A modern age eternal flame.

What about people with sensory issues? My son, for example, has sensory issues with his hearing in association with his autism. Some sounds are literaly painful for him. The ice cream truck that comes through my neighborhood causes him to cover his ears and hide in the farthest room in the house. I would hate to walk through a business district with my kid holding his ears and screaming in terror because some douche bags want to chase away a few teens. I'm suprised the ACLU hasn't considered that since autism has become so visual in the media lately.

It would be a terrible rug. But it might be a nice throw blanket. Worn out t's are awesome comfortable.

#7 what I was thinking...

well not that bit about your local starbucks, but the rest of it.

***Snore***

Trite.

I vote Surrealism ever time.

As a former "small farm" resident (I won't say owner,because my parents owned the property), I oppose subsidies of any kind for corporate farms, in any country, for any reason.

Farm subsidies should only be used to keep "small farm" farming culture alive. Farms having over X numbers of product producing acres, or X numbers of one type of livestock should be uneligible for subsidies. Subsidies to corporate farms do nothing for the working poor, or to maintain small farm culture, or protect market value of small farm goods as they were orginally intended.

And to top it off those small farms recieving subsidies should have to verify farming activity yearly with reciepts and photos.

#25 You beat me to mentioning Izzys.... damn you... now I got nothin

#7 ROFL!

Yes, Thanks Andrew!!! I just learned the word ungulate. 
I find this discussion of internet service in the UK very interesting. I'm getting the impression that internet service in the UK is very expensive and is riddled with contingencies. I pay 15$ a month for DSL (unlimited of course, I don't know any company that still charges piece bit in the US.) I get 2588kb/s down and 570kb/s up usually. I couldn't tell you if that is good or bad for speed, but I can say that there are very very few times that I ever feel inconvenienced. I do know that there are faster services available, but just not in my area. I couldn’t tell you how much data I download in a given month as the question has never come up, but I know that I fill up an empty a 50 gig section of my hard drive every couple of weeks with Torchwood, Doctor Who, and other TV shows on top of all my graphic design goodies, ebooks, games, yadda yadda. I’ve never been contacted by my ISP for using up too much internets and never even thought of it as a possibility.

boingboing brings death to another innocent website... when will it ever end???

My son will be five soon. He never leaves my sight. Some days (the tough days) I’m afraid to let him go into the kitchen or bathroom alone. We don’t go anywhere outside without holding hands. Of course, my son has autism, and is unable to appreciate the concept of danger in the same way that you, I, or a typical five year old would. For instance - having burned himself on a hot pan, my child is still unable to understand that it is dangerous to touch a hot pan or any hot object.

I dream of a day when my son is capable of being so independent as to ride the subway alone. I would be grateful for it. Many parents are so enraptured by thier media driven fears that they are unwilling to enjoy the tremendous good fortune they have recieved in having a typically developing child. Parents who overprotect thier children do so because they WANT to. On some level they must crave the sense of control that comes with being an overbearing force in thier child's life. If they HAD gaurd every moment from real, not percieved, dangers to they would not be so thrilled at the task. I don't begrudge any moment with my son, but I don't understand other parent's needs to constantly control a child who is capabable and willing to control himself.

I bet when your grandma was a little girl she never imagined that 100 years later people from around the world would be wishing her happy birthday. :)

Office supplies have never looked so sexy.

@9 Depends on the epileptic. Personally, I'm not that sensitive to little bits of moving graphics. However, there are a few of those "YOU'VE WON!!!!!!!!!!!" banners that give me headaches and I did run into a similar jack ass who posted a link to seizurerobots.com as a link to an article about epilepsy (I still remember the url after all these years.) That one did cause me to freeze up for a while. People who do have photosensitive epilepsy have varying degrees of sensitivity and sometimes it even varies day to day. If I've had a good night sleep and am not under a lot of stress not much will bother me. If I'm exhausted and have a cold or fever, then I have to avoid fluorescent lights, ceiling fans, and pretty much the rest of the galaxy.

Regardless... whoever did it... is a dick. And maybe they aren't intentionally malicious... but I still hope they suffer from some kind of painful muscle spasms in the near future.

And yes, the forum master should have been more careful of her viewers. She was irresponsible as well.

And for those trying to get their LOLZ on... go scare people with heart problems instead. Douchebags.

Where can I get asian style eyelids?

Can't wait for the porn version... but with less bloodshot eyes.

They've been disemvowled for being asshats. And I realize now that I was replying to #12 before it was disemvowled. Which I confused with 11#. I wonder if it WAS #11 before it was moderated which dropped it next in line to #12. Oh the confusion!!!! I think it's late for me and I might need a nap.

Wow. Couldn't he have just given them 20 bucks and offered to sweep the parking lot. Really? I mean... do we need to drag the courts into this.

Ooops! Not you number #11 of the grandma with metal hip parts. The previous #11 who has aparently modded out.

#11
I'm saddened that people like you are so afraid of "terrorist" that you are willing to be humiliated and dehumanized just to feel "safe." At NO point in my life did I decide that MY nipples (metaphorical nipples of course) are fodder for governmental scrutiny. And it is my right to protect my nipples from persons who would want to (or force me to) violate them. No percieved terroristic threat is enough to make me accept the unreasonable search of my nipples.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated" and you better believe that includes my fucking nipples!!!

You know.. I think this is it. The last horrendous TSA story I can take.

I'm not going to fly any more. If I can't get there by car, train, bus, or boat I just won't go.

I bet she was happy it wasn't a clit ring.

That being said... I would not tolerate a TSA agent being that "personal" with me. I very may well have called a supervisor and recieving no satisfaction there screamed protests a the top of my lungs "YOU CAN'T HAVE MY NIPPLE RINGS!!!" until being escorted out by the police.

"#18 posted by Dan Wineman , March 27, 2008 11:30 AM
First -- thanks very much for taking the time to make this post, Teresa. It's great to have some light shed.

Now, I have a suggestion or two that could make the BoingBoing discussion experience a bit smoother. These are really minor changes, but I think they'll help:

1. Could we have the "Recent comments" view on the profile pages sorted most recent first? It's a drag to have to scroll down to the bottom when catching up with recent discussions, not to mention having to see one's first-ever comment displayed with permanent prominence.

2. Along those lines, how about a way to indicate which post we're replying to? I'm not asking for a full threading system, just a "Reply to this" link that prepends a link back to the comment being replied to. This could even be used to trigger an email notification so that (at our option) we could be informed of replies to our own comments. A lot to ask, I know.

3. This is just a bug report, really, but the Favorite feature seems broken. It used to work, but now nothing I favorite ever gets added to the list on my profile page.

Thanks again."

reposting as a YES! vote to these three suggestions.

I'm confused... where does goth end and emo begin?

Interesting.

@ Artemia

ignore #3. I was about to ask the same thing, not because I don't get the concept of buying art for art's sake or enjoying pretty what-nots but because I wondered if there was an inside joke I was missing or if the artist is popular with a specific group. It looks so much like a peice that references something else.

@64 Last I read I think it was 25 % of females and 20% of males. And yes, it is good that most people are not reduced to rubble. BUT, the path is long and the path is hard and not every one makes it to the point where they can function socially, romatically, etc after abuse. I'm sure the same amount of kids get beaten by adults and live to tell about it, but it doesn't make it right. The good thing is that human beings are wonderfully resilient creatures. The bad thing is that the more we accept instances of abuse the more they will occur.

@66 I agree that the laws surrounding "sex offenders" need to be reigned in. In my personal opinion pissing in public or flashing people is not enough to brand a person a sex offender for life... to me it is worth about 300 hours community service and a 500$ fine. I've heard many instances of alcoholics who pissed in public and later found themselves in worlds of hurt not because of thier drinking but because of thier pissing.

@6

Very true. Many parents do seek to adopt in foreign countries because the likelihood that the adoption will later be overturned in favor of the birth mother's rights are very slim. But, another, substantial, group of parents adopt abroad because the legal fees associated with adopting in the US are cost prohibitive. I know a family who spent 20,000 in thier attempt to adopt a child in the US. 6 months later the birth mother recanted and the child was given back to her. With limited resources the family adopted abroad at the cost of about 8,000 (plus flight.)

There will be a market for foreign adoption as long as the law favors genetics (which I oppose since blood relationship should NOT be the most important circumstance in deciding child wellfare-- another conversation for another day) and the cost of adoption prohibits otherwise wonderful families from adopting.

It is my personal belief that legal fees for adopting a child should not ever exceed 1000$ thus opening the door for more middle class adoptions.

@5 and @14

The mental illness comparison is the most correct. The behavior can not be corrected. All rehab attempts fail in the same way that rehab for gay people fails (not compairing pedophiles to gay people, but I've never heard of someone going to hetro rehab so I have to draw the comparison at that level.) A person's sexual desires can not be corrected or curbed.

What to do? No punishment is sufficient, the crime is horrendous and life scarring, BUT on the other hand prison is not just a place for punishment, it is a place for rehabilitation and these individuals, by nature of their mental illness, can not be rehabbed.

So the only alternative is long term confinement in a facility for the criminally insane. But, the cost is prohibitive to the state and probably considered cruel and unusual so they are sent back to re-offend.

What options are there? Can the collective heads of boing boing readers come up with an option that does not perpetually punish the offenders for thier mental illness while protecting the innocent from potential assault?

@14 - I get the impression that you do not have children. If you do have children I hope they have at least one responsible parent in the household who be able to handle a tragedy with more comforting words than "get over it." After all about 1 in 4 children experience sexual abuse so the cases that it could be your child next are saddenly high. f y r thnkng f hvng chldrn pls by pt nstd. Y wll b hppr n th lng trm cnsdrng chldrn rqr sgnfgnt mtnl cmmtmnt... nd y bvsly rn't cpbl f tht.

Cooking with crap from the 99center gets you on Boing Boing? No fair. I've been doing it for years.

I just asked my four year old.

"what's that straw look like?"

response:

"It's a green balloon"

Lovely. Obviously, since he didn't say "it's a giant raging cock" I've been teaching him all the wrong things.

Oh wow. This is the most civil and "grown-up" comment thread I've ever seen on boing boing. And what intelligent discussion!!!

Now here comes the part where a know-nothing flake (played by myself) asks a stupid question because they struggle to understand how the economy functions and the issues at hand.

Can someone help me understand: If the problem was caused by printing too much money ... then why can't the problem be solved by removing bills from circulation?

(FYI: Nope, I'm not blonde. Just confused.)

That was the most awesome thing ever. bOING bOING is so sexy.

@ #4

I agree. That is a small slice of hell.

#37 I DO have kids and I can say for certain that you are right. Kids are much much more to ascribe definition (rocket ship, upside down flower or letter b on one side and d on the other) to an image based on thier personal experience over the sexually repressed and genitalia fixiated imagery thier parents try to cram down thier throats.

Individuals and institutions both share the load when it comes to blame.

However, I do believe that the lack of consumer education has a lot to do with the shear numbers of loans that were taken out. I own up to being one of those people who is nearly illiterate when it comes to finances. The prospect of dealing with a loan or interest or any type of life changing mathmatics is terrifying for me. There are other things I am better suited for. Each person has thier strengths and weaknesses. In response to this crisis I hope a set of consumer education guidelines regarding lendning rates and practices is developed.

#12 and #16... Rope and coat hangers are reusable. Lets not waste money when extinquishing the genetically inferior.

That is the sexiest thing ever!

#10 Anselm:

Word.

Antinous:
I agree. More peaches are wasted on the floors of caneries and in the fields than are in that sculpture... at least it is partly biodegradable.

Censorships IS evil but...
Showing photos of plauge victims on Mr. Roger's Neighborhood is STILL innapropriate...

Regardless of the RIGHT to speak freely it is still within reason to determine that a particular float does not fit the overall theme of an event. Just as certain subject matter, though historically accurate, is not appropriate for children's television.

Or, forget children's programming. How about a video of an open heart surgery playing at a mall food court? It's educational and serves the point to inform the public about the dangers of poor diet... but it's still not appropriate for the venu.

I don't get it either. Growing up we had hens that layed all different colored eggs. Some blue, some green, some orange, and some pink.

Nope. He didn't break number one, because I was thinking to myself, aside from the dark forces of the abyss what did LaVey like? And there the answer is... show tunes.

I wonder how long the roaches will retain this enhancement. One generation? Two? Ten? Under what conditions were the roaches bred and were the conditions identical to thier earth bred counterparts with the exception of being in space? If bred under low gravity conditions on earth are the same enhancements prevailent? It's very interesting. I can't wait till my job is outsourced to geneticaly superior roaches. Sweet.

I love the roach. What a beautiful, zen like, pic. I'm actually suprised, that despite the cockroach, that urinal looks pretty clean.

"Now that we've got 2*10^5 eyes looking at this, somebody with some official-type name, like "vvsp@boingboing.net" should start a paypal account so that those of us who'd like to donate _now_, while our attention is still spanned, could do so and trust that y'all would forward the money to the Panzi Hospital folks on a timely basis. (I'm not even sure what my bank tellers would _do_ if I walked in wanting to wire money to the Congo.) Maybe even a little donation meter on the right side-bar there..."

YES! PLEASE DO!! Thanks to the wonders of Paypal I have managed to free myself from the stresses of dealing with banks. I, too, would feel very anxious about wiring money to the Congo... Just getting a replacement ATM card is a fiasco... But, besides my fear of bank tellers... I find that I am more prone to donate to causes if there is an instant option to do so presented to me. Donations, like any other "purchase", are impulse buys. For BoingBoing to really help these women in the Congo they should offer the ability for people to respond to their impulse to be helpful immediately.

There's TWO of them? I'm in Southern Ohio and there's a combination computer repair/ fruit stand near me. :) I have to admit... it sounds like a GREAT job! I'm impressed by people who go into business for themselves.

Ooops! Looks like Boing Boing broke another site. I'm getting a 505 error. :(

It's just an excuse for the geeks running the show to get girls naked on webcam. I can see it now...

"Ma'am, I can't tell if you are a man with breast implants and a wig or if you are female. If you want to create a character you will need to drop your pants and cough."

The university I attended in Kentucky would not disclose ISBN numbers or prices. They would not allow taking notes in the book store and covered the ISBN numbers on the books with little colored stickers.

I personally feel that campus bookstores are a racket and should be treated as such. I believe that they should have to disclose the ISBN numbers of all books required for a course.

Far be it from me to decide how people spend thier hard earned cash... but there has to be a special place in Hell for people who drop almost 53K on a hideous patchwork purse. How more concieted can an individual be? I makes me ill to think that though these people have the resources to make positive changes in the world they would rather buy a 53K purse than vaccinate children, feed the homeless, or make sure that women have good prenatal care. That kind of materialism is un-excusable. If tommorow I hear on the news that a vain, self-important, elitist died as a result of having an ugly patchwork purse shoved into her diamond studded rectum... I don't think I'll shed a tear.