LYNDON

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• Commented on More Insight on Those Leaked Climate Change Emails
  I too would like to congratulate Maggie on the post. And I might add, it would *really* make my day if its thread didn't degenerate into the regurgitation of hackneyed talking points that have nothing to do with the emails....
• Commented on Do you understand my first-grade child's homework?
  Perhaps the lack of instructions is a fiendish plot to stop parents helping their children with their homework. I think the crotchety-old-man response here was best summed up by Tom Lehrer....
• Commented on Most potential recruits for US military too fat, dumb, or drugged out
  > 85% of youth are ineligible, not 75% I'm going to arbitrarily assert they got the population numbers wrong and not the percentages. I will also assume that "Mental Category V (the lowest 10 percent of the population), 9 percent."...
• Commented on Witches on drugs
  There's an analagous argument that Salem happened because everyone was stoned on bad rye flour. But, as above, it can be adequately explained by perfectly ordinary mass hysteria, enforced confessions and perversion of justice....
• Commented on Arnold Schwarzenegger's coded F-bomb in veto
  I think you really should be looking at the probability of 'something like' this happening - we would be just as excited if there was some other message there. That would make it a lot less unlikely. But, given the...
• Commented on Gallery of creepily retouched baby photos
  @shay guy - the impression of fakeness I think can be broken down like this: - general oversharpness and saturation/colourisation - makes things look like painting rather than a photo. I suspect there's also more tone depth in the face...
• Commented on Disney gags on "Ho White" beer
  It does make a difference if the parody is for commercial gain or not. The statutory test for determining fair use... I might add that this is in Australia. If they're anything like New Zealand there's no explicit (and very...
• Commented on Can you tell if people are dangerous by looking at their face?
  If there's anything in this - scars and missing teeth aside - it would be in how you habitually hold your face. I have an acting-type book (Keith Johnstone's 'Impro') that talks about five or so basic expressions that people...
• Commented on What actual Mayans are saying about 2012
  There was no cry of insensitivity when the horror movie "Leprechaun" was made, nor "The Serpent and the Rainbow", nor any other horror movie that comes from a culture's legends. Strangely, I understand that kid's movie The Water Horse SHOULD...
• Commented on Moon bombing is bad, for it will make the aliens very angry indeed.
  Apparently, people keep asking Giblets, "Were we wrong to blow up the moon?"...
• Commented on Yeast? Where We're Going, We Don't Need Yeast
  The result smelled like a mix of alcohol and vomit Sounds like it was about ready. Someone once said to me it's a shame the alcohol in bread burns off in cooking, otherwise it would be the best thing since...
• Commented on Video projector button infringes copyright at 16:9
  Yeah, I'm no big-city lawyer, but I'd'a thought aspect ratio didn't have a lot to do with whether a public screening breeched copyright or not. Maybe they've heard of people who thought changing the aspect ratio was making a substantially...
• Commented on Yeast? Where We're Going, We Don't Need Yeast
  I think the general tip is that there are more useful bacteria on the outside of things like grain or fruit (or veges - I've seen one starter recipie with rhubarb) than the middle. So whole-wheat flour, whole grapes or...
• Commented on disapprovingrabbits.com
  Yeah, my cats anthropomorphize all the time....
• Commented on Dead cell-phones: suspense movie cop-outs
  I was told the UK's 'The Bill' was the first police show to properly use cellphones....
• Commented on Odd economic indicators
  My Boss declared the recession over when the local coffee shop started giving away chocolate fish again. GDP Statisitcs today suggest he was right. (In New Zealand, as some will have gathered from the chocolate fish reference. Chocolate-coated marshmallow. Shaped...
• Commented on Working handcuff keys printed on a 3D printer
  I believe you can also open handcuffs by sticking something in sideways to open the ratchet mechanism rather than picking the lock. Certainly works for toy versions. The moral is, the point of handcuffs is to make it rather more...
• Commented on The blog of Philip Garrido, serial rapist and kidnapper: "sound control" gadget hallucinations.
  I submit that it'd be more constructive to include him in humanity. We might be a bit more eager to clean things up - and the species is kind of a mess - if we admit kinship with the dark...
• Commented on Science of BBQing
  Beer marinade works better & quicker than wine for this: Beer marinade cuts steak cancer risk - - New Scientist...
• Commented on Photo-crashing squirrel
  Yeah, I don't see anything to support fakeness. It would be as easy to get a stuffed squirrel and put it in front of the camera as do a 'shop job that good....
• Commented on EFF criticizes Burning Man for limiting attendees' fair use rights
  I can't believe nobody's used the phrase "playa hataz" yet....
• Commented on Odd Images of Escape Chute Lead to Better Story
  I think the "x teenager evacuation/min" standard is one that probably has lots more use than we think. I once heard of an author being fascinated with all those girls/boys-own stories of children tying their bedsheets together and climbing out...
• Commented on Podcast about Hollow Earth theorist Dr. Raymond Bernard
  That may well be the book I have at home. I remember being mesmerised by the rant-based structure. Using the same words every time: "that the earth is not, as has hitherto been believed, a solid sphere but..." then explaining...
• Commented on Remixing the London police's insane, paranoid terrorism scare posters
  Bother. Correcting a typo in my earlier offering...
• Commented on Remixing the London police's insane, paranoid terrorism scare posters
  I just had a look at the PDF info. The actual fonts are Gotham Book and Gotham Medium. Gotham is apparently the Obama 'change' font. Anyhow, Verdana seems about the closest you'll find on a average computer. Coupla quickies: http://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/0903/dd91a4ce9d8a1a0a84dc.jpeg...
• Commented on Remixing the London police's insane, paranoid terrorism scare posters
  I was thinking about the proper approach to these and thought something like the 'people are quite nice really' was about the best, and also seemed quite british. For example, it's difficult to parody the police approach here. One would...
• Commented on New Zealand's stupid copyright law dies
  It's been sent back to the *Minister* for review. I've seen nothing to suggest the penalty won't be retained - but we might expect some kind of clarity and explicit due process. And there's still section 92c - notice and...
• Commented on Google: the majority of takedown notices are bogus
  Coupla technical points: * AFAIK the submission was filed not with the government but the industry body trying to hammer out a code of practice; while many submitters complained about the law itself (and one major ISP has walked out...
• Commented on Newspapers' Depressing Internal Lingo
  Yeah, many of those are printer's terms. IAMAP but off the top of my head the most virtuous press jargon I can think of is (something like) 'priests' and 'friars'. Which, it might well be noted, refer to mistakes -...
• Commented on Excellent public speaking advice
  The advice I like to add here derives from the improv guru Keith Johnstone. Set out to fail. Make some mistakes. Say three of them. Be prepared to scold yourself if you don't make your total. If you are worrying...