David Newland

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• Commented on Climate Change Now
  Surely the items you list are dependent on where one lives, but... what I like about this effort is that it places the emphasis on things that directly affect you as an individual. Trying to attack "climate change" as a...
• Commented on Terry Pratchett on the right to die
  #7 I thought the same thing! Probably a cut-paste error, but degradpulsorying seems sort of plausible as a word meaning "degrading because you were forced". Maybe Sir Terry can add coining that phrase to the list of things for which...
• Commented on Pranknet's Skype "phone assaults" detailed, head bully in charge lives with his mommy
  This is a major moment in a couple of ways. Obviously if a cruel web bully gets brought to justice we're all better off. But maybe more important is the fact that TSG is pulling off a major piece of...
• Commented on Six String Nation, the chronicle of Voyageur, a remarkable, unifying, synthesizing Canadian guitar
  #7 you're missing the point - the book is how the many stories collected around the guitar get shared with the world at large, whether they've laid hands on Voyageur or not....
• Commented on Six String Nation, the chronicle of Voyageur, a remarkable, unifying, synthesizing Canadian guitar
  Like many Canadian musicians, I've had the privilege of playing Voyageur, and it's a good feeling to make a little music with it before passing it along. But what's far more important about the guitar is that tens of thousands...
• Commented on Britain's loony rules for artist visas embarrass festival organizers
  @ Cory, I'm astonished that you would imply, or admit to hiring "a law firm that has old school ties to immigration officials, who can sweet talk them into taking it easy on you?" Is that really how you got...
• Commented on Music videos of records on turntables
  I've been seeing these for a while because I have a yen for tunes from the old days; i.e. before video. They're a charming hack: you need a vid to use YouTube as storage for your tune, but rather than...
• Commented on United Breaks Guitars, the complaint anthem
  Kudos to Sons of Maxwell - they express the frustration of everyone who's had to pray as they place a guitar aboard a plane. I cringed as I saw the scene where the baggage handlers are tossing the case -...
• Commented on Chris Anderson on managing tech for abundance
  I have to laugh at the notion that YouTube can't compete with TV because the latter is "full of crap" ... as if the former isn't....
• Commented on "Mighty Uke" trailer
  #3 the film-makers are Canadian, so add one nation to Japan, US and England......
• Commented on Bletchley Park snubbed by Brit govt, no love for birthplace of computing
  "...the nerd equivalent of the pyramids at Giza or Stonehenge..." Hyperbole, much? The buildings are undoubtedly of interest, but suggesting they are on par with two of the world's greatest ancient architectural and cultural monuments is preposterous....
• Commented on Cannabis Industry Boom
  Pot is a big part of Canadian culture these days, to be sure. It's prevalent, tolerated, relatively inexpensive and, on the consumer side, mostly benign. Unfortunately it's not exactly la-la land for all concerned. As long as it remains illegal...
• Commented on New York Times webteam nukes the careers of many journalists
  #30 I've just turned 40 this week. As if that's at all relevant. I take it as a basic premise that stuff everywhere in all forms is ephemeral, and stuff on the web all the more so. In a dozen...
• Commented on New York Times webteam nukes the careers of many journalists
  #28 LOL: Career Saved! Oh except for the angry rant at the former employer......
• Commented on New York Times webteam nukes the careers of many journalists
  #23 - I hear what you're saying, but: 1) no one lives 'beyond the precipice of death' because of online articles 2) our modern society is generating information exponentially; more has been created in the last decade than was probably...
• Commented on New York Times webteam nukes the careers of many journalists
  Nice angry rant on an interesting topic, but for a reporter, Mr. Crampton's failed to report on some important parts of the story. Does he actually know what happened when the entities merged? Did the web teams actually delete everything,...
• Commented on HOWTO Make entrails
  Once upon a time people used to make condoms of entrails, and now they're making entrails of condoms. Strange days indeed....
• Commented on Janet Klein plays "Tonight You Belong To Me" on ukulele
  #67 Plantedbypiggies: don't panic! She's just playing in D-tuning instead of the more familiar C tuning. You have three easy options: 1) Ignore her chord names and just use the grids to play the formations on your uke (you won't...
• Commented on Janet Klein plays "Tonight You Belong To Me" on ukulele
  Tiny Tim may not have been the greatest uke player and is frequently (mis)taken for a novelty act, but he was a living repository of early 20th century music. Dylan said that when Tiny Tim died, "we lost a national...
• Commented on Janet Klein plays "Tonight You Belong To Me" on ukulele
  All the haters really could stand a lesson in how the scroll bar works. Surely you're not compelled to read every post and watch every video? All those just picking up uke for the first time and within driving distance...
• Commented on Brittni Paiva plays "Glass Ball Slack Key" on ukulele
  Technogeek, bless your heart....
• Commented on Utterly Nuts, but Sane Enough to Execute in Texas
  Clearly not, since I've said that I don't support state-sanctioned killing. I only pointed out that the argument about occasionally executing the innocent is a red herring, since we we frequently release criminals who then go out and kill innocent...
• Commented on Utterly Nuts, but Sane Enough to Execute in Texas
  I'm not a supporter of state-sanctioned killing, but I find the notion that the death penalty is wrong because people are sometimes wrongfully convicted somewhat of a red herring. Yes, that happens - but surely not nearly as often as...
• Commented on Diane Rubio plays "Lulu's Back in Town" on ukulele
  Mark @ 14 - I do my level best as a uke player; I also co-founded and co-host the Corktown Uke Jam. I'm particularly fond of the uke as a songwriting instrument. Here's me doing an original to end the...
• Commented on Diane Rubio plays "Lulu's Back in Town" on ukulele
  Digilante - rule of the internet is, if you're not interested, don't click. It's not like someone forces you to watch the clips. Mark, keep your eyes peeled for an entire evening's worth of clips from the Corktown Uke Jam...
• Commented on EFF benefit in San Francisco: Me, Rudy Rucker, Annalee Newitz, Charlie Jane Anders
  Shouldn't that be Rudy Rucker, Annalee Newitz, Charlie Jane Anders, and me?...
• Commented on Beatles Complete on Ukulele
  And then there's the mind-blowing Beatles uke how-to site, complete with both midis and flash instructionals: http://www.beatlesite.info/...
• Commented on Interview with Warren Buffett about ukulele
  Cripes this is what I get for harassing you about featuring geek-chic girls on ukes. Now I can't work my brain anymore. But, um, thanks... more uke is good, still. Ow....
• Commented on Beatles Complete on Ukulele
  "I'd rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man." Actually, this parses as both sexist AND homophobic (in for a dime, in for a dollar.) He's saying he'd rather his girl was dead than that HE...
• Commented on Shelley Rickey plays "Tonight, You Belong to Me" on her handmade cigar-box ukulele
  #15 I do love seeing the bookends of the contemporary uke experience - from Jake to the web-cam uke players - I'm just keen to see some credit given to the people who have been dedicating themselves to this most...