Archive for May, 2008
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
A year in Wal*Mart for $2 mil?
Would you spend a year locked in Wal*Mart for $2 million? Condition: you are alone, with no contact with outside world (including news), but you do get electricity and full reign over all the goods in the store.
21 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, economics, priorities by starman
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
Communicating with Aliens
It occurred to me that if we do find some kind of life on another planet, our first instinct is probably going to be try and communicate with it.
What if it is an animal with the intelligence equivalent of a dolphin, horse, or a cat?
It seems to me we have an extremely long way [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, communication, culture, scifi by drewbody
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
Some people started singing it…
What’s the worst Earworm you’ve ever heard? Which one can’t you get out of your head? How long did it stick with you?
6 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, music by dbl
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
Spare some change?
How do you handle panhandlers? Do you give cash? Do you feel guilty about it, either way? Are you actually helping, or just enabling, and is that a bad thing?
7 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, communication, culture, economics, ethics, sociology by dbl
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
Do you have an earliest memory?
It’s a common ice-breaker question: what’s your earliest memory?
I was thinking about this today, and I realized that I don’t have one. The question stymies me. I mean, I have tons of memories going way back to early childhood, but I can’t even come close to pinpointing one as the earliest. I can’t even narrow [...]
16 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, memory by grumblebee
Friday, May 23rd, 2008
Untitled
tabula rasa?
8 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, communication by dbl
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
If you are aghast at or strongly dislike our current President, what fictional undisclosed set of facts would it take for you to completely and utterly reverse your stance on George W. Bush’s actions during his Presidency?
If you are aghast at or strongly dislike our current President, what fictional undisclosed set of facts would it take for you to completely and utterly reverse your stance on George W. Bush’s actions during his Presidency?
I was reading a rather scary Radar article and came across “Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 (also known as [...]
7 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, politics by WCityMike
Monday, May 19th, 2008
What just isn’t fair?
Broad-brush topic — this could spawn a dozen future (big big) questions:
What’s not fair? Locally or globally, personally or systemically, emotionally or economically: what are some big and small things in the world that are unfair?
Bonus questions: why isn’t it fair? And if it isn’t fair, why does it persist? And who [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, philosophy by Josh Millard
Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Fools! I’ll destroy them all!
OK, you’re a mad scientist…scorned by your peers, theories discredited, a disgrace to your field.
Time to take revenge! How do you destroy your enemies, threaten the world, and generally inflict terror in the masses?
1 Comment » - Posted in bigbig, death, science, scifi by never used baby shoes
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
This too shall pass.
What are some really short phrases that you find deeply meaningful, moving or powerful?
On a lighter note than “This too shall pass”, I’ve always thought this was a brilliantly funny entry into the Five-Word-Acceptance-Speech contest:
“Fools! Release the giant robot!”
7 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, communication, language by grumblebee
Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
Who’s Your Daddy?
Well?
10 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, family by BitterOldPunk
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Is there anything for which you do not have a price?
If I offered you a million dollars (two million? three million? five thousand?) would you let me have sex with your wife? (Or husband?). Don’t answer that. That’s not my question. (Well, you can answer in email if you want, but I can actually only spare about sixty bucks right now.)
My question is the opposite. [...]
12 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, economics, priorities by grumblebee
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Do you believe that there’s any sense in which words have fixed meanings?
Yesterday and this morning, I’ve been involved in the zillionth argument of my life about words. I have these arguments (not generally the angry kind) all the time. They generally take this form:
Someone: Word X means Y.
Me: I guess it does to you. That’s not what it means to me. To me, it means Z.
Someone: [...]
6 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, communication, language, philosophy by grumblebee
Friday, May 9th, 2008
What would you like to see in your lifetime?
Contact with E.T.’s? An Old Testament sign from God? A woman president? Proof of what created the universe? Something else? What what you like to see happen before you discard your mortal coil?
11 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, death, priorities by starman
Friday, May 9th, 2008
Metapost / open thread – hi and howareya?
Taking a break from questions this morning — it feels like about time for a How Y’all Doin’ post. So? How, exactly?
Wait, those are questions. Dammit.
So, fun facts: we’ve just hit 1,500 comments. Zounds! And 132 questions so far. Which is not a round number but I’m still [...]
25 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, meta by Josh Millard
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
Are you a member of a team? Do you think all people are team-members?
I’ve noticed a big difference between people: some people (most people?) think of themselves and others as part of a team; others don’t. For me, it’s been very tough to bridge this difference. The two frameworks seem incompatible.
By teams, I mean categories like male, female, black, white, American and so on.
I don’t identify with any [...]
9 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, sociology by grumblebee
Monday, May 5th, 2008
Cell phone carriers
Who is your current cell phone carrier, and what do you like and dislike about them?
9 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, communication by IndigoRain
Monday, May 5th, 2008
Do people really feel like they’ve wasted their youth?
Don’t get me wrong: I’m in my 40s, and there are tons of ways I wish my life were different: I wish I was richer for one thing, and if I’d taken a different career path in my 20s, I probably would be. But that doesn’t make me feel like I wasted my youth. Truth [...]
7 Comments » - Posted in bigbig, philosophy, priorities, sociology by grumblebee
Monday, May 5th, 2008
What’s wrong with your neighborhood?
Whether you live exactly where you want to or you’re stuck somewhere you dislike for the time being, there’s got to be at least a few things you dislike about your neighborhood (or your town, or your secluded wilderness compound, or…).
So what bugs you about where you live right now? What would you change [...]
11 Comments » - Posted in bigbig by Josh Millard
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
The Underqweary:
Vital, necessary research here:
Boxers or briefs? Or something else? Why? When? What made the change for you? Do you maintain a hybrid schedule? Do you have a word in what your partner chooses?
(Also, hey, look under there! Yes. Yes. I just made you say “under where”. Happy Friday!)