Wheels within wheels, or something. Very cool. Virtual tinkertoy calculator!

Get over it and then create a limited-access guest account that can't access your personal files, folders, etc. This ain't rocket science, kids.

That seems like a severe lack of common sense. What starts as a wastebasket fire nearly takes out the studio... o_O

I think these are more the purvey of what we could Atari 5200 or 7800 versions of these games might look like. The 2600 just didn't really have the resources.

Good thing my tax dollars already goto FEMA, who have things well in hand. c_c

blueray I can understand, but what is that slot on the left for? VHS? As in the old analog magnetic tape storage of NTSC video? How. Archaic.

my cat would love this

I wonder how long until this technology is relatively inexpensive and in the hands of everyone.

Why th hll ws #4 d-vwld? Wht's ffnsv bt "Nt my cp ' t?" f tht's hw cvl lngg s rwrdd, why th fck shld try t b cvl hr?

Nt my cp ' t.

My favorites are the banks of many multiple payphones in the old circular departure gate terminals at SFO where each one's been stripped of the phone, leaving rows of empty booths. The thought of a suited businessman on a payphone in an airport is a bizarre throwback to the 80s and before.

How much water and energy would it use compared to an energystar frontloader washing machine like an LG Tromm? I'll bet this is a step backwards in terms of "greenness," without even getting into the other design issues mentioned.

Design at the price of functionality makes no sense to me.

Even if you accept the notion that a 19-year-old growing some weed is "dastardly,"

"even criminal masterminds often overlook the most obvious foil to their dastardly schemes"

Would someone please explain what is obvious about the random wanderings of a gps-bugged turtle?

Bigfoot is synonymous with hoax. Always has been, always will be. If there were such creatures roaming North America, they'd've been captured and studied long ago. This is about as interesting as the Loch Ness monster, which is to say, not very.

Wow. They were willing to put just about anything on the air, weren't they? Of course, it's not so much that he's jumping on the eggs-- that would suggest that his feet come to rest upon the eggs. Rather, he's jumping OVER the eggs and tapping them with his feet mid-flight, which totally doesn't count IMO...

@6: That's because all speed limits have an implied "drive this +10 mph," so if you drive the literal limit, you're gonna annoy people.

Or, stated differently, IMO, those limits are meant to encompass both day and night, sun and rain, new good-handling cars and old land yachts, young drivers, experienced drivers, and the senile. Most drivers can safely exceed them and are annoyed if they cannot because of someone driving a literal interpretation of the limit.

Yes, I realize I am part of the problem. :)

This wouldn't work so well on BRI or PRI service, or VOIP. Do people still use analog POTS lines for voice communication??

Yeah, this is pretty weak, and definitely an encouragement to cast of the shackles of Apple tyranny.

If NetShare continues to work, then, eh. You bought it. It works as advertised. No problem, right? But if it's killed or otherwise made broken, then, yeah, you deserve a full refund.

It's something that's certainly on my mind. If I buy some app on the iTunes app store, and then apple releases a new firmware and the app breaks, what recourse have I got? This is a major reason why I'm extremely skittish about buying ANYTHING for money on the app store, or DRM'd electronic media in general, for that matter. And that's not even getting into their apparent denial of the first sale doctrine for apps.

I can only suppose that's the beauty of it. The locals may get wise fast, but the out-of-towners won't, nor is it likely they'll return later to fight it in court.

You play with the dragon, you risk being burned? It's unfortunately, but completely unsurprising that they smashed his visit with a velvet-covered iron fist. I hope he feels he furthered the cause, rather than just misspent a hell of a lot of money. I have my doubts, though.

Ironically named app. A better name might be 'imprisonment.'

I have no problem with this in a 'neighborhood block watch' sort of role, as long as they aren't peeping in people's apartment windows with the thing.

It seems more likely they'll roll it out at large protest events to do air-traffic-controller type dispatch to keep in line the kids whose hair is too long or something.

Uh, sorry. You lost me at lawn bowling.

Pretty sweet. I guess, for your money, it's a toss-up. You can have a long decadent subsonic flight, or ten years ago, you could have had a short less-decadent supersonic flight. Progress? I think we're stepping back technologically. This set-up could have been done on a DC-3. The A380's main appeal, I guess, is the spectacle of its size, kind of like the Titanic at the time...

It's a pity to see cocaine's 'high' and LSD's transcendental state equivocated. Describing psychedelics in terms of 'being high' is sort of missing the point.

The clear card system is wrong on so many deep levels. May it go down in flames. Those folks need to wait in the same lines as the rest of us, period. No "special" security classes of travellers, please.

"Posted August 2, 2008 - 20:38 PDT

We have heard from launch control that there has been an anomaly. More details will be posted to the website as available."

Doh.

Tourists from overseas. They realize on the way out of the country they could buy a x for a fraction of the price they'd pay in their home economy, thanks to the depressed US$.

"Kill Your Lawn," a meme modelled after "Kill your TV," I assume. But upon first read, I thought we were going to see photos of yellowed lawns. A better name might be "Garden on your lawn," or "Replace your Lawn." Either way, I approve. What could be more obscene than a green lawn in a desert clime?

"disorderly conduct while armed." I love it. Disorderly conduct: what they charge you with when they don't have anything to charge you with.

Sounds like a sawed-off shotgun, which, yeah, is pretty illegal in most jurisdictions. I'm pretty sure that in my neck of the woods, Clear Creek County, Colorado, you're more or less allowed to discharge your firearm at inanimate objects all you want on your own land, provided you aren't putting others at risk.

Just another variation of shooting an old TV, I guess.

Don't you feel safer, now?

Seriously, it angers me whenever I see something done 'in the name of security,' when there's no justifying precedent. How many terrorists have struck Yankee stadium with suntan-lotion bombs? Or just bombs, for that matter?

Reminds me of a local story out near Denver, where the Denver water authority decided to close a road across a reservoir a few weeks ago. They're now being sued by the county, whose emergency responders must now call a guard, wait for them to come to the newly-erected gate, weave their emergency response vehicle through concrete barriers, wait for the guard to go to the other side of the dam and unlock the other newly-erected gate, and then weave through more concrete barriers. It's apparently added quite a few minutes to their emergency response time. Feel safer yet?

If your summertime humidity is over 20% RH, I wouldn't recommend the swamp-cooler approach. As far as ice packs, that's mostly just time-shifting the energy use, and adding manual labor and complexity to the task of staying cool... For that price, you could pick up a small window AC and just run it on low rather than creating an arctic clime.

Don't you all feel safer, now? What this country needs is more people with authority and a sense of entitlement to do as they please in the name of 'security.' Rip out those nipple rings, rsc ths fk bbs, do what it takes to keep Saddam from repeating 911!

*cough*

I'm 30 and can hear just fine up to 22KHz, thankyouverymuch. You put one of these near me, and you might find it forcibly disassembled the next time you look.

#5: Let them eat cake? Last time I heard, over 45 million US citizens had no medical insurance. It's a disgrace, as compared with. well. the rest of the western civilization, but that's where things currently stand. Why spend money on insuring the masses, when you can spend it on 'Homeland Security' and the TSA to make us "safe" (from ourselves).

Clrly, f thy hv bdg, t mst b K. f thy cn smsh n cr wndws t rsc dlls, why s ths npprprt? Th plc r mplctly nfllbl, ccrdng t bngbng grpthnk.

If cops can smash in windows to rescue 'dolls,' why shouldn't they be able to issue unjust speeding tickets with impunity. I say send the kid to jail. The badge a police man wears makes him infallible, or so the groupthink consensus at boingboing goes.

#83: I was more envisioning a car parked on my property, say, in the driveway... The whole point is that it hopefully would never come to violence; you tell the perpetrator that they are being placed under citizens' arrest and if they make one move, you will be forced to assume it's a treat and will defend yourself within the limits of the law. Ideally, the police arrive and handle the bad guys. But, yes, if they attack, I'm not going to sit there like a wet noodle while they do god knows what to me, or maybe my car if they're the vindictive type.

I'm honestly curious what you would do in any of these scenarios, since you seem to be full of criticism for defense of self and property, but still haven't proffered alternatives that would come to their defense. Also, place yourself in my shoes; police response time is 45 minutes. Your answer should be most enlightening...

@81: Interesting; but you don't appear to know what you are talking about, legally speaking, at least in my state. Colorado Homeowner Protection Act of 1985. The law would most definitely be on my side.

@29: :P

Seriously, just because you disagree or uncomfortable because of some of what I've observed isn't a reason to call me names like 'dud' or suggest I am psychopathic or sociopathic... That's sort of juvenile, really. Rebut ideas with ideas.

As the recent victim of a home burglary, it seems troubling the that community opinion here seems to be criminals should have free run of things. I don't own a firearm, and even if I did, I would discharge it with extreme reluctance, and even then, I wouldn't shoot to kill. But if you question my right to do so, or the justification of same, I seriously question your judgement in these matters. Anyone who is screwed up enough to break into your property is implicitly a threat to life and limb if in your presence.

This is getting way off from the discussion topic, which started with police and a crowd of apologists who feel the means justify the ends. Again, I have no problem with the authorities as long as they take responsibility for the damage they caused, but absolutely question their ability to go in smashing car windows without accountability just because they have a badge and an assumption or snap judgement. With power comes responsibility, folks.

Wow. Now that is seriously sociopathic. What could possibly motivate someone to 'booby trap' public parks?

Normally, I'd chime in about now and suggest that this guy is quite the bigot, but it seems like down is up and up is down after the boingboing community berated me for criticizing the police after damaging property mistakenly in another recent post. Given that, maybe we should all also run to the defense of this apparently misunderstood government representative, since we apparently all love playing the devil's advocate...

#69: I'd say the person who resorted to calling me a name was inflammatory; I was just making some valid points. Of course, his name-calling goes un-devoweled, but my response gets mangled by an editor/moderator. Yeah, THAT'S fair.

#56, #57: Point taken. I don't necessarily think the police were 'bad,' as long as they take responsibility for their error. Their badges should not represent a 'free pass' to make mistakes sans accountability. If they pay the cost of repairing the window and a little extra for the trouble they've caused, all is (relatively) well.

#58: It's kind of like how the TSA makes me throw out my bottled water to protect me. I'll take a pass on this kind of 'protection,' thank you very much.

#61: h, ky. 'm nt, bt y r tl.

#62: Ys, 'm scpth bcs thnk t wld b rght t prtct myslf, lvd ns, prprty frm fln thfs nd vndls. Y srsly dsrv tst f yr wn mdcn. Jst lk pssvly n, hmmng hppy sng t yrslf, whl pnk rps yr dghtr r wf, r brks nt yr cr r hm wth nknwn ntntns. Yh, rght.

No. A mistakenly broken window matters more than a 'rescued' inanimate object.

I have no problem with real babies being rescued, but that wasn't the case here at all. It's bizarro-land here to see people blaming the victims.

f sw smn brkng nt MY cr, 'd fl nttld t sht thm, r bt thm slly wth mtl br, r spry thm ntl thy'r skd wth mc. nd thn prss chrgs.

How is this different from a swat team breaking into the wrong home and getting shot by a homeowner sincerely feeling threatened? The error of the authorities is no defense. The outcome, and not the intent, is what matters in principle.

Ww. Thr r sm srsly msgdd flks pstng hr, sdng wth bsv lw nfrcmnt. Hnstly, y ppl dsrv t b th frst gnst th wll whn th rvltn cms.

"Plc shld hv fr pss t dstry yr prprty f thy r stpd nd wrng?" Yr tttd wll lst bt 5 mllscnds th mmnt tht prncpl s ppld t y, yr prprty, r yr lvd ns. Y sck fscks prbbly thnk ts ky t g rnd tsrng nncnts wh ps n physcl thrt, t.

Gds, hp y mv t Rss. Y'll lk thr thrtrn/ttltrn flr.

@3: Are you insane? Jesus. Of course the police are at fault. Criminal vandalism, breaking and entering, and probably a few others. They should be charged the same as any other street punk, and they sure as hell had better pay for all damages, actual and punitive.

Where's the TF2 rendering? :(

Looks like those two in the video could stand to skip a few breakfasts AND lunches, instead working to cure their supersized obesity-diseased bodies.

Poor bastards. Living like animals, denied modern medical care, potable drinking water, sanitation facilities. Worse still for their children, who are likely being denied the chance life they could have had...

Send 'em to the Hague War Crimes Tribunal!

Looks real enough to me. Gods, if I had to work in a cube farm with people crammed so close in to each other, I'd probably go postal, too.

Must not have had much respect for his coworkers, or at least the woman across the aisle from him. I've got to wonder what set him off against the guy leaning in. Maybe he was being told his TPS reports were written in the wrong color of ink...

Nobody's mentioned it yet, so I might as well bring up wesabe.com, which is web based, free, and can import external records and statements.

A very clear and coherent infographic conveying absolutely useless information.

Scandalous! And absolutely uninteresting *yawn*

It's great to see true patriots come forward and do what they can to draw attention to the situation in Tibet. I'm certain, while exporting liberty isn't necessarily spelled out in our nation's founding documents, our forefathers would smile at this and other displays if they were still around today.

I'm eagerly awaiting the Olympic torch's visit to San Francisco, particularly after the free-thinking people of London and Paris made it clear western democracies shall not tolerate China's unacceptable behavior.

I guess the woman is due points for sending the message in a way the dog could relate to. Had it been me, I'd've probably just stepped on the attacking dog's neck, or maybe given it a good hard swift kick. Or two or three.

This was quite the industry around Penn State University, with companies such as 'Nittany Notes' et al providing this service.

I guess my feeling would be that if these copied notes are being purchased by students who are registered in said professor's classes, they are presumably paying their tuition. Paying the university grants access to the educational material being provided in the course notes, which I would think should be thought of granting them a license to have and use the material.

I guess the problem creeps in when a third party is offering a for-profit service of redistributing the notes, albeit to students who have paid the university, and thus the professor, for access to the material.

Would the professor raise these same objections if it were a registered student photocopying notes from a classmate, or would he want to sue the owner of the photocopier used, who might charge $0.10 per page for the priviledge of the copies. If not, how is that really any different than a focused 3rd party business that catalogs, retains, and redistributes notes?

I always hated note taking in college. I spent more time writing than understanding the material, franticly trying to keep up, and inevitably missing things. A far far better system would be for the prof to provide downloadable lecture notes and let their students concentrate on working through the material in their minds, not scrivening.

One of these days, I fear I'm going to get in trouble as I viciously mock the authorities to their faces for being retarded and labeling something I do as 'suspicious.' Surely, this must happen a lot, although we don't generally hear about it. Most people caught seem to make apologetic statements to the media, not the outraged vitriol such authorities would seem to deserve.

Geekpdx, and other apologists: It doesn't really matter; I take seriously my right to not be subjected to unexpected electrical shocks. This seems pretty obvious. No matter how funny something may seem, even if earlier social standards allowed it, it's really not acceptable to subject someone to something hurtful or unpleasant without their consent. It's called bullying, and is completely indefensible, period. Whether or not that was the case here is unclear, due to crappy journalism.

Nice nostalgia dose. The Atari 800 was my family's first computer, Christmas 1983, and I fondly remember playing 'Temple of Apshai,' 'The Quest,' 'Transylvania,' 'Ultima III: Exodus,' and other 8-bit Atari diskette classics.

As a follow up, reading the article, the arrest was over bringing the device on school grounds, and not over using it. Which.. is odd. If they didn't use it, how were they ever caught? Perhaps they simply couldn't prove it had been used. But if it wasn't discharged into someone, the arrest seems unjustified.

Pretty interesting article. I wish it linked to more of the photodocumented crew paintings. It's long been a dream of mine to explore a subsurface ICBM facility. I'm deeply envious of those few folks who live in fully-converted luxury home / missle silos. Well, except that they're all in places I wouldn't really want to live, e.g.: in the middle of nowhere.

At the time of the original posting, I thought it was actually a fairly evil idea. But, then, I zapped myself once or twice while disassembling the flash electronics from a bag full of used disposable 35mm cameras that were popular in the 90s.

You used to be able to just go to a local photo processor and they'd often happily provide a bag full of the disposable cameras after the film had been removed, with flash and integral alkaline battery intact.

Anyway, hitting someone with a high-voltage shock goes beyond 'haha' funny or harmless jokes. God forbid they happen to be touching something that's grounded with their other free hand, the circuit through their heart could be fatal.

I have zero problem with someone being arrested over using this against someone. It's about as funny as sneaking peanuts into the food of someone who is allergic to them, which is to say, not at all.

*chuckles* More April foolery, or is this a serious post. It sounds completely outlandish. If they want to fumigate the plane, why wouldn't they disembark the passengers first?

I know that I would absolutely not allow this, as there's no way in hell I'd willingly sit there and inhale secondhand insecticide, even if it meant pushing past flight attendants to exit the plane. No jury would convict; that's self-defense!

Way to blame the victim, Vsync. You from Anonymous yourself?

Entropy reigns supreme. I suppose in a harsh semitropical and populous environment like Florida, even moreso...

Beyond the apparent foolishness of redefining a reasonable expectation of 4th amendment right to privacy, this policy does so without any sort of extraordinary justification or precedent to justify such an extraordinary breech of privacy. I'm sorry, there's just no 911-for-trains, I don't see the rationale, other than a mindless slide toward an increasingly orwellian state.

Yeah, Bob, Wnoknew, Jasmina simply may have her own reasons for not hammering in an opinion one way or the other. I'm not altogether sure how I'd feel if, say, a US state wished to withdraw from the union today. (Not that it would be analogous, really)

Anyway, uncivilized displays of violence, hate, and raw anger mixed with petty acts of self-interest are not uncommon elsewhere. As always, to be condemned.

So, yeah, let me get this straight. I want to take an ancient set of headphones with all the fidelity of a telephone receiver and all the ergonomics of a brick and /use/ them?

Why?

I like old tube amps because they sound good. Like, I'm not opposed to old tech if it /makes sense/, but this seems about as appealing as using incandescent light bulbs: the arguments against using it outweigh the arguments in favor.