that's a really great picture... usually the toner mess ends up being a muddy brown color.

My favorite thing to do was to laminate crayon shavings.

@bcdm:

Some of my favorite comic strips to read online and why:

9 Chickweed Lane: Well-drawn, adult subject matter with a decent sense of drama and humor.

Dilbert: Overdone, but still funny sometimes.

Frazz: Because I still believe that the main character is an homage to a grown Calvin. Kids who are too smart for their own good, and subtle-enough encouragement to lead an active, healthy, exuberant life.

Cow and Boy: Well-drawn, a bit repetitive, but the non-sequitors usually catch me off guard.

Rose is Rose: Very expressive, great use of perspective. Little Pasquale is adorable, even if he bears no resemblance to a real child.

If someone tells me they won't serve me something because it "ruins the flavor" to do it that way, I tell them to fuck right off too. Generally I don't give them my money thereafter, but I can see the problem with there not being another coffee shop around.

If they think it ruins the flavor, that's fine, but maybe I don't. Maybe I have a different set of taste buds that respond to flavors differently than theirs. If they think it'll taste bad, they can warn me and I'll take my chances.

If I go into a burger joint and want my burger without onions, I've never had a problem getting it that way. The proprietor of the joint may believe that onions enhance the flavor of his burgers, and he may not like that I don't enjoy the taste, but he keeps his opinions to himself.

The more I think about this, and the more I read about both sides of the story, the more I start to believe that this wasn't such a case of being concerned for the flavor of their coffee, or their customers' overall satisfaction with their products. It has to do with the barista probably thinking he was trying to make a ghetto iced latte, then realizing he wasn't but not admitting to it, then the whole thing got out of hand. Nick Cho said himself that he always stands behind his employees. That's cool for his employees, but sometimes you have to be able to see the whole situation for what it is, not just what your employee says happened. That's the mark of a good manager.

I think the idea of the PC as we know it will die out within a few years, and the mouse with it.

Home automation techniques are becoming more and more sophisticated, and everyone is leaning towards wanting all of their media accessible anywhere they are in the house. This brings back the old server/dummy terminal scenario, only set up for home use. You have a touch pad that serves as a gateway to everything you have stored, from financial records to music and movies. You can pick where you want to watch your movies, or the pad can be self-aware and set up the devices nearest you appropriately. You can either work off the pad itself or stream an OS interface to the nearest TV and use the pad as a wacom-like tablet. Lefties and Righties get equal representation.

Everything about your domestic life can currently be controlled by a computer, from appliances to the lights, thermostat, TiVo, music, etc. You no longer need Rube Goldberg to make automatic toast.

Mice are not the ideal input device for systems like this. They're not portable, and they're limited in function.

Touch screens or other haptic devices are the way to go.

In other words:
"Yeah, I know there's no law against it, but I don't care enough to get involved, so I'm not going to do anything about it."

The TSA is a fucking joke. I was at an event over the weekend and the Vice President was speaking. As a result the security was pretty tight getting in there. Still, even though they only had 2 metal detectors and no X-ray machines, they managed to screen over 2500 people with no appreciable slowdown or impact to the flow of traffic into the event. Keep in mind they still went through everyone's bags, made sure cell phones and laptops were working and not bombs, everyone had to turn out their pockets, etc... and the screeners were professional and friendly and everyone had a great attitude about everything.

You could say "Oh well that's the secret service screening people, of course they'd be pretty efficient at it." but the TSA screens thousands of people every day, millions every week. If they aren't professionals at screening people efficiently, then who is?

Maybe, the TSA "officers" are getting pushed, punched, and intimidated because they're impeding everyone's progress, power tripping all over the place, making people miss flights and then not taking any responsibility for it, and generally acting like douchebags. They're fucking up the airline industry at the same time as gas prices are rising and everything else. If I were trying to get to my flight, I'd be frustrated too, especially now that I know how smoothly things can go when everyone's doing their jobs right. At any rate I doubt it has anything to do with the uniform, and if anything, they'll be taken less seriously now because of it. That thing (if the pic is accurate) looks fake as hell, like a kids halloween costume. I wouldn't take it seriously.

Most retailers that are concerned for small-size high-ticket items just put them in those re-useable clamshells that have the un-deactivatable EAS coil in them. The cashier has the key thing to open the clamshell, and they're made of super-heavy-duty lexan so you can't just slash them open. Most places that let you pick your own ink off the shelf use these, as well as for memory sticks/cards, small HDs, anything small but expensive.

I like them both, if I had to pick a favorite I'd go with the first one.

One thing about the second one:
That barcode won't scan. I dont' know if that's intentional or not, but there has to be a bit of it where the whole thing can be read, and because of the cable going across the front of it, the top left corner is blocked, so it won't scan.

I wonder what he's using as an Xfader? I'd spend the money on a DS just for this software, it looks like more fun than any of the games I've seen for it.

Keep locking down the legitimate ways I can get to my data, and I'll keep finding illegitimate ways of getting it. The bottom line is this: I'll watch the show if I want to, whether it's by downloading the torrent or by recording it off cable. If I record it off cable, at least the option is there to watch the commercials that the media buyers paid so much to inject. Good torrents don't have commercials.

Almost every comment in this thread has been based on a judgment of the character of the father. Not one of us knows him personally, so not one of us is qualified to say what kind of person he is.

Instead, lets make judgments based on general human nature, in relation to being at a baseball game with your son. These are typically loud, crowded public events. The point of being at a baseball game is not to put on a labcoat and magnifying glass and examine every line of every label of everything you give your children. Do you ask for an ingredients list on the popcorn? Do you ask for a fresh batch of cotton candy made in a hermetically sealed canister? Do you demand to know exactly how many peanuts are in that bag? No. You don't. You trust that there aren't going to be nails and razor blades and broken glass in those things. Plus, you trust that when you order a Lemonade, what you're handed is a Lemonade, not a malt beverage. The concession stand worker made a mistake, the father didn't catch it, and didn't recognize the label. If you don't know what hard lemonade is, and you don't intentionally order it, it will come as a surprise when you get it and find out it has alcohol in it.

The authorities well overstepped their bounds and to say they overreacted would be a colossal understatement.

If you're out with your child at a baseball game, you're not there to read labels, you're there to enjoy the baseball game and the company of your child.

@ #5:

I don't think that tracing an IP address is an invasion of privacy or an encroachment on a civil liberty. The same could be said of police searches of garbage cans on the curb. They're put out in a public space, they're publicly searchable. These people did a crime and they left forensic evidence on the internet.

They were not being placed under surveillance to wait for them to maybe commit a crime, the crime was already committed. The police were looking for the people who did it, regardless of their identities.

This is exactly the reason why I'm scared shitless to ride a motorcycle in traffic. I guess I'll get over it, but damn.

I wonder why they haven't figured out how to make a bio-degradable sponge yet. One that works for about 8-10 hours and then lets your body eat it. Or maybe I don't know anything about medicine and this is the wrong way to look at it.

Gah! Uncanny Valley! *Squick

These were taken from an apple support center, I'd guess from the early-mid 90s. The error type 11 was a common disk error in the Mac OS, and there was only one ADP port on the computer for the keyboard, and one on the keyboard for the mouse.

Oh My God, I'm drowning in terrible midi music!

so, why not add a piece of software to the encryption programs that zeroes out the ram before sleep or off states, and then asks for the password on re-wake/restart?

that's great, but what if you're left handed?

does she have a cold or something?

Right, and by the time you set up your amp and speaker, find a power source capable of generating the required wattage, and get close enough to the flame to do anything to it, someone will have come up behind you with an ABC extinguisher and put the fire out.

Fire is built with Air, Fuel, and Heat. If you remove any one of those 3 things, the fire goes out. There are WAY more efficient ways to remove the air than by using sound waves.

I highly doubt that the full version of GT5 will retail for $40. Most next-gen games go for $50-60 when new, and PS3 games sometimes even fetch a premium over that.

God I remember running ReBirth on my PowerMac 6100 way back in the day. It would be cool if someone made that web based or flash based like Deadmeat was saying.

Alcohol works much better, burns at a very low temperature and doesn't last long on skin.

That's a cool idea, but out of 100+ people, they couldn't find 1 that could hold the sticks right or actually play? Maybe they did but wanted to keep the "ordinary people" look of the film, but I think at least one of those people should have had a clue how to play. I know, I know that's not really what the video was about, but still. Just a small rant about a small detail.

They have these at Wawa, and they're terrible. You have to put the machine on "Extra Thin" in order for it even to be edible, otherwise it's like a chocolate brick. Maybe they have the freezers turned too low, but the couple times I've had one they weren't any good anyway.

Since the pressboard they use to make most speaker cabinets is made from recycled wood chips, either bought from the mill or reused from other internal wood projects, it's hard to see where these are that great of an idea. Speakers don't really come to mind as a particularly wasteful product, since all they are is a magnet, some steel, paper and pressboard, maybe with some plastic bits and nylon screen here and there. I'd rather spend the money on speakers that do their job right and find other ways to be ecologically conservative.

not happy about having to DL the divx plugin to view the vid.

I am deathly afraid of guns. I hate them. Just being in the room with someone else who has a gun puts me on edge. I have a mini-panic-attack when the armored car guy comes to my work to pick up the deposit.

However, this is not a rational fear, and it's something that is caused by ignorance. I don't know anything about guns other than what I've seen on TV. I don't know how much they weigh, I don't know how easy they are to shoot, I don't even know what they really sound like.

I've asked my bf to take me to the range with his 2 guns so that we can fire off a few shots, just so that I won't be so afraid of them anymore.

That's not to say I won't respect them as much, I just won't be irrationally afraid of seeing one on someone's hip. That's a good thing.

The Eye-fi is great for taking around-the-house type photos, or auto-uploading them when you get home, but according to their website:

"...Uploads photos automatically from Eye-Fi Card inside your camera. Built-in Wi-Fi connects to your home network."

It also uses USB dongle connected to your computer. Effectively, you'd have to
-have a laptop with you, and have it turned on and have the dongle plugged in.
-hack the laptop so that it would stay awake with the cover closed, or at least keep the network active
-be in an area with free and open wi-fi and have the computer set to auto-connect to it.

If they want to send us gift cards for being good drivers, take a pic with the redlight cam and mail it to us, since we know they can do that.

The whole thing gets disqualified on account of there's no Majel Barrett/Roddenberry in it.

@TOM:

Word.

they may as well smash your windows and take your stuff, then leave a note that says "See how easy it was to take your stuff? Next time be more careful, dumbass!"

@Greenman:
I used to have a Jeep and oddly enough after having 2 prior cars stolen, the jeep wasn't messed with at all. Mine didn't even have door locks, and I liked it that way so that thieves don't even have to bother slashing my top to get whatever it is that they want, just take it.

If you put some lexan shades in there I think it would pass helmet laws, but it's most probably not DOT or Snell approved.

I didn't know the RIAA was in a position to dictate law to the courts now. I thought it was supposed to be the other way around?

They look pretty good, and the money is about right. The Roland V-Drums are the gold standard for these things, but they cost 3x as much.

I wonder which is more important, A higher score or a longer time playing the game?

...and what if they miss? or use this on a non-lawbreaking citizen? When I was little, and I mistreated my toys, I got them taken away. I didn't get more toys.

Just as a heads up:
When I had a car stolen a couple of years ago, the first question both the police and the insurance agent asked me was "Did you have a spare/valet key? Where was it located?" The agent intimated that if all the keys to the car could not be accounted for it would be very hard for them to pay the claim, since there was no sign of forced entry (no broken glass in my parking spot).

Hiding a spare key on your car is bad news. Thieves know all the common spots to hide keys, and looking for them is one of the first things they do if they target your car. Plus, with all the transponder keys and built-in alarm fobs on modern car keys it would probably break the electronics in the key to leave it out in the elements like that.

what if the chewbacca backpack had C3P0 on his back, in pieces?

isn't Chicago where that giant chrome Bean is too? The one that the cops will stop you from taking a picture of because people sell postcards of it?

Here's a link to a short story that I saw referenced on Wil Wheaton's blog.

http://warren-ellis.livejournal.com/123187.html

and a quote from it:

"I dipped the old jar down into the creeping slurry and scooped a pint of shit-water out of the Thames, down where the sewers meet the river. It's come to this, I said to no-one: making jenkem rather than seeing the Jack Baby.

Seal up the jar, watch it ferment for long sleepless days, and then inhale the gas off the top. Jenkem: ghetto drugs. An hour of laying like a corpse and seeing dead things instead of the orgasm-jerking and spacewalk day of a Jack high. But I couldn't afford Jack, and I didn't want to think about the Jack Baby."

Sound familiar?

This is NOT a standalone program, It's a plugin for Cubase VST.

I would say that there's just a latent element in the human psyche that enjoys dressing up and separating itself from reality.

There are all kinds of groups from costuming groups like the 501st Legion, to furries, to klingons, to civil war re-enactors to ren-faire folk and more. All of them seem to get some enjoyment of the escape from reality and putting on another, some would say truer, persona.

Yes, sometimes people get carried away, some people define their lives by their freakiness, but that's ok. Most people define their lives by their normalcy, and that's boring.

I got a pancake gun for a present one year.

Best Present I Ever Got.

It's like a caulk gun, but for pancakes. It makes them all the same size, and since it comes from the bottom of the container, they're all more or less round. Brilliant! Of course you still have to clean the bowl and the gun itself along with the dishes and stuff, but the thing makes really good sized and evenly proportioned pancakes.

This is incredible. Just more proof that it's not the materials it's the craftsman. I wonder how he did the knobs, and where he got the grommets from?

@NE2D:

"The employee and assistant manager were more than willing to help, saying that it happens. So they set up the return and I repurchased the drive and while I was checking the contents to ensure it was a hard drive this time, the store manager came up, took the box from me and said to take it up with the manufacturer." Quoted from the consumerist article.

If he were trying to scam Best Buy do you think he'd want all the attention that might come from writing in to a consumer-advocate website like the Consumerist? Don't think so.

He'll probably get his money back from Amex, then go somewhere else to buy the hard drive. Meanwhile BB looks like a slightly bigger ass for a couple days, then the swelling goes down and everything goes back to normal.

Moral? Take the extra few minutes and open large electronics purchases in-store in front of an employee, or ask them to do it for you. If it's rocks or tiles or sand instead of your TV/iPod/Hard Drive/DigiCam, at least you find out about it there and can exchange it with much less hassle.

what a giant let-down. I wanted so badly to see that thing run.

it's important to note:

this procedure will NOT make you hear better, just different. It's akin to wearing tinted glasses or cupping your hand over your ear. All it does is change the prevalent frequencies you hear.

Plus, Orientate is not a word. Just like commentate is not a word. You can orient your ears, and you can comment on a sporting event.

yeah, cause I wasn't interested in using my car keys with the transponder chip and built-in alarm fob anyway.

@ apreche: the 09 GTR will be released in the US market, so start saving your pennies now!

I personally love Led Zep, and have owned their albums a couple of times over. I've left them in cars and had them stolen, had the cars, towed and found them gone, etc. It would be nice to be able to download the whole catalog, even piecemeal, at one consistent bit rate.

"with over 900 years of experience building motorcycles..."

Win Sandwich on Whole Wheat Awesome!

for $750 you should be able to get whatever you want to punched into the toecap of your wingtips. I dig the skull myself but if you've got the dosh for bespoke footwear you can do better methinks.

Two words. Charge Back. You don't even have to go through with the whole process. As soon as your credit card company threatens to take the money back from the retailer, you'll either have your speakers or an RMA label pretty quickly.

The thing is that most companies don't care about you the consumer any more than you count as a fraction of a percentage on their P&L. You as a person don't have any power over such a behemoth. They do care however about a company of equal or greater size and power knocking on their door asking why they screwed over their little friend here and can he please have his money back.

that is one hell of an x-ray. We need some of those machines here in the US. I've never seen one that detailed before.

These articles are great and all, but has anyone heard what the Coop has to say back? What kind of defense do they have against this obvious lack of smarts?

indeed there was, and it was based on the very same Donald Duck strip. They did actually raise the ship.

It looks like they were playing a game, like maybe the kid ran up and slapped Plutes on the back and said "TAG!" and ran away. It didn't seem to me like an "I'm gonna throttle you" moment, but the mom sure didn't know what was going on. The guy in the costume had his hands up like "okay, okay, it's cool, no more chasing" and she pushed him, and he fell off the curb (I would surmise that it was more of a pratfall). After that whole debacle with Goofy slapping some kid in the back of the head, I'm sure Pluto didn't want the same level of heat on him for a situation that was easily misconstrued.

I loved that interview with Trent. His attitudes are very healthy in this current climate. He hates the labels as much as we do, and he just wants his music to get out there and to earn a decent living from it. I think that's ultimately what every musician wants but they just don't know how to do it.

RE: Skull PCB: I would wear that as a necklace or put it as a badge on my messenger bag, but it's a little big to wear as a bracelet. It's totally bad ass though, I wish they were for sale.

It's also worth noting that the cover art was done by Penny Arcade's own Mike Krahulik (Aka Gabe).

I will say this for the difference between tube and silicon: The tube amp makers get the point of amplification.

Straight line with Gain.

Yeah, it's nice to have fancy DSP and Dolby this and that, but ultimately, for music, you don't want any extra signal processing to get in the way. You ideally want your speakers and amp to not be "colored" in any way, same with the room you're in. You want the speakers positioned to eliminate resonance waves from the walls, floor and ceiling. The solid-state amps have always done odd things to the signal, whether it's clipping, a/c noise, what have you. Joe Schmoe probably can't tell the difference, but on paper a solid state amp will never be as flat or as efficient as a tube amp can be.

gah! They must have put the decal on crooked, or the designer missed something. the 1 and 2 buttons aren't centered with the holes in the deck. Even though I couldn't see it while riding and would barely notice anyway, just knowing it's like that would drive me nuts.

It's a really killer idea though. If I still skated I'd want one.