zikzak

Recent Actions

• Commented on Understanding the psychology of authoritarianism
  The idea that it is only the right wing, or only a particular faction of American government which has an authoritarian agenda is a very short-sighted and dangerous one. If you believe that you can be saved from authoritarianism by...
• Commented on Redhead 12-year-old assaulted over Facebook message citing South Park episode?
  It seems like this is a perfect example of how "intolerance will find a way". We can teach kids about how it's wrong to judge people because of their race, or that there's nothing wrong with being gay, but there's...
• Commented on Comic on the joy of online reading
  I have a theory that it's actually harder to read on a computer screen, because the resolution is lower. So your brain has to do more work figuring out what the letters are. It's unconscious work, but it still takes...
• Commented on Transborder Immigrant Tool helps Mexicans cross over safely
  What are national borders? What does it mean to be on one side or the other of them? What do we need them for? As information technology waxes, the answers to these questions become more and more vague and murky....
• Commented on Remixing the default Twitter avatar
  In honor of Professor Calamity, arrested for twittering at the G20: the anarchist twitter...
• Commented on Animation: pitcher Dock Ellis's no-hitter while on LSD
  very cute...
• Commented on Richard Metzger on Ayn Rand
  It's interesting that nobody ever reads Rand's work and thinks "Wow, my eyes are opened, it's all true...I'm a non-productive parasite!"...
• Commented on Antony Gormley - let's all go barefoot
  Going barefoot is great fun, and arguably good for you. But does it really have to be connected with global warming? As a fan of silly hippie nonsense, let's try to keep it separate from serious scientific matters like global...
• Commented on Fort Hood Shooter bought "cop killer" at "Guns Galore"
  If only he had bought his "cop killer" pistol illegally, all those people would be alive today. Wait......
• Commented on Feeling "grumpy" makes you think more clearly, study says
  It seems like a pretty big jump to assume that just because you asked them to "dwell on negative events in their life" that they're grumpy. What the study has really shown is that people who just got done thinking...
• Commented on Venezuela bans violent video games: a first-person guest essay
  It's very interesting to read this perspective - thanks Guido for writing it and Xeni for posting it. It's great to hear from people living under "controversial" governments that are discussed so much in the US....
• Commented on Bicycle defense kit fits in Altoids tin
  Cyclists have been trying to "gain acceptance" on the road for decades now by being polite, obeying the rules, lobbying local government. We sometimes get results, but much too rarely. Meanwhile, cars kill cyclists, pedestrians, and other drivers constantly. Cars...
• Commented on What Role Should GM Food Play in the Future of Agriculture?
  I can't express how happy I am to see so many nuanced, carefully considered opinions on the implications of GMO and industrial agriculture here. I expected a much more dismissive "hippies are just afraid of science, GMO will solve everything!"...
• Commented on Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad.
  In theory, you're right. A nation-state is sovereign, and no foreign entity can override its laws or mandate its internal government. In theory. In practice, international trade agreements are constantly overriding "sovereign" national governments. Want to be a member of...
• Commented on How the DC snipers hacked an ex-police car to make a killing machine
  @outtacontext: For sure, there's an unavoidable sense of fear and panic when we realize a stranger is randomly killing people. And I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to feel completely indifferent about that. But it is reasonable to...
• Commented on How the DC snipers hacked an ex-police car to make a killing machine
  @outtacontext and travelina: I'm sorry for the stress and fear that you went though, and it's understandable why you felt that way. But the fear and stress itself was unfounded. The danger of getting sniped was astronomically overstated - even...
• Commented on La-Z-Boy in drunk driving debacle headed for eBay, "Hell Yeah It's Fast" sticker included
  Truly this is the American Dream....
• Commented on Google Wave as an RPG environment
  My character scoffs derisively as he hears this talk about Google Wave. He says "the Boing Boing comment section has served our party just fine through many adventures...how can this possibly improve upon it?". I'd also like to make a...
• Commented on Terrified London cops spending millions gathering useless intelligence on peaceful protestors
  This kind of surveillance is a waste of time, since activists involved in seriously illegal activity keep their distance from protests and high-profile public events. They know all about this type of surveillance profiling, and avoid it quite easily. I...
• Commented on Musicians call for release of torture soundtrack details
  "Sound at a certain level creates sensory overload and breaks down subjectivity and can [bring about] a regression to infantile behavior," Devolution is real!...
• Commented on Yet another reason McCain's "Internet Freedom Act" is dumb, Net Neutrality is good: national security?
  In an era where the US outsources invasions and foreign occupying forces to private corporations, I hardly think they're concerned with the security issues of privatizing the internet. Interestingly, the reasons for these two privatization may be similar. By using...
• Commented on 555 California security guards in San Fran threaten to punch sidewalk photographer, break his f*cking camera
  That picture totally looks like the opening to a badass kung-fu scene....
• Commented on 555 California security guards in San Fran threaten to punch sidewalk photographer, break his f*cking camera
  What possible thing could he have said that would have justified this kind of reaction from security? You trot out the old "we only know half the story" so reflexively that you don't even stop to consider what that other...
• Commented on Chamber of Commerces tries to Ralph Lauren the Yes Men
  I looked over the Yes Men page and it looks nothing like a parody to me. It looks like they honestly want to make people think the CoC made the website. There's no mocking, no humor, just serious-looking text on...
• Commented on Chamber of Commerces tries to Ralph Lauren the Yes Men
  "Attorneys for the group have issued a takedown demand for the website connected to the prank, claiming copyright infringement." I have no doubt that the Chamber would bring a fraud lawsuit against the Yes Men if they thought it would...
• Commented on Infographic: Left vs Right
  seems weird that the left is identified with "communists" but the right is not identified with "fascists". Maybe that's what was meant by "nationalists", but that's a much gentler term. And if I was going to use gentler terms I'd...
• Commented on Yahoo hires lap-dancers to entertain at its open, inclusive Hack Day event
  @riebrick OK, we get it already. We have been trolled. You're oh so clever....
• Commented on Yahoo hires lap-dancers to entertain at its open, inclusive Hack Day event
  If this kind of culture persists for much longer, I foresee a female secessionist movement within computer geek culture. There are now enough women involved in hacking/coding/gaming/etc to comprise a significant fraction, but still not enough to influence the mainstream....
• Commented on Yahoo hires lap-dancers to entertain at its open, inclusive Hack Day event
  Being "progressive" and "open minded" doesn't just mean being that way about pornography and sex. Or just being that way about foreign cultures. It also means being progressive on the idea of including women in traditionally male areas of power...
• Commented on Spurning the "false god of coffee"
  Whether you think you're dependent on coffee or not, whether you like it or not, please consider the social impact of the product you consume every day. The coffee trade is one of the more destructive industries that we support...