riddler

Watched the video. Definitely a bow. I don't buy the official explanation of two-handed handshake and Obama being taller. But back to the original post - who the Hell cares? At the highest level, customs don't matter as long as they're not insulting. Body language doesn't matter as long as it's not insulting (as in the case of Bush showing his heel to the Iraqi minister). I don't think the King would have been insulted by a slight breach of protocol. The U.S. is the most powerful and wealthiest country in the world - for heads-of-state, it's the only thing that matters. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

drug-induced schizophrenia Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Hey John, I don't understand this issue, because I don't understand the existing gun laws. I believe that everyone that legally owns a gun needs to have a license, but that each individual firearm does not need to be registered. Is that correct? If so, is the issue here that gun owners do not want to register each individual firearm? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

http://news-briefs.ew.com/2009/04/woody-harrelson.html?xid=rss-movies-Woody+Harrelson%3A+TMZ%2F%27zombie%27+tussle Dude! That must be some really good weed you're smoking these days Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

That's where I disagree. The mentality of get the bad guys before they get us is akin to acting the part of the schoolyard bully, the one kid that is so afraid everyone's going to hurt him that he goes around and beats up every other kid. It makes sense to me to kill OBL. We owe him that much. But then trying to say "this guy here looks evil, let's take over the whole country" is a logical fallicy. I don't think it takes this much money to go prove our point. OBL attacked us, let's kill him, and then protect our own borders. If we had spent 1/10th of what we have on Iraq protecting our borders before 9/11, I doubt it would have happened. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I find the polls misleading, because some of them are about banning assault weapons, and other are about requiring special background checks for handguns, and all of them get lumped by the media into "gun control". Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090410/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_war_costs This is the first let-down for me WRT the Obama agenda. I know he wanted 16 (then 19) months to get out of Iraq, and until then there is going to be continued spending there, but I really hoped we could scale down the foreign invasions. Why the Hell do we keep giving money to other countries for them to build up armies with? We gave money to Iran and Iraq, and then later went to war with them. I agree with going into Afghanistan to kill Osama Bin Laden. We don't need to spend billions doing that - go in, find him, kill him, get out, and get the military back home and protecting our own borders. Does anyone believe that after Lockheed Martin spent $65 billion to develop this project, that they are going to be OK with a measly $600 million from the US government? The F-22 isn't going away, they are going to remind the government just who is in charge (the corporations), and the government will buy more of them. Obama is going too far, trying to make everyone happy, and spending too much money. Bush told the dems to shove it for 8 years. Now Obama has a democratic congress, and he needs to tell the republicans to shove it. Let's stop the Bush-era war-mongering, use the military to protect our own country, and use taxpayer money to help US citizens. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Religion does not possess full rights to the word or concept of marriage. Both the word and the concept were around prior to the Christian bible (New Testament), the Jewish Tanakh (Old Testament), and even the Zoroastrian Avesta ("The First month of marriage is the moon of honey", where we get the phrase honeymoon), which pre-dates both the jewish and christian religions. If ancient religions want to cite the word and concept of marriage, fine. If most people in the world want to use relgious leaders to preside over weddings, fine. But that doesn't give religion exclusive rights to marriage. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

With video, please I don't even get Facebook. Too much stuff on one page. I'm slowly warming up to LinkedIn. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

In that case, do we also need to ban vehicle drivers from having conversations with passengers in the car while driving? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I have another question. If a gay marriage is legal in some states, but not others, how do those rights translate between states? Exempli gratia, two citizens of California fly to Vermont and get married, then return to California to reside. They have a legal and valid marriage license from the state of Vermont. 1. If one goes to the hospital, does the other one automatically get next-of-kin status (assuming they come in with marriage license as proof)? 2. Are they allowed to renew a California driver's license to share the same last name? I mean without having to legally change names again in California? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Equality? Why don't we bus black kids to different schools? Don't they get the same education? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

And the Vermont Legislature did it by overriding the Governor's veto. For all you California Prop 8 supporters: nyah-nyah Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

And farting at altitude make it even worse! My own scientific studies prove conclusively that flatulence at high altitude breaks down ozone faster than flatulence at sea level. And even though I just made that up, it has as much scientific validity as the article in question (i.e. none). But yeah, skydiving is bad for the environment - airplanes taking off and landing all day. That takes more fuel than cruising at altitude. BASE - good for the environment. Especially if you die, since there are too many people on the planet already. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The one time I went to interview for jury duty, more than a third of the jury candidates had initiated personal injury lawsuits themselves! Some of them obviously made a living suing corporations, and at least one of them was simultaneously suing three different companies for three different "incidents"! This was while they were trying to get on a different jury. It's a system for people that are too lazy to work. The jury are made up of at least a few people that are doing the same thing as the plaintiff. Yeah, I feel pretty bad for defendants, too. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My honest opinion? If you are limited by a budget, get a good, used minivan. You can fold down the backseat and sleep. You can use public toilets. It will get better gas mileage, and have a better resale value. They are also easier to park, and you can still camp at the KOA. If you have two or more people, plenty of extra cash for routine fixes and maintenance, no real job ('cause they take up a lot of time), and don't mind driving slowly everywhere, then by all means, get an RV Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Price is going to be high for a model that's 1-4 years old, it gets more reasonable for something 5+ years older, and when you get to 10+ years, it gets pretty decent, but expect to do more work on it. With a 3-year old model, you're not going to have too many mechanical problems, which is good for a first RV. Factor in the cost of insurance in your pricing. Also, the loans for RVs are not very good, so plan to pay it off in a few years. I have a slideout and it's never leaked, even when it rains on the open slideout. I disagree with going to a dealer - you can get a much better price with a private party sale, and the dealer will still do work on the RV, since they want the repair money, but I prefer independent mechanics. Also, if you are planning on traveling, having a dealer doesn't make any sense, since you probably won't be in the same state, anyway. Get a membership with Camping World. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Or, in the more likely scenario that you get a civil trial, tell them that you think personal liability lawsuits are the biggest waste of taxpayer dollars, and you think 99% of them should be thrown out of court for being frivolous. Considering that most judges started as lawyers, they may even escort you out of the building Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I actually do a fair amount of research on this, as diet is important to me. But OK, I'll Google now and see what you're talking about. 1. Here is a good article - One third of the average American diet is junk food, and we get 7% of our caloric intake just from soda. But hey, if you don't think junk food is all that bad for you, then this shouldn't bother you. I'm sure the owner's of McDonalds will agree whole-heartedly with your rigorous scientific analysis. 2. Dr. Sears seems to think the American diet is the major factor in both cancer and heart disease. 3. Lots of good information on this page, like the fact that our daily intake of calories has increased by 304 calories from just 25 years ago, enough to add over 30 pounds of fat every year to each American. 4. Harvard University is with me, too. "The American diet has gone astray, lured by fat-free grains, breads, and cereals that have led not to a leaner promised land but to a quagmire of flabby bodies and rising risk of diabetes, experts at the Harvard School of Public Health said Sept. 9." And these were just on the first page of Google. Search "American Diet", 37 million results, most of them look pretty unsatisfactory. What about vitamins? Well, Here's what experts in nutritional health take. Here's some advice on which vitamins to take, depending on your lifestyle. If you are a smoker, older female, if you don't eat veggies every day, etc. Personally, I take no daily vitamins or supplements. But I don't smoke, drink alcohol or coffee, I go to the gym 3-4 times a week (unless I'm sick), and I do NOT eat the Standard American Diet (SAD). I'm not in great shape, but I maintain my health, and I think I do better than most Americans. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Congratulations! Hard work to raise kids, but you're done now. I still have 17 years to go, but looking forward to all of it

Your information is as red-colored as your source. The top tax rate in the US, for individuals in 2009, is 35%, and the individual rate comes with a generous $24,000 subtraction. What tax rate are you referring to? Edit for color Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What most Americans eat is a long, long way from any kind of decent diet. Even celebrities mock green vegetables, and Americans laugh with them. The SAD (Standard American Diet) is so far beyond decent, that pills and drugs are about the only thing keeping many of them alive. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

That number was provided by the Global Footprint Network, qualifying it as a SWAG, rather than just a run-of-the-mill WAG. Here's a trend chart: http://www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php/GFN/page/world_footprint/ Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I was thinking the same thing. I recall hearing about a local bank, a few miles from my house. A lady applied for a job there, and they did a psych-eval, which said based on her profile, she was likely to rob the bank. They turned her down for the job. A week later, she came back to the bank and robbed it. Remembering this made me think that if the psych-evals are reasonably good, they should be able to flag a woman that would eventually threaten suicide, shoot up her own house, and empty a clip at other police officers. Anyway, I don't see laws (or the lack thereof) as the problem in this case. I see the police department having ineffective policies as the problem. Citizens in the US have a right to carry guns, but police officers are required to do so. They should be under more scrutiny, and they should lose their weapon for any violent misconduct. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

That number was likely derived based on everyone living the lifestyle of the average American. Most people in the world do not, and so the number is far greater. For instance, in 2005, all of humanity's ecological footprint was the equivalent of 1.3 earths, so just four years ago, we were only 30% over our sustainability. The reason that it's difficult to get actual sustainability numbers is because it depends entirely on our lifestyle. For instance, if everyone in the world suddenly became vegetarians, we could double or more the number of people that are sustainable on Earth. Lifestyle trends change too rapidly to determine what the actual number of sustainable humans on Earth really is. The UN calculates the sustainability number every year, with a three year lag to collect all the data, so this year, we'll see a 2006 sustainability number from them. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD