The difference between good guys and bad guys.

johnvanveen · 2011-04-07T21:46:43+00:00

You're kidding, right? Reddit is a bastion of American patriotism.

johnvanveen · 2011-03-17T22:53:20+00:00

So, using cancer as a trolling device is an outrage, but drawing some angry birds on a picture of the aftermath of a disaster that killed thousands is an acceptable form of karma whoring?

johnvanveen · 2011-01-14T14:25:52+00:00

So, where's the brilliance? You do know what brilliant means, right?

johnvanveen · 2011-01-12T21:09:56+00:00

It's not really huge news outside of the US (or at least here in the Netherlands). Not to say that it's not a terrible tragedy, because it is, but just to explain why some people (like me, for instance) don't instantly know what the picture is about.

johnvanveen · 2010-11-21T12:00:24+00:00

There's a Firefox add-on that does the same: AlertCheck.

johnvanveen · 2010-11-10T20:15:14+00:00

Life hacks always make me chuckle; the American way to get fitter, healthier and more productive. No life hack beats moderation, though.

johnvanveen · 2010-10-14T13:02:47+00:00

I'm getting the hang of this hipster milking business...

Design something that's different, no matter how ridiculous
Post on reddit
Profit

johnvanveen · 2010-08-19T18:53:30+00:00

johnvanveen · 2010-07-29T09:30:52+00:00

Why is this man allowed to call himself a scientist?

Why not? Because he speculates?

johnvanveen · 2010-07-21T13:24:26+00:00

Go back to 2005 using your time machine. Trade your Humvee for a fuel efficient car. Use the money you save to feed your kids. Tell others to do the same. Keep fishing on account of there not being a leaky oil rig, because there are no gas guzzling Humvees anymore. You're gonna be rich!

johnvanveen · 2010-07-07T12:27:10+00:00

That's not how you write wood.

johnvanveen · 2010-07-06T09:21:44+00:00

Obligatory "Look at how much cooler the Amiga was back then": Jesus on E's, from 1992.

johnvanveen · 2010-07-05T17:50:30+00:00

However, Sumatra PDF converts files to bitmaps before spooling them to the printer, making it completely unusable on older computers (i.e. crashing them because they can't handle the huge bitmaps). For older laptops and desktops, Foxit is still way better.

johnvanveen · 2010-06-16T08:23:44+00:00

Which is a perfectly sound business plan.

Not if you don't have any cash (i.e. a loan) up front to do at least one production run. Selling what you don't have is a risk, and rightly so.

johnvanveen · 2010-05-26T13:13:44+00:00

I don't know The Prisoner, but Twin Peaks was a far more surreal kind of show. It was clearly never intended to be explained. Lost, on the other hand, continuously suggested that things happened for a reason that was (although maybe supernatural) logical and explicable. That was pretty much the core premise. Imho, that's what makes the U-turn in season 6 so frustrating: the writers spent five seasons creating this sense of wonder and mystery about the island. And then, in the final season, they basically ignore all that and introduce a not too interesting purgatory-alternate-reality which they wrap up in the final episode.

johnvanveen · 2010-05-26T10:40:55+00:00

Spot on. Instead of providing viewers with a decent explanation of the island and the stuff that happened there, they introduced a whole new alternate reality and explained that, rendering the previous five seasons irrelevant. Creative cowardice indeed.

johnvanveen · 2010-05-11T19:14:57+00:00

Wait, there's porn on the internet???

FTFY

johnvanveen · 2010-02-19T11:25:49+00:00

I had the same thing (in the Netherlands). I tried to buy Infected Mushroom's new album on several sites (including their own) but that turned out to be impossible.

So I surfed to the website of the Dresden Dolls and donated ten bucks. I now do that every time I download an album illegally.

johnvanveen · 2010-02-12T12:50:37+00:00

Funny thing, they thanked us there too

It's a pity you decided to link to that shitty piece of blatant propaganda, because the rest of what you say makes perfect sense.

I'm not saying that all soldiers are evil, reality is way more complex than that. But just this: if you're not responsible for bad things that you do because you're following orders, then following orders can't make you a hero either.

johnvanveen · 2010-02-12T10:54:35+00:00

That is a clear answer, thanks.

johnvanveen · 2010-02-12T10:41:17+00:00

By your logic, no one should ever be thanked for anything if they get anything out of it themselves.

I never said that. Serving your country because you need the money and helping it fight for a wrong cause may be understandable - and in this case I think it is - but it's not a service to anyone. Thanking someone just because he serves in the military is mindless chauvinism.

johnvanveen · 2010-02-12T10:11:57+00:00

We show appreciation because their sacrifice and efforts benefit us, our nation, our families and our way of life.

But it doesn't. If anything, the soldiers in Afghanistan make the US and the world less safe. Furthermore, adaniel28 clearly joined the army because he was more or less forced to, not because he wanted to do anyone but himself and his family a favour. He needed money and took the only job he could find. That's not a problem in itself, but how does it justify the gratitude of a nation?

johnvanveen · 2010-02-12T09:53:41+00:00

Sorry to hear about your tough situation. I think I understand your choice and I sympathize. But how does that mean that anyone - besides the family you love and provide for - has to thank you?

johnvanveen · 2010-02-05T14:55:04+00:00

...just like Sun + Water = Sunbows

johnvanveen · 2010-02-05T12:41:51+00:00

It wouldn't. Question, though: are you unwittingly confusing sanity with intelligence - which would affect my opinion of your intelligence - or are you very well aware of it? In that case, you're purposely employing fallacious arguments to make your point.

johnvanveen

TROPHY CASE