Big Big Question

Everyone always talks about meeting your past self…but what would you warn/remind your future self about, if you were able to travel forward in time a number of years?

I read yesterday in the Metro that new cooling fans were being placed at a number of underground stations. Took them long enough! The article also stated that Mayor Boris was looking at ways of implementing Air conditioning onto the underground.Within the article it stated that there were issues getting air con onto underground trains. As cities such as Barcelona have air con on their metro line I wondered if someone knew what these issues were?

Why is co2 always seen as a problem and not a useful resource? For instance large water tanks or reservoirs could be built inside or adjacent to power plants, pumped full of plant life (eg plankton)and exposed to sunlight. The co2 could then be pumped into the water and used to promote photosynthesis thus creating O2 and energy. Why is this not being considered as a possible solution to co2 emissions?

What thing should everyone own, but most people don’t?

The united States Government tortures people. Do they contract this work out or do they do it inhouse ie the military? What is the phsycological profile of the people who torture. Are they given special instruction?

I’m not talking about muttered questions like, “Now, where did I put my keys?”, grading, such as “Good job, me!” or knee-jerk curses, such as “Fucking weather!”

I’m talking about the sort of statements you’d normally make to another person, such as “Damn, this elevator is really slow!” or “When are people going to understand?” I realize these could knee-jerk ejaculations, but they could also be person-to-person communications.

I got in trouble once, on Metafilter, because I mentioned that I mostly hear African Americans talking to themselves like this. So let me make a few disclaimers: first, I don’t think talking-to-yourself is bad or stupid. In fact, I strongly suspect it’s natural. I never talk to myself, which is why I’m asking this question. But I bet I don’t do it because I’ve been trained to be self-conscious. I’d be mentally healthier if I could let that go.

About the race comment: it’s simply true IN MY EXPERIENCE. I live in a “mixed” neighborhood in Brooklyn. When I walk around the area, I almost never hear white people talking to themselves. On the other hand, I’m continually passing black people who make comments. I’m not judging; I’m just noticing. I’m guessing that there’s some (good and natural) component of black, urban culture that doesn’t repress this natural urge.

I also hear self-talking much more from black men than from black women; but in general, I hear it much more from blacks than from whites — regardless of gender.

My main reason for even bringing up race is a hope that “someone from the inside” — someone who grew up in (or around) black, urban culture will comment.

Here’s my question: is there a social component to this sort of talking-to-yourself?

Many times, I’ve felt that, when I pass someone who is talking to himself, he’s partly talking to me. I get this feeling, because I can see, when I’m some distance from the person, that he’s quiet. Or, possibly, he’s quietly mumbling. Then, when he passes me, he suddenly makes a loud comment. Once he’s past me, he goes quiet again.

These comments aren’t generally about me. They’re the kind of thing I listed above: “If people keep on littering, this neighborhood is going to be a mess!” or “I bet the grocery store is going to be closed!”

The guys don’t make eye-contact with me. They don’t seem to notice me at all. The only clue that they MIGHT be, on some level, talking to me is the sudden raised voice when passing.

Since this is totally alien to me (I don’t even have an urge to talk to myself), I don’t get it. But I have a few theories:

1. The commenter consciously and intentionally intends me to hear. As-far-as he’s concerned, he’s talking to me. He and I have different cultural expectations for a conversation (e.g. I expect eye contact). If this is true, am I being rude by not responding? (Should I shout back, “Yup, the grocery store is closed!”) Or is he talking to me, but not expecting a response? When he’s around the people he grew up with, do they have conversations without looking at each other, with a pretense (for lack of a better word) of talking to themselves?

2. The commenter is genuinely talking to himself and may not even notice me, but some sort of unconscious social impulse prods him to open up when he’s near another person. (I, unfortunately, have the opposite impulse: I close up around strangers, sometimes without even being very aware that I’m doing so or that there’s a stranger near me. So I understand how, as social animals, we often instinctually change our behavior when other people are around.)

3. I’m imagining things. I THINK the person is louder when I’m around, but that’s because I can’t hear him when I’m NOT around.

Has anyone (a psychologist?) studied “talking to yourself”? Do any of you do it (somewhat in the way I’m talking about) and have enough self-insight to understand what’s going on when you do it? What social forces lead to this kind of self-talking?

What’s the most vulnerable thing to a terrorist attack? What vital piece of modern infrastructure would be the easiest to take out that would affect the largest number of people? What is Homeland Security overlooking that you think would make the best action movie plot? Extra points for feasibility and not requiring coordinated simultaneous attacks.

Like most of you, I am a big fan of the internet as it exists today. However, there are a number of things about it that are quite undesirable from a technical level. The most obvious example is probably that SMTP is authentication-free and allows the vast tragedy of the commons known as spam to flourish. Personally, I also wish that most open standards that allow for multiple implementations would always include some sort of implementation / version introspection (so that, for instance, one could get rid of the bevvy of hacks that are required to detect IE inside of a style sheet).

So if you had a blank slate and the ultimate goal of winding up with something approximately like the internet, only better, what would you change about the underlying technology?

Have you played this game? What’s the deal? There aren’t any real rules — the person in charge at any time just arbitrarily picks whatever answer they like.

How can anyone possibly find this fun? Can’t you pick random nouns and adjectives out of the dictionary, put them together into whatever pairs you want, and achieve the same results? Without buying the game?

Why am I the only person I’ve ever met that hates this pathetic excuse for a board game?!

Heck yeah! The whole idea here is to make it easy for registered users to post their own questions directly without either (a) having to submit them blindly to the contact form or (b) futz with the full-on WP Admin interface.

Consequently, this here is a trial run by a non-admin, pants-on-one-leg-at-a-time account.

I’m trying out a new post-submission process. This is the live-ammo test. So, is it successful? Does it work?

Hi! I’m just testing something right now. Please ignore.

Thanks!

Josh