May 16
Ben commented on On a Wall in Pioneer Square.
Everyone knows they have the right to remain silent and the right to an attorney if they are arrested. Should we stop reading people their Miranda rights?
When our house was burglarized in November, the police made some suggestions for how to better secure the door that was kicked in. Was that patronizing and insulting?
For weeks after that spate of rapes around Green Lake back in February, there was a marked increased in police presence in the area; I would see upwards of eight or nine cruisers patrolling the neighborhood during my morning jog. Does that still count as "absolutely no other [action] to prevent rape"?
When our house was burglarized in November, the police made some suggestions for how to better secure the door that was kicked in. Was that patronizing and insulting?
For weeks after that spate of rapes around Green Lake back in February, there was a marked increased in police presence in the area; I would see upwards of eight or nine cruisers patrolling the neighborhood during my morning jog. Does that still count as "absolutely no other [action] to prevent rape"?
May 15
Ben commented on Michael Pollan Is the Steve Jobs of Food.
@32: I would guess that rather a lot of people who don't have much free time outside of work choose to spend it doing things they don't think of as more work.
May 14
Ben commented on Michael Pollan Is the Steve Jobs of Food.
I don't really like food. I just don't care about it. More often than not, the whole issue annoys me.
Let's say you're not big into music. It's not that you don't like any music, it's just not a big part of your life. So you don't really mind that much hearing the same song on the radio when you drive to work, or listening to the same music every time you go jogging.
Now let's say that if you don't listen to 75 to 90 minutes of music every day, you'll waste away and die. Furthermore, if you listen to a lot of the same music a lot, because you're really only doing it to keep from dying, everyone you know will treat you like some kind of uncultured boor. They'll say things like "Well sure, you could just listen to the pre-made CDs they have at the record stores, but it's just so much better to take the time to make a mix CD yourself. It doesn't even take that much time! Just take three or four hours on the weekend to plan out in advance what you'll want to listen to over the course of the week. That way you just pop the CD in your CD player and it's ready to go."
Time spent dealing with food is time that could be better spent on things that actually interest me. If my choice is between spending hours making spaghetti sauce from scratch or getting it out of a jar and heating it up for a few minutes, I'm going to go with the jar. I will derive more or less the same amount of enjoyment from either, and the time saved can be spent doing something else I actually care about.
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Let's say you're not big into music. It's not that you don't like any music, it's just not a big part of your life. So you don't really mind that much hearing the same song on the radio when you drive to work, or listening to the same music every time you go jogging.
Now let's say that if you don't listen to 75 to 90 minutes of music every day, you'll waste away and die. Furthermore, if you listen to a lot of the same music a lot, because you're really only doing it to keep from dying, everyone you know will treat you like some kind of uncultured boor. They'll say things like "Well sure, you could just listen to the pre-made CDs they have at the record stores, but it's just so much better to take the time to make a mix CD yourself. It doesn't even take that much time! Just take three or four hours on the weekend to plan out in advance what you'll want to listen to over the course of the week. That way you just pop the CD in your CD player and it's ready to go."
Time spent dealing with food is time that could be better spent on things that actually interest me. If my choice is between spending hours making spaghetti sauce from scratch or getting it out of a jar and heating it up for a few minutes, I'm going to go with the jar. I will derive more or less the same amount of enjoyment from either, and the time saved can be spent doing something else I actually care about.
Apr 26
Ben commented on Yesterday, on Boston's Boylston Street....
Two-Face! It was Two-Face!!
They were probably coated with one part of some kind of binary poison!
They were probably coated with one part of some kind of binary poison!
Apr 9
Ben commented on What Do You Think of the Elysium Trailer?.
A sci-fi movie not based on a comic book or a previous movie or some other existing property? I'm automatically interested right there.
Apr 9
Ben commented on Dude, You Totally Mindhacked My Passthought.
Multiple applications on multiple monitors is one thing. In a typical day, I probably interact with three or four dozen real and virtual machines running three or four different OSs, accessed via three or four disparate remote desktop technologies.
But honestly, the desired effect could probably be more easily achieved by tracking where your eyes are looking. Of course, I can't even get this huge rat's nest of shit to quit turning my Num Lock off, so what do I know?
But honestly, the desired effect could probably be more easily achieved by tracking where your eyes are looking. Of course, I can't even get this huge rat's nest of shit to quit turning my Num Lock off, so what do I know?
Apr 3
Ben commented on The Wednesday Morning News.
Did anyone stop to consider that pedestrians with a higher body mass index tend to have more mass? And that an object (e.g., a person) with greater mass will undergo less acceleration when acted upon by the same force? F=ma. I don't think the padding effect of extra body fat really needs to be involved here.
Apr 3
Ben commented on The Right to Bear an Arsenal.
I wanna make one of these for my house. Just a shitty photoshop of every slightly dangerous thing I own. Maybe put the Nerf guns on there, too.
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Poor old phone, going extinct like that.