The questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread VI

[dutchfire]

That's marginal.

Well, how would you define "star" then?

 

[Cutlass]

Well, how would you define "star" then?

Just that from the articles I've seen some, but not all, brown dwarfs are on the edge of fusion, and there may or may not be small amounts of fusion going on. Just not sufficiently large quantity of fusion for the dwarf to glow. So, AFAIK, they're on the margin between tiny stars and mega planets.

 

[Flying Pig]

What is the origin of the term 'roger', as in 'roger the order, sir'?

 

[Cutlass]

What is the origin of the term 'roger', as in 'roger the order, sir'?

Roger is a word used in one prominent radio alphabet to stand for the letter R. These alphabets use words to represent letters; such alphabets are known as "radio alphabets" or "phonetic alphabets," among other names, and are used for many different languages. The alphabet in which Roger stands for R begins "Able Baker Charlie Dog...," and was the official radio alphabet of the U.S. Navy before 1954. Another familiar alphabet, the NATO phonetic alphabet, which is used by the International Civil Aviation Organization and the Federal Aviation Administration, begins "Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta"; this alphabet uses Romeo for R. There is a page devoted to these alphabets here.

The R that Roger is substituting for stands for received, indicating that a radio message has been received and understood. The use of radio-alphabet terms to stand for other words is common in the military; roger is a well-known example, and another example is Charlie referring to Viet Cong troops, which comes from Victor Charlie, a radio-alphabet spelling of VC for Viet Cong.

Wilco is not from a radio alphabet; it's a military abbreviation for will comply, indicating that a message that has been received will be complied with. It's necessary to acknowledge receipt of a message with Roger before indicating compliance with wilco, hence the frequent combination Roger, wilco.

Both Roger in this sense and wilco appear for the first time during World War II

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006013005242

A number of terms became common simply because they were easy to distinguish on early radios.

 

[Grisu]

ok, the term has come up in the Pelosi and/or Obama threads that swamp OT recently, but I didn't dare asking in there

so here's the question: what is "Astroturfing"?

 

[kulade]

ok, the term has come up in the Pelosi and/or Obama threads that swamp OT recently, but I didn't dare asking in there

so here's the question: what is "Astroturfing"?

It's supposed to be a fake "grassroots" movement, meaning that although common people are demonstrating against X policy, its only because Y political or business entity funded or supported it. When Pelosi calls the teabaggers' protests astroturf, she's saying that those people have been persuaded to demonstrate for ulterior motives and are not really concerned with whatever's actually going on.

 

[Ulyaoth]

How would I go about changing what I'm registered as for voting? Would it be an annoying long process with lots of mailing things in? I registered as a libertarian for laughs but now they're constantly sending me letters asking for money and signatures and for me to go to some picnic or something and it's pissing me off.

Also, could I get in trouble for having forgotten to fill out a jury duty survey? They'll just send another one right?

 

[Supr49er]

... Also, could I get in trouble for having forgotten to fill out a jury duty survey? They'll just send another one right?

You could be in trouble if it was for Federal Court.

 

[Cutlass]

How would I go about changing what I'm registered as for voting? Would it be an annoying long process with lots of mailing things in? I registered as a libertarian for laughs but now they're constantly sending me letters asking for money and signatures and for me to go to some picnic or something and it's pissing me off.

Also, could I get in trouble for having forgotten to fill out a jury duty survey? They'll just send another one right?

Most localities have a registrar of voters at the town hall. You can find the location in your local phone book. Just go down to the office and they'll give you a form to fill out.

 

[Ulyaoth]

Another question. Is there any job that you could become a millionaire doing other than lawyers doctors and business? It seems the only people that become rich are either some entertainers of some sort or punk business people who do nothing but move money around for other people's ideas and work.

 

[Elrohir]

Another question. Is there any job that you could become a millionaire doing other than lawyers doctors and business? It seems the only people that become rich are either some entertainers of some sort or punk business people who do nothing but move money around for other people's ideas and work.

Lottery winner? Drug dealer?

I'm not sure what you're looking for. Pretty much any path to enormous financial success requires either a special skill, extreme luck, or hard work, or some combination of those things. If there were some easy path to success that you didn't have to be lucky to get or work hard to achieve, everyone would take it.

 

[Ulyaoth]

Uh, the whole point of my question is that hard work and skill alone doesn't get you extreme success. I'm just thinking, in my current major(mechanical engineering) it doesn't seem likely I'll be more than successful, even if I do go and come up with some great idea, likely I'd need capital from some businessman who will take control or steal the idea.

 

[Cutlass]

Uh, the whole point of my question is that hard work and skill alone doesn't get you extreme success. I'm just thinking, in my current major(mechanical engineering) it doesn't seem likely I'll be more than successful, even if I do go and come up with some great idea, likely I'd need capital from some businessman who will take control or steal the idea.

That's not necessarily true. If you have an idea, and make certain all of your work on it is on your own time, then it looks salable enough to attract venture capital, then you work a contract that lets you come out pretty well.

 

[GoodGame]

That's not necessarily true. If you have an idea, and make certain all of your work on it is on your own time, then it looks salable enough to attract venture capital, then you work a contract that lets you come out pretty well.

Or simply just patent your side ideas. Problem is some employee contracts try to make claims on any IP you come up with while working for the company.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

Another question. Is there any job that you could become a millionaire doing other than lawyers doctors and business? It seems the only people that become rich are either some entertainers of some sort or punk business people who do nothing but move money around for other people's ideas and work.

snicker

If I were you I'd try and find something that lands 100,000 first and then worry about being a millionaire.

 

[Sashie VII]

Another question. Is there any job that you could become a millionaire doing other than lawyers doctors and business? It seems the only people that become rich are either some entertainers of some sort or punk business people who do nothing but move money around for other people's ideas and work.

If you have creativity in abundance, strong imagination and excellent writing skills, you can write bestsellers. Of course, it's not that simple, but you get what I mean.

 

[Flying Pig]

Another question. Is there any job that you could become a millionaire doing other than lawyers doctors and business? It seems the only people that become rich are either some entertainers of some sort or punk business people who do nothing but move money around for other people's ideas and work.

Whatever the US equivalent to the Chief of the General Staff is?

 

[Phlegmak]

Uh, the whole point of my question is that hard work and skill alone doesn't get you extreme success. I'm just thinking, in my current major(mechanical engineering) it doesn't seem likely I'll be more than successful, even if I do go and come up with some great idea, likely I'd need capital from some businessman who will take control or steal the idea.

Ha! Hard work + skill + saving is the best path to wealth. Just forget the etertainment industry as if it didn't exist for you.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Does these forums censor the word starting in "bug" and ending in "r"?

 

[Flying Pig]

No they don't. It's probably infractible though (is that even a word?)