Aloisius

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• Commented on Chickens terrified of dried sunflower head
  Looks like a dead bird to me....
• Commented on Hope is fading
  Lose wars? Did you miss the part where we toppled two governments and replaced them? Or do you mean that bullsh*t "war on terror" which is about as winnable as a war on stupidity....
• Commented on Infographic: Projected pot tax revenues
  Well if there is a cottage industry around keeping pot illegal then just decriminalize it with heavy fines. That will let most people keep their jobs (except for jailers). Heck, because it will be profitable to bust people, I imagine...
• Commented on Infographic: Projected pot tax revenues
  $778 million in tax revenues? The United States currently collects about $4.6 trillion in tax revenues at the local, state and federal levels. $778 million would represent a whopping 0.016% increase. Decriminalizing marijuana to get prisoners into the workforce and...
• Commented on Do you understand my first-grade child's homework?
  I recognize this ploy. You pretend that this is your child's homework but really you just want us to help you cheat! Do your own homework! :)...
• Commented on Pratchett's "Unseen Academicals" - a gift to Discworld lovers and an argument for the importance of sport
  I like British humour. I like Terry Pratchett. I however did not enjoy Unseen Academicals as much as I have some of his previous novels. I can't tell you exactly why. Normally his books are like candy and I can...
• Commented on One morning in a fitness boot camp
  If my fellow local nerds are interested, I recommend Boot Camp SF (http://www.bootcampsf.com/). Unlike most physical trainers I met, these folks always seemed pretty sharp, interested in the topic intellectually as well as practically. Also, unlike the "boot camp" name...
• Commented on DC sniper to die today
  I am against the death penalty even in this case simply because I think that death is too good for these people. I believe locking someone in a single person cell and limiting human contact for the rest of their...
• Commented on Is Sony legally required to make its games accessible to disabled people?
  Excuse me while I try to stretch an analogy in my book into the current conversation to try to drive people to buy my book. Also, please ignore my mental gymnastics of how decreasing the supply of a limited resource...
• Commented on Taste Test: Persimmon
  As I understand it, only Japanese persimmons (the most common variety) are called kaki. There are two other species including the American persimmon which is native to the eastern US and the date-plum which is native to southeast Europe/southwest Asia...
• Commented on Bicycle defense kit fits in Altoids tin
  Yes, it turns out that bicyclists are at fault for an unreasonably large number of car-bike accidents. There's a database of 2,000 crashes over the last decade for the bay area over at sfgate. Overall, bicyclists were more than twice...
• Commented on Thieves who stole from child get a public shaming
  I for one welcome shame as a deterrent. They may not be the majority, but there are criminals who sometimes do it to become infamous or because the criminal life has been glamorized. Nothing like a little public humiliation to...
• Commented on Dodge Viper logo is an upside-down Daffy Duck.
  I still don't see it....
• Commented on Love of Shopping is Not a Gene: exposing junk science and ideology in Darwinian Psychology
  I had to look up that one about women not being funny. Having read the article in Vanity Fair, I now have a very difficult time coming up with a list of female comedians that makes me fall over laughing....
• Commented on The Secret of Liquid Smoke
  Alton Brown definitely did a show involving making liquid smoke during Season 9 episode 3: Season 9 Episode 3 Part 1 Season 9 Episode 3 Part 2 Right towards the end of part 1 he builds a device to condense...
• Commented on ICANN haz cheezburger (Update to "Xeni on Maddow")
  Actually I'm pretty sure I can communicate with a very large percentage of Europe that speaks English as either a primary or secondary language, but where the local language contains any number of accents, umlauts, graves and other special characters....
• Commented on ICANN haz cheezburger (Update to "Xeni on Maddow")
  The web is not the internet. I do not send emails by clicking. I do not add people to my address book by clicking. However, I guess it'll open up a new world of contact exchange apps. Personally I can't...
• Commented on Kiwis training their young to ZORB
  I for one was a bit underwhelmed by my zorbing experience. It was far too short and did not involve any ramps or falls! If I'm in a fully protective hamster ball, I expect some sheer drops darn it....
• Commented on Arnold Schwarzenegger's coded F-bomb in veto
  I guess that should have been: Tom, I Fuck You, Sincerely, Arnold....
• Commented on Arnold Schwarzenegger's coded F-bomb in veto
  Ok. It is actually: T I FUCK YOU S A - or Tom, I FUCK YOU, Signed Arnold That said, he is Austrian and English is not his first language, so I'd expect the language to be a bit odd....
• Commented on Goat rentals for clearing brush
  There is a similar company in California that has been renting out goats to places like the Berkeley hills for the last 12 years or so called Goats R Us. They clear poison oak as well as brush which is...
• Commented on Advisor: My husband has a virtual girlfriend
  Fantasies are perfectly healthy expressions of someone's desires and are a fundamental part of human nature. The idea that they are somehow bad or that losing touch with reality from time to time is a ridiculous. In fact, stigmatizing natural...
• Commented on Advisor: My husband has a virtual girlfriend
  Does no one notice the obvious: how pathetic it is that people are avoiding real-life emotional intimacy by hiding in a game that gives them the illusion of intimacy with none of the drawbacks (dealing with other human beings and...
• Commented on Infographic: Left vs Right
  In my current cynical view of the world, both sides positions are just justifications of fear. On the left: fear of corporations. On the right: fear of the government. Both positions, while not completely unjustified, are stupid. In fact, the...
• Commented on Freakonomics Sequel Gets Climate Change Wrong
  Wasn't the original Freakonomics just a huge correlation driven analysis rant? I picked up the book and only read a little before I started yelling at the top of my lungs (in my head) "CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION!" Was Superfreakonomics...
• Commented on BREATHE DEEP AND LET GO OF THINGS -- alternative to "Keep Calm and Carry On"
  They were great posters though even if they were never used. Still I'm getting tired of the whole 'keep calm' posters. The slogan is plastered over everything these days....
• Commented on The boy who survived an accidental hot air balloon flight in 1964
  That picture is ridiculous. It looks like the entire balloon is tilted over. It must just be a trick of the angle because otherwise I can't imagine how the balloon operator wouldn't see him or at least notice something was...
• Commented on Investment banks borrow money from gov't at 0%, lend it back to them at 3%
  Yes, but is the stock the US government owns in these banks now worth more than the amount they are bilking us for? If so, then I say screw it. Let's just hope we sell off that stock wisely....
• Commented on How to run, meditate, and not get hurt
  Yeah I went and saw a doctor a few weeks after it happened. I'll have to go back again if it continues. I have posterior shin splints, so that stretch won't do much, but there are some others I do...
• Commented on How to run, meditate, and not get hurt
  Yeah I went and saw a doctor a few weeks after it happened. I'll have to go back again if it continues. I have posterior shin splints, so that stretch won't do much, but there are some others I do...