Stephen

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• Commented on UK Border Agency's pseudoscientific "race-detection" DNA/isotope tests has scientific experts "horrified"
  "If there truly are no DNA markers for race, then this project is doomed to fail, right?" Yes. It is doomed to fail. It is obvious to anyone who understands the details of what they're doing that it is doomed...
• Commented on UK Border Agency's pseudoscientific "race-detection" DNA/isotope tests has scientific experts "horrified"
  The stupidity is horrible, the racism is horrible, the anti-scientific attitude is horrible. But I think it's the ethnic cleansing aspect that is the worst part....
• Commented on HOWTO reproduce a key from a distant, angled photo
  Ths s nthr nw nr ntrstng. S s Cry jst tryng t prmt th crmnlztn f phtgrphy?...
• Commented on FCC chairman promises net neutrality except that Hollywood can spy on you and screw up your net connection if it wants to
  And someone thinks the government doesn't already decide what is lawful? This speech doesn't say FCC decides what is lawful. This speech does not say "Hollywood can spy on you and screw up your net connection". It doesn't say they...
• Commented on Ask the Government Printing Office to release the US Constitution in XML
  If you want the US Constitution marked up in some way, by all means, feel free. Asking the government to do it is dumb. I don't mean that as a random insulting word. I mean it is unintelligent....
• Commented on Damien Hirst installation owner charges teen art-rival with theft of £500,000 for removing box of pencils from installation
  The kid didn't steal a work of art, he defaced a work of art. The cost of the damage is the expense of a conservator from the Tate getting another box of pencils. To accuse this kid of £500,000 theft...
• Commented on US Senate cyber security bill sparks debate, "internet takeover" fears
  Of the (alleged) content of the bill, the parts that worry me most is a federal certification program for cybersecurity professionals. The US government has been so bad at understanding what a cybersecurity professional is that they've never been able...
• Commented on Court orders Google to ID anon blogger who called model "skank"/"ho", blogger threatens Google with $15 mil suit
  This raises the question of what the correct recourse is when a judge makes a unjustified ruling a against you in a situation in which subsequently reversing the ruling doesn't help. Suing Google for following a court order is bizarre....
• Commented on Gizmo with a weight added for extra heft
  So why isn't Greenpeace blasting them for the environmental impact of the extra shipping weight? Oh, wait... because they're not Apple....
• Commented on Burning Man Responds to EFF over fair use and photo rights attack
  Assignment of POA also has the benefit that it may be a stronger legal theory than assignment of copyright. But here's the quote from the EFF that makes me think they won't be happy until any gun dealer can use...
• Commented on Burning Man Responds to EFF over fair use and photo rights attack
  BRACHIATOR - That does sound like a good solution. The two questions are: do BMO's lawyers think it would work, and would EFF be satisfied or would they continue their action. Personally my guess is EFF would continue their action...
• Commented on Burning Man Responds to EFF over fair use and photo rights attack
  Andie wrote: "No one's questioning Burning Man's™ right to restrict use of imagery taken at the event. It's the stealing we object to." That first statement is overtly false. And since you use an unspecified "we" the second statement is...
• Commented on Smart Bombs: Mark Dery, Steven Pinker on the Nature-Nurture Wars and the Politics of IQ
  I can hardly believe that Pinker is still defending "The Bell Curve" which is now known to be based heavily on overtly fraudulent research. As to trying to preemptively remove Gould from a discussion of IQ, Pinker is just a...
• Commented on Burning Man Responds to EFF over fair use and photo rights attack
  EFF are taking an overtly destructive stand in the name of their ideals. Burning Man are using a suboptimal solution to a real problem that they haven't found another solution for....
• Commented on Continental imprisons 50 passengers overnight in grounded plane with no food, overflowing toilets
  I'm surprised that with 50 people present no one called 911 to report that the airline was endangering the babies on board....
• Commented on Continental imprisons 50 passengers overnight in grounded plane with no food, overflowing toilets
  I'm surprised that with 50 people present no one called 911 to report that the airline was endangering the babies on board....
• Commented on Associated Press will sell you a license to quote the public domain
  Cory Wrote: "(and if you read the material they post around their licensing engine, you'll see that they essentially say that you should never rely on fair use for quotation and should pay for every single quotation, no matter how...
• Commented on Cheezy-poofs marketed as "organic carrot stix"
  Come to think of it, a child demanding more of an unsalted snack which is not particularly sweet and low in saturated fat is a win....
• Commented on Cheezy-poofs marketed as "organic carrot stix"
  Corn, Carrot, Sunflower Oil. No significant sugar added. Less than 0.1% sodium. They're food....
• Commented on America makes nothing except weapons -- UPDATED
  The title of the post should probably get corrected. A rise of military production from 3% to 8% of durable goods is a real and important issue that is worth discussing, but this fact is undermined by the false title....
• Commented on Afghanistan: US discouraged inquiry into mass killing of Taliban prisoners
  A couple of clarifications: 1) One poster seemed to think this is about the killing of hundreds OF thousands. It is not. It is about the killing of hundreds OR thousands. 2) Dostam has an army. He was brought into...
• Commented on State Department apparat asks Clinton to let him use Firefox
  Selective quoting demeans your argument by making it look like you have to use false spin to make your point....
• Commented on Visualization of US consumer spending
  Doesn't include tax or interest, isn't grouped in any organized way, makes it hard to compare size of slices. Poor visual presentation of quatatative information....
• Commented on Amazon Kindle contract sucks
  "I think it says that Amazon now owns everything it wants to own, and you're out of luck if you don't like that." Is the language quoted above the language you think says that? It doesn't say that. It says...
• Commented on Google announces Chrome Operating System, open-source Windows competitor
  Like a lot of the mainstream press, Boing Boing is running with the story that this is a new Chrome based operating system, rather than a Chrome interface on Linux. Why is that? It's clearly not the case that Google...
• Commented on Israeli debate on biometric database melts down when MP starts screaming at blogger for videoing the proceedings
  I don't speak Hebrew, but I've seen sessions of the Knesset on CSPAN with real screaming and shouting. This should be retitled with a title that says what is relevant about the event....
• Commented on Don't Copy That Floppy sequel promises prison beatings for copying
  It sure looks like a parody. But it's linked from the SIAA homepage! The whole thing is stupid (and possibly insane) but the Klingons may be the stupidest of all. I don't see much chance that a production that crappy...
• Commented on CIA's former bin Laden expert: "The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States."
  The saddest part is the millions of people who STILL think Fox News is a news channel....
• Commented on The Devil's Kettle
  What I find strangest about this is that a river or stream would split, not at a delta. Does this happen elsewhere?...
• Commented on Abstinence doesn't work for IT or for teens
  Since most people are talking about the IT security aspect of this, I'll just point out that this article is an attack on proper sex education. It tries to connect a questionable proposition to the well established, but politically embattled,...