FATHER BROWN SAID:

Does anybody know the best mild solvent for cleaning a large LCD monitor?

CLAYTON COUNTS SAYS:

Hi, Kurt. Maybe you could ask one of the many people you've impersonated, harassed, or e-stalked over the years. Or better yet, check your blog:

http://kurtbenbenek.com

If only BoingBoing could suggest a solvent capable of taking care of a primitive stain like you.

Father Brown = Kurt Benbenek, shameless Internet troll who fancies himself a Dadaist.

That said, Robert Williams is a skilled painter, and a living legend to boot.

Sure thing. I (usually) have plenty of bandwidth to go around, so don't put yourself out.

Done.

http://claytoncounts.com/laff

Great job, Useo!

Oh, and also...

Before anyone starts thinking I was being a d*ck for no reason, I thought I should point out that Father Brown is really a troll named Kurt Allen Benbenek, best known for e-stalking, impersonating, and vandalizing countless Wikipedia pages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/FatherMichaels

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?limit=50&title=Special%3AContributions&contribs=user&target=April+Winchell&namespace=&year=&month=-1

http://kurtbenbenek.com

Why do I get the feeling I'm being baited here? Father Brown, it's no surprise that you would parrot the sentiments of so many DJs who hated the Beachles. If you're not a fan of breakcore, serial composition, or noise, it makes perfect sense. The fact that "The Grey Album" is the only mash-up you've enjoyed speaks volumes, and I have no problem admitting that my collection wasn't for everyone.

It is important to realize, however, that not everyone found the Beachles so "atrocious." After all, I made it with an audience in mind. There were many glowing (or neutral) reviews, both online and in print, and while it may fall haphazardly into the category, it is by no means a traditional mash-up. There have been many that were unintentionally far worse, and given the fact that it took me a single work week to make it I can't say that I wasn't elated.

Another thing to realize is that I've been a relatively successful DJ, and I've been composing original music for at least a decade longer than I've been dabbling in mash-ups. Also, I have made dozens of remixes that were more "listenable" or "mainstream," but they don't really hold much interest for me as an artist. And, since you asked, I think the main reason mash-up artists work with extant material is simple: recontextualizing others' work has been going on for centuries, and it's loads of fun.

That's hilarious. Jim Backus rules.

I think it's funny witnessing the sometimes heated reactions to these kinds of stories. It would be enough to say, "Hey, New Scientist isn't a peer reviewed journal," but no.

BoingBoing has a history of linking to articles which (though arguably pseudoscientific at times) resonate with a certain type of reader. That is, the sort of individual who enjoys reading about James Randi and Pastafarianism.

Seriously, take it easy, guys. This means you, #16. No need to start bashing Schrodinger.

@35

"Why should the cop have to respectfully respond to this idiot's nonsense."

Because it's the right thing to do. The alternative, as we've seen, is far worse. That's why, in a nutshell. The cop acted like a child who was deprived of his mother's affection.

An unnecessary use of nonlethal force should carry the same penalty as other cases of aggravated assault. If we are to take this video at face value, the driver posed no credible threat to the cop. What's more is that the officer knew it.

Perhaps some of you apologists should volunteer for Taser testing at your nearest convenience.

@10

The guy is 68 years old, and whether it's any kind of excuse doesn't really matter. It's his version of the failures of the industry to thwart its sworn enemy. So, yeah, I buy it.

After all, they've spent millions fighting a battle that can't be won for all the money in the world. Conspiring with entities like MediaSentry to "poison" torrents; suing Kazaa users and struggling to convince everyone else that all other P2Ps are equally vulnerable; uploading fake or incomplete songs to countless networks in the hopes of maybe fooling ten kids for three minutes; and sending out takedown notices to everyone with music blogs and webcasts. Come on, indeed.

It's shameless, but also very revealing. Historically, even the best of the major labels have treated their own artists like garbage, so how many filesharing experts do you suppose might offer their services to Universal? And how many would it take to remedy the problem? Once the hull's breached, even the dumbest engineers flee the vessel.

Hellary? Such pungent wit. Seriously, though, Giuliani's the Devil.

RealCatholicMen, bias and dishonesty often go hand in hand. Napoleon said, "History is a set of lies agreed upon," and for the most part he was right.

I'm all for selectivity in reporting, but when you suggest that it's not dishonest to report on Clinton's scandals, while giving Bush, who has been at the center of considerably more scandals, a pass, well... perhaps you're not being entirely honest with yourself.

In other words: Bush's article could mention these scandals and be every bit as biased. Furthermore, your understanding of this subject is shaky at best. Yes, some articles at BoingBoing are biased. Nature of the beast, really. This is a blog. It shouldn't be held to the same standard as any kind of -pedia, conservative or otherwise.

That's why sites like Wikipedia attempt to enforce a strict non-POV policy. Let's say I work for a pharmaceutical company, and the board elects me to craft a Wikipedia entry about one of their products. There is little doubt that the article in question will be biased, yet if I knowingly omit information about known side-effects of the product, I am being dishonest.

You can spin it however you like. It doesn't change the fact that Conservapedia exists in stark contrast to Wikipedia. After all, you were the one who asserted that facts should mean something. Completely ignoring the fact that Bush is tremendously unpopular, and that his administration has been beleaguered by scandals, whilst disparaging Clinton and utterly denying his popularity... that's disingenuous.

Pretty cowardly, also.

RealCatholicMen, I'm not sure that creating bots really constitutes an ad hominem attack. Not that you're any kind of authority. Besides, an understanding of how this data is interpreted should be foremost on your list of concerns. Any suggestion that good, conservative Christians don't engage in personal attacks, however, is a flying laugh riot.

As for the legitimacy of these figures, I have to agree with Mark. I wouldn't trust anything coming from Conservapedia, unless they made their stats page available to the public, or, at the very least, to a few reporters. This is a website that routinely distorts the truth and discourages editing, often preventing it entirely by locking controversial (and, by extension, reasonably important) articles.

A good example of the kind of unapologetic dishonesty one might expect from the site: more than half of Conservapedia's article on Bill Clinton is comprised of point-of-view commentary on his various "scandals," while completely ignoring the fact that he remains one of our most popular leaders. By contrast, nothing is said of the immense unpopularity of our sitting president, George W. Bush, whose approval rating has done little but flop about like a dying fish for years on end. Dubya's article, to be frank, has roughly as much acuminous content as My Pet Goat.

Conservapedia is a lot like the Creation Museum. Many go there just to poke fun at the insanity of it all, and five minutes is all that anyone really needs to assess our predicament. Speciousness is as appealing to some as freedom from deceit is to others. Peace in the Middle East!

Matt, conversion to vector also allows for smoother animations in programs that have 3D camera capabilities. Imagine zooming past a row of trees without that billboard-y sprite effect. Useful for game design, movies, online presentations, etc.

@EH

Running water does help, but if you keep the onion completely submerged in water - voila! No tears.

@ 18

Unless I'm mistaken, some magnets are so powerful they can fly across rooms and take off body parts when they snap together. As for being more difficult, people often go to greater lengths than they need to.

The gimbal seems obvious enough, but it doesn't strike me as impossible that several magnets may have been used in combination with such a pivot. Magnets have been used in trick pool tables, roulette wheels, and magic acts for a very long time. I'm no expert, though.

Bush respects rural Americans? My ass. That's where all the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans came from, huh? That's why he's committed to sending so many thousands of innocent rural Americans to meet their bloody DEATHS in an unjust war in Iraq? That's why he combats evils like SCHIP and spies on Americans? That tremendous respect he has for all the poor, rural folks? Pft! He didn't even have a Texas accent until he ran for governor.

It's not the first reason I hate Bush, his "respect" for rural America. Neither is it his freedom. Number one on my list is that he's a warmongering imbecile who can't pronounce "nuclear."

LOLCAT STEVENS, you're amazing. There are more people who played 'John Deere: American Farmer' in a single farmhouse in south Texas last summer than there are centipede experts the world over.

The author's first point doesn't seem to be so politicizing, though. So what if Hollywood doesn't "get" the hyper-nuanced version of American farmers' lives? It's not Hollywood's responsibility to keep up with them r thr flthy nds, and I'll bet that far fewer farmers get out to the movie pictures as often as hipster waitresses going to grad school in New York.

Hollywood's job is dishing out blockbusters, not blocking out ditchbusters. Little immigration joke there. If you have to drive an hour and a half to see a movie, you might as well wait the extra month and a half to own it on DVD. Hollywood's only concern should be making movies that keep people from streaming an unwatchable cam off of Stage6 or Veoh. Do farmers do that? Seriously. Hollywood's so out of touch, they're in touch. So many westerns this year, too.

Since when does anyone need to vote to express their opinion on television in this country, anyway? d thnk tht WW frk mght hv mr t dd t dscssn bt "cltr," whtvr tht s, thn sm dsfgrd crn frmr frm Gd knws whch sd f hs sstr's bd n Txrkn. 'm s sck f ths bg vc fr th mnrty nnsns. Gt rl.

Then again, TV news has always gone with the tthlss mlcntnts. Only recently has it begun to court the iPod-toting psdntllctls, and even then only in more densely populated regions. It's more a reflection of those doing the programming, and not some commentary on the characters of the ngry, nprprd dts being thrust under the spotlight.

But yeah, where are all the big city data analysts, computer programmers, artists, musicians, bloggers, makers, rocket scientists, tattoo artists, messengers, atheists, skeptics, Pastafarians, robots, and, damn it all, even telemarketers? Just not TV-friendly enough, I guess. It's all soccer Moms and disgruntled pedestrians.