From a Moore interview in gerryblog's first link above:

"....And the other side of the comics industry, the achingly trendy, avant garde books, they're mired in a teenage worldview too. All they provide are comfort eating comics about neuroses and the emptiness of modern life and fear of dying alone."

Damned if he didn't just describe perfectly the last issue of Acme Novelty Library....... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:52 PM on July 17, 2008

However, I do prefer this kinda voice for Rorschach...

Yeah, that's about perfect. He would have that accent, wouldn't he?
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 9:00 PM on July 17, 2008

Of course it would be better for you to give up nicotine altogether....

Nonsense. Nicotine is great for you. Improves concentration, increases your capacity to learn, and staves off dementia in the elderly. It's the smoke that kills you.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 6:31 PM on July 17, 2008

Those fucked-up portrait tattoos are at once grotesquely absurd and somehow poignant. It's like, he's trying so hard, and failing so completely.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 4:13 PM on July 17, 2008

Why would it be a doomed effort? It's been a good year for Democrats in traditionally Republican districts, and he's got a creative fund-raising effort in place. If he manages to get a nice war chest, he can run a competitive campaign.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 4:50 PM on July 16, 2008

Heh. #1911. Beat that, folks.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 5:15 PM on July 16, 2008

Totally, but why not donate $8.34 to a politician who actually represents you in your own district? Just because they haven't put that figure on it doesn't mean they would turn it down.

Because I live in an overwhelmingly Democratic district and all of my candidates of choice will win easily without my donation.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 5:55 PM on July 16, 2008

Those of you criticizing stevis' immigration position: you have to realize that on a national level, this is a solid middle-left position. Right now, the right wing is pushing for things like bans against renting apartments to undocumented workers, English-only laws, and local police enforcement of immigration laws against arrestees. Advocacy of enforcement of laws for employers rather than immigrants is, frankly, a left-leaning position in the current national political context, and is likely... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 6:17 PM on July 16, 2008

As John McCain would say, we really need missile defense batteries in Czechoslovakia to defend against this potential danger.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 10:36 PM on July 15, 2008

It's interesting reading the comments in BB's current top thread. People are trying to slip references to this in sideways. Right now, I'm seeing:

Those sure are some colourful off-colour gummies! Funny, a lot of things on Boing Boing seem to be off-colour today.

and

You know what's funny with this whole gummi phenomenon here, is basically seeing penises (penii?) in colors very... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:50 PM on June 30, 2008

Huh. "Free reign" has a lot more Google hits than "free rein". I guess no one gives a fuck about reins anymore. Screw you, reins!
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:59 PM on July 8, 2008

Whoa. Sudden burst of serious BoingBoing hate from Jorn Barger, here.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 10:06 PM on July 15, 2008

I don't get it.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 7:29 PM on July 15, 2008

The machete shown above belonged to Adam Baldwin's character, Animal Mother, who in the original script used it to hack off a dead female sniper's head. The decapitation wasn't shown in the film, but the head was.

When?

Yeah, I'm not remembering that either. Maybe they made the props and even shot the scene, but it's not in the final cut.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 11:05 AM on July 15, 2008

What exactly is wrong with weight loss surgery?

Some critics have argued that it is often sold as a cure-all and that patients are not properly appraised of the risks, which are significant. The risk of mortality from gastric bypass surgery has been reported to be as high as 2%, so it really should be reserved for only the most extreme cases.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:37 PM on July 14, 2008

Against my own best, cynical, instincts, I love this guy's work. Forget the whole mystique thing, the art speaks for itself. This is just tremendous.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 9:11 PM on July 13, 2008

TheWash: See above.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:02 PM on July 14, 2008

It's nice to be reminded of Five Easy Pieces, though. The movie is a bit of a mess, but Nicholson is just great in it.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 11:54 AM on July 14, 2008

what the heck is "structured light"?

Good explanation at Wikipedia.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 11:27 AM on July 14, 2008

I guess I would question, if not algebra, what the hell are they teaching these kids? After 7 years of primary education, you would think multiplication tables and fractions would hvae run their course.

No shit. You should be able to start with algebra in what, 3rd, 4th grade? As far as I can tell, most of the grade school math curriculum is just filler.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:03 PM on July 10, 2008

Yeah, it's a really good book. Really good.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:57 PM on July 10, 2008

You know, it's a goddam shame that Pickens is the closest we have to an actual governmental initiative to figure out:

The DOE spends a considerable amount of money on alternative energy sources. The National Renewable Energy Center in Golden, CO is essentially the research headquarters for this kind of work, but they fund a lot of university and corporate research in the renewables field as well.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 11:30 AM on July 10, 2008

The fuck?!

4chan? Seriously?

*shudders*

Last September, Ben Huh and a team of investors purchased "I Can Has Cheezburger," a site that aggregated the "LOLcats." Mr. Huh hopes to turn the 4chan-generated tradition into a meme empire with several other related sites in the works. The site now has more than 2.5 million unique visitors a month, according to Mr. Huh, and a book based on the site... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 10:24 AM on July 10, 2008

Not sure that all this intelligent design stuff's entirely accurate...

They've backed away from the intelligent design movement as its absurdity has become more and more apparent, but they have provided support to the Discovery Institute and others IDers in the past.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 10:13 AM on July 9, 2008

The link to Eva Braun is a bunch of yearly family Christmas letters. As you read you get the story of Kevin's steady decline into schizophrenia contrasted with his brother's successes. It's heartbreaking to read. But they accept tragedy and soldier on. That's the best short story I've read in decades. Best of the Web.

Yeah, that's really powerful. I feel ambivalent about reading them, though. I wonder if the rest of the family knows they're on the web.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:44 PM on July 8, 2008

You know, I was thinking, "This is awfully long; I might read it later, but I'd like to see a concise summary first." So I turned to the comments, and I got the classic MetaFilter summary in the tone of snark. Thanks, guys! Do I need to end this comment with a dismissive rhetorical question?
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:53 PM on July 7, 2008

I really, really wanted to make this post. I had been planning it. Seriously.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 6:30 PM on July 4, 2008

I'm waiting for a complete print of Greed, myself.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 2:59 PM on July 2, 2008

That's fucked up. A Mars bar is the same as a Milky Way. *pouts*

Almonds, man! Fucking almonds!

Actually... Holy shit. I haven't had a mars in years, and I just realized (via wikipedia) that the US version of the mars bar I was used to (and used to love) was some bizarre, almond-containing bastard. But that's gone now. For over five years. It's now the "snickers almond bar".

I feel... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:12 AM on June 28, 2008

What I missed from NCFOM were the usual Kubrick references. No more time for a quick in 'n' out, anymore.

I suppose There Will Be Blood handled that for both films.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 11:56 PM on June 27, 2008

I dunno, it looks pretty crazy to me. For one thing, how is he going to keep the temperature outside of the dome that much colder then the temperature outside?

I think he's constantly heating the air intakes at ground level. He claims that he can use waste heat from a standard steam-driven turbine power plant for this once the vortex is started.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 2:36 PM on June 27, 2008

"We'll just use the waste heat!" What the fuck are you talking about, exactly? How will you transform the heated waste product (see how I danced around the term?) into the fucking droid you're fucking looking for?

We usually use heat exchangers for that.

In energy generation, "waste heat" is the heat produced by the combustion (or nuclear) process that is not converted to mechanical energy in the turbines.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:59 PM on June 27, 2008

There's no magic "waste heat" pipe.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. No, it is not magical. It is a pipe, however, and it is heat that would otherwise just be vented to the environment.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 4:00 PM on June 27, 2008

Saying "we'll just use waste heat from a coal plant" is more than a little hand-waving over the task of creating and maintaining a complex network of exchangers that has to be retro-fitted to a decades-old plant at the cost of millions that might make the project a deal-breaker from a short-term economic standpoint.

Well, yeah.

But seeing as this is a proposal to build contained tornados, that seems like the least of the technological hurdles.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 6:30 PM on June 27, 2008

I think some of those images were photoshopped.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 5:20 PM on June 26, 2008

"Math skills" is short for "mathematical skills," but "maths skills" is short for "mathematics skills," which is just retarded.

Huh? There's nothing wrong with that construction.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 2:24 PM on June 24, 2008

Mechanism:

Coming soon!!
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:15 PM on June 24, 2008

They've had time to go to TV stations, though...
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:15 PM on June 24, 2008

If the dems play things right, they have a legitimate chance at Georgia in the fall. With Bob Barr potentially splitting the vote, and a huge African American turnout...

Making McCain fight for Georgia would feel really sweet, is all I'm saying.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 9:12 AM on June 20, 2008

I love the pissy, dismissive Hirst review in the third link. And I even kind of like Hirst.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 4:42 PM on June 18, 2008

Do Republicans have a sense of design?

Ugh.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 2:39 PM on June 17, 2008

Being allergic to wifi is no more delusional than being allergic to ragweed and pollen, etc..


All kinds of kooks out today...
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 10:22 AM on June 17, 2008

...lest we all get too snarky, I remind everyone that a cosmetics company sells a facial spray (basically water, plus tiny quantities of random extra crap that sounds nice on a label) that claims to protect you from the aging powers of electromagnetic radiation. Saw it in Nordstrom's, just last month.

Many, many companies sell products that protect against the aging effects of electromagnetic radiation, particularly in the 200-400 nm wavelength range.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 11:50 AM on June 17, 2008

A lot of that stuff was the result of central planning, built with government money, and done as prestige projects (and opportunities for graft) without regard to whether they made any economic sense.

Interestingly, however, the article seems to indicate that this particular project is the result of an independent developer and too-loose credit:

"Dick Groves, a retail consultant based in nearby Hong Kong,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 7:30 PM on June 16, 2008

Cutting off access, or stopping hosting?

The last sentence of the article: "Customers will continue to be able to connect to other non-Verizon Usenet servers; no blocking is taking place."

So they're just not hosting anymore. Pretty much their prerogative. Many ISPs choose not to host usenet; I'm kind of surprised they were hosting alt.* in the first place.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 7:22 PM on June 12, 2008

Or, what they said.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 7:23 PM on June 12, 2008

Fuck. That's it.

NO ONE ON THE INTERNET CAN EVER USE THAT NIEMÖLLER BIT EVER AGAIN. IT'S PLAYED. IT'S THROUGH. FUCKING STOP IT, OR I'LL MOTHERFUCKING COME FOR YOU.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 7:36 PM on June 12, 2008

First they came for...

The Socialists.
The Communists.
The Terrorists.
Piglet.
Imus.
Michael Medved.
the drunk drivers.
the fat people.
the redneck trolls.
the skeptics.
bandwidth.
the toddlers.
Hillary Clinton.
the homeschoolers.
the nurses.
Indiana Porn Stores.
the drunks.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 7:50 PM on June 12, 2008

My opinion is that some of you, have a axe to grind with the police and officials at the school, probably from some encounter other than reading about this one incident. Look, I not condoning what they did, but I can sense hostility way beyond the normal indignation one would associate for this occurrence.

Have you been to high school? It's fucking awful.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 6:50 PM on June 12, 2008

Is "identity model" standard terminology? Is this from some sort of therapy approach? It's not clear from what I can google...
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 5:12 PM on June 12, 2008