riddler

As far as I know, it's standard practice at many political gatherings to select questions from the audience to be presented to the speaker, even in the "town hall" format. McCain did it, Hillary did it, Obama still does it. The benefits of this include not having two people ask the same question, ensuring that the question makes sense (you may have heard one or two elderly people ask rambling nonsensical questions in your time), and covering issues from a variety of topics, instead of having everyone talk about the hot news item of the day. The downside is that your detractors will always accuse everyone that is chosen to ask a question of being a "plant", even an 11-year-old girl. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Ice compresses to water, water then expands again while heating, and eventually gets really spread out into vapor as it evaporates. Or it can go right from ice to water vapor by sublimation. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I follow down the jumper that chopped first and foremost. People get hurt landing under reserves, too, and sometimes they have to land off. Better to make sure they are OK. Now, if I see someone already following the jumper, I don't mind chasing his main. And if I see someone following the jumper, and someone else following the main, I might chase the freebag. Seems like the freebag always lands within 30 meters of the main, so it might be redundant to go after the bag. And I expect chasing the bag will be less common when more people are jumping systems like the Skyhook. If I was single and had no children, I might be tempted to catch the main, but people have died doing that, and I have two kids. So, I'll just follow it to the ground. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Hey, I'm with you. My mom is a hero - carried mail for 30 years and raised my brother and I as a single mom. I was the first in my family to get a four-year degree, and my brother now has a PhD - all because of my mother. Tough job she had. It's just funny to see a political organization with a history of battering and abusing the Post Office now jump on their side, because their political opponent questioned their abilities in a discussion about something that had nothing to do with the subject. Politics makes strange bedfellows. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The funniest story in the past week has been watching the GOPers suddenly become fans of the Post Office *Limbaugh voice* You can't say things like that about our Great American Postal System. Why, every one of them is a hero, goddammit! Brave souls that deliver your mail, my mail, in the snow and the rain, and the heat and the gloom of night. Heros! All of them! Cracks me up. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I think there was a key line that wasn't emphasized, how the prawns in the district were a warrior caste. To me, it implied that they were soldiers that did what they are told, and did not do what they were not told. It's also an easy out for sci-fi - they don't have to act the way that humans would. In this case, humans would be tempted to take by force, where the prawns were more likely to not act because they weren't told that they could take by force. This would explain why they originally did not come down from the ship, and were malnourished, even though there was obviously food on the planet. It would also explain why they didn't take up arms themselves if they were never authorized to do so. In Sci-Fi movies, there are often a lot of concepts that are packed into a short timeframe, but I enjoy the subtlety of why characters or groups may be acting a certain way. I found it hard to root for the main human character, since he was so flawed. I found all of the characters compelling, but the only characters I liked were the main alien, and his son. I definitely agree with you about mixing genres. The original concept of stranded aliens coming from 'Alien Nation', the racial prejudice and separation theme motivated by Apartheid, the reality-tv look of 'Cops', the battle scenes from 'Halo'. It reminded me of the book 'Eragon', which had no new or redeeming ideas, just mixed a lot of ideas from previous fantasy work. Overall, I thought it was worth seeing at the theater. Not great, but entertaining enough to pay $10 for. Edit - and I think it's safe to say that in three years, we'll be in for the sequel, District 10 Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The article mentioned F-150, which I have. I'm not planning on trading in my pickup, but if I were, I think I would lose money with the cash-for-clunkers program. The bluebook value for trade-in is $5,500, or a $1,000 more than the best I could do with the clunkers rebate. Pickup trucks hold value better than passenger cars, so some people may have really broken down vehicles that they never took care of and actually do a little better with the clunkers rebate. My guess is that most would not. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yeah, I guess that's the part I was thinking of primarily. It seems that new media formats will determine which stories are read based on who clicks on a headline. The short, attention-getting headlines will be the most read, most profitable and most prolific. So I'm experimenting with ways to combine news stories with information that people want the most. Here's some of my conceptual headlines for current events: "The economy takes off it's bra" "You, Riddler, are going to die today, say healthcare reformers" "Strike it rich with illegal immigrants" I think if I saw these sort of headlines, there is no way I could not read the related article. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I was looking at cost (US=1) and effectiveness (US=24). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I opted for bold instead, since I can hit the three buttons in the SML editor. I'm saving quotes and colors for when I'm really torqued. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The WHO is the most respected health authority on the planet. It's a long uphill battle to try to prove that some guy on the Internet knows more about healthcare than they do. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

NOW I know how to get credibility around here. Thanks, Bill! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This is my third recession as an adult. It's always the same - the media starts talking about a recession about a year before it happens. After a while, people start to believe them, and it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Then after the media gripes about the recession for a bit, they start hyping a recovery. It takes about a year or two, then people start to believe there's a recovery, and the economy gets better. Today, I saw the following headline on CNN's website (see attachment). I think a better title might have been "You're not buying recovery talk, are you?" My first response was "not really". I feel like I want to name the media. Maybe Joe Media, or something, because it seems more and more like he's talking to me, and I want to talk back to him. I expect future headlines to read something like this: "Hey, Riddler, there's a recession coming, you know?" "Remember that recession thingy I mentioned earlier? You may want to review your 401K" "Are you listening?" "That giant sucking sound. That's your lifesavings being converted to Renminbi." "Well, we're kind of in the thick of it now, let's kick back and play some video games." "It's really bad, but hey, the government might bail us out. Let's go to the bar and get a drink." "Did you see all the new job postings on Craigslist? Things might be getting better." "Hey, you might want to consider getting out of bed before 10 AM, because the mortgage company keeps calling. Try to look busy." "Things are definitely looking up." Ad infinitum. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Wow, the girl's mom was an Obama supporter! AND her class had a mock election and Obama won! She is obviously an INSIDER in the Obama camp. The shame! I'll be the democrats paid her off with an easy-bake oven or something - I'm sure she's on the payroll. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Here is the actual text of the town hall meeting, in which Obama makes a distinction between Single Payer and Universal healthcare. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

+1 to hit for Remster. Damage will be 2D4+3. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The recovery may last longer than the recession, and just as many people will suffer. Being a pessimist, I see the Shit Sandwich as half-eaten, not half-finished. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The funny thing was that she forgot that she had already added her boss as a "friend", therefore, he would see her ranting post. I vote fake. Funny, but fake. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This entire thread is one of the funnier ones I've seen on S.C. in years Summary: Someone makes a politically motivated video. It shows "Dubya" (Bush Jr.) enter and leave a speaking engagement at military function in Iraq. It's clear that the Marines have been cleared for an informal applause. Second video shows "Barry" (a derogatory name for Obama) entering and leaving a speaking engagement for a military function in the States, with no applause. Clearly, the Marines have been briefed to formal/no applause for this speaking engagement. Our troops are very good at following orders, so no applause. Or you could choose to believe that every single Marine in the second video not only did NOT vote for Obama, but despise him so much, they wouldn't even give the courtesy of applause to their Commander in Chief. That sounds an awful lot like a conspiracy theory to me Then the right wing jumps on and says "SEE, SEE, even our great troops hate and despise this fake president, just like I do! I was right! I was right!" Then the left-wingers say "this is clearly a conspiracy. I bet the videos were faked." Then it's back to the usual "Obama never posted his full and complete birth certificate. He was really born on Uranus. No, you right-wing Nazis are the devil's spawn - it was Bush that ate babies and planned the 9/11 attacks." Maybe both sides could concede just a little and be more objective? I know it's asking a LOT from you folks In the meantime, the rest of us will laugh a little at your expense ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Heard of Arizona Airspeed? I hear they jump a lot Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/08/08/kenya.clinton.proposal/index.html Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

When you're around long enough, you'll find out that the contempt people have for the coach rating is BY FAR worse than the contempt they have for A license holders. That being said, some things I've learned - don't take it as advice, just take it as some things I've learned for myself: 1. The higher your license or rating, the more that the people "above" you have contempt for you. I have an AFFI rating, and it usually seems like everyone thinks I'm some sort of stupid newbie. 2. The more jumps you have, the less you will feel like you know anything at all. Right now, I have more jumps than I ever have, and I feel like I know next to nothing about skydiving. 3. Don't give up because a few people are snobs. Keep talking to people, keep asking, expect to get rejected, and be pleasantly surprised when you find yourself on a skydive with several other people that have thousands of jumps. 4. All of this is great to remember, because some day you will have hundreds or thousands of skydives, and then you can be cool to the people that have A-licenses, and go jump with them. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Sorry 'bout that - I think the cut-n-paste on my browser wasn't working the way I thought it should. That's why the nonsensical response. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I doubt you get to Armenia, much. Most people don't. People in Armenia firmly believe that Noah's Ark landed on Mount Ararat, and that they are Noah's descendants. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You know, I think people that regularly assault others don't realize that often assaulting a Postal employee is longer than assaulting a cop, in terms of the sentence. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD