@21: I forgot to include the part that makes it clear that a BB reader named Brian wrote this, not me. He's the one with the BofA account. I don't have a BofA account. Thanks for pointing it out, Secret Life of Plants. I'm sorry for the confusion and I amended the post.

Thanks, Davy. I fixed it.

You know -- I remember watching it, but I wasn't sure if I blogged it before. I searched the blog and couldn't find it, so I posted it. My apologies! (Darn that brain slug.)

@12: Instead of the hundreds of trillions we'd spend on the 1000 year war that followed from dropping a nuclear bomb, how about spending money on become energy independent using renewable energy resources? I know it's much harder than killing thousands of people at a go, but it might be worth a try.

Ooh - that Kelly Kettle is cool!

Rod Stewart turned it into an asset.

I've never had a flight attendent tell me or my little kids to tighten our seatbelts, much less tighten one for me. Why was this attendent so keen on tightening this kid's belt?

@14: The truthdig article was written by the former New York Times Mideast Bureau chief. If you are saying he's a liar, why don't you point out where he lies in the article?

I used a cheap PC hooked up to my TV to watch Netflix videos but the delays in streaming were unbearable. The Roku has not stuttered yet.

@2: no, but you need to connect an ethernet cable from your broadband router to the Roku. I have Wi-Fi so it was really easy to set up.

He should use it to project images of ghosts, Jesus, or Mother Mary. Then people can sell their photos on eBay. Win-win.

"maybe you can get O'Reilly to start GROW magazine."

Great idea, Stefan. Actually, I've already asked Kelly and Erik to write some pieces for Make. I could totally see a GROW magazine growing from the pages of MAKE.

@3: Is every non-falsifiable idea worthless to you?

Lady in pink Corevtte: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelyne

@10: She "fetishizes" the male body, too.

What the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves.

"Hydrogen cells and electric cars are both incredibly oil dependent. Neither are suitable or realistic solutions. "

Wrong and wrong. Nuclear, wind, hydroelectric, solar, geothermal, and any other process that generates electricity would work.

I searched google images for Hiroshima and saw a photo of a man with sores that looked just like the radioactive boy scouts'. I didn't know they had cyrstal meth back in the 1940s, Amuderick.

@enginerd94303: I own stock in two nuclear power companies. I'd put a pebble bed reactor in my spare bedroom but the ominous police state won't let me.

This is a fascinating discussion. Thanks to all of you for keeping it interesting and lively!

(Except that "first" stuff. Don't do that any more.)

Thank you, Soulbarn. You articulated my feelings about Omac much better than I could have.

What does "first" mean? The first to post?

@5: You're lucky I know the guy on the right. The only other pro sports players I know by sight are Joe Namath and Babe Ruth.

And this!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrlqQ1_vZVE&feature=related

"The banjo is such a happy instrument--you can't play a sad song on the banjo - it always comes out so cheerful."

I appreciate that sentiment. An exception to this rule is Dock Boggs, I'd day. But for every Boggs, there's a Harry Reser.

"So either he weighs 600lbs or the ceiling/floor is very thin? Laugh so hard you fall off the couch?"

You're right. It's almost as preposterous as claiming to have fallen off the couch from choking on a pretzel.

I also like:

As you are, so was I
As I am, so shall you be.

@1: "He was an illustrator." When did he die?

Your ignorance of facts matches your ability as an art critic.

@2: Scott Beale is my friend, and a very sharp guy, so I follow his advice and opinions about technology closely.

"are we supposed to pity someone who is being removed from someone else's property?"

You are supposed to think for yourself.

There's an opportunity here to capture that coveted "appalled by baldness" demographic. The restaurant should hang a banner over its door that says "OWEN SOUND'S ONLY GUARANTEED BALD-FREE RESTAURANT!"

"You would know that I acknowledged Al Gore's contribution to the Internet twice already in this thread.."

Then what is your point?

Can you tell the difference between "I took the initiative in creating the internet" and "I created the internet?"

No?

I didn't think so. Your agenda has blinded you.

Oh yes, Al is here: http://xrl.us/bmh7f

The Legislator: Vice President Al Gore
He got a bum rap. Gore never claimed to have “invented the Internet,” though columnists said otherwise and had sport with him anyway. Here’s what Gore really did: throughout the 1980s, as a senator from Tennessee, he stood out as a highly visible, early proponent of networking. In 1991, Congress passed the High-Performance Computing Act, also known as “the Gore Act,” which paved the way for a privatized, commercialized Internet that could thrive and evolve outside the government’s hands—in other words: the Internet as we know it today.

Kamandi is my favorite. DC hinted that Kamandi lived in the same universe as the New Gods.

imagine if people randomly sowed fist fulls of cannabis seeds everywhere

Some people put pot seeds in balloons, fill them with helium, and release them.

My wife, daughter and I were just watching Andy Griffith and whistling the tune 1/2 hour ago, and now I learn that the original whistler has passed away. RIP, Mister Hagen!

Has Boingboing ever considered a sketch blog or a group sketch blog? Maybe on flickr? I'd participate.

That's not a bad idea. It could be a lot of fun. I'll look into it, Noen.

I couldn't have replicated that again if I tried.
That's because straws are sneaky, and will never use the same way to hurt you more than once.

Those butts were painted by Frazetta, which explains it.

The meanest, strongest and most wily soldiers in the war of resistentialism: Cords and hoses.

You said it. Everytime I drop a hose with a squeeze sprayer attached, the sprayer blasts me with cold water. It could shoot in a dozen directions, but it knows to aim right at my head.

This makes me suspicious.

Duly noted. Henceforth, you shall go by "Suspicious Valacosa." It has a nice ring to it.

Cool! What are you doing there?

That's great news, but I have to say I'm not surprised. I thought it was a terrific book on my first reading, and my second reading is just as enjoyable.

OK, Chris -- If you weren't making a racist comment, then I'm sorry. I should not have said that.

"Cckrchs n ktchn n whch th lght hs jst bn trnd n cms t mnd."

Ds t pls r dstrb y t hv mnd tht qts hmn bngs wth cckrchs?

I was just trying to be silly

Jumpin' Jerusalem crickets, has noone ever worked on a *real* farm? Probably only 75% of vegetables look like the ones in Scottfree's farm. A real farm has carrots in the shape of Klein Bottles and radishes like Menger Sponges. Theres nothing wrong with them, its just people freak out if it doesn't look like on Scott Free's produce The rest of vegetables wind up in the mechanical stomachs of hard working, hungry Artzbasheff combines.

Because it holds the secret to life, Asswipe.

It's ridiculous to say these innocuous letters are "mean." If this guy had sent me a similar letter and I later found out it was an art project/prank, I'd be delighted.

Sorry for forgetting to include tags.

I welcome disagreement on the topics I post. The discussions are interesting, and I learn a lot. If I were hosting a dinner party and we had a discussion that included differing opinions, I would enjoy it.

But I have a low tolerance for people who say, in effect "I'm not interested in this topic, and I don't like it when you write about it." If I were hosting a dinner party and someone pointed at my collection of ukuleles and said, "You should stop collecting ukuleles because I don't care for them," I would not invite that person back.

Are you clear on the difference?

OK, I guess I can't delete this now! :)

Cefeida -- I can't speak for the other editors, but I am running this blog for my own enjoyment only. If other poeple enjoy it, that's great. If they don't enjoy, I wish they'd go the hell away.

Awesome, Antinous. It's gonna catch on.

I read it last year and was blown away. It's Cory's finest work to date, and I can't wait to see the response from the public. Congratulations, Cory!

but seriously now, how many times can Clockwork whine about the same thing? 9, 10, 11 times? when will the madness stop?

maybe now that he's whined we can all stop hearing him whine.

I was kidding about the higher grade -- as if!

It reminds me of the Incredible Edibles oven.
http://www.samstoybox.com/toys/IncredibleEdibles.html

#69 -- but will these new Evidences show signs of evolving?

My question is, why didn't the cops arrest the BARGAIN MADNESS couple for wearing offensive T-shirts in public?

I wish the prosecutor who pushed this bogus case for four years was disbarred, fined, and imprisoned for four years.

Of course, "This makes me sick" is not a cliché response to something you don't like, though, is it? Thanks for your refreshing originality, Pocket Hell!

Thank you, Brian. While we often disagree on politics, I aways find your arguments interesting and worthy of serious consideration because you back up what you say with examples.

If someone takes a long photo of a long horse, I'll die a happy man.

Kevitivity: Why make the assertion that Klein is dumb unless you explain why you think so? If you don't explain, nobody is going to give a damn what you think.

The "not even wrong" thing was from Wolfgang Pauli. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong) I don't doubt Lancaster used it himself, since it's a fun thing to say.

Are you an economist, Shecky?

Does the Bill of Rights say the Bible is required reading in public schools?

The Land O' Lakes box is the best one though: http://xrl.us/bjjft

What a coincidence -- textile art hates you!

Pica? (wiki)

The Lords of Acid cover was illustrated by Coop.

Optic: your comment is offensive. We posted this print because we love Coop's work. Also, he has given us hundreds of wonderful site suggestions that we've postd to BB over the years, including the "least wanted music" post yesterday. He is a "fifth Boinger."

Sorry, Sister. I misunderstood. I thought your pals were sneering derisively at a person who said s/he was a performance artist. I apologize.

"somebody described someone as a "performance artist" and I snickered, because in my social group that's the appropriate response when someone mentions being a 'performance artist'"

It sounds like your social group is composed of mean people.

Do you think perhaps this art - whoops, sorry, you already told us it's not art -- "time-wasting" project was designed to encourage discussion about homeless people, urban design, public spaces, etc. , Whiskystar?

Ha ha! It's an art project, Eiconoclast.

Yes, I think he made it pretty clear (in a subtle way) that "Wendy" was just some guy trying to con him.

"How does this fit into the 'Wonderful Things' subhead?"

It excites wonder, or astonishment.

You sick of a shame fucking if you are a poor, innocent thing? Pigs think that slaughter is the "[]" for a wonderful bastard.

More importantly, you are an innocent pig if you thinks poor sick bastards are wonderful fucking things.

"Killing the pigs = monies = farmers keeping the farms."

I like it when people say monies.

Thanks for sharing these wonderful stories. These are really uplifting!

If I were you, El Smiley, I'd find another place to work if your coworkers think you're an idiot for buying the wrong number of pizzas.

Thank you all for sharing these wonderful stories about your families. I've enjoyed them very much!

Thanks very much for the kind words, all! I'm going to ask my mother to print this out and show it to my grandmother.

I heard an NPR story in 1998 that boggled my mind. It was about a woman named Daisy Anderson who had been married to a US Civil War veteran and was still alive!

http://www.radiodiaries.org/transcripts/OtherDocs/civilwar.html

I like to show her photos on my iBook, because the images are big and bright.

She told me stories about growing up with her brothers and sisters in Russia. Her parents were killed in the revolution. They lived on wild mushrooms and potato peels (the rich folks ate the potatoes).

She taught me how to hunt mushrooms in the wild, which was a lot of fun.

I added a photo of my grandfather, too. He's dead, though: http://flickr.com/photos/frauenfelder/2406577910/

It's fun reading your comment and then glancing up at your "Radio Radio" painting that's on the wall in my office, Andrew.

Philip Wylie's 50-year-old comments about fundamentalist religions' influence on politics are pretty prescient, too.

From the article: "IBM and its subsidiaries are barred from receiving any new government contracts, new orders under existing contracts or purchase card transactions, according to a March 28 e-mail the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Procurement Operations circulated to procurement officials."

Hooray for Sarah!

Pastafarianism is hypocritical, inconsistent, bullying, lying, dogmatic, unscientific, and intolerant because it is a parody of religions that are hypocritical, inconsistent, bullying, lying, dogmatic, unscientific, and intolerant.

I'll bet a BB reader will come up with a plausible way to defeat this security measure by the end of the day.

If it matters to you that people give a shit about what you say, Aluxterna, I suggest you elucidate your one-word critique.

And sharing this makes the world a better place how?

Here's how: if your computer starts behaving like this, you'll check your USB ports. If you find one one of these attached to your computer you'll think -- I'm glad I knew about this dastardly device.

Hi Paulm: First, I did not write the excerpt. Second, if you read the excerpt, you'll learn that "Got R Did" is tattooed on the *back* of his head.

Thanks for the excellent comments, Christovir!

"By the way, ever heard of the Army Corps of Engineers' 1960s plans to make the San Francisco Bay into a dry landfill to increase available housing?"

Shit! Why did you bring that up in a public forum? Now somebody might try it!

Woman imagines drinking straw looks like male private area, blames Wal-Mart for it.

Her kid is far less likely to be screwed up from using this straw than she will from being raised by this woman.

Hey, I think it sucks, too. People who shock others for fun are assholes. When I receive a shock, I often catch a cold the next day.

I would love to see your art, Jeff. I promise not to say anything about it publicly, if that's your wish. My email is mark@boingboing.net.

"It looks like the kind of thing drug addicts produce."

Are an expert on this subject, Jeff?

You are right about the dirt. They probably just ran over a piece of scrap metal.

It's like Don't Look Now come to life.

I think Ohio is a planet about 5 light years away, so the freshest news we can get from there took place in 2003.

Wonderful, and even more wonderful because it made use of the most adorable uniform ever -- the Hot Dog on a Stick uniform.

Thank you, Adam! I appreciate it.

Jef Raskin invented Bloxus. He was also the creator of the Macintosh project at Apple. In 1993 or so, he gave me a bunch of unfolded bloxus (plus an assembled one to guide me). They are really cool. Jef also wrote a column for the print edition of bOING bOING under a pen name. He was a brilliant man and I miss him.

This is exciting! One thing I hate about camping is not having a chair. If you feel the same way, maybe you could bring one of those straps that go around your knees and back, making it comfortable to sit.

Did a bookstore owner step on your toe when you were just a wee little lad, Moonbat?

Wow -- thanks for the update, Jay!

For the record, I found him odious, but fascinating.

I wish I could respond to Sam's comments, but I don't understand them. Anyone know what he is trying to say?

Cyenobite, that's ridiculous. You seem to be saying that because a story about porn is not appropriate for children, the story about porn *is* porn.

Let's look at an example of your logic. Say the Lizard Man of Lee County is real, and that it has sneaked into three houses and eaten the kids. I don't think it would be appropriate to tell my kids the news reports about the Lizard Man if we lived in Lee County, but that doesn't mean the news story about the Lizard Man is the Lizard Man itself.

Sheesh!

I think they are both (batgirl gloves, boots) good things. Tina Marrin wrote a how-to, enocuraging people to make the boots. I hope Chalayan credited Marrin and CRAFT as his source of inspiration for the boots.

Is news about porn the same thing as porn? Is news about gambling the same thing as gambling? Is news about the liquor industry the same thing as having a drink?

I'm not one of the organizers of TED. I'm just an attendee!

TED = Technology Entertainment Design.Thanks for understanding, Angrydroid, even though you don't like the posts.

#1 -- Nope

I was thinking of Kurt Goedel. Sorry!

There are no woman at Bloggers Alley. I know there are several woman journalists, they just aren't hanging out here!

I suffer from my lack of typing skills like you wouldn't believe.

The people who run TED kindly gave me a press pass to cover the event. I'm really enjoying it!

"No matter how long ago you quit smoking, you still have the dream where you've started again and are really pissed off at yourself -- you're going to have to quit all over again -- but in the meantime, as long as you're temporarily smoking again, gimme another one..."

I was a habitually Copenhagen snuff dipper from age 15 to 25, and now, over 20years later, I have the exact same nicotine dream.

#& pwill: Why are you assuming I'm in favor of anti-smoking laws?

Thank you very much for the translation, Irene!

Grey not Grey: I love this! Thanks for sharing it.

Thank you, Noen! I updated the post.

Please provides some links for cheaper alternatives. Whining about the price doesn't help.

This is very, very sad. And nothing will be done about it, because they'll say we can't compromise national security.

I can imagine Chertoff's forthcoming statement about this. He'll blame the terrorists, indirectly.

It went faster than I figured.

I think it's *strikes* a bargain with the world. Is it?

It's completely different from Lichtenstein.

Valid comment Arkizzle. I happen to be a fan of really flat, limited color art. Of course, I like the not-so-flat stuff, too :)

Thanks for all of these suggestion! I'm going to have to listen to one podcast in each year to keep up.

#8: that text appeared when I added the embed code to the post. I couldn't figure out a way to get rid of it. The WeShow didn't select anything and I have never heard of the WeShow before until I came across that video.

I didn't taste the Hamster's Lunch, but the Coco's proprietor claims it's quite tasty.

No, it's an embedded video.

#5: That's awesome! Thank you.

#8: You are right about the ginseng cigarettes. They smell almost exactly like pot.

Fee: thanks so much for this synopsis! Now I really want to see it.

Darren: that's the cutest ferret story ever. Even cuter than the one about the guy I knew in college who kept a ferret in his dorm that would climb into his bed at might and nuzzle my friend's weird elbow rash.

Honda gave Boing Boing no guidelines. Boing Boing's editors have not corresponded with Honda about the campaign.

Honda asked Boing Boing's ad sales partner (Federated Media) to ask Boing Boing's editors (Cory, David, Xeni, and me) to tag posts that fit the categories of "safety," "innovation," and "environment."

Don't forget the drugs that go with the Penthouse girls:

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/News/story?id=169246&page=1

I wish Louis Theroux would do a documentary on these guys and their lives.

(short discussion about how a tube of paint that could be used to paint the brown tile could also be used to paint the yellow tile goes here)

Here's the part of the embed code with the parameters:

It *shouldn't* be autoplaying. Is it really?

There were two trees. One was chopped down, the other was trimmed.

Shawn, I loved St. Joseph's orange flavored baby aspirin, too! That and Grape Crush.

#8: I know it's grammatically incorrect, but "I delete comments I don't agree with" seems punchier to me.

I want VHS rips of Night Flight.

Make's managing editor, Shawn Connally, warned me about the noise. What do you think is better -- earplugs or noise reducing headphones?

This helmet will work for sure if you take seawater spray while you use it.

#4: I guess you might think that if you have a sick mind. How sad.

Haw haw haw! No, it's http://ted.com

#41: I want a movie that puts me in the latter state.

I still don't get Gibson's complaint. First, if it had said "Area formerly known as Central Park" instead of "Area formerly known as 'Central Park'" would that have made a difference? Second, to me this was an effective way to start the movie. It made me think that Central Park was going to be destroyed so thoroughly that it wasn't going to be Central Park by the time the movie was over. In short, it worked for me.

Despite my name being on the milkshake, I did not make it, nor was I aware that it had been made.

-- Ron Paul

I ordered a type O milkshake, not AB!

-- Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey

Attention! Attention! PNIN9 has declared this post to be devoid of humor. Those persons who mistakenly found it funny shall report to PNIN9's office for brain reprogramming. He will teach you what's funny and what isn't, by God.

#25 Miles: I hope you realize by now that all my posts are ridiculously, aggressively stupid. Trouble is, enough people share my sensibilities that I keep doing it. A shame, eh?

Thanks for all these great links! I love the one for "Tin Soldier."

About stinging nettles -- I take them in capsule form in the spring when I start sneezing from pollen. If I take them around the clock, I'm pretty-symptom free. If I forget to take them, then I need to use Claritin.

Thanks for the link to "Crazy Horses," Maddy! That was awesome.

Great story, Xeno!

"I'd like to ask one of these sadistic morons what they plan to do for a job once Bush is out of office. "

I can't imagine it getting any better when Bush leaves office. Things might get worse more slowly with certain candidates in office, but this kind of bs always ratchets in one direction -- towards suckiness.

"That was stupid."

Of course it was! Did you really think it would be anything other than very very stupid?

That you, boswell?

Kaiser, to quote Cory: I'm sorry that you hallucinated a set of editorial guidelines for Boing Boing that says that we only carry new information.

Danny Hellman drew a lot of marvelous illustrations for the print edition of bOING bOING, so perhaps you shouldn't be reading Boing Boing either.

I am astonished that people are still denying the existence of long horses.

I would love to discuss the movie after we watch it. I'll post a note after it airs.

Whether or not the signs are useful and necessary, I found the *wording* funny. What's wrong with that?

“It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look. To affect the quality of the day – that is the highest of arts.” -- Henry David Thoreau

I use vanilla about twice a week -- for French toast.

I love the idea of going to a great deal of trouble of making something yourself -- even if it isn't as good as store bought!

What is real Moon Sand made of?

Here's a video of Make senior editor Phillip Torrone demonstrating a green laser pointer. They are much more powerful than a cat-toy pointer! http://cachefly.oreilly.com/make/laserfun.mov

It's interesting, Father Brown, that the photos offend you, yet you seem to be quite the student of Ed Gein. The little I know of Gein made we want to steer clear of finding out anything else about that unsavory character.

I see your point, Twig. It would be like a class of new priests saying "Our job is to molest children," or medical doctors saying "Let's give our patients deadly diseases." Just good-natured jokes, right?

I see your point, Twig. It would be like a class of new priests saying "Our job is to molest children," or medical doctors saying "Let's give our patients deadly diseases." Just good-natured jokes, right?

I cain't help it -- the Playstation woman seems cute to me!

I think the Wii ad is a perfect mirror of the Apple ads. The Playstation woman and John Hodgman, are much more interesting and lovable than the insufferable Wii and Mac people.

To me, it is wonderful. Watching this, and the RKO pictures openers, gives me a near-religious experience. Go ahead and pity me, but to me, Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" is...nice.

This is why I don't think he was ever a threat to he United States. He loved the good things in life too much to risk losing it all by provoking the United States. What would he have to gain by that?

Yes, it is in the public domain: http://www.archive.org/details/teenagers_from_outerspace

How much will the book cost?

I think he is going to give it away. I heard it'll be ad-supported.

But of course! Windows users have it a little tougher, though.

@#12: That's a good tip. I'm going to try it!

When I see a beautiful and realistic painting of a bowling wild pig model, I'm going to call it unusual. I like unusual things and I will describe them as unusual on Boing Boing.

If you don't like that, please wear a blindfold while reading Boing Boing.

Here's a good interview with Clive Stafford Smith, a human rights lawyer who is representing a lot of prisoners being held at Guantanamo.

He describes the bad conditions there and how the prisoners (most who haven't been charged with and won't be told why they've been held prisoner for years) are tortured.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15839964

I'm guessing Tex Avery and other animators of the squash-and-stretch school aren't welcome in your nervous system either, eh, Antinous?

I don't care that Hoagland's book isn't true. I love this kind of stuff. It's fun to read.

There's a schematic for the amp in the datasheet for the LM386: http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM386.pdf

If you click a commenter's name, you can read all the posts they've made to Boing Boing.

I use this to help figure out whether or not someone's comments are worth spending much time thinking about.

Here are all the comments from the person who posted the first comment here: http://dynamic.boingboing.net/profile/Muppet

Calm down, U.C. I posted it because I think it's funny to ask a candidate to pick a favorite superhero, and even funnier to get an answer from the candidate. Nothing more, nothing less.

Patrick says: "I thought that you may find it interesting what Richard Stallman (RMS) replied when I sent him the cool angular momentum cartoon from Boing Boing."

RMS: "It is an amusing idea, but I should point out that physically it
doesn't work very well. When you stop spinning your body, the angular momentum goes back to the Earth. Also, if you are not near a pole, your angular momentum axis is at quite an angle to the Earth's
rotation, so only a fraction of your own angular momentum affects the
Earth's spin rate."

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/care.html

Thanks, XOPL. I think you nailed it on the head when you said you can't draw a solid line. The interesting thing to me is that the line between life and non-life is getting fuzzier and fuzzier. That fuzz is a spectrum between non-living things and living things.

OK, so you would spare the robot and squish the ant. What if the choice was between the robot and a monkey?

Let me reframe the question for you XOPL:

You discover that someone you love very much is actually a robot. There is another copy of the robot in China, married to a person living there, so the robot is not unique.

Now, an evil Martian gives you a choice between killing an ant or destroying the robot you thought was a person for many years. The robot you have loved for many years cries and pleads with you not to save it.

What do you choose to do?

If you do nothing, everyone one on the planet will die a slow painful death.

I like playing these philosophical games.

I've got one for you XOPL:

You discover that someone you love very much is actually a robot. There is another copy of the robot in China, married to a person living there, so the robot is not unique.

Now, you are given a choice between killing an ant or destroying the robot you thought was a person for many years. Which do you choose?

I just remembered that I wrote an article for Wired news in 1998 about people who enjoyed torturing AI entities:

http://web.archive.org/web/19981207001040/http://www.wired.com/news/news/wiredview/story/13293.html

Here's our policy on copyrights and copyright holders: http://www.boingboing.net/policies.html

Thanks for providing the correct link, johnrynne. I fixed it in the blog entry.

"I've got three youngsters and they've got more interesting things to play with than cardboard."

Making things with cardboard is not interesting to you? We sure have different opinions about that, Father Brown.

My kids and I made a cardboard fort from Backyard Things That Are Fun To Build (http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/15/backyard-things-that.html) one day in the summer and we had a terrific time together.

I'm looking forward to making this furniture with my kids!

(Phil Leggiere, who wrote the article, asked me to post this for him)

Thanks RealCatholicMan. It’s interesting to see how a simple recitation of the public facts about key congressional, executive and Supreme Court actions related to civil liberties in the past few years can stoke such defensive vitriol. But that’s part of the fascination of the exercise. It serves as a kind of cultural Rorschach test about how people perceive the broadening scope of government power over individual citizens that’s been taking place. Many no doubt agree with you that it’s no big deal. Many no doubt are anxious and eager (despite all historical evidence to the contrary) to trust the government not to abuse its ever expanding powers. Hopefully more of us, who take the libertarian (understood beyond the political party of that name) tradition in America seriously, will perceive something is radically off course.

In any case if there’s anything in the record of what’s listed in the timeline that’s actually misrepresented in substance let us know because you failed to that.

As far as your points: re: The John Warner Act. Erosion of civil liberties has been a largely bi-partisan commitment, with the Democrats for the most part (with a few exceptions) indistinguishable from the Republicans (excepting of course Ron Paul). When did we suggest otherwise? That changes nothing about what makes that bad piece of legislation worthy of alarm- the radical broadening of unbounded, unchecked executive power it authorizes to determine, declare and control the terms of martial law, and the further broadening of discretionary use of military forces as domestic police.

It’s more than just a Bush thing, unbelievably bad as this administration has been and is. Civil liberties is a low priority item in Beltway politics as usual and has been for quite some time. That’s why education and agitation about the decline (but hopefully not fall if enough resistance is organized) of the Bill of Rights is going to need to come largely from outside the Beltway.

And, no, there’s no specific mention of the right of smoking weed in the Bill of Rights. There’s also nothing in the constitution about the federal government having the power to outlaw drugs. There is, however, an amendment stating that any powers not given explicitly given to the federal government belong to the states, such as California, in which medicinal marijuana was legal, one the court in its 2001 and 2005 rulings decided wasn't worth taking very seriously.

My kids and I had a great time doing this. We laughed out loud. I really feel sorry for anyone who can't take delight in this simple pleasure!

I agree RCM. Even though Bush is a horrible president, he's had plenty of accomplices from both major parties.

RCM, You're missing the point. This is not an attack on Republicans. The Democrats are as bad as the Republicans when it comes to civil liberties. I remember how awful Louis Freeh was.

"Sorry Mark, the title should be "Timeline of Bill of Rights under a Democratic Congress, a Mixed Supreme Court and a Split Senate", although I admit that doesn't have quite the same ring to it."

Don't apologize, RCM.

Has Congress been controlled by Democrats for both of Bush's terms, as you imply? I didn't know that.

"Who takes a camera into a bathroom?"

I usually set my camera (which I carry in my pocket wherever I go) on the ground outside a pubic restroom before I go inside, but this time I forgot, Bour3! And aren't you lucky I forgot this time!

Thornado: It seemed so happy there, that I didn't have the heart. I used the adjacent stall.

One immediate positive result of this event: twenty percent of the proceeds will go to a charity that supports veterans.

Thanks, William! I added the Consumerist link to the ppost: http://consumerist.com/consumer/badvertising/toys-r-us-invites-you-to-save-+10-319089.php

I must confess I don't know how to make a symbolic link on my Mac. If you tell me how, I'll give this a try!

BTW, the first mention of "world wide web" was a 616-word article, "Music by Modem" which ran in in July 1994 and was written by my friend, James Daly.

Man on Pink Corner: They give you no choice. Here's a screen grab of the dialogue box: http://boingboing.net/Picturecopyfule5.png

"Is anyone really naive enough to think that President Gore's entourage would be any different?"

Who said -- or even implied -- that it would be different?

Dagda, according to the manufacturer's website they "feature only chrome-free leathers which have also been naturally dyed and tanned."

http://www.noonsolar.com/about-noon/

Yes, I'll admit it did reinforce my previous held beliefs about Conservapedia. Have you read its entry on Larry Craig? Whose definition of "trustworthy" is that?

To the fellow taking me to task for letting this post run for eight hours before adding a disclaimer to the post -- Conservapedia continues to run its misleading stats on its site daya after day without mentioning that the stats are almost certainly fudged. Whose definition of "trustworthy" is that?

RealCatholicMen -- I mean talking to *anybody* isn't of much use. People can say whatever they want.

JBang -- Talking to someone at Conservapedia is about as good as psychic osmosis. But if they send me server logs that show evidence of click bots, that would be great. I'm interested in hard data in this particular case, not stuff coming out of someone's mouth. If you have a better idea, let me know.

For now, the only hard data I have are the stats Conservapedia itself has on its page. I'm waiting for them tor someone else to send me something that shows me those stats are wrong.

Please don't try to twist what I said, realcatholicmen. I don't want to get on the phone and talk to anyone about this, unless they can send me some evidence that shows they've been hit by bots.

I 'd rather see some evidence that bots are responsible than hear what someone at Conservapedia has to say about this..

Joshua -- Where did you learn this? I'm interested in finding out more.

IANAL = I am not a lawyer

According to these two articles, the Kirlins regularly maintained the lots, spraying them for weeds and repairing rail fences. They also walked by the property regularly. I don't know why they didn't notice the paths or wood pile, though:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_7501264

http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4844943&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

"Who builds their dream home on a .11 acre lot anyway?"

What's wrong with people who want to build a house on a small lot?

Albie -- You pretend not to want the book, but you secretly desire it.

Anonymous -- Please email me with your name and address and I will look into it. mark@boingboing.net

Thanks Bunnyman2112. Some bookstores get them early, but all newsstands that carry MAKE should have them by today.

Thanks for all of these funny ones. I managed to crack a smile, even!

Violet: "In the meantime put a sandwich and a cup of coffee on a tray and hold it up against the window for him to see."

You know, I have a feeling this would have done the trick.

Garret: Your assumption that my purpose for posting this was that the video be "gaped at by the curious" is completely wrong.

Do you think this conversation thread has been interesting? I think it has been very interesting. The only comments I don't think are interesting are the ones by you and Ceronomus who make the false and ugly claim that I posted this for entertainment value.

Ceronomus: I happen tp think it's important for people to actually watch the video to make up their own mind about what actually happened. Calling it a "snuff film" is wrong and disgusting.

You obviously disagree with my decision to link to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's video of the incident, but instead of offering a cogent argument explaining why you disagree, you chose to mislabel the video as a "snuff film" and call me names. I don't know what the purpose of those insults were, because they certainly don't add to this otherwise fascinating discussion. I have read many interesting comments in this thread, but yours wasn't one of them.

Boing Boing is advertising sponsored, as are millions of other Web sites. Your assertion that I posted this video to "drive ad clicks" is wrong and insulting.

It wouldn't bother me in the least if you made good on your threat to stop reading Boing Boing. In fact, it would please me to no end to have you leave for good. Your behavior here is deplorable.

Ceronomus: I have two suggestions for you.

1. Look up the definition of "snuff film." The video linked to (with ample warnings as to its disturbing nature) is not a snuff film.

2. If you suspect you might be offended by something on the other side of a link, don't click it. Nobody forced you to watch it.

Garret: Unless you take secret delight in being disgusted by my indecent posts, may I suggest you read Boing Boing via RSS and filter all of my posts from the feed. It's not that hard to implement.

When Rael asked me to draw Sandy, I was reading a book about the great Dan DeCarlo , the artist who did the most popular versions of Betty and Veronica. I also like Erin Esurance, so I'm sure there's a little of her in Sandy, too.

@ A Random John:

I'm not sure why you are laboring under the false impression that I consider myself "expert on Mormons."

The reason I mentioned Under the Banner of Heaven here is because it is one of the most interesting books I've ever read, and I always bring it up when the topics of Mormons come up. The many people who read the book on my recommendation have thanked me.

@ A Random John: I wasn't aware that Jon Krakauer denounced his own book. He must be really ashamed. Can you please provide a cite here?

Here's why I don't think the rock is man-made:

1. It serves no purpose as a trail marker
2. There are no access roads nearby. It's narrow trail.
3. There are other, similarly-shaped stones nearby, which are more "blobby" and asymmetrical and even farther from the trail.

Don't get me wrong -- I love this little car! Here in LA, it would be run over by a Cayenne, faux Hummer, or Escalade in a matter of minutes.

Hey Stefan -- I videoed 18 different makers, and hopefully we'll get around to most of them!

Ape Lad, You did all the work. We did nothing but expose your rare and immense talent to a wider audience. Congratulations! -- M

I think I remember reading that the bow on the UPS logo was Rand's daughter's idea.

That's disgusting. I hope Leno asks him about this, though I doubt he will.

Nice music!

If the plane is smaller than a hydrogen molecule, it might pass through the balloon without causing any damage.

"Everyone gets the Tim Leary they deserve." --Tim Leary

I think the pic is from 1995. Our pal Richard Metzger took it!

Harper's Weekly is always presented in the form of three long paragraphs. It makes a certain kind of sense when it's done this way. I like it.

That's funny, Tomrigid!

I hope Craig stays in office for a good many years to come. You can't buy that kind of entertainment.

@Anonymous -- Yep, my robot was inspired by Chico Bicalho, and I credited him in my Make article. I love his work!

Hey, Coffeegeek -- email me -- I would like to interview you for BBtv -- mark@boingboing.net

That's a cool idea, Henry. I imagine it would generate the same kind of lively conversation that this artist's work has.

Eh? It looks like you posted your own comment, Henry Krinkle. Why do you want me to post them for you? I don't know who you are.

Show us something you've created that's 1/10th as interesting, Looneytick. I can't wait to see what your superior intellect has made.

Thanks for posting this addition info, Eric!

The floating ad sneaked by us. We are getting rid of it asap.

Please oh please scan it Stefan and I'll post it on Boing Boing.

That sucks, Double Crown. I just got rid of the link and replaced it with CD Baby's link to the CD.

I made a mistake. The site is not bizarrestuff.com. It's bizarrelabs.com. Here is the actual link to the site that reprints the plans to the Boing Box: http://bizarrelabs.com/boing2.htm

Funny coincidence, pointed out to me by a Boing Boing reader: Donna Blue Aircraft is an anagram of contraband failure.

So , Waldo, a lot of major news orgs have reported that a Gulfstream with over 3 tons of cocaine in it crashed in the Yucatan and that the owner was Donna Blue. Do you call bullshit on that, too? If so, that means some other kind of conspiracy is going on. Any theories?

The Menlo Park address is boilerplate. Donna Blue's registered address is in Florida, and according to Mad Cow Morning News, there's no office at the official address.

I deleted Phenom's spam from all the conversations. Sorry we didn't get around to it sooner.

It reminded me of a time-lapse movie of a germ culture. I'm sure lots of other things grow like that, too.

Does something have to be legal to be considered art? Or can some things be illegal and art at the same time?

Sorry for missing it, Nick. I really try to go through all the submissions, but sometimes I fall behind. Please don't become discouraged.

Thanks for avoiding a flame war here, Alicke and Ned2D. This is an interesting discussion and both of you have make valuable contributions to it, which I appreciate.

Mnemesis, so you are bored with my obsession with Japan. I'm not. If you want to complain about how you don't share my interests, OK, but I don't know if it does any good.

Comments 2,3,4 -- Yikes. I'm glad my mind didn't take those sad trajectories when I saw these soaps.

Peter, please draw a picture that expresses your feelings and email it to me so I can post it.

Thanks for the correction, Joe. My mistake. Great photos!

"Define 'logical,' as you use it here."

You'll have to ask the fellow who stayed at the hotel and wrote "And the problem is that even once you figure it out, it's not very logical." Follow the link.

"Are you serious this makes front page bb? I thought BB had standards."

Method-es: Yes, I'm serious. I post a lot of things that are trivial. If something is surprising or interesting to me, I post it.

Another example of why the 1970s was a much better decade than people give it credit.

In the 1970s, my best birthday would have been Celebrity Sports Center for slot car racing followed by dinner at the Yum Yum Tree.

Flying Squirrel: I think the IM is including in your existing data plan, if I read this correctly.

Wow, #3, that photo takes the cake! Do you think the guy with the donut and the kid are some some stock photo source? I have no idea how the client approved this ad.

The wonderful sf and mystery author Frederic Brown once told a writer friend that he came up with his villains by modeling them after the nicest people he knew. That way, his bad guys were more dimensional and all the more creepy.

No, I'm not saying that. If you don't want to get tasered you should always do what the police tell you to do.

Also, employing the passive resistance tactics of Ghandi is no guarantee the police won't taser or mace you.

Remember the police who used q-tips to rub pepper spray into the eyes of peaceful protestors sitting on the floor? -- http://www.nopepperspray.org/

And the UCLA student who was tasered last year was zapped because he went limp and the cops wanted him to get up and leave the library:

"U.C.L.A. police are allowed to use Tasers on passive resisters as 'a pain compliance technique,' Assistant Chief Jeff Young said in an interview Friday." --