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

[SS-18 ICBM]

But fine, if you insist: You could argue with some justification that marriage is a purely social construction, which is recognized by the government for reasons of social benefit. But since society at large does not believe in gay marriage (At the very least, it generally fails when it comes to a vote) government recognition of gay marriage is effectively a governmental imposition of unwanted cultural values, something which is arguably Not The Government's Job in a democracy. We generally think of governments as serving the people, not telling them that they should hold different values -- especially when it concerns the allocation of privileges, rather than fundamental human rights. (I actually do think that government recognized marriage is a privilege, not a fundamental human right -- although the equally strong counterpoint is that even if marriage isn't a right, equality and fair treatment are, which would count against the unfair denial of privileges just as much as rights)

Excellent points. You always have been one of the better posters.

 

[Communisto]

Black Stuff: Good or not good to be coughing up? (I quit smoking cigarettes recently)

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

I'd say good, might be all that tar getting expectorated. I don't think there are many conditions where the lungs would bleed and the blood then coagulates. Still, you'd better ask a doctor to be sure.

 

[PeteAtoms]

If you haven't eaten anything that you might cough up that was black going down, I don't know. But black stuff in vomit is usually the result of bleeding in the stomach. I'm not sure if blood looks black if it originates in the lungs however... I would ask a doctor.

 

[GinandTonic]

Black Stuff: Good or not good to be coughing up? (I quit smoking cigarettes recently)

When you quit this happens. No idea if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but it's a fact of life.

 

[PeteAtoms]

What are some likely reasons a grown woman would start sobbing for 30 minutes at 3:30 in the morning? (my neighbor did this and woke me up).

 

[W|M]

Called in the middle of the night about the death of a loved one.

 

[Mango Elephant]

Her period?

 

[madviking]

Her period?

Please. PMS isn't that bad, especially for a grown woman.

I'll guess that something happened in the family (spouse, children, etc).

Edit - Urgh. Is this really my second 5000th post? Eh.

 

[Mango Elephant]

Please. PMS isn't that bad, especially for a grown woman.

Well, I wouldn't know because I'm not a woman, but I've been told you get mad all the time and you cry a lot.

 

[Karalysia]

I think this is a picture of a girl refugee during the Yugoslavia war, I don't know where I found the picture. Can anyone confirm?

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

What's the chance of at least a few arranged marriages in all of human history being controlled matings to study patterns of inheritance?

 

[cardgame]

I think this is a picture of a girl refugee during the Yugoslavia war, I don't know where I found the picture. Can anyone confirm?

looks like a scene from a zombie werewolf movie I saw on sci-fi channel


@SS-18: slim to none

 

[GinandTonic]

What's the chance of at least a few arranged marriages in all of human history being controlled matings to study patterns of inheritance?

Always been a factor. While in many ways a business transaction arranged marrages also had an element of animal husbandry about them.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Have the people who threw the puppies into the river on video a while back been caught yet? Or, at the very least, identified?

 

[Arakhor]

The Hapsburg chin is a notable example of European inbreeding.

 

[Lord Baal]

I think this is a picture of a girl refugee during the Yugoslavia war, I don't know where I found the picture. Can anyone confirm?

Looks more like a movie still.

Have the people who threw the puppies into the river on video a while back been caught yet? Or, at the very least, identified?

Yes. They were in Bosnia. Also, allegedly, the puppies are fine, having been rescued by an old woman further downstream. Don't know how much, if any, of this is true though.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I got a computer game and I was looking at the manual and on the credits page there are all sorts of strange puncuation marks inserted into peoples names. Accent marks everywhere and random things like √ and Ω and some Ø's and stuff. Is this part of a language or did the printing machine screw up?

 

[Ajidica]

I don't recognize the check mark, but the 2nd symnol (omega) and the O with the slash through it are actual letters. Omega is found in greek and the O with the slash is Scandanavian. I haven't seen the Omega used in latin character names though.

EDIT: I would like to clarify that I did know the check mark was a mathematical symbol, but I was unaware of any connection to language.

 

[Flying Pig]

The check mark is a mathematical square root sign. Someone's computer's not working.