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• Commented on London cops finally apologise for mugging geek -- four years later
  Hell, it took the UK over 50 years to apologize for what they did to Allan Turing. The strategy is normally to not apologize at all, or wait until the victim is dead, or long after the heirs are gone,...
• Commented on Mary Travers, RIP
  I never met Mary Travers, but I did have a great time with Peter Yarrow one night back in Austin when I was in college in the 1980s. I was in film school, and one of my classmates purchased a...
• Commented on The Jet-Propelled Couch: true story of a physicist who thought he was a science fiction hero on another planet
  As soon as I read this, I immediately thought this guy had to share the name of John Carter. I loved the Barsoom series from the time I first discovered A Princess of Mars in 7th grade (through the SF...
• Commented on Wikileaks re-publishes 60 Minutes piece on est/Landmark cult leader Werner Erhard
  When I first moved to San Francisco in the early 1980s, I met lots of people who had been through est training. Some thought it was valuable, from a personal growth viewpoint, others thought it was a waste of time....
• Commented on Meet the Hon. James David Manning, PhD.
  I'm a proud NRA member, and I resent Xeni lumping this loonatic in with the rest of us. As a Libertarian, I support all 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights, and am a card-carrying member of the ACLU as...
• Commented on Micronations around the world
  Interesting topic. I just spent a few delightful hours at the Seasteading social (see http://www.seasteading.org) in Oakland tonight, where we discussed this very subject (among many others). Looking forward to seeing some other happy mutants at next month's Seasteading Conference...
• Commented on Highlights of the Inspector General's torture report
  No one has yet mentioned the interesting news from a few months ago that the Obama administration also refused to release additional photographs of prisoner abuse taken at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay that the ACLU requested as part of...
• Commented on Food and wine as collateral for bank loans
  I don't see any problem with this at all. Like #6Ernunnos, I am encouraged that at least the Italians have decided to back up their currency with assets that have a tangible value. And unlike the United States' mythical fiat...
• Commented on "Smart Parking Meters" not as smart as the hackers who pwn them
  Best advice at the end of the presentation is to do away with parking meters altogether and ride a bicycle. But pleasse note, Technogeek, that the authors also present very simple recommendations at the end of the presentation that manufacturers...
• Commented on Birthers glom on to fake Kenyan birth certificate.
  Wait a minute. Editors need to be more precise, even when correcting errors so glaring as we see here. In the Eighth error identified in the next to last paragraph: Eighth, his father (born in 1961) would have been 24...
• Commented on 1972 ad promotes radiation
  AmyConnor #5 Back in 1981, when I was taking a physics class at the University of Texas, one of my favorite instructors was Dr. Rory Coker. At the time, we were having regular anti-nuclear demonstrations organized by the No Nukes...
• Commented on ATM to guy depositing California state IOU: "Come back without a [registered] warrant."
  Not on eBay, but there are some postings on Craigslist offering to buy registered warrants for face value or 90 cents on the dollar (see http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/wan/1274180099.html for example). Not a bad deal for someone willing to take the risk, if...
• Commented on If Advertisers Were Supervillains, or Vice Versa
  Rudy Rucker also extrapolates on this idea in his novel PostSingular, in which a corporation sends a probe filled with nanomachines ("nants") to Mars, where they are programmed to re-engineer the entire planet into a gigantic electronic billboard that fills...
• Commented on Sussex cops try to suppress publication of damning traffic-cam photos by claiming copyright
  Baldy: I don't know if a lawyer could be charged with "contempt of court" before the case has even gone to court (I'll have to check with my attorney on that one). But legal malpractice is certainly an option here,...
• Commented on Prominent Black professor arrested for entering own home while Black
  I may be biased because of some unpleasant interaction with the police in the past, but I also know several local police officers whom I consider friends, and they confirm that there are some godawful, ego-maniacal, immature bastards on the...
• Commented on Video of the first moon landing, 40 years ago today
  I was 10 years old at the time, and staying at my grandparent's house for the summer. They let me stay up late to watch the moon walk (as it was past 10:00 p.m. CST, and I was supposed to...
• Commented on NASA's new restored footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing
  Yes, NASA recycled the Apollo 11 tapes because they couldn't afford to purchase new tape for an ever-growing amount of satellite data. NASA Management made a prudent business decision because the cost of archiving this material probably far exceeded the...
• Commented on Leverage season one DVD: crime drama about Delta force who take down corrupt corporations
  I must second the recommendation for Burn Notice, one of the few "can't miss" TV series on the air these days. I don't watch all that much TV ('cause there's so much more interesting stuff online), but this one is...
• Commented on Boulder park warns that all bags "subject to search"
  I'd recommend carrying around your handy EFF Bill of Rights -- Security Edition (the metal card with the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution printed on it). I have mine right here. If you are ever stopped by a...
• Commented on Wails and Murmurs: Eating Couscous at the Chi-Chi's in Walla-Walla
  You should also include John Myers Myers (author of the great fantasy novel Silverlock as well as a non-fiction book of great Texas history entitled, of course, The Alamo). My old college roommate was named Bobo (hello Scott!), and one...
• Commented on David Carradine, RIP
  I'm pretty sure the Bangkok police are already trying to detain Uma Thurman for questioning. Seems like someone finally Killed Bill, and she is the prime suspect....
• Commented on BB Video: BIG YANK, a Weird '70s Jeans Ad (Oddball Film)
  Just a correction to suggest in the video titles. The post says this is a vintage 1970's era television commercial, but the title card on the video says it is from the early 1980's. I would guess that Sarah Holcomb...
• Commented on Ex-drug czar John Walters made a fool on CNN
  People interested in this topic may want to review this recent article "Legalizing Marijuana the Federalist Way" published in this month's issue of The Stanford Progressive which argues that the road to legalization of cannabis isn't through voter initiatives like...
• Commented on Face Transplant Recipient Speaks Out
  In the late 1970s, Dan White only served seven years in prison for the cold-blooded murder of two people. It was a symptom of the times, I suppose. He assassinated politicians, one of whom was gay, and he'd eaten a...
• Commented on The End of Personal Finance
  I had the chance to buy gold at that price ($300/oz.) and was advised that it wasn't a wise investment, just as she mentions in her anecdote. Since then, I've encountered a bunch of free market gold bugs who adore...
• Commented on Scalia Scoffs at Calls for More Data Privacy Protection, Students Surprise Him With Dossier of His Own Data.
  In another similar move from a few years ago, a group calling themselves the Lost Liberty Hotel Project proposed taking ownership of the New Hampshire home of Justice David Souter by Eminent Domain authority of the Town of Weare, NH...
• Commented on Elizabeth Warren is frank and funny about the TARP trainwreck
  I heard her on the PBS News Hour a few weeks ago discussing the TARP with some of her colleagues on the oversight committee, and it sounded like she was almost advocating that congress issue a criminal indictment for Hank...
• Commented on New York Times warns that new financial rules could "wreak havoc" -- 1999
  Links to this article have been circulating as viral emails since last September. I've received it at least three times now. Yes, it is startling how even the NYTimes expressed caution over this legislation, but Ron Paul and others were...
• Commented on Artist paints herself having sex with each president of the USA
  I'm impressed. This is a fascinating project, and she's not only talented, she's put out something that is going to generate a lot of discussion, here and elsewhere. I can predict even more controversy if this project results in an...
• Commented on The Big Takeover: A Must-Read from Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi
  #3 The investment bankers and hedge fund managers want this kind of stuff to sound complicated and opaque, just as Taibbi claims. The less you understand, the more they can obscure what they're doing with your money. It pays to...