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• Commented on Happy Turkey Day from Mystery Science Theater 3000
  Sometimes it's amazing to me what nonsense can bring a tear to my eye. I loved MST3K, even though many of the episodes were not so great. I remember this "Turkey Day" promotion, and I remember re-watching so many episodes...
• Commented on Apple patents anti-user attention-complianceware
  Okay, so I'm not really saying anything new, but this is just corporate suicide. When my gizmo locks, it's junk. I throw it away and don't buy another one. So who cares if another company kills itself? Then again, there...
• Commented on Richard Metzger on Ayn Rand
  There's no point being cruel about the ideas of Ayn Rand. They have their time and place, just like many other ideas or behaviors acquired during life. As small children, we believe that we are the center of the universe...
• Commented on Disney buying Marvel
  I can't help thinking that characters and stories that are already bland will eventually become "family friendly" dull....
• Commented on Ethics of robots that kill
  While I wish the gentleman well in his quest for "moral robots on the battlefield," to me this sounds a bit like "clean coal" -- theoretically possible, demonstrable in tests, and economically uncompelling....
• Commented on Brit photographer who shot demolition of flyover arrested for terrorism
  Get out of England now. No joke. Don't wait to be trapped there....
• Commented on Who is copyright for?
  I suppose it's not surprising that the copyright house of cards is built on such flimsy inaccuracies. The only valid copyright justification is that it benefits the public as a whole, not creators or businesses....
• Commented on @BBVBOX: recent guest-tweeted web video picks (boingboingvideo.com)
  While I'm nobody's badass, I would've been considerably more brutal on that young punk than Mr. Aldrin. If there were ever heroes in 20th century America, Buzz Aldrin was one of them. He deserves respect....
• Commented on Astroturfing face-lift dirtbags get fined, stay in business
  The evolutionary nature of free markets often means that free markets develop beyond the narrow boundaries that make them beneficial to the vast majority of people. The classic model is that the company offering superior products or services will outcompete...
• Commented on Oh, beautiful for Palin's lies
  It's difficult for me to get excited about another conservative lying. I like to point out that conservatives must lie, otherwise we would have hanged them all by now. Regardless of what they say, there is only one conservative value:...
• Commented on United Breaks Guitars, the complaint anthem
  I'm not a fan of country music by any means, but somehow I find this video to be a thing of beauty. If I ever fly United again (and I'm not likely to do so after this), I'll be sure...
• Commented on Evolution, religion, schizophrenia and the schizotypal personality
  Dammit, as a mild obsessive-compulsive, now I want to hear "next Wednesday's" lecture also....
• Commented on Exploring Your Own Backyard
  It's somewhat depressing to me that this discussion would be misframed as "net vs. nature," or some such. You can spend all of your time online surfing porn. You can spend all of your time in your back yard staring...
• Commented on Stephenie Meyer vs. 4chan -- XKCD
  I saw XKCD this morning and was quite disappointed. It seemed as though the author had never actually visited 4chan. You can't ruin something that's been pre-ruined, folks. There's no such thing as a pristine troll environment. Oh well, everybody...
• Commented on Rubber snake harvests wave energy
  I would be interested in the long-term durability of these devices. A power-generating system that required too frequent repair and/or replacement would be economically impractical. While plastic and rubber may not biodegrade, I have observed that these substances can become...
• Commented on Entertainment industry's greedy lobbying is their undoing
  Another highly enjoyable article, Cory. Thanks! I admire your enthusiasm and optimism. I feel as though the destructive fiction of "intellectual property" will eventually be defeated, but not for several decades. The corporate dinosaurs supporting it -- depending on it...
• Commented on Fox's Glenn Beck says Obama is building concentration camps for Republicans
  I am not a good, kind, or reasonable person. I should not be taken seriously. But I really wish there were concentration camps for Republicans....
• Commented on Thorstein Veblen, Prescient on Today's Media
  A little popular literature trivia: In the late John D. McDonald's "Travis McGee" series of detective novels (identifiable by the colors in their names), McGee's best pal was a semi-retired economist named "Meyer." Meyer lived on a houseboat that he'd...
• Commented on Terrific special effects reel by 12-year-old
  This young man clearly has a lot going on upstairs, both intellectually and creatively. That's great to see....
• Commented on Economists call for patent and copyright abolition
  I'm pleased that someone with academic qualifications has actually said this in public. Now, if we could get someone with actual authority to say it, we might be getting somewhere. The longer it takes us to nullify the "intellectual property"...
• Commented on Japanese Graveyards
  Hi Danny: I wasn't aware that conventional burial was an option in Japan. After the Kobe earthquake in 1995, I read an article that seemed to suggest cremation was the mandatory route. A few Americans died in this disaster, and...
• Commented on TED2009: Louise Fresco
  I have never been terribly impressed by the TED Talks, but I found this one offensive, condescending, and irrelevant in particular. Perhaps it's just me, but I have no illusions about fictional peasant farmers of the past. I'm well aware...
• Commented on Principles of the American Cargo Cult -- the beliefs that make bad argument
  Some minor and possibly irrelevant additions: -- Random chance is romantic (or even sacred), intentional action is cold (and perhaps wrong). -- To understand (or to believe you understand) a person or a thing is to make him or it...
• Commented on Suburban Japan: 1
  I suspect it's not so much the Japanese attitude towards drugs, as it is a lack of cultural references around the specific English word "drug." In the U.S., the word "drug" carries a whole cultural constellation of ideas like "drug...
• Commented on Plainclothes allegedly police beat up 12-year-old honor student girl then arrest her 3 weeks later
  You really want to start an insurrection, don't you....
• Commented on This is not William Shakespeare's head
  Oh man, why did you show me this? Now I have to buy one, dammit!...
• Commented on HOWTO cook a kick-ass pizza crust in your home oven
  My wife is a Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef who has been baking pizza experimentally for decades now. According to her, the traditional high-temperature pizza oven is only good for rapidly delivering a very thin crust, which more often than not...
• Commented on Scientists mostly don't know what a "theory" is, but should they?
  Cory, I'm a little surprised you posted this. While it's not a bad idea to reexamine old ideas periodically, in this case the writer merely seems to deny centuries of previous work on the philosophy of science, rather than adding...
• Commented on Copyright's Paradox: brilliantly argued scholarly book tackles free speech vs. copyright
  I'd like to ask a bit of a lazy question: does this book demonstrate with objective evidence that copyright accomplishes its one and only justifiable goal of increasing the number of artistic works available to the public? Considering that control...
• Commented on Canadian Tories argued for stronger copyright laws, but appropriate copyright when it suits them
  Regardless of its originating country, conservatism has only one real agenda: seizing and maintaining power. Because of this, any act is acceptable to them in service of this agenda. Hypocrisy means nothing to conservatives. First, because any moral or legal...