Having been to Amsterdam many, many times, I have yet to have a bike stolen. For that matter, I have yet to see a brown-toothed junkie, let alone one selling bikes. The dutch are very adept at securing their bikes to any immobile object. Based on my personal travels, I suspect the stories of buying one's bike back from a junkie are greatly exaggerated.

"Now if you like bells, we're loaded."

I'm surprised I spotted this, but then again, maybe not...Look closely at the turret at 2:25.
Suddenly I like this kid more :)

I just puked in my mouth. Singing this bad can only be followed by the audio equivalent of a unicorn chaser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EPsuOEH1fY

From the video: "...and everyone wants STEVE to do it."

I dunno, the goal seems noble, but this guy sounds like it's all about HIM (Steve) and his ego, not the Dali Lama.

Funny how nearly every mocking example has come true in some form or another.

@18 and 21 - I was recently in Europe: Belgium and Netherlands to be precise. Had a humorous moment when I stepped into this odd "sculpture" that was actually a single outdoor public urinal. After that moment of realization, I started to notice there were public open urinals everywhere - even some OLD ones made of sandstone against old church walls. Maybe its us Yanks that have a problem with public urination? Any European posters wanna comment?

As soon as I saw that mushroom in his hand in the first frame I thought "Oh nos!!" - Looks like a deadly amanita to me (which by the way are quite common in North America kiddies - DO NOT play with mushrooms you don't know!)

@52 - First actual LOL of all these posts - kudos!

Lots of good advice above, mostly directed from a technical standpoint. From a mix standpoint, unless you have "trained" your ears to mix from a flat eq source, I usually advise newbs to try a different technique: select several songs on CD (you remember those, right? OK, FLAC or other lossless will work too :-) - they should represent your musical taste which is hopefully close to the music you're mixing. While playing each song, using your master EQ, adjust the sound until it is pleasing to you. If you like bass, turn up the bass. This sets your room as your own personal reference space. Untrained mixers will tend to boost the frequencies they "think" are missing. When played back on other systems, it can sound out of whack. If you mix on a system tuned to your natural inclinations, you will not accidentally over compensate by boosting or cutting freq.s you perceive to be missing. This isn't always the best approach, but it yields better mixes more often than not.

I've had a lot of problems with jet-style lighters over the long haul. Over time every one seems to lose its ability to reliably hold a jet. Based solely on Zippo's reputation, I was actually thinking about checking this out until I read #5's post. If anyone has any decent suggestions for a jet lighter I'd appreciate it. Before you post, yes, I have tried (and killed) a Colibri. I wish I could use a standard Zippo, but the smell of the fluid makes me nauseous.

When I was a teenager, I LUSTED after the Apple IIc, and of course the super-cool paint app (was it Apple Draw?) that came with it. I would lie awake in bed at night imagining the awesome spaceships I could draw if I only had that computer. Sadly, making prints of spaceships in Apple Draw was not a good selling feature to my parents, and my first real computer was purchased by myself many years later: a Wang 286.

I still remember saying "but Dad, you can balance the CHECKBOOK with it". "Son, that's why they make pencils", was my dad's reply.

@ #47: I guess the anchors for WLBT will not be dining out any more!

I also find it ironic that the station call letters are "WLBT" - It could only have been more ironic if the call letters were "GLBT".

Ha ha - its so funny to make fun of religious people. I really hope BoingBoing starts putting up more posts like this. I'd like to see some videos of other celebs who believe in a higher power so we can make fun of them too.

Lets get some Islamic commentary, or Hebrew, or Catholic, or Evangelical fool stating their belief in the imaginary powers of their faith so we can mock them too.

I have to recommend Spike Priggen's blog Bedazzeled! (http://bedazzled.blogs.com/). He does an awesome job of rounding up this kind of material. I noticed one of these youTubes was lifted from his blog. Recommended.

I almost puked in my mouth when I read the article title. Then I read the subtext.

@14 - I was about to post the same comment. I thought I was having deja-boing-boing-vu for a second.

Well, this SOUNDS like an insane approach, but having recently been through a round of layoffs and being in management, I can explain some of the thought process here: If you're going to lay off a bunch of your staff, its a clear sign that the company isn't doing well (duh). This frequently leads to a brain-drain as the really talented employees (or executives) left behind who have all of the organizational knowledge and culture you want to preserve start to jump ship looking for a more stable or better job. Companies will typically cut staff then increase the compensation to those they want to retain to prevent them from jumping ship. In Circuit City's case, I question the wisdom, but it could be argued that few people really need a "skilled" salesperson to sell consumer electronics (or at least that's what CC is betting on). I hate to see anyone lose a job, but I was never impressed by their so-called "superior" sales force.

@1 - As a lefty, I thought it looked like a bum!

When I read the initial headlines, I was ready to hang this guy out to dry, but as I read the article, it paints a more nuanced portrait. Certainly the West and the Smithsonian have no concept of frugality; but according to the article, much of the travel was related to promotion of museums, indigenous cultural arts, etc. "Edward Able Jr., former president of AAM, said West was "in great demand by the international museums" on how to preserve and present the cultures of indigenous peoples." Clearly the guy had some experience to share and others wanted to hear. I agree his expenses were outrageous, but I'd hate to knee-jerk in the opposite direction, and see the Smithsonian do no outreach whatsoever. Somehow there needs to be more oversight to allow legitimate networking without the big record-industry excesses.

Is there a product like this that works in the US? Flea market vendors, concert and festival promoters and more would love something like this.

@ #26 : ROFL! Thanks for the laugh...oh wait, you were serious! Marijuana induced psychosis? marijuana as a gateway to heroin? Welcome to the 1980's!

In the immortal words of Benicio Deltoro in "Fear and Loathing...": Damn! Do you see what God just did to us??!!

I doubt anyone is buying these to grow KITCHEN herbs, but it does look like you could nicely propagate another kind of herb with this.

I suspect most folks are like me, and dread the 8:00AM start of the work day. I am very much an evening person - I joke to my boss that my body shows up at 8:00, but my brain doesn't come in until 11. Still, I need to "turn-it-on" every morning like most of us do, and being an evening-energy person, I've had to develop a great way to fake it: each morning as I walk across the campus to my office, I contort my face into the biggest shit-eating grin I can muster. By the time I've made it to my desk, I am ready to tackle anything with a smile and a positive outlook. Of course the one or two people I run into on the way in wonder why I'm smiling like an idiot, but the technique really does work! A smirk or a half-smile doesn't do it - You really have to grin like an pie-eating idiot posing for the winning picture. Try it a few times, you'll see how this simple, silly tactic can transform your approach to the day.

I made a similar "Charlie-Brown" style ghost costume years ago thinking it would be cute. I was appalled at how many people thought I was supposed to be a KKK member. Those racist bastards have ruined white bed sheets as a ghost costume!

I used to play with the phone lines all the time when I was a kid in the 80's. Fortunately my parents encouraged it. I had wire taps, extra extensions enabled by frankenstein-like knife switches, speaker phones built into my desk drawer, passive taps to listen on the lines without opening the circuit, and all sorts of gizmos and lights powered off the in-line power. All this freakish experimentation set the stage for a later interest in computers and the internet.

I love this NifNaks' stuff! I bought an FSM pin, and the USB cozies are hilarious. Hand made stuff by a US fiber artist with a great sense of humor - This doesn't get any better! Thanks for the post!

How have 6 people and the original author posted about kitchen gadgets and not mentioned the most handy-dandy-iest often-under appreciated tool, food-processor/Cuisanart? If you've never owned one, its hard to appreciate the near infinite uses for one of these until actually have one (I was admittedly an unwitting gift-recipient).

Over the years, I have found this to be the most versitle tool for cooking - used way more than my blender, mixer, toaster oven, etc. Making perfect pie crust and dough, chopping chocolate and nuts, making sauces and purees, blending, juicing, and more - a food processor is the ultimate in powered kitchen tools. Personally, I prefer the smaller, "pint sized" processor - I find the smaller bowl allows more uses for smaller portions if you're cooking for 1 or 2.

As others have pointed out, nearly identical in design to a spark-plug gauge, which incidentally I have used as a cheap micrometer. This would be a much more functional tool if they had put etchings to indicate the gap size.

Painful, I know. But we have the same problems in the States too. Just do a word-replace of BT for SBC (now AT&T), and your story would accurately explain every install they've done for me. Forget for the moment the scheduling and billing snafus. For some reason, they insist on sending a tech, even though a line was only previously used. In homes where the access point is EXTERNAL to the premise, they STILL insist someone be home "just in case". After all the ultimate bungling, I finally cut the cord. I switched to cable internet and Vonage. Until fiber-to-premise earlier this year. Now I'm married again to that infernal beast, AT&T. In my online banking system, the account is labeled "ATT fuckers" in permanent memory of their terminal incompetence.

I am certain I read a follow-up on the elephant story fairly recently. My recollection is that the experiment was duplicated in later years, and that there was speculation it was not the LSD that killed the elephant in the original 1960 experiment, but rather some other medical condition precipitated by the LSD. I've googled for a few minutes to try to dig it up to no avail. If anyone knows what I'm referencing, please post here...

All I keep thinking as I read about this is: how the hell do I get in on this government immunity money-train that deals in drugs, airplanes, and millions in cash?

@8 the magnet could be in the table surface, in a hollowed section, and pulled by a rod or string. That would also make the movement look smoother.

--------table top
magnet
--------table bottom

@#4 - Oh, so I suppose you don't believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny either, huh?

Notice the tether on the cell phone does not "fall" into the field like it should. Instead is it pulled by, then flips behind, the phone itself. This supports the magnet-under-the-table theory. Had it been a field, the lighter, unencumbered tether should have came first to the speaker.

When I was 12 and much less cautious, I decided to make a hollow book. I placed the volume on my lap and got out my trust razor-knife and started to cut...right into my leg when the knife slipped off the page. Ouch! 10 stitches and nearly 15 years later, I still have the scar on my upper thigh to remind me about safety and home projects :-)

Quite a shame. Having just come from the Netherlands a few weeks ago, I was surprised and impressed by the maturity and sanity applied to their drug policy. At licensed smart-shops, they provided good, cautious and informed advice to would-be-psychenaughts. A shame that some well-publicized incidents ruined it for the countless people that were able to obtain a quality product from known producers under controlled conditions.

As in the past, Belkin makes no accommodation for left-handed mousers. This sad fact forces most lefty gamers to use keyboards.