Of course, who knows how nasty the 'antibacterial' agent is to you, either. I don't.
Some "hand sanitizers" say their active ingredient is the alcohol (don't ask me whether something can become resistant to that); probably not too nasty other than drying out your hands. Don't know about the others.
A few ambitious kinds of soap, like Dial and generic orange liquid-Dial-knockoffs, contain some magic non-soap ingredient that gives me contact dermatitis... skin gets all red bumpy swollen itchy etc. Every soap that's done this to me has had "antibacterial" blazoned on the label but I don't know whether it's an "antibacterial" agent that's causing the problem and don't really feel like experimenting on myself.
It is very annoying to be volunteering in a kitchen or using a friend's bathroom or some other vital hand-washing situation and find myself faced with soap that I am basically allergic to. (I use it anyway, because the alternative is not so great either, but if I already know they buy Evil Soap, I bring a chunk of nice harmless Ivory in a case in my pocket.)
Re:Other innovative early games
on
Netrek
·
· Score: 2
Empire, Moria, Labrinth and Dry Gulch. I would love to know what became of these games...are they still alive anywhere? That would be awesome to bring some of them back!!
Moria's still around, being maintained by David J. Grabiner... some people still play it on "modern" platforms (or you can telnet to chungkuo and play it there along with many other classic games.)
I'm not familiar with Empire but it seems to have turned into a PC game (now ancient and available at Underdogs and other fine establishments). THis page looks like a good bet, it has download links for PDP-10, PDP-11, VAX/VMS, PC, source etc.
I see the others mentioned historically here but "dry gulch" and "labyrinth" are too commonly used for me to find anything actually useful.
Agreed, props for the Stanford Theater.. I lived nearby (relatively speaking, normally I live several states away) one summer. Sometimes there were silent movies + live accompaniment, what could be more cool? I still keep their showtime listings bookmarked in case I spontaneously find myself in the area (sigh).
Although it seemed strange at first, I guess I can see why my post above (randomly matching up egg cooking styles with licenses, inspired by someone's use of the word "poach") was rated flame-bait... I know I have terrible trouble flipping an egg properly over my gas stove, though thankfully I haven't actually landed any of 'em in the burner yet.
(y'all can just mod this one OffTopic, no need to get creative.;)
Wrong, the code _you_ did solely for yourself you can do with whatever you want.
Unless you sign over your copyright to someone else, which is something you would have to do deliberately (so avoiding doing that is a no-brainer).
And as long as you still own your code-nugget you can even grant permission for other people to use your code-nugget under whatever other terms you personally feel like. You can release GPL software and someone can still write to you and ask "yo, I love your Frobnicating routine, will you let me use it under different terms?" whereupon you can respond "why, certainly you may" or "hie thee hence, scurvy knave" (if it's Microsoft:) or whatever.
Sony's new Clie is the first Palm-based handheld to nix the permanent silk-screened input area in favor of a software-based area displayed at the bottom of the new, larger LCD screen.
Uhh... not it's not. The HandEra has the exact same feature, and hopefully all future Palms will have it.
...and hopefully with an API that is both (1) nice and (2) standardized, since applications do have to be modified by their authors to take advantage of extra screen space, and having the hardware support for it is not much use to purchasers if no apps actually use it or if an app has to be modified in five different ways to work on five different companies' PalmOS devices (in which case it will probably have been modified to work on one or two and not the one you were hoping for).
I heard from folks who have programmed with both the HandEra API and the 320x320 Sony API, that the HandEra one was actually the more pleasant of the two. (I've only looked at the HandEra documentation, myself, so I dunno what the old Sony API is like or whether this one uses the same one.) I'd settle for "not so nice" as long as I got to have "standardized", but it would still be better to have both attributes.
And I have to say it's really sad that, from what reviewers have reported, this new Sony ships with only one application that takes advantage of the new space. Makes this third-party developer think "if they're not going to bother supporting their own 'new' hardware features, well heck, why should I."
I'd vote for IHNMAIMS being at least his most famous title... heh heh.
Had some fun with some friends once sitting around making up fake Ellison story titles and interspersing them with real ones, with people trying to guess which was which. (Not as much fun as doing the same thing with Piers Anthony titles, but it was a less disturbing fun. Gutbucket Quest, forsooth!)
"Just" Wil? Say rather, are any of the others as cool as Wil. Sounds more diplomatic...
I'd be inclined to guess that most actors, even sci-fi-happy actors, aren't too much more interested in news-for-nerds than the average American (not even all self-proclaimed geeks read slashdot, after all). On the other hand, you never know who might be lurking. But on the gripping hand, people who lurk are people who don't want to attract attention (sort of by definition).
Moderators are more likely to moderate comments up than down
'cause we're good little sheep... (the moderator guidelines recommend doing this, as you know).
Comments that were once moderated "insightful" are now left unmoderated-- unless they're funny.
It's much easier to say something funny than to get modded up any other way, in my experience, but maybe that's just the class clown in me./. is not the only bastard-child-of-applause-meter system that I've observed this on. (It's just the least obscure.:) Personally I try to avoid modding anything down, or modding anything "+1 funny", or modding anything to above 3. Other people are sure to do these things so it's not worth spending my points on.
I'd say something funny about the DecComPaqard trend, but I can't really think of anything. I interned for a summer in Silly Valley at another research lab, and all the summer interns in a particular handful of places (that had this deal with each other) spent a few days going to each of the other companies and seeing "we're doing cool stuff and you should come here next summer, or else whenever it is that you graduate" presentations by various research groups. (Indeed there was some cool stuff.) It's not real funny to think about how many of these groups and labs are still around to work for now.:-b
Gahhh. I threw Thomas Covenant across the room pretty early on. Sure, the whole unsympathetic anti-hero scheme is mature and philosophy-laden, unlike good ol' Jim "mind candy" diGriz, but my gosh what a whiner!
I would be more inclined to recommend The Book of the New Sun. You can still start out thinking "hmm, should I really be sympathizing with this character?" (I can't compare the endings since Covenant and/or Donaldson was way too irritating for me to get that far), and while both authors toss in some two-dollar words, Wolfe does it without making me cringe in embarrassment on his behalf.
Heck, rather than try another bout of the Unbeliever, I'd read The Iron Dragon's Daughter again. I still have no idea what that book was actually about, so it must have been deep.
Technically speaking, a copyright notice isn't even required.
Quite true. But it is a darned good idea to put a copyright notice (with author and year) on your work, anyway. (I mention this not to argue but just in case a reader gets the wrong idea.)
For one thing, it will let the hyperintelligent cockroaches that inherit the Earth (sometime before Steamboat Willie actually becomes public domain) know how long it is until your work goes out of copyright.
For another thing, if there's a web site that lists copyright "myths" you can bet a dozen glazed donuts that there are lots of people who are still blissfully unaware that these myths are wrong - so best not to rely on them making the right assumptions.:-)
What I don't want is for someone to take an entire program I've written, and package it and sell it for a profit (unless they release the code, of course). That's why I use the GPL. But the last thing I want to do is discourage people from using my code in a reasonable way, because they're afraid they might inadvertantly violate the GPL be prosecuted for theft.
Agreed. I've been using GPL (when given the choice) for applications on PalmOS for that reason - I want others to be able to learn from my code if they care to slog through it, but I don't particularly want any of my programs to be hit over the head in a dark alley and wake up as newly-varnished no-source shareware. The GPL is already "scary" enough to lull my paranoia in this respect.
Also I'd like to think that the copyright notice already present at the start of GPLified files would be enough to tip people off to the fact that "yo, this code is copyrighted" without actually tacking on another big notification to that effect. (But considering how little the copyright of certain other artifacts is respected by the same audience, *cough*mp3s*cough*, I guess that might be just a wee bit naive.)
Bah, comic books have a long and cherished tradition of characters inventing completely implausible things. If it's hard to swallow someone inventing a web-slinging device, it's just as hard to swallow a web-slinging mutation (possibly harder than the traditional Spidey set of features.. e.g. super-strength and danger-sense are pretty run-of-the-mill). It doesn't particuarly "add to the story" or make the tradition any easier for an unfamiliar movie-goer to swallow.
What it might do, though, is to save the time and attention-span of (even briefly) showing the origin of the device to the audience, which given the length of a movie, is a reasonable tradeoff. It's probably much faster to roll in the web-shooting exposition with the initial showing-off of the other Spidey-features... Whatever that scene may be; I haven't even seen a trailer so I'm commenting in blissful ignorance.
In this sense, Linux/KDE and Linux/GNOME both constitute OSes on which the web browser cannot be removed.
Except that someone else has already argued above that, in the case of KDE, it can. And probably by the time I post someone will say the same for Gnome.
I'm afraid I can't comment on which of you folks is actually right... since I use Linux/twm (fear my l33t "operating system":-).
maybe we should call ourselves "Apple users" instead of "Mac Fanatics."
Reminds me of the MIT Science Fiction Society's t-shirt motto, "We're not fans - we just read the stuff".
Stereotypically frothing-ever-so-slightly-at-the-mouth enthusiasts serve a useful purpose (reminding people that their topic of interest exists, and selflessly defending it from onslaught whenever necessary), but alas they also make it harder for "normal" folks to admit to liking something, be it Apples, SF, or (fave/. topic) Open Source.
There's a fairly large difference between "you can't run this software unless you dance like a chicken" and "you can't distribute modified versions of this software unless you dance like a chicken".
99% of users (if not more) don't give a Remote Controlled Rat's ass about distributing modified versions, thus the latter EULA would save the world a whole lot of chicken-dancing.
For every nifty technological breakthrough that can be comprehended by the average reader of best-sellers, there is a Michael Crichton book in which "scientists tried it out, and stuff goes wrong".
Still, it's an amusing coincidence to have been reading something related (whereas, I just finished another Napoleonic-Navies-In-Space book by David Weber... maybe I should have my brain checked for electrodes...)
Speaking of rereading, maybe you just didn't fully absorb the post you're responding to? Seems pretty obvious to me: If someone is going to pick a story to shreds in a writing seminar, he/she has really gotta read it more than once, whether it's a matter of learning "what to do" or "what not to do". Well, assuming there's enough time, what with other classes.
(but naturally one would make time for Haldeman's course, because it rocks.:-)
Agreed, I carried around a paper addressbook and a paper 12-month appointment book, one of those cheap knock-offs that doesn't have a memorable brand-name or replaceable pages, for at least four years. (The 12-month calendar had some pages for addresses but then I would have had to copy them over every year, hell with that.) I could not live without them; the calendar did not fit in my pocket (I had way too much going on to use a pocket calendar) and the addressbook would have been a tight squeeze; ergo I could not live without a backpack. During those four years I lost (or had stolen from me) a hat I liked, an umbrella, my best scarf, and the wallet I had made myself in junior high (and of course all its contents)... pretty much every loose article except for my backpack, which is partly due to watching it like a hawk and partly luck.
Then a friend showed me his Pilot (back in the day). It fit in a pocket and it could be backed up in case in case it grew legs and walked away; I got one myself and never looked back. I have a Visor at the moment. It sings, it dances, it plays reveille when I need an alarm clock at camp. But mostly it earns its keep by telling me where to go and what to do and by fitting in a pocket.
However, mileage definitely varies. I know someone who loses things really frequently.. got a Palm and lost it in the first week.. that gets to be a bit expensive. I know someone else who (afaik) never used an organizer.. got a Visor but his life really doesn't need organizing.. he uses the address book occasionally, and plays games on it when travelling without a laptop, but I think that's about it. And of course some people just prefer paper because of its physical properties or because it affords fewer distractions.
Bah. Anyone who uses products that resulted (directly or indirectly) from putting money into the space program should be taxed. Not just people who secretly want to be living on Vulcan or something.
Just like anyone who uses "products" that resulted indirectly from government research in computing should continue to fund new research so that progress does not depend on wild-eyed self-made open source hackers or monopolies with short-horizon research labs.;-);-);-)
Open Source and Free Software are heavily based in the ideals of
...early Christianity, if you stretch a bit (you don't really have to stretch any farther than socialism). See the first few bits of Acts of the Apostles where they're setting up a nice little "to each according to their need, from each according to etc" community.
I'm sure we could whomp up some vaguely plausible parallels to the "open source community", after a sufficient number of beers. Then slap it on a web page and see what kind of fan mail it generates... I bet it would catch flak from all sides. (Perhaps someone in the thread has already suggested this; I'm too lazy to check.)
When you are reading a big discussion, and you come across a comment that you want to moderate, just right-click on the "#3388399" link in its header. Open the comment by itself in a new window (or new tab).. moderate it there... close the window and get back to reading the rest of the discussion.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, who knows how nasty the 'antibacterial' agent is to you, either. I don't.
Some "hand sanitizers" say their active ingredient is the alcohol (don't ask me whether something can become resistant to that); probably not too nasty other than drying out your hands. Don't know about the others.
A few ambitious kinds of soap, like Dial and generic orange liquid-Dial-knockoffs, contain some magic non-soap ingredient that gives me contact dermatitis... skin gets all red bumpy swollen itchy etc. Every soap that's done this to me has had "antibacterial" blazoned on the label but I don't know whether it's an "antibacterial" agent that's causing the problem and don't really feel like experimenting on myself.
It is very annoying to be volunteering in a kitchen or using a friend's bathroom or some other vital hand-washing situation and find myself faced with soap that I am basically allergic to. (I use it anyway, because the alternative is not so great either, but if I already know they buy Evil Soap, I bring a chunk of nice harmless Ivory in a case in my pocket.)
Empire, Moria, Labrinth and Dry Gulch. I would love to know what became of these games...are they still alive anywhere? That would be awesome to bring some of them back!!
Moria's still around, being maintained by David J. Grabiner... some people still play it on "modern" platforms (or you can telnet to chungkuo and play it there along with many other classic games.)
I'm not familiar with Empire but it seems to have turned into a PC game (now ancient and available at Underdogs and other fine establishments). THis page looks like a good bet, it has download links for PDP-10, PDP-11, VAX/VMS, PC, source etc.
I see the others mentioned historically here but "dry gulch" and "labyrinth" are too commonly used for me to find anything actually useful.
Agreed, props for the Stanford Theater.. I lived nearby (relatively speaking, normally I live several states away) one summer. Sometimes there were silent movies + live accompaniment, what could be more cool? I still keep their showtime listings bookmarked in case I spontaneously find myself in the area (sigh).
no, wait, Sun-ny side up?
;)
Yes! You win the banana.
Although it seemed strange at first, I guess I can see why my post above (randomly matching up egg cooking styles with licenses, inspired by someone's use of the word "poach") was rated flame-bait... I know I have terrible trouble flipping an egg properly over my gas stove, though thankfully I haven't actually landed any of 'em in the burner yet.
(y'all can just mod this one OffTopic, no need to get creative.
Wrong, the code _you_ did solely for yourself you can do with whatever you want.
:) or whatever.
Unless you sign over your copyright to someone else, which is something you would have to do deliberately (so avoiding doing that is a no-brainer).
And as long as you still own your code-nugget you can even grant permission for other people to use your code-nugget under whatever other terms you personally feel like. You can release GPL software and someone can still write to you and ask "yo, I love your Frobnicating routine, will you let me use it under different terms?" whereupon you can respond "why, certainly you may" or "hie thee hence, scurvy knave" (if it's Microsoft
The BSD license allows more or less unfettered code-poaching
... aw, you know.
BSD == poached code
GPL == hard boiled code
LGPL == soft boiled code
Apache license == code over easy
Artistic license == code Benedict
Mozilla license == code McMuffin
Sun ==
...and hopefully with an API that is both (1) nice and (2) standardized, since applications do have to be modified by their authors to take advantage of extra screen space, and having the hardware support for it is not much use to purchasers if no apps actually use it or if an app has to be modified in five different ways to work on five different companies' PalmOS devices (in which case it will probably have been modified to work on one or two and not the one you were hoping for).
I heard from folks who have programmed with both the HandEra API and the 320x320 Sony API, that the HandEra one was actually the more pleasant of the two. (I've only looked at the HandEra documentation, myself, so I dunno what the old Sony API is like or whether this one uses the same one.) I'd settle for "not so nice" as long as I got to have "standardized", but it would still be better to have both attributes.
And I have to say it's really sad that, from what reviewers have reported, this new Sony ships with only one application that takes advantage of the new space. Makes this third-party developer think "if they're not going to bother supporting their own 'new' hardware features, well heck, why should I."
they can paint the brick with silver color
;-)
The folks I know who are heavily into Sony are a lot more into "purple" than true silver. (go figure.) But aside from that, I have to agree
I'd vote for IHNMAIMS being at least his most famous title... heh heh.
Had some fun with some friends once sitting around making up fake Ellison story titles and interspersing them with real ones, with people trying to guess which was which. (Not as much fun as doing the same thing with Piers Anthony titles, but it was a less disturbing fun. Gutbucket Quest, forsooth!)
"Just" Wil? Say rather, are any of the others as cool as Wil. Sounds more diplomatic...
I'd be inclined to guess that most actors, even sci-fi-happy actors, aren't too much more interested in news-for-nerds than the average American (not even all self-proclaimed geeks read slashdot, after all). On the other hand, you never know who might be lurking. But on the gripping hand, people who lurk are people who don't want to attract attention (sort of by definition).
Moderators are more likely to moderate comments up than down
/. is not the only bastard-child-of-applause-meter system that I've observed this on. (It's just the least obscure. :)
:-b
'cause we're good little sheep... (the moderator guidelines recommend doing this, as you know).
Comments that were once moderated "insightful" are now left unmoderated-- unless they're funny.
It's much easier to say something funny than to get modded up any other way, in my experience, but maybe that's just the class clown in me.
Personally I try to avoid modding anything down, or modding anything "+1 funny", or modding anything to above 3. Other people are sure to do these things so it's not worth spending my points on.
I'd say something funny about the DecComPaqard trend, but I can't really think of anything. I interned for a summer in Silly Valley at another research lab, and all the summer interns in a particular handful of places (that had this deal with each other) spent a few days going to each of the other companies and seeing "we're doing cool stuff and you should come here next summer, or else whenever it is that you graduate" presentations by various research groups. (Indeed there was some cool stuff.) It's not real funny to think about how many of these groups and labs are still around to work for now.
Gahhh. I threw Thomas Covenant across the room pretty early on. Sure, the whole unsympathetic anti-hero scheme is mature and philosophy-laden, unlike good ol' Jim "mind candy" diGriz, but my gosh what a whiner!
I would be more inclined to recommend The Book of the New Sun. You can still start out thinking "hmm, should I really be sympathizing with this character?" (I can't compare the endings since Covenant and/or Donaldson was way too irritating for me to get that far), and while both authors toss in some two-dollar words, Wolfe does it without making me cringe in embarrassment on his behalf.
Heck, rather than try another bout of the Unbeliever, I'd read The Iron Dragon's Daughter again. I still have no idea what that book was actually about, so it must have been deep.
Technically speaking, a copyright notice isn't even required.
:-)
Quite true. But it is a darned good idea to put a copyright notice (with author and year) on your work, anyway. (I mention this not to argue but just in case a reader gets the wrong idea.)
For one thing, it will let the hyperintelligent cockroaches that inherit the Earth (sometime before Steamboat Willie actually becomes public domain) know how long it is until your work goes out of copyright.
For another thing, if there's a web site that lists copyright "myths" you can bet a dozen glazed donuts that there are lots of people who are still blissfully unaware that these myths are wrong - so best not to rely on them making the right assumptions.
What I don't want is for someone to take an entire program I've written, and package it and sell it for a profit (unless they release the code, of course). That's why I use the GPL. But the last thing I want to do is discourage people from using my code in a reasonable way, because they're afraid they might inadvertantly violate the GPL be prosecuted for theft.
Agreed. I've been using GPL (when given the choice) for applications on PalmOS for that reason - I want others to be able to learn from my code if they care to slog through it, but I don't particularly want any of my programs to be hit over the head in a dark alley and wake up as newly-varnished no-source shareware. The GPL is already "scary" enough to lull my paranoia in this respect.
Also I'd like to think that the copyright notice already present at the start of GPLified files would be enough to tip people off to the fact that "yo, this code is copyrighted" without actually tacking on another big notification to that effect. (But considering how little the copyright of certain other artifacts is respected by the same audience, *cough*mp3s*cough*, I guess that might be just a wee bit naive.)
Bah, comic books have a long and cherished tradition of characters inventing completely implausible things. If it's hard to swallow someone inventing a web-slinging device, it's just as hard to swallow a web-slinging mutation (possibly harder than the traditional Spidey set of features.. e.g. super-strength and danger-sense are pretty run-of-the-mill). It doesn't particuarly "add to the story" or make the tradition any easier for an unfamiliar movie-goer to swallow.
What it might do, though, is to save the time and attention-span of (even briefly) showing the origin of the device to the audience, which given the length of a movie, is a reasonable tradeoff. It's probably much faster to roll in the web-shooting exposition with the initial showing-off of the other Spidey-features... Whatever that scene may be; I haven't even seen a trailer so I'm commenting in blissful ignorance.
Jackie Chan Spider-Man!
In this sense, Linux/KDE and Linux/GNOME both constitute OSes on which the web browser cannot be removed.
:-).
Except that someone else has already argued above that, in the case of KDE, it can. And probably by the time I post someone will say the same for Gnome.
I'm afraid I can't comment on which of you folks is actually right... since I use Linux/twm (fear my l33t "operating system"
maybe we should call ourselves "Apple users" instead of "Mac Fanatics."
/. topic) Open Source.
Reminds me of the MIT Science Fiction Society's t-shirt motto, "We're not fans - we just read the stuff".
Stereotypically frothing-ever-so-slightly-at-the-mouth enthusiasts serve a useful purpose (reminding people that their topic of interest exists, and selflessly defending it from onslaught whenever necessary), but alas they also make it harder for "normal" folks to admit to liking something, be it Apples, SF, or (fave
There's a fairly large difference between "you can't run this software unless you dance like a chicken" and "you can't distribute modified versions of this software unless you dance like a chicken".
99% of users (if not more) don't give a Remote Controlled Rat's ass about distributing modified versions, thus the latter EULA would save the world a whole lot of chicken-dancing.
For every nifty technological breakthrough that can be comprehended by the average reader of best-sellers, there is a Michael Crichton book in which "scientists tried it out, and stuff goes wrong".
Still, it's an amusing coincidence to have been reading something related (whereas, I just finished another Napoleonic-Navies-In-Space book by David Weber... maybe I should have my brain checked for electrodes...)
Speaking of rereading, maybe you just didn't fully absorb the post you're responding to? Seems pretty obvious to me: If someone is going to pick a story to shreds in a writing seminar, he/she has really gotta read it more than once, whether it's a matter of learning "what to do" or "what not to do". Well, assuming there's enough time, what with other classes.
:-)
(but naturally one would make time for Haldeman's course, because it rocks.
Agreed, I carried around a paper addressbook and a paper 12-month appointment book, one of those cheap knock-offs that doesn't have a memorable brand-name or replaceable pages, for at least four years. (The 12-month calendar had some pages for addresses but then I would have had to copy them over every year, hell with that.) I could not live without them; the calendar did not fit in my pocket (I had way too much going on to use a pocket calendar) and the addressbook would have been a tight squeeze; ergo I could not live without a backpack. During those four years I lost (or had stolen from me) a hat I liked, an umbrella, my best scarf, and the wallet I had made myself in junior high (and of course all its contents)... pretty much every loose article except for my backpack, which is partly due to watching it like a hawk and partly luck.
Then a friend showed me his Pilot (back in the day). It fit in a pocket and it could be backed up in case in case it grew legs and walked away; I got one myself and never looked back. I have a Visor at the moment. It sings, it dances, it plays reveille when I need an alarm clock at camp. But mostly it earns its keep by telling me where to go and what to do and by fitting in a pocket.
However, mileage definitely varies. I know someone who loses things really frequently.. got a Palm and lost it in the first week.. that gets to be a bit expensive. I know someone else who (afaik) never used an organizer.. got a Visor but his life really doesn't need organizing.. he uses the address book occasionally, and plays games on it when travelling without a laptop, but I think that's about it. And of course some people just prefer paper because of its physical properties or because it affords fewer distractions.
Bah. Anyone who uses products that resulted (directly or indirectly) from putting money into the space program should be taxed. Not just people who secretly want to be living on Vulcan or something.
;-) ;-) ;-)
Just like anyone who uses "products" that resulted indirectly from government research in computing should continue to fund new research so that progress does not depend on wild-eyed self-made open source hackers or monopolies with short-horizon research labs.
Open Source and Free Software are heavily based in the ideals of
...early Christianity, if you stretch a bit (you don't really have to stretch any farther than socialism). See the first few bits of Acts of the Apostles where they're setting up a nice little "to each according to their need, from each according to etc" community.
I'm sure we could whomp up some vaguely plausible parallels to the "open source community", after a sufficient number of beers. Then slap it on a web page and see what kind of fan mail it generates... I bet it would catch flak from all sides. (Perhaps someone in the thread has already suggested this; I'm too lazy to check.)
When you are reading a big discussion, and you come across a comment that you want to moderate, just right-click on the "#3388399" link in its header. Open the comment by itself in a new window (or new tab).. moderate it there... close the window and get back to reading the rest of the discussion.