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Answer and be ignored. Like the "Ask Obama" questions!


well, maybe. But you can pull this trick once only.

If this is what is going to happen, the next President or Prime Minister who will want to do something similar will have to promise he will follow through, or he/she will be made fun of.


> But you can pull this trick once only.

Nope. You can pull it again and again. Some folks will notice but they'll be ignored because folks really want to believe.

As the song goes "And I'll get on my knees and pray We don't get fooled again" but you know how that ended....

For example, the last time immigration was a hot topic in the US, we passed an amnesty together with a promise to secure the borders so there wouldn't be an explosion of illegal immigration. The result was an amnesty and no change in enforcement, so there was an explosion in illegal immigration because the "huddled masses yearning to mow lawns" rightly figured out that there'd be calls for another amnesty. And yes, the amnesty advocates are promising enforcement this time too. (The more honest are saying that they won't offer enforcement first because they can't get amnesty if enforcement works.)


"Some folks will notice but they'll be ignored because folks really want to believe."

The UK doesn't really have a significant number of people who vocally and unwaveringly support particular political parties. This may be because there is a greater proportion of political cynics in the UK, or perhaps it merely appears that way because of our smaller population.

Regardless, the way politicians are portrayed in the media, and the general perception of politicians in general, is almost entirely negative.


> The UK doesn't really have a significant number of people who vocally and unwaveringly support particular political parties.

Oh really? Half of the Labor/Conservative vote isn't reliable?

In any event, the belief at issue need not be in a political party but in "what govt does".


"Oh really? Half of the Labor/Conservative vote isn't reliable?"

No; but people vote for what they consider the least worst option, not because they actually like the politicians. There's certainly very little vocal support for them!


> Males report having sexual fantasies earlier in development (average age of onset 11.5 years)

I find that figure to be surprisingly high. My first dream that was definitely sexual was when I was 7 going on 8, in the second grade.

> today’s Internet pornography scene, where zero is left to the imagination.

I disagree. The primary psychological goal of porno seems to be for the viewer to imagine one of the actors as themselves, and/or the other actor(s) as those the viewer knows or sees. The amount of clothing, the level of visual detail, and the nature of the sexual acts performed are merely to cater to the viewer's tastes.


May I ask; how old are you now? (your past recall seems pretty damn good if you can remember back so far)

As it stands I'd say 7/8 seems young; well, for men (it might be reasonable for women).

My work is in computer forensics and we often have children's computers to examine. In my limited observation sexual interest develops around 10/11 in boys and 8/9 in girls (this is based on searches for porn or sexy pics so in no way conclusive).

> The primary psychological goal of porno seems to be for the viewer to imagine one of the actors as themselves, and/or the other actor(s) as those the viewer knows or sees.

As you can imagine (given the above job) we also see a lot of porn. And I would say you are right. POV pornography is extremely popular - probably the most common type of porn people watch.


OT, but how far back in your youth can you remember? I ask this because I described my earliest memory to my mother and she confirmed that at that time I must have been no more than 18 months old. It was an apartment we lived in during a brief period of separation from my father, when she went AWOL with me, and she swore she never told anyone where we have been for those few weeks.

I also remember a day when my brother took me on his motorcycle because I was sitting on the gas tank and it burned my thighs. Turns out my brother left for the U.S. when I was 2 years old.

My aunt has letters I wrote to her when I was 4, and those I remember like it was yesterday. The first letter has punctures in it because it was the day I found out that you couldn't write a letter on the carpet, and needed a hard surface behind it to keep the pencil from puncturing it.


FWIW, I remember almost nothing from before 6. I can remember a few extended memories aged 6, then quite a lot from about 8 onwards. The absolute earliest memory I can dredge up is age 5 but we're talking a mere snatch of an image. I have bizarre time and memory dilation issues in any case so my brain isn't quite representative of the norm!

My father, on the other hand, goes to the other extreme and claims to remember being in his pram in the garden at about 18 months old and not being able to understand the noises being made by other people around him.


Yea, I think it's all relative. I know people who remember little from before the age of 6, and I find that to be almost disturbing...I remember most everything from 4 onward, and my earliest memory involves me wanting a particular sort of diaper (the pig ones!), so I imagine I was pretty young at the time.


Just a guess, but I think maybe girl's search that young to explore why society is so obsessed with beautiful/sexy women and to learn more about society's expectations of themselves.. I, perhaps naively, think that they are not searching for stimulating experiences like boys likely are.


I'm 22 now. The girl was very cute at the time.


A bit off-topic, but do you have clear recolection of other dreams at that age (or younger) or does this one just stand out because of its nature? I have a terrible long term memory and I can hardly recall everyday things from that long ago, much less one specific dream.


I recall all of my more eventful dreams from that age (and younger, but only back to 5 or 6), and that particular dream was definitely a welcomed shock to my young mind at the time.


A: What compensation...blah blah blah?

B: 80 would be great.

$80k/yr -> $80/hr.


A serendipitous negotiation technique that not all witty and lucky interviewees would like to share. Great input, nonetheless. =)


Most negotiating techniques will work better when you're negotiating directly with the CEO, instead of HR or the hiring manager... :)


working only half-time (1000 hrs/year) at $80/hour would yield $80k/year. that would be a very decent lifestyle in the US.


The eMac is back!


Conspicuous consumption.


  Fix issue 1, rename store.del() to store.remove()
  marcuswestin (author)
  18 minutes ago
Will the API be stabilized? Or can you alias method names in cases like this, rather than clobbering them?


It's a sixty line JS file that's been online for less than a day. I don't think API stability is a major concern at this point.


erlanger: you can consider the API stable now.


> It seems like over the past few years we've definitively decided on B.C.E. and C.E. instead.

I don't think that is the case. Amongst recently published works of history that I have read (1st ed. books), from some very reputable publishers (Cambridge, Oxford, UC, etc), I have only seen BC/AD in use.


Were those sites developed prior to this experiment? If so, it sounds more like dumping assets than flipping anything.


> some penchant for buying any food

> set himself on fire in bed

> uncontrollable giggle

I wonder, what could possibly lead to such things?


Living with one's mother?


What were the negotiations? Was it a salesman-customer interaction, or were the two on even footing?


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