Machineintheghost

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• Commented on The dumbest thing I heard anyone say in 2009
  As I understand it, Orthodox Jewish literalists would say the laws of Moses only apply to the people of Moses -- the Jews. Gentiles can still be righteous, and only have to obey the laws that applied to Noah. There...
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  I'm in no position to evaluate this thing. But I hope it's awesome, and I hope you get rich because of it. Cheers,...
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  I don't think I spoke of my honor, nor do I think I poisoned the debate. If you think I did, please explain exactly how. In the meantime, feel free to count any spoons that may be at your disposal....
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  Sorry, I don't think new science makes old science junk. But deliberate efforts to taint the peer-review process may have the effect of tainting the peer-review process....
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  I don't consider myself a smart contrarian. Rather, I don't consider myself qualified to participate directly in the climate change debate at all. But there is a meta-debate about whether we must now click our heels and obey the orders...
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  Machineintheghost: See above. You're one of the chumps. I will certainly concede that I am not an environmental scientist. Nor am I a Fortran programmer. But if this were a horse race, I'd bet that a lot of so-called "climate...
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  In that case, I apologize. I note with gratitude your decision to delete only the link, rather than the entire comment itself. Curious readers may find Eric S. Raymond's blog by means of their favorite search engines. If I may...
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  Ah! You say I use playground tactics! Not like the person to whom I was replying! You don't know me, so you don't know whether I'm stupid or not. But surely, you don't think Eric Raymond is stupid? I find...
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  Good metaphor, but it doesn't work the way you think it works. It's the AGW crowd that has its fingers in its ears now. A lot of what you thought was bedrock has turned out to be sand. Face facts....
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  My point was that I think some environmental scientists (no reference to you, of course) have been blindsided by the recent revelations of what happened at CRU. Just a couple of weeks ago, climate change was a fashionable and sexy...
• Commented on Climate Change: Countering the Contrarians
  If we just could figure out a way to harness the enormous efforts expended by climategate denialists at spinning this story, we'd have enough energy to power the grid. This is not going to end happily for those who have...
• Commented on Scientist explains why climate scientists talk trash
  So from now on, all the PhD's in the hard sciences forever renounce any claim to be smarter or geekishly cooler than the people who have degrees in sociology or literature?...
• Commented on Hacked climate scientists' emails in context
  Putting these emails "in context" seems a lot like "spin," "PR" and "damage control."...
• Commented on Understanding the psychology of authoritarianism
  This research is overtly political, and therefore should bear a very great burden of proof. Otherwise you have: People that disagree with me about political issues are crazy. Not just in my opinion, but because of SCIENCE, in which I...
• Commented on Understanding the psychology of authoritarianism
  Quite a bit to read. So far the theory seems mostly like a '70's undergraduate dorm conversation about how Nixon would for sure have a bad trip if he took acid, 'cause he's such a square. Groovy people have good...
• Commented on Crucifix multi-screwdriver
  Also, maker/geek vampires would be conflicted at most....
• Commented on Maricopa deputy steals defender's paperwork during a court case
  If you're not just making stuff up (and I assume you're being honest) then no apologies for the length are necessary. Just the opposite -- personally, I'm shocked. I don't think I would have believed this if not for the...
• Commented on Maricopa deputy steals defender's paperwork during a court case
  It's amazing how brazen it is, as if the deputy just assumed that of course he could futz around with confidential defense documents in full view of the judge and everybody in the courtroom, including the surveillance camera. No need...
• Commented on Hippos don't like croocdiles climbing over their backs
  I think "don't run across the backs of hippos" sounds like a good rule to follow even if you're not a crocodile....
• Commented on Jacques Vallee: Waterboarding's curious corollaries
  I would have been happy to take an example from any other work of fiction, but Amadeus was the one that sprang to mind. I think it's apt. So we each have our general positions, even if they each could...
• Commented on Jacques Vallee: Waterboarding's curious corollaries
  @Brainspore. I agree that the period in which anti-Americanism was on hold was brief. It seems to me, though, that for the post-WW II generations, America never earned goodwill for devotion to human rights. America was hated the way Salieri...
• Commented on Jacques Vallee: Waterboarding's curious corollaries
  Well, I wasn't there during that time, which was rather brief. But a quick Google search shows at least one author, described as British, who has a different view: And it is a myth that the new resurgence of anti-Americanism...
• Commented on Jacques Vallee: Waterboarding's curious corollaries
  Yes, there was a draft in World War II. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_States#World_War_II...
• Commented on Jacques Vallee: Waterboarding's curious corollaries
  ...the stupidity of giving up the high moral ground at a time when the U.S. had earned so much goodwill thanks to its stand on democracy and human rights... Sir: Perhaps ordinary Europeans who remembered the Gestapo and Stalin felt...
• Commented on Klingon as a First Language
  Here's another old article, which says "Alec knows the English word for [shoe] as well, because Speers’ wife talks to Alec exclusively in English, which the boy also gets in earfuls at the day-care center." http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/display.php?id=10873...
• Commented on Klingon as a First Language
  Here's an article from 1999 which says the father was trying "to teach his toddler Alec to be bilingual in English and Klingon," which, in the context of the article seems half-baked and dumb but not so abusive. It sounds...
• Commented on Peter Bagge comic about Ayn Rand
  Well, then. I'm under the impression that Che iconography -- including cinematic -- still sells pretty well. And Anita Dunn has infamously quoted Mao as a philisophical guide -- not obviously in a humorous or ironic way. I agree that...
• Commented on Conservative children's book vilifies Nancy Pelosi
  BTW, not politicizing kids doesn't mean not instilling kids with moral values. See http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/10/sweet-inadvertent-se.html , which is a Sesame Street episode that talks about marriage in general terms, without proselytizing. Just the basic "be nice to your neighbor" message goes...
• Commented on Conservative children's book vilifies Nancy Pelosi
  Beat me to it. But even if any of those books had good draftsmanship or artistry, little kids don't need to be politicized, for some (but not all) of the same reasons they shouldn't be sexualized. Let them find their...
• Commented on Transborder Immigrant Tool helps Mexicans cross over safely
  The reason people die making the trek North is because their home country sucks so much that they are willing to take the terrible risk of crossing to get a crappy job in the U.S. I would do the same...