6 posts tagged “qotd”
Do you believe there is intelligent life on other planets?
I believe there is a possibility, but I think the odds of intelligent life on any two planets meeting are almost nil. Many people point out there are endless stars, and possibly endless planets among those stars, of which a small percentage may exhibit conditions that support life, but they do not take into account the vastness of time. The idea that two civilizations develop spacefaring technologies at the same time to facilitate a mutual peaceful exchange in this universe is silly to consider. Would the two food-pyramid kings of their respective planets be able to coexist, or would we need to establish superiority? Economy also seems to put a damper on interplanetary travel and exploration; why leave the planet, when the alternatives are so inhospitable and travel is so expensive? How would we treat progeny that grow up in the weak gravity of other planets, grandchildren who would be crushed by earth's gravity? I'm staying put, and I hope the intelligent life--if there is any--stays put as well.
What's your favorite restaurant?
I'm going to have to cheat on this because I have three, but each for different reasons. You can call me pedestrian if you want, but for me not dropping a paycheck on a meal is enough of the experience to take five star restaurants out of my lineup. I've been to some amazing restaurants, like the uber-trendy Mercer Grill in NYC, but if I paid for my meal on my old navy salary I would've been eating on ship everyday thereafter for lack of money.
- Florio's Italian Ristorante, New York City, good Italian food at a great price. I was in the navy and in New York for fleet week, and my buddies and I were hunting for authentic italian fare in Little Italy. Walking past Florio's a delightful old man called out to us and started chatting us up about our time in New York. We asked him about the food and he got so excited talking about it, he started talking in Italian. We new this was the place. Our table's wine was on the house and everyone was so friendly, the food delicious. After eating there's a well-stocked cigar bar with a huge selection of fine smokes.
- Old Spaghetti Factory, Honolulu, Hawaii, yeah it's a chain, but this one is great. It's right down from the big theater and all the shops in Hono, and there's a bar you can have drinks at while you're waiting for a table. Sure beats sitting on a wooden bench outside listening to a loudspeaker. The staff is very good and they have a fun, friendly attitude. I recommend the Baked Chicken Greek-Style with Sphagetti and Mizithra cheese.
- Norm's Chicago Dogs, Elizabethtown, KY. I love this place. These hot dogs come with massive toppings and are the best, bar none. The best thing is the owner, he's got this swagger like the 'butcher' from Gangs of New York. One time I guy picked up a big order of dogs and he looked at them before leaving, and remarked that there wasn't any ketchup on them. The owner, without batting an eye, said, "That's right. No ketchup on a chicago dog." and left it at that. No sorry, sir, you here's some packets of crap to ruin your dogs with or there's some at the end of the counter. Just that. "No ketchup on a Chicago dog!"
If you could only save one thing in a house fire (thing, not person), what would it be and why?
Submitted by donnunn.
I would 'save' the mattress. Most fires fizzle unless a mattress or couch starts to burn. If your house continues to burn, you could take the mattress to a friend's house to sleep on. That's my smarmy answer. My sentimental answer is my wife's scrapbook.
What time period would you have lived in, if you could have lived at any time?
Time is really only a way of perceiving things, a way of differentiating or delineating the space between events. Just as you can zoom in or out on the graph of a cyclic wave, so too, is the matter of time a matter of perception based around loose concepts like the length of an average day's available sunlight and the convenience of being able to divide those hours by numbers like two, three, and four. I think I have met only two people who could survive being transplanted in another time. Usually those who seem to lament about living in the past seem the least likely to make it. You can wax poetic about the past, but it's taken us this long to think that maybe concepts like racism aren't such a good thing. It's taken us this long to begin to question the idea of dying for nationalism. Most people today can't survive without air conditioning and refrigeration or fast food. People watch videos on their mobiles to keep from getting bored. Time is irrelevant.
What is your browser's default home page set to?
Submitted by Kelev T. Cat.
My wife Melissa's page. She's so good with my camera, I wish I had her sense of visual style. Setting it as my homepage keeps me in touch with real communication, so I see it first before I read all the crazy rants and news pings from my RSS feeds with google reader. Another page I recommend is popurls, which lists top feeds from all the major sources, even the top youtube and ifilm videos and flickr photos, all in one easy page with details when you rollover links with your mouse. I've been an avid fan of del.icio.us in the past,
What was the last wedding you went to? Were you in the wedding?
The last wedding I was in was the wedding of Andy Tudor and Eunsuk, and I was the best man. I had never been a best man and I didn't really know what it entailed, and I remember looking online to find out what I should do and how best to prepare. The reception was in a mind-blowingly large room at one of Lexington's upscale hotels. I mean, you could play regulation football in this room. And, there was no speakers, no mic, no multbox. It was just me to deliver the speech. The table with the cake was thirty feet from the nearest guest table. I could barely see the last table, with the curvature of the earth at the horizon and all. And I had to give my little speech. Have you ever heard an old speech from the days before microphones? Look for a copy of an old speech from Theodore Roosevelt, or even Franklin D. Roosevelt, and you can tell the politicians were much more akin to opera singers than the thoughtful pondering mumblers of today. I tried and tried to project my voice, but I could tell that I just wasn't getting there.
Later I talked to one of Andy's friends, and he said "I couldn't hear what you said, but your voice rose and fell nicely, I'm sure it was a great speech."
When Melissa and I have a formal ceremony, I'll grin knowingly at my best man as he tries to shout to the crowd.
