Disqus - Latest Comments for Al

Re: Which direction do you stir?

Al — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:58:18 -0000

Nice - just the kind of random stats that I like to see.

What software did you use to draw those nice graphs?

Re: Insane airport queue

Al — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 09:58:58 -0000

Sorry guys - it was late on Friday

Re: Cat-cam is one of the coolest things I’ve seen

Al — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:09:29 -0000

I suppose that we are going down a road to saying that privacy has been violated unless consent is provided.

For instance, this cat's privacy has definitely been violated because he had no choice in the matter! Similarly people who pop up on Google Street Views also had no choice in the matter -> privacy violation.

The alternative extreme says that any information stored about you is a violation of privacy unless you provide consent.

That in turn would be messy and would hurt innovation. So what should we do?

Re: Rock paper scissors championships

Al — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 11:56:33 -0000

Dave you need to get in touch with your feminine side

Re: Hiking up Table Mountain - the round route

Al — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:34:29 -0000

Anytime Carolla

Re: When being special means nothing - the Anthropic Principle

Al — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 04:16:54 -0000

You are assuming, without proof, that only our universe is relevant.

That seems a reasonable assumption except that it means that only universes populated by life are relevant.

Re: Cool tools - Launchy

Al — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 02:38:49 -0000

There are a few reasons why Launchy is a better solution:
- Google Desktop provides a lot of other functionality so it's a resource hog. If you don't like that functionality (I don't) then it's not worth it
- Because Launchy is developed specifically for this I feel that it does and easier and better job
- I suspect that Launchy runs faster that G Desktop

However, if you are using Google Desktop and if it works as you say it does, then you get the same functionality - which is awesome.

Re: Is organic necessarily good?

Al — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 02:21:44 -0000

You could argue that by altering (in most cases significantly) the environment farming is bad for it.

There may be "certain farming practices, under specific conditions" where farming may aid some parts of the environment (still questionable), but in general farming chews up environmental resources (space, nutrients, etc).

Converting veld to farmland is bad for the environment.

Re: Is organic necessarily good?

Al — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 02:26:37 -0000

Humans are indeed bad for the environment (in general)! It all comes down to how you define what is good/bad for the environment.

I still believe that in general (using most broader definitions of good/bad) farming is detrimental to the environment.

Besides, this isn't the point of the blog article. Even if farming is not necessarily bad for the environment (I still say that in general it is), organic farming is not necessarily good, and in fact in the long run is probably bad (depends on definitions of good/bad).

Re: 2007 Darwin Awards

Al — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 02:01:28 -0000

Lynda, I am really sorry that you lost your brother - especially in such a needless fashion.

However, from the reports that I have now read (including your interview) I think it quite clear that the reports are actually true - he was playing chicken with his friend and I now know he was also drunk. It seems that he was trying to get out of the way when he was hit - but that doesn't make the report (as related above) untrue.

I understand how you probably find it hard that people have passed this story around - I can't really imagine how it would feel. I hope that you are able to come to terms with your grief soon.

Re: Demo of colorblind vision

Al — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:17:57 -0000

Yeah you really do miss out. But there is a type of colorblindness which apparently makes camouflage less effective. So people with that colorblindness would kick ass at the game reserves!

Re: The end of a rabbit

Al — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:14:58 -0000

or a small rabbit...