Disqus - Latest Comments for Icelander

Re: Obama's Critique of Young People Who Want Legal Marijuana

Icelander — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 10:34:50 -0000

1) Marijuana prohibition is an economic, social, and geopolitical issue. It is causing instability in one of the countries that borders us. It wastes a huge amount of government funds and disadvantages non-violent drug offenders. The environmental benefits of industrial hemp could arguably make it an aspect of a climate change position. No issue exists in a vacuum.

2) Obama came to power with the help of young people getting involved in the political process, often for the first time. How dare he say "the issue you think is important is stupid and you have bad opinions." I can't think of a better way to get people disinterested in the political process than dismissing their opinions like this.

Re: Why Americans Don't Like Vacations...Or Work

Icelander — Mon, 16 Jun 2014 15:05:48 -0000

My employer has a very liberal vacation policy, but I can't make use of it because I'll have to do 10x as much work just to get caught back up when I come back.

I'm taking a week off in August and I'm still planning on doing half days because otherwise I couldn't take the rest of the time off.

Re: Track Social Shares: AddThis Widget + Google Analytics

Icelander — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:34:29 -0000

Hi Andy,

I'm tech support lead for AddThis, so I can speak to our data collection policies. We do collect data and make it available to third parties. However, we do not ever collect personally identifiable information, and the anonymized data we do collect is used in aggregate, not to identify specific users.

Also, you can opt your site out of being used in our data collection by adding this code to your page:

Thanks for the great blog post. It's always nice to hear from a satisfied user.

Re: R.I.P. Google Reader: The Web’s Best News Reader Meets Its Inevitable End

Icelander — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:09:13 -0000

The problem is that blogs never figured out how to monetize their RSS feeds. I stopped using Google Reader when most of my feeds became excerpt-only. If I still had to click to read the article, what's the point of RSS?

Re: New Survey Talks About the Atheist Influence on the 2012 Elections and Beyond

Icelander — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:21:41 -0000

Vote for the better candidate as long as that candidate is a Democrat or Republican. Don't want the wrong lizard to win, eh?

Re: Samsung makes fun of iPhone 5 buyers in new commercial

Icelander — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:31:37 -0000

Marketing 101: Don't insult your potential customers.

Re: No Innovator’s Dilemma Here: In Praise of Failure

Icelander — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 10:16:23 -0000

Students have a problem with failure because for 12 years they've been trying to avoid failing at all costs.

Re: Good Design Saves Energy; Bad Thermostat Design Is Throwing It Away

Icelander — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:32:51 -0000

My problem isn't programming the thermostat, it's getting my wife to stop touching it so the program can run. I've given up and just let her set it to stay at 70.

Re: George Will Says High Speed Rail is a Liberal Delusion. He's Dead Wrong

Icelander — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 14:26:36 -0000

Cars rob us of autonomy just as surely as high speed rail. My car has to be registered with the government, inspected annually at government registered service stations, and has to have a license plate on it so that any agent of the law can know which one is mine at any time. How and where I drive and park is regulated by the government.

Beyond that, I'm dependent upon oil, car and car maintenance companies to keep my car running, and have to pay taxes to the government when I fuel my car. And when everyone tries to go somewhere I have to deal with them on the road.

If George Will wants a truly free method of transportation he should stick with walking.

Re: Clicker.com analyzes Amazon Prime Instant Video offerings vs the competition

Icelander — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:47:06 -0000

Hulu Plus has currently airing TV shows. Think of it as paying for not having to wait a year to watch a show people are talking about.

Re: Clicker.com analyzes Amazon Prime Instant Video offerings vs the competition

Icelander — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:45:46 -0000

You could always buy an antenna to get your local sports teams. (And as a bonus the OTA HD signals aren't compressed, meaning a better picture.) I'm not sure about the college sports, though, since I'm not a sports fan.

Re: Clicker.com analyzes Amazon Prime Instant Video offerings vs the competition

Icelander — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:43:27 -0000

I don't understand why people are comparing services. Even if you bought every monthly subscription service it's still less than all but the most basic cable package. Add an over the air antenna and you're still saving a few hundred dollars per year.

Re: The McMansion Era Is Not Over Yet

Icelander — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 12:58:44 -0000

People may *want* larger homes but whether they can afford them is another matter.

Re: 2012 Ford Focus Electric: A Closer Look (2011 Detroit Auto Show)

Icelander — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:51:21 -0000

An attractive, four-door, hatchback EV that I can afford? Be still my heart.

Re: Mama Prius: The More Voluminous Prius V (2011 Detroit Auto Show)

Icelander — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 12:14:26 -0000

One thing that made us choose our Jetta Sportwagen TDI over a Prius is the Jetta's better cargo capacity. Glad to see they're getting the message that people who like the environment also like to take drives.

Re: Exclusive: TSA frisks groom children to cooperate with sex predators, abuse expert says

Icelander — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:31:28 -0000

"Hi little Timmy. I have to touch you in your no-no place because I think your mommy or daddy put a bomb there and lied to you about going to Disney World."

Yeah, that's a whole hell of a lot better.

Re: Volt, Schmolt; Get a Bike Instead

Icelander — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 17:38:34 -0000

I telecommute so that's not an issue for me.

My issue is the idea of bundling my kids up like that and riding five miles in sub-freezing weather with them in a bike trailer to go grocery shopping.

Re: Volt, Schmolt; Get a Bike Instead

Icelander — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 14:20:43 -0000

There are five reasons bicycling will never take off in the Northeast and Midwest. They are called November, December, January, February and March.

Re: Are Some People Not Fit to Be Vegans?

Icelander — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 08:40:14 -0000

I wonder if it's similar to lactose intolerance. Humans evolving in certain areas might have been so reliant on animal meat that they have a nutritional deficit when they go without.

Re: Would You Travel One-Way to Mars?

Icelander — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:11:07 -0000

Moving off-world has tremendous benefits for ecology. The Earth could be set up as a nature preserve as humanity moved into the solar system. Harvesting material from lifeless asteroids and processing them in space would drastically reduce pollution and ecosystem destruction on Earth. Clean energy generation in space would eliminate the need to burn fossil fuels. New ecosystems would be created on the places we colonized.

Re: Volvo to Make Plug-In Diesel Hybrid Based on V60 Wagon in 2012

Icelander — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 15:35:15 -0000

I've been waiting for a hybrid wagon to come along for some time now. The Prius wasn't quite big enough for my family so we ended up getting a VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI and love it.

Re: For Many People, The Stars Don't Come Out Any More

Icelander — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:14:29 -0000

Astronomy isn't on standardized tests, so the teachers don't bother teaching as it's obviously unimportant.

Re: Quote of the Day: Scott Adams on Green Building

Icelander — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:23:34 -0000

For a long time people in hot areas had white stucco walls and red clay tile roofs. The thick walls had a large thermal mass and stayed cool in the summer while reflecting heat. The roofs reflected heat and were slightly porous so that after it rained they would evaporatively cool.

This sort of architecture is aesthetically pleasing and functional. Traditional building methods usually are.

Re: Wi-Fi in Schools: Should We Apply the Precautionary Principle?

Icelander — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:09:01 -0000

Electricity gives off radio waves that are much stronger than WiFi. Maybe we should just sheath our children Faraday cages or lead suits.

This is getting ridiculous.

Re: If it quacks like a RDBMS…

Icelander — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 16:54:08 -0000

In the unsafe mode how many of those writes failed?