riddler

Because she wasn't platinum blonde and wearing tight-fitting clothes, like in The Island. If the "good" characters that are penned as average-looking, they still need to be attractive actors, so the audience is sympathetic to them. If they are "bad" people, they can be either attractive or unattractive, depending if you want the audience to hate them entirely, or be strangely attracted to the bad-boy or bad-girl image. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm not an expert, but I doubt it. Most fly-by-wire systems are triple or quadruple independent redundant systems. I used to work at a corporation that manufactured military jets, and anytime someone mentioned fly-by-wire, it was preceded or anteceded by "x-redundant". The first thing people would question with the systems was "what happens in signal-loss?", and I guess the insiders got so tired of it, they started mentioning redundancy at the same time as they mentioned fly-by-wire. Lightening could take out three or four-redundant systems, but I'm inclined to believe that something else happened. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Imaginative and heartfelt, lots of humor and the excellent animation and sound that one expects of Pixar. The "short" is also well done. UP is my new favorite Pixar movie. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You obviously have no idea just how many zombies there are going to be after armageddon! If gun-control nuts like you get their way, then us law-abiding citizens that need to protect our families from those millions of undead will barely have enough rounds for one head-shot each Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Bag search, and assigned seating in London! I was used to assigned seats from the theater, but for movies? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'll side with Rookie here - movie theaters are enough of a vertical market that this policy will drive the theater out of business. Then another one will open that doesn't search bags, and the few people that think paying $10 for the privilege of watching 20 minutes of television before 10 minutes of previews before a poorly executed film will start going to the theater again. Of course, they'll still sneak in their snacks to hedge the cost of the ticket. Of course, if it was a utopian capitalistic market, the movie industry would figure out that if they fixed a few basic flaws in their process, more people would go, and theaters wouldn't have to rely on overpriced junk food to make a profit. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I was once called to give a presentation on Hybrid-electric power (for city buses) to Barbra Bush. I spent two months preparing for it. On the day of the presentation, her staff cancelled it in favor of a tour (I think of the Coors Brewery?) Anyway, that's how it works with White House agendas. They plan more than they can do, actually do what they can, then cancel everything else. I didn't take it personally. I like Barbra Bush, I think she's a neat lady, and I thought her husband was a pretty good president. I'm sure the kindergarteners will be just as happy getting an ice-cream cone. When the right-wingers get bored of this story, they'll have hundreds more of the same type of story to pick and choose from - Obama snubs homeless pet shelter, Omaba snubs gay-pride activists, etc. The same thing could be said of any past POTUS. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just so I am clear, what do you define as homeopathy? There is a very strict definition, involving diluted preparations of herbs and plants. But then, I thought you already included chiropractic in the same genre? Or was I wrong about that? It sounds like you champion western medicine, and there's nothing wrong with that, IMO. But are you also labelling chiropractic, acupuncture, and all other non-western medicines as homeopathy? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You have choices. Here is an example, if you want to mail a letter from California to Florida: 1. Post office - about 3 days. Cost 44 cents. 2. FedEx - Ground, about a week, cost, about $7. Express 3-day saver: cost, $9-10 3. UPS - Ground, about five days. Cost, about $6. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've lived in CO for most of my life, and once I saw state troopers escorting ELK along the shoulder of C-470, just to keep them out of traffic until they could clear some fence and get back to the foothills. I was doing about 75 MPH at the time in a small car, and I had some visions of what it would look like if a small car collides with a full-grown elk at 75 Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I really feel that if McCain won, we wouldn't be talking about torture at all. It wouldn't have come up. Instead, we would be focusing on how to invade North Korea. Change is in finally admitting that we've been doing some things wrong. I commend Obama - to me, this is an easy choice, because there is no value in releasing photos, other than to satisfy the voyeuristic needs of the public (which has no value). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

And what is the basis of your fact? I'm not disagreeing with you, but I disagree with your assertion of your own opinion as fact. Homeopathy has a broad and varying definition - what parts are you calling BS? I'm convinced that what hospitals recommend has more to do with making money and reducing their own liability, than what actually works. Many U.S. insurance companies now accept and pay for chiropractic treatment, not because anyone's proved that chiropractic "works", but because it's cheaper than the alternatives. Western medicine doesn't hold much more advantage than other medicines as a whole - most medicinal practices rely on the human body to recover by itself, with the focus on resolving symptoms, not curing the disease. But like religions, medical dogmas and evangelists will continue to tout their cure as the only real cure, and everyone else as snake-oil salesmen. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Instead of beginning with the assumption that the people questioned are terrorists, start with the assumption that you don't really know. For some people, that's a difficult first assumption to make, especially if race and/or religion is involved. If you can get there, then it's much easier to remember that torturing someone into a confession doesn't prove anything other than people don't like to be tortured. I'll tell you whatever I think you want to hear if you're torturing me. Or I'll just make something up if I think it'll make you stop. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Well, now we've moved from a non-parental perception to advice on child-rearing, where this thread was destined to go, anyway, I suppose To me, there's a difference between infant screaming and toddler screaming, and I do not believe in striking either life-form. For infant screaming, I recommend the following video: The Happiest Baby on the Block Premise - babies, in the first year of life, when they are stressed, need to feel secure, just like they are back in the womb. Simulate those conditions, and most times, baby will stop screaming/crying. For toddlers, I recommend the following video: The Happiest Toddler on the Block Premise - toddlers, in the second to fourth year of life, when they are stressed, need to feel empathy for their emotions first, then they can be reasoned with. Echo back their own emotions, and they know that you are feeling empathetic. After that, you can reason with them. By applying some reason and child psychology, you can avoid acting like a bully to your own children. It does work. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yes, it's worse. See, nature has programmed parents to be especially receptive to the screaming of their own children, and has also programmed the children to know exactly the frequencies to use to trigger the greatest amount of pain in their parents ears. They say that parents know the sound of their own children. That's because it hurts more Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Idle question. If the parents had taken the girl to a western medical skin specialist, followed the prescribed treatment, and she still died of eczema, how would you classify the death (I assume, not Voodoo)? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I hope the Utah school board is ready to go to war with the Scots. Be cannie - those ur fightin' words . Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

More importantly, who at the school is in charge of staring at the photo with a magnifying glass for hours trying to figure it out? At my high school, we had a kinda perverted Vice Principle that would definitely volunteer for the job. Thank God, today, we have the Internet, so we can all judge for ourselves. The photo is available on-line. I will not post a link to it, because I feel it crosses the line on the subject of pedophilia. But I will post a pic of the girl and her mom sharing a bong: http://www.blippitt.com/sickles-yearbook-photo-girl-smokes-weed-with-mom-photos Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I feel like choosing sides today. Hmmmm, married POTUS who lied about extra-marital sex, or POTUS that condones repeated drowning of people that were suspected of terrorism. Hmmm, still thinking. Lied about sex. Or: Beats up and drowns arab people. Hmmm. I realize that this is a difficult decision for some people. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Debt is more typically categorized into three or more levels (example, high chance of collection, medium chance, low chance). Then is it sold in blocks (perhaps 1,000 debtees), but blocks are typically a mix of the levels, so you calculate your percentages, then make a bid on the block. Sometimes block debt is all one category, depending on who originates the debt, but it's harder to sell that way. In the case of a very large company, they care less about the sale value of the block than the write-off, so they'll organize it in the easiest way. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This is unsecured loans. For secured loans, the legal process is long, but eventually, you will get the majority of your money back (minus legal expenses). People talk about credit cards being unsecured loans, because it's the first thing that comes to mind. Another big area where people default - phone bills. Sprint was one of our biggest customers for block sale of unsecured debt. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've seen about half-dozen shows. O was my favorite (helped to have front-row seats), but they're all pretty good. You can't really go wrong, and you won't be disappointed by Ka. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Greeeat. Now, my mom will be calling me saying, can you show me how to use the tweeter thingy on my computer? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Phone-y phone drive. Scam telemarketers pick issues that people are passionate about (guns, abortion, all the topics in Speaker's Corner), and then solicit money over the phone. I once gave money to an organization that said they helped disabled police officers. After they cashed my check, they sent me several notices saying they never received the money, so please send more. I looked them up, and they didn't exist. It was just a scam for taking money from people. http://www.nypost.com/seven/12312008/news/regionalnews/phoney_charities_146595.htm According to this article, 60% of money collected never reaches anyone in need. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I agree with you. If you map out the genes, it seems your copy of the presentation should be copyright-able, but not the actual sequence. After all, a history writer cannot copyright actual historical events, but can copyright a history of them that he/she has compiled. Human DNA exist in nature, and that should not be copyrightable or patentable. But if you want to sequence (or create a copy) of a human gene, that process should be patentable. If it was either/or, I would side with patents over copyrights. The reason is that a patent will expire in 20 years, so eventually, they'll be back in public domain. Copyrights have proven good, effectively, forever (reference Supreme court rulings about an 80-year-old mouse cartoon). Lesser of evils to go with the patent. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD