don't understand...
• Commented on People speak out on library censorship incident: “It’s dangerous to democracy when an interest group imposes its views on another.”
  Back in High School at the start of one class, the teacher pulled a copy of Heavy Metal out of the garbage and said "I caught one of the kids in an earlier class with this. If I see you...
• Commented on Plaices of Death
  Well, Rob Beschizza, it looks like you've got people feeling empathy for fish. It's about damn time, too. Normally only the cute animals get it....
• Commented on 100-word fiction competition — win an HP MediaSmart EX495
  Pah! That should be "radiation" instead of "ration", among other things that should be right, but are instead the opposite of that....
• Commented on 100-word fiction competition — win an HP MediaSmart EX495
  “Honey?” inquired Marble, her single blue orb glinting multi-facetedly. “Don’t start with me, Marble.” Curtly replied her mate, Blin. “You know how hard it is to pilot when you’re pecking me.” Silence reigned for a short time in the spacewagon....
• Commented on How the ambient sound at Walt Disney World works
  Music you can't get away from? Oh boy! (On a side note, the zombie apocalypse is started when an engineer changes the settings, so all speakers play "It's a Small World" simultaneously. Moo ha-ha!)...
• Commented on Car Finder app for iPhone
  I just set my car on fire. It saves me a bunch of time finding it, and I can catch a ride right to it. Sometimes the firemen even let me flash the lights and ring the siren! Woo!...
• Commented on America needs a "Manhunting Agency"
  How about we don't support bad guys in the first place? It won't immediately help, but it'll save us a bunch of "blowback" in the future....
• Commented on The Perfect Turkey Doesn't Really Exist
  No such thing as the perfect turkey? What about Battlefield Earth?...
• Commented on Please release me: <em>Borderlands</em> and <em>Bomberlands</em>, <em>Hook Champ</em> and <em>Earth Dragon</em>s
  Borderlands is like vaguely like Fallout3, except fun*. *...with the notable exception of shitty online matchmaking. Of course, you occasionally catch a low-lag server that also has people on it that are playing the game as a team and a...
• Commented on Robbers wearing markered disguises
  Oddly, they represent two of the major subgroups of nerds*: chubby and bearded, scrawny and not. I assume the break-in involved some guy's comic book collection. *There's also the sub-group "girls". Sighting are rare. They're the bigfoot of NerdWorld....
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  Roach "Do you have a source that takes into account differing standards of care?" A cursory googling comes up with stuff like Costs of Health Care Administration in the United States and Canada. There's probably better data out there, but...
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  Roach "I don't say it as anything of the kind, and I think conservatives ignore that that is rationing - although it is a very different kind of rationing, which is not controlled by any government entity but rather individuals'...
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  I'm no big fancy expert, I just lo...oh. Never mind....
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  billy_ran_away "To me, forcing me to pay for a neighbor's health care is tyranny." As I said before, you already are paying for it, morally as well as financially. They use the ER, you pay for it (and they're using...
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  "Are you familiar with the term tyranny of the majority?" "Tyranny of the majority" is "trying to provide cheaper healthcare to everybody" now? Tyranny of the majority is when the popular majority oppresses an unpopular minority, not when people decide...
• Commented on Al Franken kicks eleventy-million kinds of ass in health-care hearing
  billy_ran_away "Is it sharing when it's forcibly taken?" You do vote, right? You don't choose what the State does directly. You vote for someone to represent you. The government isn't some distant, unaccountable entity. "I don't think anyone should be...
• Commented on Barclay's terrible bank-security
  There are people who still have money? Why wasn't I told?! I thought the New New Economy was B&B (Barter & Begging)!...
• Commented on Steering wheel tray
  Now all they need to invent is a seat/toilet. Then the road to hell will be paved with more than just good intentions....
• Commented on CIA branch invests in tech firm that monitors blogs, Twitter, social media
  Wait, that should probably be "reasonable suspicion" rather than "presumption of innocence"....
• Commented on CIA branch invests in tech firm that monitors blogs, Twitter, social media
  "This doesn't really frighten me much to be honest. This is only collecting information that people have already willfully published to the entire world." ...except that wide-net datamining callously disregards presumption of innocence. In order for a cop to search...
• Commented on Yes Men pwn Chamber of Commerce over climate change legislation
  That's odd. Normally they get their stories from the GOP....
• Commented on CIA branch invests in tech firm that monitors blogs, Twitter, social media
  "Of course, it would be largely useless for tracking actual terrorists." Yes, but once you've cleared all the people that turn out not to be terrorists, whoever is left must be one. The logic is unrefutable!...
• Commented on "Sleeping" mannequins in public by Mark Jenkins
  I'm sure the police enjoyed spending an afternoon trying to get the girl off the billboard....
• Commented on Science of Scams: Derren Brown and Kat the Scientist debunk the paranormal industry
  billstewart "There are also some things that work by mixtures of science and woo-woo. Take firewalking - yes, it's mostly safe because of the physics, but the woo-woo seminar about getting beyond your fears is what makes you actually willing...
• Commented on Science of Scams: Derren Brown and Kat the Scientist debunk the paranormal industry
  PeaceLove "Evidence for psi produced in multiple labs over many years is in fact quite robust. I would recommend Dean Radin's book, The Conscious Universe, as a good place to start, but I am aware that most "skeptics" are in...
• Commented on National Lampoon cover gallery 1970-1998
  I had virtually every issue from 1973 up to the mid 80's. Even where I didn't get the references (drugs, booze, sex...most of the magazine at times) the quality of the writing still drew me in. Plus there was the...
• Commented on Science of Scams: Derren Brown and Kat the Scientist debunk the paranormal industry
  Brainspore "Modusoperand: I'd heard that. I actually used to work with Popoff's son..." Li'l Popoff? The rapper?...