The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Rick Owens:

I have a pleasant mental picture of John Cleese getting the above-mentioned sort of call, and responding thus:

Q: "Would you like to participate in a quick two question poll?"
A: "Certainly!!!"

Q: "Are you planning to vote in the [name of party] primary?"
A: "But of course!!!"

Q: "Who are you planning to vote for?"
A: "Oh! I'm sorry, you've just used up your 2 questions. Now, if you had selected a *3* question poll, I could answer that question, but you didn't, did you? Poor planning on your part sir! Good day!"

Q: "What?"
A: "I'm sorry, but 'What?' is technically a question, and thus answering it is, ha ha, out of the question. Good day!"

... and so on. (If they're going to waste our time, the least they can do is be amusing!)

Madeline F. @ 194:

A few years ago I bought a handful of PAL flashlights and I've never regretted it. They're bigger than the snapon lights you mention, but IMHO having the rubber armor is worth it. The standby mode makes a great nightlight in dark halls.

If you want a way to use every last little bit of power from the batteries, googling "Joule Thief" will show you a circuit that'll drain the little buggers dry.

Peter Erwin @ 114:

I think you're thinking of "The Fourth Profession" - the aliens are traders, normally they deal with systems that can build launching lasers. But if a species isn't "civilized" enough to build such a laser, either through lack of technology or will, they're only animals, so it's ok to blow up their sun for that extra push on to the next potential client system. Mustn't risk the ship, after all! The main character apparently convinces one of the aliens that causing a nova is wrong, and convinces a gov. agent that humans *must* build the laser to avoid an artificial nova, and the world is saved.

Re. UFOs and cats: http://dropline.net/cats/kitty/i-wants-to-beliefs

Tim Walters @ 186: "book-choosing script"?

Bruce Cohen @ 103:

Re Flash in browsers - on my home machine I have Firefox as my primary browser and Mozilla as a secondary, and Flash is only installed for Mozilla, because of the headaches you're talking about. Having to copy and paste a URL to watch Flash videos has been a small price to pay for avoiding flash ads and crashes while I browse.

<oot>
Been a few years since the last time I read the Vlad series - sounds like 'tis time to dig 'em out again!
</oot>

PurpleGirl @ 50: Yes -- Londo was A) smarter than Shrub from the start, B) capable of understanding that the consequences of his actions were terrible, C) manipulated by ancient beings with generations of experience in causing strife, and D) willing to do penance, namely working his rear off to try to repair some of the damage he had done. Dubya has yet to show such wit, regrets, or efforts at undoing harm. (Questions about external influences, roving or otherwise, are beyond the scope of this reply.)

Comment statistics for Rick Owens on the Making Light blog

Total: 6 comments. View all these comments on a single page.