Phi for All

Laughter is good, ignorance is just lazy. Many people think a lack of confrontation is a good thing and they live their lives looking for the status quo. I look at every mistake, difficult situation and confrontation as a chance to learn a little bit more. You take everything as seriously as it merits, and you smile about the rest. In business I've gone into meetings with clients who are purple-in-the-face mad at something that's happened. I know as long as I just face the problem head-on and listen to their version I can not only fix the problem but usually walk away with an even better relationship with that client. It's obvious you don't know our AzurePhoenix. "Serious" is just a tighter grip on your throat for Azure.

If you're here to discuss ideas then welcome. If you joined solely to direct traffic to your blog then we're not interested in marketing for you. I objected most to the wording in your other thread: like you just happened across it and had nothing to do with blogging it in the first place.

vurdlak, if all your posts are going to be aimed at your blog (and so far they are), you will be deemed inconsistent with our purpose and banned.

Because you make fun of janitor/ballerinas! My performance in Swab Lake paid for my college tuition, buster!

Suction cups moving your windshield into place would be attached on the outside, and the fog from your heater is forming on the inside. The circles may have been from manufacturer's information stickers which were removed either at the factory or the dealership. Have you tried cleaning the inside of the windshield with ammonia or vinegar? There could be some kind of film caused by off-gassing from your carpet or vinyl dashboard. Perhaps the film formed before the stickers were removed and now you see it when it fogs up.

This reminds me of a guy I know who is a nuclear physicist down at Los Alamos National Laboratory. When he and his wife visit here in Colorado he just loves to wear his bib overalls into a small town bar and tell people who ask that he's a rocket scientist.

I sell various products and services using an online database and a VOIP phone line that gives me unlimited long distance calls. I make a base pay plus commissions and benefits. I work from home so I love the lack of micromanagement. I don't get much office socialization but I see my family a lot more and the time I save driving to an office is spent socializing with the neighbors.

I love the way author James Burke relates history to science and traces the pathways of how one thing led to another. Like how banana republics got their name or how ether first became recognized as an anesthetic agent. He's a clear example of how one can take the pieces of a broad education and fit them together like a jigsaw puzzle to explain the world around us.

I see where you're coming from on consistency, but does it stop with the web or do you ban ALL pictures of kids without their clothes?

If you are truly looking out for yourself, you will realize that a statement like, "I will not use it later on in life" is pure conjecture. Trying to relate history to hard science can be difficult but one can gain a better perspective of both by doing so. Since you take things by the perspective of power, how much more power will you have (or not have) over your colleagues in the work force by knowing more or having a better grasp of a situation because your knowledge base is broader?

I'm pretty sure ku is talking about sites on the web. He even mentions pictures. But I do find it confusing that he talks about sites and pictures and ends with a general question about banning all nudism. I would say that you can only go so far in policing what is in people's minds. I personally find some pictures of women in lingerie to be more erotic than total nudity. Similarly, I'm sure many pedophiles prefer pictures of kids in their underwear. Should we ban all the department store ads for Underoos? I don't mean this as a strawman. The intent of the viewer is an important part of the issue here, as well as the law. Sexually explicit pictures of kids are quite a bit different than pictures of kids playing on the beach who happen to be nude. I know it's a Slipperry Slope argument, but keep up this line of thought and parents will soon face jail for owning photos of their kids in the bath tub.

This year, both Groundhog Day and the State of the Union Address fall on the same day. For those who have trouble telling them apart, one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of scant intelligence for a forecast of future events, and the other involves a groundhog. This has been Views on the News, please resume thinking.

Prohibition will just encourage a black market. Humans want what others tell them they can't have, especially when younger. Leave them legal but restricted and educate people about the short and long-term effects, preferably in grade school. Semi-off-topic, I quit smoking twelve years ago this month, and I can tell you that, like alcoholism, no pack+ per day smoker can make a rational argument for or against until they've quit for a few months and flushed their system completely. You can't possibly imagine how much better you feel, how much more flavorful food tastes, how much better the whole world smells until you've experienced it in contrast to when you were smoking.

Limericks! There once was a guy named JustStuit whose outlook on life was, "Oh, screw it!" But compared to a few, this guy had a clue, and that was what helped him get through it!

"Infinite_gir?" That's a lot of Gir!

A young man and an old man were having lunch. The young man asked, "So what do you do all day now that you're retired?" The old man said, "Well, I try to have a little fun each day. For example, the other day I went into town and went into a shop. I was only in there for about 5 minutes, when I came out there was a cop writing out a parking ticket. I went up to him and said, 'Come on man, how about giving a senior citizen a break?' "He ignored me and continued writing the ticket. I called him a Nazi turd. He glared at me and started writing another ticket for having worn tires. So I called him a sh*thead. He finished the second ticket and put it on the windshield with the first. Then he started writing a third ticket. This went on for about 20 minutes. The more I abused him, the more tickets he wrote." The old man chuckled and said, "Personally, I didn't care. I came into town by bus."

Welcome to all the new folks! We're glad to have you and hope you enjoy, learn and share in equal proportions.

I was a very happy person. My wonderful girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year, and so we decided to get married. There was only one little thing bothering me...It was her beautiful younger sister. She always wore miniskirts, and generally was bra-less. She would regularly bend down when she was near me, and I always got more than a pleasant view of her private parts. It had to be deliberate. She never did it when she was near anyone else. One day her "little" sister called and asked me to come over to check the wedding invitations. She was alone when I arrived, and she whispered to me that she had feelings and desires for me that she couldn't overcome. She told me that she wanted to make love to me just once before I got married and committed my life to her sister. Well, I was in total shock, and couldn't say a word. She said, "I'm going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you want one last wild fling, just come up and get me." I was stunned and frozen in shock as I watched her go up the stairs. When she reached the top she pulled off her panties and threw them down the stairs at me. I stood there for a moment, then turned and made a beeline straight to the front door. I opened the door, and headed straight towards my car. Lo and behold, my entire future family including my fiance was standing outside, all clapping! With tears in his eyes, my father-in-law hugged me and said, "We are very happy that you have passed our little test. We couldn't ask for a better man for our daughter. Welcome to the family." I learned a valuable lesson that day: Always keep your condoms in your car.

When threads straddle different disciplines, I have no objections to moving threads around to garner specialized input (and sometimes taking politics out of the picture makes responses less hostile).

Objective reasoning doesn't apply when we can't know all the subjective underlying motivations. Politicians have so many reasons for what they argue for that may involve deals and considerations that aren't part of public information. Some of those reasons may actually be logical, but unless we know the whole story we can't judge them.

Bravo JohnB, masterfully done.

Start some threads in General Science and if there is enough interest anything is possible.

Oh, now THERE'S a practical skill set.... If you're wondering why people don't invite you to parties anymore, I think I know the answer.

Ben tian sheng de yi dui rou!