I'm in New York, and got Idaho, Illinois, Delaware, Ohio, Georgia, and Alaska.
I agree that it was a statistics quiz; I just hope I didn't screw up their results too badly, because I'm pretty sure I was Doing It Wrong.
I mean, are you supposed to average out the likelihood of something wildly improbable happening (e.g., Obama winning Idaho) when in conjunction with something almost certain happening (e.g., McCain winning Alaska)?
In my brain, that works out to about 50%, but that also seems less than useful as a measuring tool, as a result...
I have a small framed watercolor print of Mont St. Michel, which I visited half a lifetime ago and was so impressed by I didn't even know what to do with it. I don't think my mouth closed completely the entire time I was there.
I bought the print at one of the half-bazillion gift shops that lined the town's twisty streets. It was nothing special, not even a real watercolor - only a print of one - but the colors were soft and warm and vaguely Impressionistic and the artist had added a boat in the foreground, lying on its side on the empty floodplain that surrounds the city, and something about it struck me more than the seventy gazillion ultra-realistic photos of the place also being sold there.
Since then it's hung in every single one of the (many) homes I've had.
It value is practically nothing, money-wise, but if I woke up and my house was on fire, this picture is one of the things I would grab before running for the door. To me, it's not so much a picture of a place I've been, as it is a reminder that there is magic and adventure in the world, and I got to have some.
All I can say is, if you watched Air Force One for plot cohesiveness, you were watching it for entirely the wrong reasons.
From my grandmother, quoting I know not who:
Do not compare yourself with others, lest you grow vain or bitter; the race is long, and sooner or later you realize it's only with yourself.
I remember the first time I read Michael Stackpole's Pulling Report it blew my mind that there were people out there capable of swallowing crap like this whole.
Stackpole still, in my mind, has the best explanation of why these people are the way they are:
One of the most dangerous aspects of a magical world view is that it repopulates our world with demons that can force us to do things we do not want to do. As a result, adults no longer have to accept responsibility for themselves or their unruly children. Whereas the line, “The devil made me do it,†brought laughs twenty years ago, now it is seen as a defense for murder, an excuse for suicide and a shelter from blame for a host of other crimes.
Worst of all, this magical world view brings with it a fanatical self-righteousness that slops over into accusations of diabolical duplicity when it is questioned. Doubting the existence of Satanism and a conspiracy is not just doubting the evidence for the same. It is not just doubting the word of a witness concerning sacrifices of which one can find no trace. Within the magical world view, the mere act of doubting becomes an act of treason against God. To question the existence of a worldwide Satanic conspiracy means the skeptic is either a high ranking member of that conspiracy out to spread disinformation, or a poor, pitiful, ignorant dupe of that conspiracy.
A magical world view enables a person to see relationships between things that do not exist. It invests power in things that cannot be controlled and, therefore, responsibility for actions does not have to be accepted. It creates around a believer a smug cocoon that insulates him from any fragment of reality that might disturb him. Finally, it puts everyone who dares challenge their beliefs in the camp of the Enemy in some cosmic struggle between good and evil.
In reality, a person questioning the existence of the Satanic conspiracy is merely pointing out that the emperor is wearing no clothes. In that case, one can understand why the emperor’s tailors get upset and suggest the person doing the pointing is a tool of the devil. Then the question comes down to one of whether the crowd will believe the evidence they have before them, or if they will buy into the tailors’ fantasies.
Makes me shiver, it does.
Crap, that should have been "definitively inaccurate."
Always one mistake...
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an indispensable companion to all those who are keen to make sense of life in an infinitely complex and confusing Universe, for though it cannot hope to be useful or informative on all matters, it does at least make the reassuring claim that where it is inaccurate it is definitely inaccurate. In cases of major discrepancy it's always reality that's got it wrong.
"This was the gist of the notice. It said 'The Guide is definitive. Reality is frequently inaccurate.'
"This has led to some interesting consequences. For instance, when the editors of the Guide were sued by the families of those who had died as a result of taking the entry on the planet Traal literally (it said 'Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts often make a very good meal for visiting tourists' instead of 'Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts often make a very good meal of visiting tourists'), they claimed that the first version of the sentence was the more aesthetically pleasing, summoned a qualified poet to testify under oath that beauty was truth, truth beauty and hoped thereby to prove that the guilty party in this case was Life itself for failing to either be beautiful or true.
"The judges concurred, and in a moving speech held that Life itself was in contempt of the court, and duly confiscated it from all those there present before going off to enjoy a pleasant evening's ultragolf."
The most upsetting ones are where you can't do anything except steps 1, 2 and 6.
Some years back, a friend of mine was driving (in her tiny compact car) down a residential street and got T-boned by a pickup truck that ran the stop sign right as she was crossing the intersection.
Somehow the combination of momentums (the truck's and her car's) slewed them both past the intersection so that my friend's car ended up pinned between the truck and a telephone pole, with the truck on the driver's side. Or in the driver's side, rather.
A bystander called 911 and then (at my friend's request) called us. We were only a couple of blocks from the accident so we beat the emergency response folks there by a good five minutes.
Jesus, that was horrifying. The car looked like a giant had picked it up and squeezed real hard. And because of the way it was squashed between the truck and the pole, none of us could even get near my friend, much less administer first aid. Her chest, neck and head appeared okay (as far as we could see, which wasn't very far), but her left arm was trapped in the wreckage of the door, and her entire lower half was wedged underneath what was left of the dash and steering wheel.
The only thing that kept us from completely losing our minds was that she was conscious and talking, and (apparently) lucid enough to give out phone numbers. We did the only thing we could, which was to stand in her line of sight, keep her talking, and try to be comforting presences, until the firemen got there with the Jaws of Life.
All things considered, she was very lucky - her knees will never be quite the same, and she had to have surgery twice to remove embedded glass from her jaw, but she had no internal injuries, and her left arm, amazingly, was only cut and bruised, once they freed it from the door. Crazy.
Oh, and the idiot truck driver? Nary a scratch - on her or on her three year old daughter she had in the truck with her. Yes, this woman deliberately ran a stop sign with a toddler in the vehicle. (She said it was because she was "mad at her ex-husband". There are no words.)
Storm watching has always been one of my favorite activities. One of the most annoying things to me when I lived in L.A. was the almost total lack of thunder.
When I was a kid, my mom and sisters and I were standing on our porch one day to watch a thunderstorm when lightning struck the tree directly across the street from our house - a distance of maybe 50 feet.
The craziest thing about the experience, other than the ozone tang and seeing spots for a hour afterwards, was the way the air had seemed to... bunch up a split second before the bolt struck. Like it was tensing for a blow.
So freaky.
#99 Bruce Cohen: I was hoping to find something on paper, honestly. I've been researching it via Wikipedia and similar, and after a while it makes your eyes cross. But you're right; nothing like going straight to the source.
#100 B. Durbin: That is actually fascinating, and startlingly relevant to why I'm doing this research in the first place. They got rid of the badges, but do they still do the training? If you have more sources on unconventional weapons in the Armed Forces I would dearly love to hear about it.
Also, congrats on the Dude!
#101 ajay: yeah, those are exactly the kinds of dumb questions I have about the U.S. military. I'll look into the Dunnigan book, though.
#114 Terry Karney: I would love to pick your brain, if you're willing. Can I email you?
Ooh, a question thread. I gots one:
Can anyone recommend a book/resource that is, more or less, "The U.S. Military for Dummies"?
(Checking Amazon reveals that there is, in fact, a "U.S. Military History for Dummies", but that's not the same thing.)
I'm not interested in the history. What I need is kind of a broad-strokes primer on the current armed forces and how they're set up and how they operate; ranking systems, training methods, standard equipment, etc.
The kind of thing that would answer random questions like, "Are the Marines actually trained to use swords, or are they just part of the ceremonial dress uniform?"
Stupid question, right? Well, that's what I mean. I have very much a lack of clue here. I know there are tons of ways to get this info, but it would be nice if there were one or two 101 sources to get me started.
Leah Miller @ 109:
I love the ridiculous out-of-context slang.
I used to do it with "yo" all the time. Because me saying "yo", in
any context, is automatically hilarious. Best paired with the most
bland, whitebread tone possible.
"I quite enjoyed that movie, yo."
K.C. Shaw @ 83:
I am fond of dated slang, myself. I use it to weird people out and/or make them laugh.
"Groovy" is my favorite, though it's kind of losing its
effectiveness in this regard. "Spiffy" is always good for a double-take
or two, however.
Carrie S. #35:
though as slang goes, 'cool' is practically Methuselah at this point and shows no signs of slowing down.
"Cool" really is an astonishingly enduring slangword. It's been
around since the 60s, right? And while probably 99% of the slang
current at the time is completely dated (and has been for twenty years
at least), "cool" is still, um, cool to say.
Groovy, man.
That was supposed to be "from the books by"...
Me type pretty one day.
Susanne at 82:
Guhefqnl Arkg, by the books by Wnfcre Ssbeqr?
#69 Rymenhild:
You are correct, sir/madam!
I'm glad y'all liked it. Now I have to go look up the other guesses! (Except Gbgny Erpnyy, I know that one!)
This one's probably immediately obvious, but I had fun with it anyway:
1. This covers him, defining the problem space: “The Archetypes and
The Collective Unconsciousâ€, by Carl Jung (identifying too strongly
with an archetype can lead to difficulties)
2. This crosses him, showing the nature of his challenge: "A
Midsummer Night's Dream", by Shakespeare ("The course of true love
never did run smooth.")
3. This crowns him, representing the best possible outcome: "The Once and Future King", by T.H. White (a cycle fullfilled)
4. This is beneath him, the foundation of the matter: "Othello", by
Shakespeare again (misled hatred/revenge, honor as one's undoing)
5. This is behind him, where he has been: "The Divine Comedy", by Dante Alighieri (a tour of Hell)
6. This is before him, where he is going: "Learning to Fly", by Tom
Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Well some say life will beat you down/
Break your heart, steal your crown/ So I've started out for God knows
where/ I guess I'll know when I get there")
7. The Significator, defining the Querent: (Only translate if you
want the answer given away immediately) "Guebhtu gur Ybbxvat Tynff", ol
Yrjvf Pneebyy ("Ur jnf cneg bs zl qernz, bs pbhefr--ohg gura V jnf cneg
bs uvf qernz, gbb.")
8. His environment: France, in the reign of Louis XIV ("L'etat, c'est moi")
9. His fears: "Nightfall", by Isaac Asimov (inability to accept change)
10. Culmination: "Rebel Without a Cause", 1955 (but only for the quote: "You can wake up now, the universe has ended.")
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