Public transportation options in Los Angeles?

Los Angeles does have a public transit system, including the Metro Red Line and other light rail. However, if you want to get around without a car, you'll have to budget significant time (and I mean significant) to catch connections and lines. Plus, if you miss a connection you can get stranded (I have many times). Not recommended unless you're on the main bus or rail lines. Check the MTA site for more info on transportation routes. Also call their help number--their operators can tell you if a line is particularly problematic!


It means Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. Dave Winer has a claim to the paternity.


What do you think of the Maury Povich Show?

it's cool - much better than sally jesse. plus connie is hot.


How come it seems like Lottery winners are always the ones that buy tickets in low income areas.?

I would put it down to psychology.\n\nPeople who feel they are well-off feel no need to participate in the lottery programs. While those who feel they are less than well off think "Why not bet a buck or two on the chance to make a few million?". \n\nIt would seem to make sense to me.\n\naddition: Yes Matt - agreed. I just didn't state it as eloquently. Feeling 'no need to participate' is as you say related to education, and those well off tend to have a better education.


How do I protect myself from credit card scam?

If you dont want to pay for the services such as bank of america here are a couple of things you can do to reduce your chances of your identity being stolen\n\n1. shred all your mail\n\n2. By law, you can request 1 copy of your credit history every year from each of the three credit history companies at  www.annualcreditreport.com\n    I suggest you stagger your requests to each of them i.e. request experian first then 4 months later request another report from transunion, and another 4 months later from equifax. this way you get a free report every 4 months. \n\n3. dispute anything that is wrong (most common: credit cards forget to tell the credit history guys that you closed your account or paid all your loans in full)\n\n4. when online, try to use virtual credit numbers to make the purchases. this facility is available for citicard customers, and maybe amex. the virtual numbers are good only for 1 use, and useless after that. so if someone steals that, it is useless.\n\n5. when buying something offline, save your receipts, and make sure your statement is accurate. (a favourite scam is to charge maybe 50cents on a statement, that way you dont notice it, but a scammer who charges 10,000 card owners 50cents a month can make $5000 a month no sweat -- and you dont even realize it)\n\n6. also dont forget to shread any credit card solicitations you dont plan to use.


When did women start competing in sports?

I'm sure it would be impossible to pin down the first competitive women's athletic event in the world. \n\nA couple of milestones, though: \n1921: Monte Carlo hosts "the first true international meeting for women... Five countries were represented in eleven events"\n1928: Women's events are first included in the Olympics


Sound cards vary depending on their quality. They also vary in price by how many channels they support, I.E. Some only support 5.1 surround, and others can handle 7.1. They generally vary in price from $50 - $200.\n\nNewEgg has great deals on computer hardware. I recommend buying from them, and you can browse through their products and read reviews of people who have purchased them.\n\nhttp://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/Category.asp?Category=36


You need Adobe Acrobat Reader:  http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html


Does anyone know a good tutoring service for k-12 around Philadelphia?

Please try http://www.TutorVista.com for high-quality tutoring for K-12 and College students.\n\nWe offer UNLIMITED tutoring hours in all subjects for only $99.99 a month! The tutoring is done over the Internet. It is one-on-one tutoring, one tutor per student. You can try it FREE - two hours of tutoring to try it for yourself! \n\nVisit http://www.TutorVista.com or call 866-735-0516 (toll-free)


What is the difference between quote and quotation?

From About.com:\n\n"To quote means to repeat the exact words of another with the acknowledgement of the source.\n\nA quotation is a phrase or a sentence from a book or a speech that reflects the author's profound thoughts."


What are the qualities that a good friend should have?

kind, honest, loyal, respectful, etc.  A good friend should treat friends the way he/she wants to be treated.  He/she must keep must know how to keep promises.  He/she must listen when a friend is talking.   He/she must know how to share.  He/she must be considerate.


Can you recommend a residential real estate appraisal firm around Kansas?

I have a trusted real estate agent that could definitely recommend you to a great one.\n\nemail her at courtney@kansascityhomes.com and tell her jill and steve sent you


What are the best single tracks for Mt. biking in the bay area?

Here are my favorite mountain bike trails in the Bay Area:\n\n-Upper Stevens Creek which hooks up to the Montbello Preserve in the Cupertino/Saratoga Foothills\n-St. Joseph's Hill in Los Gatos\n-Fort Ord / Laguana Seca near Montery\n-Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz\n-Nisene Marks in Santa Cruz\n-Fremont Older in Cupertino/Saratoga


What building housed the first elevator?


Folksonomy is a word formed from a combination of "folk" and "taxonomy".  It's a recently developed concept of the general public categorizing information according to what's most useful for the masses, and is considered in opposition to the sometimes more formal classification systems created by an entity such as the Library of Congress or Yahoo!.\n\nFolksonomies are often implemented using tags.  An advantage of tags over a hierarchical taxonomy is that it's easy to apply multiple tags to a single item, rather than having to decide which category to place the item in.


Unfortunately, no computer network is truly secure. It's always theoretically possible for eavesdroppers to view or "snoop" the traffic on any network, and it's often possible to add or "inject" unwelcome traffic as well. However, some networks are built and managed much more securely than others. For both wired and wireless networks alike, the real question to answer becomes - is it secure enough?\n\nWireless networks add an extra level of security complexity compared to wired networks. Whereas wired networks send electrical signals or pulses of light through cable, wireless radio signals propogate through the air and are naturally easier to intercept. Signals from most wireless LANs (WLANs) pass through exterior walls and into nearby streets or parking lots.\n\nNetwork engineers and other technology experts have closely scrutinized wireless network security because of the open-air nature of wireless communications. The practice of wardriving, for example, exposed the vulnerabilities of home WLANs and accelerated the pace of security technology advances in home wireless equipment.\n\nOverall, conventional wisdom holds that wireless networks are now "secure enough" to use in the vast majority of homes, and  many businesses. Security features like 128-bit WEP and WPA can scramble or "encrypt" network traffic so that its contents can not easily be deciphered by snoopers. Likewise, wireless routers and access points (APs) incorporate access control features such as MAC address filtering that deny network requests from unwanted clients.\n\nObviously every home or business must determine for themselves the level of risk they are comfortable in taking when implementing a wireless network. The better a wireless network is administered, the more secure it becomes. However, the only truly secure network is the one never built!


Is it legal to publicly rate medical doctors?

NOT LEGAL ADVICE:\nAs long as you make it clear that you are offering your opinion, then your ratings will be protected by the US Constitution's 1st Amendment protection for free speech. (You are in the US, right?)  \n\nIf you falsely or misleadingly indicate that your rankings are based on something other than your opinion, then there may be liability for libel or even fraud.  However, if the rankings are based on some criteria other than your opinion, and you are explicit about the basis for the rankings and truthful about the results, you are similarly protected.  \n\nShouldn't be a difference for medical or mechanical rankings. But, keep in mind that if people rely on your endorsement and then something goes wrong, they may seek to hold you liable.  The best protection against this is to be explicit about your sources (opinion, etc.) and have a lawyer advise you.\n\nGood luck!


Why don't you ALL go to the shop and stop stealing from my survivors "end of the world" kit of food!!!


What makes a teacher want to leave their profession?

It seems like a lot of factors contribute to teacher attrition (leaving the profession). But apparently new teachers are most likely to abandon ship.\n\nAccording to a 1986 survey, more than 2/3 of all beginning teachers will have left during their first four years of teaching and 40-50% of them will leave during the first seven years of their career. (Huling-Austin, 1986).\n\nThese are some factors likely most likely to affect the attrition of new teachers:\n\n1) Beginning teachers are unable to cope with teaching problems like discipline, difficulties with parents, and lack of sufficient or appropriate teaching materials.\n\n2) Beginners are often given the most difficult teaching assignments. \n\n3) Novice teachers often receive little or no support after leaving the university and find that their teacher education programs ill-prepared them for the realities of teaching.\n\nOther factors, such as salary, affect attrition rates, but perhaps the fact that beginning teachers lack adequate support and resources to handle such a large responsibility (basically parenting your students) is where the responsbility lies.


How do I tone my butt? What's the best exercise for butts?

Where do you live?  I have been taking a class called "Core Fusion" for almost a year now, and it has been the most effective thing I've done in terms of toning my body up (all over, not just butt).  It is offered at Exhale Spa, which has locations in Boston, New York, Chicago, Venice (CA) and Santa Monica - and I believe they'll be opening up a Dallas location in 2006.  \n\nIf you are not near an Exhale, yoga has a lot of postures that will help you tone your butt muscles (maybe check out a local gym or studio?).  So does Pilates (which I'm not really a fan of - I find it boring).  \n\nThere are also the old "standbys" of squats and lunges (you can get added benefit by integrating props or machines - i.e. do the lunges or squats on the Smith Machine - the one that has the bar with adjustable weights that you square on the back of your shoulders while doing the exercises, or stand with your back to the wall, place a physioball behind you and roll it up and down the wall with your back as you squat).  One important thing to remember about squats and lunges is not to let your knees go forward of your ankles - that puts a lot of strain on your knees and sets you up for unpleasant injuries.  \n\nIf you go to the gym, some of the weight machines they should have can be effective butt toners - like the leg/hamstring curl machines.


Can I use 26" mountain bike rims for my cyclocross-frame bike?

The 26" wheels won't work. They're slightly smaller in diameter than a 700c wheel–that's what cyclocross frames are built to take. Back in the late 80's/early 90's you could get clamp-on cantilever brake mounts from Moots, but I don't know that they make those anymore. And regardless, if you were to do that, you'd also be dropping the overall height of your bike. This in turn would mean that your bottom bracket would also be lower to the ground. That's counterproductive in terms of cyclocross applications, where you want a higher bottom bracket than you would on a road bike (for clearence issues).\n\nThere's some good general information on equipment on Dave Carr's Cross Page (listed below). Good luck!


how many members does the German Bundestag consist of?

Regularly the German Bundestag has 598 members. However there can be additional seats called 'Ueberhangmandate'. Currently the German Bundestag has 614 members.


How can I find the state symbols for a state?

I listed two sites.  The other site provides you info about the state, each state's map and state symbols.


How many words with 10 letters are there in the US dictionary?

SCOWL (Spell Checker Oriented Word Lists) has about 70,000 10-letter words total.  If we limit it to the "large" subset recommended for spellchecking in the U.S., it's about 20,000 10-letter words.  If we then remove proper names, capitalized words, abbreviations, contractions, and possessives, it's about 14,000 words (from "abandoning" to "zygodactyl").\n\nScrabble dictionaries usually have considerably fewer 10-letter words, because they remove words that can't be formed in normal gameplay.  The one I have lists about 50 10-letter words.


"So policemen are just those who catch or apprehend criminals, a worthy occupation. And a copper is someone who seizes, a usage first recorded in Britain in 1846." - thus we have the word "cop"


# 1 most corrupt is Haiti, followed by Bangladesh, Nigeria, Myanmar, Chad. Among the least corrupt are Finland, New Zealand, Denmark and Iceland.


Where can I find a not-for-profit humane society in Denver?

Mile High Humane Society is non profit.  They are located at 11470 York St, Northglenn, CO.


What should I have in my disaster emergency kit stored out side my house?

it's probably not a bad idea to stock up on the following: flashlight, battery powered radio (and batteries), non-perishable food (i.e. canned food and juices), non-electric can opener, bottled water, medications (both non-prescription and prescription if taking any regularly), first aid kit, paper plates, cups, and plastic utensils, toothbrushes, toothpaste, comb, brush, contact lens supplies, and feminine hygiene supplies, plastic garbage bags and ties, change of clothes and shoes, and an extra pair of prescription glasses if needed.<br />\nthe red cross offers a checklist for an emergency kit, the link is below.


Which part-time MBA program will add value to a software developer with 15 years experience?

Wow.  There are some pretty negative answers in this thread.\n\nPick a good program.  Pick a highly rated program.  The brand *is* part of the value of an MBA, and frankly, the lower rated programs aren't that much cheaper.  Here in the Bay Area, Haas (Berkeley) has a great ranking (top 5 in part time rankings, recently been in the top 10 for full time).  I am currently a student at Haas (in the PT program), and I can't understand why people would pick a different program in this region.  Stanford, unfortunately, doesn't have a part time program.\n\nI agree with the previous poster who said you need to have an idea what you want out of it.  Go in with a plan on how you're going to get value from the MBA, and just from being a student.  I'm amazed at the access I get just by being an MBA student.  It opens a lot of doors.  But you need to be very goal directed to get this value.\n\nI can't agree with the person who said networking in a PT program isn't good.  As a current PT student, I have an *amazing* network of rising stars at a number of bay area companies, right now.  Comparing notes with some co-workers who are recent graduates from the FT programs at Wharton, Stanford, Columbia, it's clear that my network is broader, more active, and more useful right now than their networks.\n\nSo - to your actual question.  If you are in the Bay Area, pick Berkeley (I'm biased, obviously).  Really, you can gain a lot of value from any part time MBA program.  But talk to people, figure out how *you* can gain value from an MBA, and then go from there.


Evolution is ever-present as always. You could argue it's rate is a function of environment change. So to answer what's driving human evolution you need to look at the human environment as part of the equation. Extreme evolution happens when an organism's environment changes and it cannot escape it. As a previous post mentioned, humans now have the ability to easily move around the world and escape a 'bad' environment. So evolution may indeed have slowed, but it is not dead. Some cataclysmic change affecting the whole planet, if it doesn't kill the species completely, will certainly speed up the evolutionary process when you compare the human race a few generations either side of said event.\n\nGiven that evolution is the result of genetic mutation/favoritism during sexual reproduction are we seeing those more desirable for sex setting the evolutionary path while environment change is minimized by our ability to control it or escape it?\n\nIs average height an example of this? It would certainly seem that humans are growing taller on average, and what western (cultural bias) woman does not want a tall mate for example. It should be noted however that who we think is desirable for sex is very culturally dependent and may not lead to the best long-term (breeding) prospects for an individual conceived to those parents.


What is the United States' annual homeland security budget?

Fiscal year 2004 total budget authority: $35.6 Billion\nFY '05: $38.5B\nFY '06: $41.1B


Movie DVDs you buy in the store can contain up to 8.5 gigabytes of data.  This is because they are pressed (as opposed to burned) dual-layer DVDs (also called DVD-9).  The recordable DVD+-Rs that have been on the market for a while a single-layer DVD-5s and can store  up to 4.7 gigabytes.  This disrepency is why programs that copy movie DVDs need to compress the DVD content after unencrypting it before they can be burned to a normal DVD.  Recently new DVD burners and media were introduced that allowed people to burn DVD-9 DVDs reasonably affordably.\n\nSo a double-layer DVD burner is one that is capable of burning 8.5 gigabyte DVD-9 format DVDs.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvd#Technical_information


Does anyone know a good apartment rental agency around Washington DC?

I've had personal experience with Archstone apartments and Summit (just bought by Camden) apartments in the past two years. While neither one is stellar, both were acceptable. Both of these were in the Northern Virginia area - bedroom communities for D.C. \n\nBest of luck apartment hunting! The housing market around here is absolutely insane.


At the point you have a job offer, you are in the best position to negotiate.  This is because they have already spent the money to get all the way through the recruiting process, and if they were to start again from scratch it might cost them an additional 20-50k to bring a different candidate into the position.  Add to this the cost to the project of having an unfilled position for a longer period than expected, and you'll find there is a pretty large margin for you to negotiate where their net costs will be lower if they acquiese to your requests.\n\nThe other factor is the overall job market.  In today's market, where employment is picking up in many sectors you're in a good spot to negotiate.\n\nNow the right place to phrase things is to describe competitive offers (hopefully you'll have some) in terms of their relative advantage.  If one of your alternative offers pays more, you can allude to this vaguely.  Even if they do not, you can allude to the relative advantages (the types of challenge, the convience of the commute etc).  This will create a more competitive landscape where your potential employer feels like they need to overcome other offers (and not that you are simply greedy and would like more cash).\n\nUnless the potential employer has really lowballed you (i.e. you are well below industry averages for your area), you should shoot for a modest counter-proposal of 5-15%.  Put this out there with clear timelines for when they need to respond, and other forms you might accept (signing bonus, trading-up level/rank, etc).\n\nYou should stay professional throughout the process, even if your offer is rejected.  Employers know that this is the right time to bring these things up, so don't worry about burning bridges by putting a request out there at this stage.\n\nOk.  Hope that helps!


Is there anywhere that rents UMD movies for PSP?

GameFly.com rents both PSP movies and games.  (They're in seperate categories if you don't see them right away.)\n\nI've been a customer for about a year, and I think their selection and customer service are both stellar.  Ship times seem a little longer than Netflix, and pricing is higher (for good reason).\n\nI love the packaging (in addition to the Netflix style paper envelopes there's a hard cardboard shield) and I've never received a defective game.  The pre-owned purchase program is also a nice touch.


I would go Pittsburg. Polamalu is almost guaranteed at least 2 interceptions against Palmer.


there have been widespread rumors about Tarantino's desire to revisit the character of the Bride in a third installment. most of these stemmed from an interview published in Entertainment Weekly, in which Quentin expressed his desire to revisit the Bride in 15 years:    "The star will be Vernita Green's (Vivica A. Fox's) daughter, Nikki (Ambrosia Kelley). I've already got the whole mythology: Sofie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus) will get all of Bill's money. She'll raise Nikki, who'll take on The Bride," he says. "Nikki deserves her revenge every bit as much as The Bride deserved hers. I might even shoot a couple of scenes for it now so I can get the actresses while they're this age."    Tarantino's idea is an excellent one, and in tune with the ambitious nature of the Kill Bill project itself. however, it is important to note that Tarantino is well known for announcing interest in projects that could never see the light of day, so there is no certainty that this will come about.


Which player led the USA Basketball team (original Dream Team) in scoring in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona?

Charles Barkley with 144 points (18.0 avg).


Why are blueberries so good for your health?

Blueberries are high in anti-oxidants. Also, they are low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. They are a good source of dietary fiber, vitamins C and K and manganese.


What is the meaning behind the song "the reflex" by Duran Duran?

From the sourced website:\n\n"The Reflex", Duran Duran\nI, being a HUGE Duran Duran fan, can shed some light on this song. Back in the 80's when I had the word book for the album and meanings, this song simply was about a person being on stage, forgetting words and making them up as he went along. Take for instance "I'm on a ride and I want to get off/but they won't slow down around the bout, I sold the Renoir and the tv set/don't want to be around when this gets out". Hope this can shed some light that not all Duran Duran songs are about sex.


As a novice runner, how many weeks/months do I need to properly train for a marathon?

The answer, of course, varies for each individual depending on how fit you are, how often do you train and what your goals are. \n\nIf you are very aggressive, you can do it in 28 weeks. Start by walking, slowly, for a\nmile. Two days later, walk 1.5 miles. Every other day, increase the distance by half a mile until you get to 3 miles. Rest your muscles on the "off" day. Hold that distance on Tuesday and Thursday, while increasing by one additional mile on your weekend session (either Sat or Sun).\n\nOnce the long walk reaches 10 miles you can cut the distance in half every other weekend, increasing the long one by 2 miles each time. When the long one\ngets to 18 miles, you can do it every third weekend, covering 8-9 miles on the "short" weekends.\n\nAfter about the third week of training, insert a one min jog into your runs, after 4 min of walking. If this feels fine after 2 weeks, drop to 3walk/1jog. After 3 more weeks, drop to 2-1. If all goes well after another 3 weeks or so you could go to 1-1 during the week, and 2walk/1jog on the long run.\n\nFind the ratio that works best for you, that will leave you feeling strong at the end, and recovering fast from these long ones. The pace for all of\nthese should be very, very slow.


None.  There is no God. \n\nReligion is a primitive attempt at understanding how the world works. It has been completely replaced by the Scientific Method, which is the greatest discovery of all time.\n\nThere is no more evidence for the existence of God than there is for the existence of leprechauns. Better to spend our time enjoying our wonderful world and helping our fellow beings instead of arguing about which brand of imaginary supernatural friend is the "right one".


This is to expand on another person's answer, which was correct but missing some important steps or explanation.  This cure is a bonafide medical and scientific cure.  The get rid of hiccups, you must deprive oxygen from the muscle that is causing hiccups. No oxygen to that muscle, it can't burn energy, no energy, no hiccups.\n\nSo what needs to be done is to simulate DROWNING.  We must trick the body to think it is drowning.  This will cause it to divert oxygen from unimportant parts of the body, like that muscle causing hiccups, to more important parts like the heart, the brain, the organs, etc.  \n\nSo...take a glass of water, slowly exhale.  Pinch your nose.  Take about 5 or 6 sips of water (or more until you can't take it any longer) from the glass...making sure you are taking in WATER ONLY. Do NOT sip any air along with the water.  Stop.  \n\nHold your breath for a few seconds, and inhale slowly. The hiccups should disappear. If not repeat.  \n\nI have found this works 90% of the time.  It only fails to work if there really is something stuck in your throat that really needs to be expelled by hiccups or coughing, or drinking lots of water.


Why do Canadians Celebrate Thanks giving?

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving on the 2nd Monday of October.\n\n"The farmers in Europe held celebrations at harvest time. They filled a curved goat's horn with fruit and grain to give thanks for their good fortune and the abundance of food. They brought this tradition when they came to Canada.\n\nDuring the American Revolution, Americans who remained loyal to England moved to Canada where they brought the customs and practices of the American Thanksgiving to Canada."\n\nMore information about the history of Canadian Thanksgiving:\n\nhttp://www.geocities.com/ouravonlea/canadian-thanksgiving.html


Visual Basic is a programming language and software development environment created by Microsoft in the 1990s primarily to make it easy for developers to create client applications on Windows. It featured an way to easily create graphical user interfaces by drawing windows and controls on the screen, and an event-driven paradigm that made it easy to attach code to meaningful events in the lifetime of an application (such as a button click).\n\nThe language was adapted to the Web with a variant called VBScript, and embedded into Microsoft Office and other applications with another variant called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). Around the time of Windows 98's release, it became possible to create scripts written in VBScript to run on the Windows desktop.\n\nIn 2000 Microsoft introduced a new unified framework for software development called .NET. At that time Visual Basic was thoroughly revised and renamed to Visual Basic .NET. This version of the language added some capabilities, but dropped others, and was incompatible with previous versions of the language, leading some to complain that it should be been released as a separate language with a different name. Still, a great deal of Visual Basic code is in use today and large numbers of developers still use it to create client applications, Web apps, script, and macros embedded in other applications such as Microsoft Excel.


The best article I've read on the subject is in the link below.  In summary, the article cites the following 7 factors common to Web 2.0:\n\n* Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability\n* Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them\n* Trusting users as co-developers\n* Harnessing collective intelligence\n* Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service\n* Software above the level of a single device\n* Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models


Should the A's trade Zito this off-season?

IMHO, the A's will be traded Zito this off-season or in the middle of next season.  The "Money-ball" philosophy has been working for them and they will continue.  Trading Zito will also get them some good young players too.


Should high schools offer classes on SAT for all?

I'd say yes, all high schools should offer SAT test prep. The main two reasons:\n\n1) Workers 18 and over with a bachelor’s degree earn an average of $51,206 a year, while those with a high school diploma earn $27,915. (U.S. Census Bureau). \n\nBasically, college grads earn twice as much money as high school grads. This increased income provides more security, support to raise a family, and the means for furthering ones education.\n\n2) College grads have access to better jobs as many jobs require a college degree.


which is the more powerful crime family - the corleone's or the soprano's?

The Corleones are more powerful, hands down.\n\nand for one reason, alone: The Sopranos don't have the muscle to take out the heads of all five crime families in one swoop and live to tell about it, including the big man in Vegas and take over his operation. The Corleons are a much bigger organization with a wider network.\n\nHead to head war, \nCorleones (GF1) vs. Sopranos (S1):\nVito (or Michael) Corleone vs. Tony Soprano\nSonny vs. Christopher\nClemenza vs. Silvio\nTessio vs. Paulie\nFredo vs. Big Pussy\nBarzini vs. Junior\nand Kay vs. Carmela :-)


As a dutchman, and someone who's 6'4" I should be able to answer this one.\n\nSpecifically though there actually has been a fair amount of research around this, the average height of the dutch are indeed abover average and I've heard claims of it being "the tallest nation in the world".\n\nThe average dutchman is about 6'1" (4" taller than the avg american)\n\nResearch shows it to be a combo of genetics, disease prevention, diet (dairy, etc.) , average wealth & wellbeing, as well as the psychosocial wellbeing.. all affecting height.\n\nSo to summarize: drink your milk, get your shots, be happy and grow grow grow..oh and a bit of genetics.\n\nFrom a research report:\n\nGenetic factors are evident in marked regional differences between the north and the south of the Netherlands. In the north, boys are on average 50 mm taller and girls 20 mm taller. The populations are relatively stable, and Frisians are genetically more Scandinavian, whereas Limburgers have southern European roots. However, although boys in Turkish and Moroccan immigrant groups are about 95 mm shorter than ethnic Dutch, they are taller than in their countries of origin. Researchers point to the increase over the past 30 years in the amount of protein in the diets of the Dutch, the world's highest consumers of dairy products. \n\nMiranda Fredriks, one of the researchers in the recent study, emphasised other health and hygiene factors as well as diet--for example, the Netherlands has a 95% vaccination rate among children.\n\nLastly it's the healthcare system and wealth, every dutch person has access to the healthcare system and overall the dutch are fairly well off to being with. It's been shown that wealth has a direct impact on height..


For a general article about war, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War.  You can search more specifically there as well.


In short, no. \n\nIf they trade him now they will see minimal returns on a trade. They are dealing from a weak position. Should Nolan Schaefer get a shot? Yes. \n\nNabokov should be given a chance to rest, start Nolan for a couple of games and then get him back in there. I believe he will be able to snap out of this funk, but trading him now would be the absolute worst time for them to trade him in terms of what they could get in return.


There was a PBS program 'Nature', just aired a couple of weeks ago, about whether animals can predict nature disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. Whether animals can predict earthquakes is not conclusive. But there's a scientist in Berkeley (forgot his name) claimed he had predicted earthquakes accurately in the last few decades. What he used was simply newspaper ads on missing pets. He said normally you'd see about 10-15 missing pets ads, but before earthquakes, the missing pets ads would increase. His theory is contraversial, but it's worth a try. You may want to test that theory. \n\nThe program also mentioned about the terrible tsunami in Asia over a year ago. It mentioned none of the animals got harmed since they 'knew' the waves were coming and escaped from the disaster. \n\nOne theory is that animals can hear low frequency sound from beneath the earth, like grinding sound of moving rocks. \n\nAnyway, you'll find some interesting programs on PBS stations.


Who wrote the screen play for "The Big Lebowski"?

The Coen brothers: Ethan and Joel. Joel also directed the movie. And together, they've written other off-beat films like "Fargo", "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and more.


Where can I get antivirus software if I don't have it installed?

You should either get AVG Free or AntiVir Personal Edition (also free). Both of them are excellent and easy to use.


Here are some resources:\nhttp://www.urbandictionary.com/\nhttp://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/kidtalk.mspx\n\nWhat's really popular now is "leet speak", which you can read about here: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=leet+speak&r=f\n\nw00t


What is your favorite quotation by a famous author?

"I disagree with what you say, but to the death I will defend your right to say it." -Voltaire


At 02:20 am on April 15th, 1912, the "unsinkable" Titanic slipped into the sea and began its descent to the ocean floor.


Is it important to send a thank you note after an interview?

It is a nice touch, even in a casual workplace, to get the business cards of people you interview with, and send them a quick email thank you note. Although it will not sway the decision of that particular job, if there's another job that the person knows about, they will remember you and have your email in their inbox to contact you about it.  Just be brief, and don't make it sound like a form letter.


Their motto is "Don't be evil", in response to Microsoft's reputation as "The Evil Empire".


What was Earvin "Magic" Johnson's nickname as a youngster in Michigan, before he came to be known as Magic?

His neighbors used to call him Junior or June Bug.


will golden state warriors make it to the playoffs this year ?

No they won't. There are too many better teams in front of them in the Western Conference. Likely locks for the West include San Antonio, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Denver, Seattle. Which leaves the Warriors battling for the last 2 spots against LAL, Memphis and Sacramento - all of which are better teams.


I have a desktop with a 82845 GL Intel integrated video card 64MB w/ no AGP slot.  Should I upgrade via PCI?

Most onboard video for PC desktop motherboards are far short of performance for even a PCI-only card.  For the Intel 845 chipset, having a dedicated PCI video card can definitely improve your performance, especially for 3D games.


How can I find the dhcp server on Linux ?

There are a number of different DHCP clients that run on Linux.  Use the command "ps ax" to try to determine what processes are running that might have something to do with your ethernet interface.\n\nDHCPCD is a popular one.  Look to /etc/dhcpc for any files that might be there.\n\nPUMP is also a frequent program in use by some versions of RedHat Linux.  Run "pump -i eth0 --status" assuming your ethernet interface is eth0\n\nDHCLIENT -- run "locate dhclient.leases" and look into that file if you see that process running.


What are the best places for downhill skateboarding in California?

the streets of san francisco --amazing views, a lot of stamina, cool cafes to stop by...


What is the difference between permutations and combinations?

Permutation\nSuppose we want to find the number of ways to arrange the three letters in the word CAT in different two-letter groups where CA is different from AC and there are no repeated letters.\n\nBecause order matters, we're finding the number of permutations of size 2 that can be taken from a set of size 3. This is often written 3_P_2. We can list them as:\n\n      CA   CT   AC   AT   TC   TA\n\nCombination\nWhen we want to find the number of combinations of size 2 without repeated letters that can be made from the three letters in the word CAT, order doesn't matter; AT is the same as TA. We can write out the three combinations of size two that can be taken from this set of size three:\n\n      CA   CT   AT


Dating from the 1920's the expression buck naked commonly means completely or totally naked or without a "stitch" (as opposed to partially naked). Synonyms include "bare naked", "buck-arse naked", and "butt naked" (also spelled, facetiously, "butt nekkid"). In the South, "buck naked" or "butt naked" means not in your house, out looking for trouble on Saturday night and wearing no clothes.


Who is the best soccer player in the world? Accordingly to FIFA and accordingly to general audience?

the last (2004) FIFA best player of the world is Ronaldinho (playing at barcelona, don't confuse with Ronaldo, playing at Real Madrid). Read the official FIFA interview with him at http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/awards/gala.html\n\nAlso, TODAY (november 28, 2005), Ronaldinho is going to receive the "Ballon D'Or" (golden ball), prize created by the french magazine French Football --http://www.francefootball.fr/ -- in 1956 to distinguish the best player of the european leagues. The complete list of winners of this prize is at: http://www.francefootball.fr/FF/ballon_or/index_bo.html\n\nNow, the general audience... this is tough, since there are many players that could be the best at any time (henry, lampard, ronaldo, ronaldinho, zidane -getting older, though-, kaká, eto'o, ...). But truth is that, at this moment of the season, Ronaldinho is one step above the rest, and playing in the current best team (barcelona) helps him a lot.


How many answers does a typical Q&A question get?

Well... being that people get 'points' for answering questions, I'm sure there will be a lot of 'filler' questions going into this one, so I'd guess you'll get 50 in here, but about 4 or 5 on average.


Will there ever be another figure in rock that comes even close to Jimi Hendrix?

In terms of guitar-playing chops, what about Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana? In terms of showmanship, what about Iggy Pop, Mick Jagger, Bono?  In terms of cool guy who died way too young, what about Kurt Cobain?


In the quest for dazzling teeth, how harmful are teeth whitening strips?

Depends on your teeth.  I used Crest Whitestrips for a time, and they worked really well (I definitely noticed a difference in the whiteness of my teeth).  However, they irritated my gums to the point where my dentist told me to stop using them and they made my teeth super sensitive to cold and hot (i.e. eating ice cream or drinking tea was painful).  I've never done the laser whitening/Brite Smile, but I've seen those treatments work wonders for folks who have (they are not cheap though).  I would advise trying the strips (making sure to abide by the time guidelines) - you will like the effects of them (they do really work) and if they don't bother your teeth/gums, you should be able to continue use.


Can someone *simply* explain what a stock "short" is?

Shorting a stock (or selling short) ideally works like this:\n\nWhen you think a stock is going to go down...\n1. You borrow shares of stock you don't own, typically from your broker.\n2. You sell those shares at today's price.\n3. You wait for the stock to go down.\n4. You buy the same number of shares back at a lower price.\n5. You return the borrowed shares.\n6. You pocket the difference between the buying and selling price.\nSteps 1 & 5 are actually done automatically when you issue a short sale order with a broker.\n\nThe advantage of shorting is that you can make money when stocks are going down.  (With a normal stock purchases, you only make money if the stock goes up.)\n\nThe disadvantage is that in theory, you could lose an unlimited amount of money.  For example, if the stock goes up to five times its original value, you've just lost four times your investment.  (With a regular stock purchase, the most you can lose is the amount you originally invested.)


There are several means of successfully treating malaria if contracted, yet malaria is still one of the leading causes of preventable death in the developing world.  The reason is that most of these people are too poor to afford even basic preventative measures like bednets (which keeps malarial misquitoes from biting children in their sleep).\n\nBednets are important step to reducing the impact of malaria, because it is much more expensive to treat malaria once it is contracted than it is to prevent it via bednets, removing standing water, etc.\n\nThere are some efforts to find cheaper alternative treatments as well, including one promising one that comes from Chinese herbal medicine. \n\nhttp://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/east/11/26/health.malaria/\n\nI've also attached a CDC (center for disease control) article that describes some of the anti-malarial drugs currently being used.


Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

1.  Dinosaurs laid eggs millions of years ago.\n2.  Chickens weren't around millions of years ago.\n3.  Therefore, eggs came first.\n4.  Later, egg-laying birds evolved into chickens.


Any learning center that offers Personalized tutoring programs in Portland?

The answer above is a great idea.  Of course, this will only work if you don't mind non-person to person tutoring.\n\nI would contact your local high schools and see if there are any tutors that will tutor your kid.  It might help both the high school student (elective credit) and your kid (because young kids look up to high school students).\n\nNewspapers are always advertising people looking for work such as nannies, care-takers, and yes...even tutors.\n\nI would try the high schools first.\n\nHere are a list of tutorint centers in the Portland area:\nhttp://www.anysubject.com/portland-tutors.asp\nhttp://portland.craigslist.com/lss/\nhttp://www.mindsinmotiontutoring.com/


How do I find out how much RAM my computer has?

If you are on a Windows machine:\nRight click on the "My Computer" icon and choose the menu Item "Properties".  Click on the "General" tab and you should see the amount RAM on the window\n\nIf you are on a Macintosh running OS X:\nClick on the Apple menu in the upper left hand corner.\nChoose "About This Mac" and you will get a window that shows you how much RAM you have.


What does Sarbaines Oxley compliant mean?

The Sarbanes-Oxley act was sponsored by Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael Oxley, and is a response to the auditing scandals surrounding Enron, WorldCom, and others.  Essentially it aims to protect investors by requiring public companies to adhere to certain standards around auditor independence, information integrity, and greater financial disclosure.\n\nFrom an IT perspective S-Ox compliance revolves around preserving information and ensuring that the systems that maintain financial records are capturing all the correct data.  Of course, S-Ox compliance can be rather complex and counterintuitive, so there are plenty of consultants who earn a living by making companies S-Ox compliant, as it is a requirement for all public companies.


Is there a  public place in bay area where one can stay late till 1 am and do  home work or read.  ?

when I was in college denny's always worked for me.\n1 soda and all night of refills(same for coffee).


Are expensive urethane golf balls e.g. Titleist Pro V1 worth it for the normal club golfer?

I find that it does. The Pro V1 for me is the best ball out there in terms of providing durability, distance and control. I've also used Nike and Top Flight and always come back to the Pro V1. But, the real answer is how the ball reacts to your swing and game. I recommend playing a few rounds with different brands.


Do you have a recommendation for a clean, quiet and decent apartment complex in Vegas?

It depends on where you want to move.  I lived in Crystal Creek at Warm Springs, Henderson, NV 89014  Very affordable and the place is pretty decent.


Well, from wich perspective do you look at it? In my opinion, physical reality incarnations are done for the purpouse of spiritual growth..."body is a car, soul is a driver, YOU". Aside from that, I believe all is devine, in other words, all is god, source, as some say it. I also believe that each seek's to reunite with source... :) Take Care, Love and Light


What is the difference between dating and in a relationship?

The difference is the level of commitment. "Dating" connotes a casual thing, not necessarily exclusive. When a person says "I'm dating Bill" instead of "Bill is my boyfriend", you can probably guess the relationship is relatively new and no commitment has been made. \nWhen you've decided you're in a relationship, you'll probably start referring to one another as boyfriend/girlfriend. You'll introduce each other to your close friends and family. You'll likely spend a LOT of time together, and may take it for granted that you'll see each other certain nights and weekends. Depending on your lifestyle, you may agree to make your relationship exclusive and stop seeing other people.\nIf you're uncomfortable discussing taking things to "the next level" you're probably just dating, and not quite ready for a relationship.


Where can I find a list of important events from a year in history?

The link below would take you to a list of important events.


Why in the House of Commons does the P.M. often say "I refer the hon. gentleman to the answer I gave earlier"?

Another reason is that the P.M.'s responses are scripted in advance, where at all possible.  Questions from the House--especially from the opposition--are designed to get him off his game and distract him from the prepared text, in the hope of making him look bad.  (A similar game is played by many television correspondents: "If the interviewee gives a pat answer, ask the question ten more times.  Play only the most emotive response.")  By referring the questioner back to the earlier, prepared answer, the P.M. short-circuits this tactic.  Stilted, but effective.


How to get rid of stretch marks after pregnancy?

One word: Strivectin. And, its been reappropriated by the pretty people as a fantastic facial wrinkle cream. Everyone I know swears by it. Banish the stretch marks and forego the Preparation-H. All at the same time. :-)


Most colleges and universities use your SAT score as a factor in determining admissions. While it may be possible to get a waiver in some cases, your chances at consideration are much greater if you take the SAT. \nAnother reason to take the SAT is for financial aid consideration. Grants and scholarships, especially those run by the school or private organizations, often take SAT scores along with grade point average into account.


Because she personifies the classic Cinderella story and the American dream. She overcame poverty and abuse to become a huge tv success. She's also very charismatic...and she likes to give stuff away.


Is there an English equivalent for the male firstname "Reinhard"?

According to this page in the French wikipedia, Reinhard comes from Regin + Hard (strong advice as you mention)\n\nhttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_de_Renart\n\nInterestingly, the page goes on to say that the word "renard" (French for "fox") comes from Reinhard! Reinhard was the name of the fox (originally "goupil" in French) in a famous story "Reynard the fox", but due to the popularity of the fox character, the French name for fox became "renard" instead of "goupil".\n\n"Reinhard  : Voir Renard pour le sens. Le nom est porté en Alsace-Lorraine. Variantes : Reinhardt, Reinhart, Reinharth, Reinard, Reinardt, Reinartz, Reinert, Reinertz."\n\n"Renard, Renart   Nom de personne d'origine germanique, Raginhard (ragin = conseil + hard = dur). Faut-il le rappeler, le nom commun renard est au départ un prénom, et c'est la popularité du goupil, nommé Renart dans le célèbre roman médiéval, qui en a fait peu à peu un nom commun."\n\nThe English version has less information regarding the names:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynard\n\nSo you can just ask people to call you "Fox". :-)


what is the most popular programming laguage in use today?

This is a tough one, and no doubt a potential debate point in most cases.   I would really doubt that C# has any real future.  \n\nJava, on the other hand, is written in C.  Most modern development platforms have a foundation in C.  \n\nIf this question is to choose a language path for school, I think either Java or C is fine.  Though I would say that you will become a better programmer if you have a more detailed understanding of what is "under the hood".  In that case C (and a bit of assembly isn't bad to at least take a look at).  The more higher-level you go, the less you can ultimately do.


What are the odds of life on another planet?

Answers to this question can vary greatly, but a good framework to think about it is the Drake Equation.  Developed by Frank Drake and Carl Sagan, it runs through some of the key factors that will effect the viability of life on other planets.  As we learn more about extrasolar planets and astrobiology, we are getting better limits on some of the parameters in the equation, but especially when it comes to the terms where we look for intelligent life that can last long enough to contact other species, we have very little data to go on.\n\nSo when it comes down to the last few terms you need to take it all with a grain of salt.\n\nIf you are simply talking about life, I think recent discoveries have made the likelihood very high.  The discovery of many extrasolar planets including some that are closer to Earth size means that there are specific places we can point to where life may have formed or be forming.  Even in stranger systems that feature planets several times Jupiter's mass, it is possible that a terrestrial satellite of such a large planet could harbor the right conditions for life.\n\nIt's a fun thing to work through the Drake equation yourself.  Since the last few terms are more subjective (at least until we get more data), it's fun to play with it and see where you stand.\n\nThe best guess that scientists have put forward right now is:\n\nN = 10 × 0.5 × 2 × 0.33 × 1×10-7 × 0.01 × 67 = 2.211×10-7 = 0.0000002211\n\nwhere N is the number of intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations that might come to communicate with us in a year.  \n\nTo get the number of planets that reach a point of harboring life (not intelligent) in a year, we just take the first 4 terms:\n\n10 × 0.5 × 2 × 0.33 = 3.3\n\nSo about 3.3 new planets reach the point where life forms per year.


It works.  I met my bf of almost 3 years through online dating.  That doesn't mean I didn't meet alot of incompatible people.  I used online dating on and off for about a year before I met him.  \n\nOnline dating is just another way to meet people, but it shouldn't be the only way you meet people.  If you're banking on it working, it probably won't because you've invested too much emotionally and your expectations will colour your experience.  It works when you stop hoping each person you meet will be the one and instead, decide to just have fun with the experience, regardless of the outcome.  Yes, even a bad date can be fun.  Think of the anecdotes you can share with your friends.\n\nI find it takes a few weeks to get a feel for how things work.  Then, it's up and down for awhile depending on who you come into contact with.  When it doesn't feel fun anymore, TAKE A BREAK.  Come back in a few months.  Change your profile to reflect how you're feeling.  \n\nIt's important that you feel good about yourself or you won't attract the people you want because who wants to be with someone who's down on themselves?  Online dating is really a reflection of how you're  feeling.  When you feel good about yourself, your online experience improves.  When you feel bad, it tends to be a not so good experience.  \n\nI was about to pull my dating profile because I found I was meeting lots of people through offline methods.  However, my friend pointed out that it wasn't costing me anything (financially or emotionally) if I just left my profile up.  \n\nI thought she made a good point, so I decided to rewrite my profile one last time and put it out there.  When I rewrote it this time, I stopped caring about what other people would think about what I wrote or how they might judge me.  Instead, I wrote a profile that reflected exactly how I felt and who I was at that moment.\n\nAnd then, I started to meet interesting people.  Shortly thereafter, I met my bf and things have been going well since.


Why do shoes have heels?  Feet were designed flat...?

Initially it was for practical reasons.  Heels were added to shoes around the 1500s to keep horsemen's feet from slipping from the stirrups.\n\nEventually, it became fashionable to wear heels.


Should I fly back to Sunnyvale (from WI) for the Year end party? Is it worth it?I'?

Whether any party would be worthy flying cross-country for is definitely up to you, but as far as company parties go, I think Yahoo's are tops.\n\nThey go all out in so many ways.  The bands are impressively big (for a party) like this year's Earth, Wind, and Fire (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:aq6jtr59klox), there is a huge variety of food and alcohol (including ice sculpture martini luges), and lots of other activities (gambling, full-body video games).  \n\nBut despite all that, your enjoyment will probably be determined more by how much you enjoy being around your co-workers (if they're going), your date, and/or how long you can enjoy gambling/dancing.\n\nThe last two parties really really impressed me, but I enjoyed the second one much more because my date and I shared a great enthusiasm for the party and dancing.\n\nIt doesn't look like last year's photos links work anymore :(


If your co-worker has a white head thats ready to pop should you be able to go over there and pop it for him?


How can I tell if the moon is waxing or waning?

For those who live in the Northern Hemisphere:\nThe Moon is waxing or waning based on whether the right side of the Moon is dark or light. \n\nThe Moon's lighted area increases over time from right to left. \n\nA good diagram of this can be found at: http://www.astro.umd.edu/education/astro/moon/waxing.gif\n\nFor those who live in the Southern Hemisphere the effect is the opposite.\n\nMore details can be found at: http://www.astro.umd.edu/education/astro/moon/phases.html


What do you call the 4-stringed Hawaiian instrument which looks like a little guitar?

The ukulele, or uke, is a fretted string instrument. It's a smaller, four-stringed version of the guitar. In the early 20th century, the instrument's name was often rendered as "ukelele", a spelling still used in Great Britain. The Hawai'ian spelling 'ukulele is also sometimes seen.


What are the Seven Sisters schools? Are they considered as good colleges?

The seven sister schools are Smith, Vassar, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Radcliffe and Barnard. Indeed, they are considered excellent colleges, I attended two of them myself!


why does the bird flu considered to be such a frightening disease?

The 1918, 1957 and and 1968 flu pandemics can be traced back to bird flu mutating with human virus. These pandemics killed scores of people. The panic also stems from the fact that there is no vaccine for H5N1 virus, the bird flu that is currently affecting Asia. Like last year, vaccines for "regular" human flu are in short supply as well.\nUnder normal circumstances, when the flu hits you're just feverish, achey and fatigued for a few days. When the flu strikes more vulnerable people, like the elderly and very young babies, it can cause respiratory problems and even kill them.


What can be done to lower the dropout rate in High Schools?

To curb the dropout rate, the National Dropout Prevention Center advocates the "implementation of alternative strategies based on the principle of continuous improvement, in place of policies supporting student grade retention".\n\nIn other words, the organization believes that the qualifier of a meaningful education shouldn't solely be based on grades, but on individual performance. \n\nEach learner begins at a different level emotionally, socially, and cognitively, and behaviorally. And because all of these factors play a role in learning, the same standard shouldn't apply to every student. \n\nThe NDPC thinks that more dropouts could be prevented if each child was assessed as an invidividual and their progress was weighed on their individual needs, not based against every other student.\n\nOne of the best educational strategies they recommend is service-learning. This is a theory based on the connection of hands-on experience and academic learning that also incorporates service to the community. Many learners have shown they can grasp concepts better and have greater success through experiential learning instead of the traditional textbook/lecture/text based learning.\n\nhope this helps!


Paraphrasing is when you put someone else's ideas in your own words. It's not just rewriting a paragraph or changing a few words. From the webs ite below:\nParaphrasing is:\n*your own rendition of essential information and ideas expressed by someone else, presented in a new form. \n*one legitimate way (when accompanied by accurate documentation) to borrow from a source. \n*a more detailed restatement than a summary, which focuses concisely on a single main idea. \n\nBe careful about taking a sentence and only changing a few words in it--some plagarism detecting software will catch that and call it plagarism.


how can i watch soccer on tv in California?

Your best bet is to look at soccertv.com which has the schedule. The channels you want are:  Fox Soccer channel (Premiership, bundesliga and Italian Serie A)  Setanta (Chelsea TV and Champions League)  Gol (SPanish and Latam Soccer)  These are all available via Directv    If you want to go to a pub the best is Mad dog in the fog in San Francisco, Fibbar Magees in Sunnyvale is good for lunch time champions league games.


what is the system for ranking foosball players and how does it work?

Too complicated to summarize here, please read article linked below.


Why do filipinos eat with their bare hands?

Filipinos aren't the only cluture group who do so,\nand it makes historic sense: homo sapiens had hands long before tools and spoons were "invented".


Few things to look for:\n\n1. Do you have cable or dsl or dial connection?\n2. Earlier when you did not have the router, were you entering the login/password to connect to internet? If so, you have to configure your cable/dsl modem to host the login/password. For SBC DSL modem you can do it by http://192.168.1.0/ and there is a option available in "advanced configuration" to do that.\n3. Did you connect the ethernet cable from the cable/dsl modem to the \n    WAN port of the router?\n4. Are you getting the Dynamic IP assigned by the router? Check it by Start->Run->Cmd->ipconfig. It should show you some IP address like 192.168.1.x.\n5. Run the following command in the command window (start->Run->cmd)\n       ping www.yahoo.com\n\nHope this helps.


How many albums does an artist have to sell to get a gold or platinum record?

In the US, the threshold for gold is half a million, the threshold for platinum is one million.\n\nSo an album that goes "triple platinum" has sold 3 million+ copies.


Who sailed from Spain around the tip of S. America & across the Pacific Ocean to the Phils.?

Ferdinand Magellan was dubbed the "discoverer" of the Philippines after he landed on the island of Homonhon, near Samar, on March 17, 1521. He claimed the islands in the name of King Philip II of Spain and named them Felipinas, the Philippines. He was later killed in Mactan Island of Cebu in a clash with native warriors led by a chieftain named Lapu-lapu.


It was first published in November of 1939 by MLJ Magazines.


How can we improve the quality of the teachers in high schools?

hi,\n\nThis question is of particular interest to me because I have been interested in education reform for some time. I'm a believer that the quality of education has a lot to do with the quality of the teachers. To have quality teachers, many different initiatives should be put into place. \n\nThere are several areas to focus on improving teachers:\n\n1) preparation and credentialing- some states have focused on improving teacher education programs and raising the passing score on qualifying exams like the PRAXIS.\n\n2) induction and retention- it's well known that the teaching profession has a high burnout rate. it's not suprising. they're essentially expected to raise our society's children and many times spend more time when them than the parents do. that's why some states have instituted better support programs for new teachers. assigning each new teacher a teacher-mentor and having a supportive adminstration that encourages teacher autonomy and professional development are a few ways to help retain new teachers.\n\n3) professional development- states should encourage the professional development of their teachers. this doesn't just mean that they raise the expectations for the classes they take, it means that they tie these developments to compensation as well. one way in which states have given teachers incentives to grow professionally is by instituting national board certification programs. a teacher who passes this test gets a raise as well as the privelege of teaching in any other state w/o additional requirements.\n\n4) accountability- it's a problem when non-performing teachers are allowed to stay because of tenure. while it's important to ensure teacher accountability, it seems that some states see this area as a panacea for generating good teachers. it's not. the other factors are equally important, if not more so. to weed out deadbeats, you just have to nurture a better teaching staff.\n\n5) fair compensation- obviously, this is very important.\n\nhope this helps?


Generally, film geeks tend to come down in favor of Vertigo or Notorious, but the previously mentioned North By Northwest gets a lot of votes, too.\n\nNotorious is usually cited by European critics because of the amazing work by both Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, plus it is the film that introduced the concept of the McGuffin. Essentially, this is the plot device that everything seems to be hinging upon while the story is doing something else (much sneakier) in the background. In Notorious, the McGuffin is (are) the wine bottles full of uranium.\n\nI tend to think that Vertigo is his best because it's just so damn unbelievable and over-the-top but he still pulls it off. Jimmy Stewart was never better in his whole career and the cinematography, music and mood is just amazing.\n\nOther (not yet mentioned) great Hitchcock films that you must see would be:\n\n1. Early Period: The Thirty-Nine Steps (1939), The Lady Vanishes, Strangers on a Train\n2. Middle-Period: The Trouble with Harry (very funny), Suspicion, Rebecca\n3. Later: Rear Window, and Psycho (of course)


Below is the taxonomy used by zoologists to classify animals.  Hope that helps.


The National Cancer Institute recommends that women in their 40s and older should have mammograms every 1 to 2 years. Women who are at higher than average risk of breast cancer should talk with their health care providers about whether to have mammograms before age 40 and how often to have them. For more infomation about screening mammogram and diagnostic mammogram, pls check the source.


First load the add-in:\nTools > Add-Ins > Analysis Tool Pack\nthen find it:\nTools > Data Analysis & Choose Regression\nIf you need any more help mail me.


If you were asked to plan the "perfect weekend" for a guy, what would you include?

Sporting event\nGolf\nGambling\nBeer\nCheeseburgers\nAny and all of the above with his buddies.


How is it that different countries have come up with different styles of electrical socket pins?

Practical: As there are multiple very-incompatible voltages in use (110v, 220v), it's a good idea to not have the same plugs. Somebody will inevitably plug in the wrong device, and putting a 110v device on 220v can be pretty nasty. Dual voltage devices which are popular today (largely due to power semiconductors which make them inexpensive), didn't exist when plugs were designed!\n\nPolitical: Many ex-colonies of Britain were trying to shake off British influence as far as possible, which probably was a factor in picking different system for power device standards, among others.


It depends on what you mean by "save a lot of money".  If you are trying to save money over a period of time, it depends.  Over the long haul you might save money by buying, since you'll end up owning the property and could sell it and recover your investment.  You might even make money by buying if you live in an area where the property value is likely to go up over the period of time you might live there.\n\nIf you're trying to save money on a monthly basis, renting is usually cheaper, unless a) you might rent out one or more rooms, thus off-setting your out-of-pocket monthly expenses, or b) you can afford to put down a large down-payment.\n\nLiving in a high-cost area myself, I say "buy" if you can afford it.  If nothing else you can go to town on decorating or remodeling, something you can't usually do when you rent.


According to the USPS: \n"The United States Postal Service® does not keep a firm record of how many ZIP Codes are currently in use, but the number is greater than 42,000."


What did Nate "Tiny" Archibald do in the 1972-73 NBA season that no one had done before or since?

He lead the league in both scoring and assists in a single season.


Are there good surf spots on India's coast?

You can surf in the beaches of Goa.  \n\nhttp://www.indianbeachesportal.com/goa%2Dbeaches/


What can you say to someone on their deathbed to help put their mind at ease?

It really depends on the beliefs of the individual. If they are religious, talk to them about their beliefs about the afterlife. If they are worried about how their actions in life may affect their disposition after death, recall for them (if possible) their good works and deeds. If they believe in God, remind them of the principles of divine forgiveness. If they're not religious, ask them about their beliefs. Reassure them of their impact on your life. If you're there at their bedside, I assume they've touched you somewhat, somehow.\n\nThis is not a time to hold a grudge. If you have a disagreement with them, try to forgive. Remember you will have to live with yourself after the other person is gone. Let them know you will remember them fondly. Recall good times with them to help ease their pain.


best place to meet guys in the bay area?

yah, for a sampling of tech guys, visit the northbound mountain view caltrain stop at about 5:20 one afternoon. you'll be giddy when you see you're completely surrounded by cute, intelligent, mostly available men.\n\n(disclaimer: this party accepts no liability for the accuracy of above statements if customer isn't completely satisfied with her experience) \n\n1015 Folsom danceclub is where i met mine. I'm not sure it could work twice though. :)


How do I end a date with a girl I'm not interested in?

It's best to be honest. She'll appreciate you not wasting her time.


Who is Helena in the song Helena by My Chemical Romance?

Lead singer and bassist, Gerard and Mikey Way's grandmother.


Is Thanksgiving only celebrated in the United States?


If it is in a corporation, there are special laws to grant you whistleblower status, and you can move into this role under a degree of legal protection from retribution.\n\nIf it is in a government, then it can be very difficult depending on the nature of the government.  Dictatorships are notorious for systemic corruption, and there is little that can be done without coup or significant intervention (or perhaps populist uprising, although you'd be risking your life).  In a democracy, the corruption is of a softer sort, and you may be able to counter-act it via a public interest campaign, or story presented to the news media.\n\nNow if the graft and corruption is within your own heart... that's a real toughie.  It requires a degree of personal strength and conviction to ideals which extend beyond your person.  I think all human beings have the capacity for such strength and compassion, but it requires a willingness to make the hard choices both for yourself and your community.


What company built a brewery in a major league baseball stadium?


Do you have a recommendation for a quiet and decent apartment complex around Houston?

Take a look on Barker Cypress Rd. there are a few places that looks like a place you would call home.\nthe rent would you from $750.00 to $1,100


How can I tell if my software includes spyware or adware?

You can't be sure if you dont read the source code or disassemble the software, so you basically have to trust the vendor. For additional security its recommended to scan your PC with scanners like AdAware ( http://www.lavasoft.com/software/adaware/ ). \nThis still wont give 100% security, because this program can only find most Spyware, but not all.


What are the most popular blogging tools?

I have a lot of friends that use Xanga, and they have tons of features that make them very popular.  I know that Yahoo 360 has a new service avaliable but I haven't use it yet.  I have, however, read the Yahoo Answers Team 360 Blog and it seems to be alright.


What is the best checking account balancing interest and service?

It depends on the level of service you are looking for. For example, is internet access good enough for you, or do you prefer a bank with local branches? For me, Etrade offers the ease of online access but reasonable interest. On the other hand, Citi bank has many local branches but low or no interet in checking.\n\nThe best site that helps you to compare interest offers is www.bankrate.com. It also rates the reputation of the bank. Once you select the interest level and reputation level that you like, come back here and ask if people have good/bad experiences with that bank. Hope this helps.


What site can I go to to find out how many seconds are in a year?


What was the last Hanna-Barbera prime-time cartoon series? And what year did it air?

Actually, my guess is that it would be "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" which was a kind of cross between "All in the Family" and "The Flintstones." I still remember the catchy theme song. It aired in 1972.


Explanation for correlated wave function collapse at a distance (Quantum Mechanics)?

An equally valid question would be "what is the mechanism that causes WF_A to collapse when it is measured?"  The schroedinger equation does not predict collapse as a result of any interaction, so it is outside the theory taught in undergraduate classes.  There is no accepted theory (or in my opinion, any reasonable theory at all) as to why measurement causes a selection of a single eigenvalue out some non-eigenstate.  The idea that measurement on one object has ramifications on another object seems more mysterious, but it's not fundamentally different than the idea that measurement causes collapse in the first place.  You won't find a satisfying answer.


If you were on the world's biggest island, where would you be?

You'd be on Greenland in the North Atlantic.  Its area is 839,999 sq. mi. or 2,175,597 sq. km.


how many mountains in the world are 8.000 m (26k feet) or more?

14:\n\nEverest / 8850m / Tibet/Nepal\nK2 / 8611m / China/Kashmir\nKanchenjunga / 8586m / India/Nepal\nLhotse / 8516m / China/Nepal\nMakalu / 8463m / Tibet/Nepal\nCho Oyu / 8201m / Tibet/Nepal\nDhaulagiri / 8167m / Nepal\nManaslu / 8156m / Nepal\nNanga Parbat / 8125m / Kashmir\nAnnapurna / 8091m / Nepal\nGasherbrum I / 8068m / China/Kashmir\nBroad Peak / 8047m / China/Kashmir\nGasherbrum II / 8035m / China/Kashmir\nShishapangma / 8027m / Tibet


A loyal friend is someone who can keep secrets and promises.  Someone who will not hurt your feelings but will be honest with you.


In the six nations, why is 'prize' for the team that does not win a single game called "wooden spoon"?

It possibly came from the Cambridge University tradition of giving a large wooden spoon to the student who scored lowest on final exams.   No wooden spoons were given after 1909 at Cambridge, when the scores for exams started being read in alphabetical rather than score order.  One theory is that early on in the Six Nations, many of the players were from Cambridge and carried on the wooden spoon tradition after it no longer was a part of university life.


I guess it's because I'm not a parent, but I don't understand why you can't tell your son where babies actually come from?  Don't you know?


Can you recommend a good preschool with childcare around Philly?

I 100% recommend Summit Children's Progam.  They are at 6757 Greene Street Philadelphia 19119.  (It's Mount Airy, one block off Lincoln Drive) Their number is 215-848-4451. They have a well-structured instructional program.  My three-year has been with them for a year and she already knows how to write her name and count to 15 in spanish. Every morning she is excited about going to school and seeing her friends. \n\nWe found Summit through our pediatrician.  You can also visit Child Care Aware's website. They have good information about locating quality child care in your community.\n\nGood luck.\n\nSharmil McKee\nwww.mckeelegal.com


What do you think is the single most important event of a High Schooler's life?

I think it's receiving your college acceptance letters. It's a reflection of the fruits of your labor.


What ever happened to Ask Jeeves??? Was those questions answered by real people also?

Ask Jeeves is still around. They recently renamed it as ask.com. It has been recently bought by InterActiveCorp  which also owns match.com.\nAFAIK Ask Jeeves questions are not answered by real people. There are sure some editotial stuff on its database.


Do women expect a kiss on the first date?

It depends on the girl, the date, and how much you like each other. Just go with the flow and do what feels right. And don't think about it too much.


Why is the voltage ratinging always a multiple of 11 ?

110 Volts is nominal and may vary when measured by a voltmeter.  That said, power is supplied using sets of three separate parallel wires that you can see up on most power poles.  The very high voltage there is stepped down using a transformer to supply most houses and businesses with a usable lower voltage.  The voltage between any one of the three wires to ground in a house is 110 Volts for example to light a light bulb.  The voltage between any two wires is 220 Volts and is used for example to power a clothes dryer or kitchen range.  Houses do not use all three wires.  A machine shop may power a large motor by connecting all three wires (in a delta or Y configuration) to obtain 440 Volts.  Therefore the progression of 110, 220, and 440 Volts stems from the use of single, two and three-phase wiring circuits.  Electrical power is conducted cross-country at very high voltages using high tension lines strung in sets of three wires or phases which produces the multiple of 11 you mention.  Incidentally there may be an additional single wire above all the rest to arrest lightning strikes.


What's the best prog. language to learn? What's the easiest to get into?

If you want to make a career on computer science or engineering, take C++/C and nothing else at first. Other languages  -- like Java -- will hide several key concepts that are very important to have an understanding. Later you should also learn at least half a dozen other languages, including some assembly , lisp (or other functional language, like haske?), prolog and a scripting language.\n\nIf you are just casually learning a programming language, the best will depend on what you want to do: \n\nFor web pages, you should learn a little bit of HTML, javascript and then PHP. Don't try to learn all of them at first, just enough to get you first pages going, and then learn as you need.\n\nIf you want to do some data manipulation, or simple calculations, or windows in the unix (linux) world, learn python.\n\nFinally, if you want to play with windows in MS Windows, learn VisualBasic.\n\nMost important: after you choose a language to learn, be curious, try out stuff, and you'll learn in no time at all ;)


How do bowlers get reverse swing in cricket?

Reverse swing is an art invented by former Pakistani fast bowler Sarfaraz Nawaz, followed by Imran Khan, Waseem Akram and Waqar Younis.\n\nA new cricket ball has shine on both sides. When the ball gets older the shine disappears and the amount of swing is decreased. In reverse swing the bowler keeps one side of the ball shining and one rough.\nDue to air friction the rough side resists the air and the ball moves towards the shining side having less friction on that side.\nSo it will allways move towards the direction of the shine.\nWaqar younis had the habbit of hiding the ball from batsman before its delivery. So that the batsman keeps guessing the direction of the swing.


I have not tried it, but from what I have read, it emphasizes that weight loss/control is a simple measure of burning more calories than you take in.  \n\nIt's available online for reading (http://www.fourmilab.to/hackdiet/www/hackdietf.html).  I also found a blog of someone who tried it (http://www.metagrrrl.com/metagrrrl/2004/08/progress_on_the.html).  \n\nGood luck!


if a plane was on some type of treadmill that detects speed, will it ever take off?

If the plane is on a treadmill like the ones we run on at the gym, then it won't really be 'going' anywhere and will not take off because no air is passing by the wings to generate lift.  \n\nI think you might have to clarify this one further...


Is it a good time to buy a house in Los Altos CA?

the market for homes over $1m is definitely softening and will continue to soften as rates increase. the active part of the market is in the $600k-$900k range, which in los altos would be a condo. therefore if you are looking to buy you should take your time and be picky and you should be able to negotiate.


Adobe Reader, reads PDF files which are created by Adobe Acrobat.\n\nThe beauty of this, is that Adobe Acrobat can convert almost file type from the popular Operating Systems.  That means a document can be created by almost any program and then given to another person to read, even though the receiver of the document doesn't have the program that created the document.\n\nFor example, a writer can create a Microsoft Word document on a Windows machine, convert it into a PDF file and give it to a person using a Linux machine and they can use Adobe Reader to read it.  The Linux user doesn't have to have Microsoft Word to read the document.\n\nThe Reader is free, but Acrobat costs money.


In the movie The Last Action Hero (http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1800193490&cf=info&intl=us) Arnold gets into the world that existed without Arnold, and sees the Terminator movie poster with Sylvester Stallone playing the Terminator. Arnold measures his biceps size against portrayed Stallone's biceps, and arrives at the conclusion that Sylvester Stallone has got to do a lot more training to reach Arnold's level.


Who said "I am not bound to please thee with my answers"?

Shakespeare quoted "I am not bound to please thee with my answers."


What's the difference between online chat and instant messaging?

Both are ways to communicate instantly on the web, by typing on your keyboard. In online chat, you communicate with a community of people with similar interests. With instant messaging, you communicate one-to-one, usually with someone you know.


what is the average cost of an engineer in India comparing to the US?

In guess in india, an avg. software engr wud get paid like USD 300-500 pm and an avg engr(not software) wud be paid half of it.\nThis is for college grads(not exp ppl). Exp ppl wud get paid much more ofcourse. In india the salary increases each yr by a much more rate than in US.


how much does ebay charge for selling stuff?

There are two basic fees:\n1.  Insertion fee\n2.  Final value fee\n\nThe lower your set the opening price, the lower the insertion fee.  Low opening prices help drive more bids.\n\nYou can also add feature fees (galley, bold, etc...) or add a reserve price or Buy It Now price.  \n\nWhatever you sell, make sure you accept PayPal.  It protects both you and buyer and it's listed on more than 85% of listings.


Does anyone know what "piggy back" means?

It means to ride on the back of something else. The term itself is just a derivation of the phrase "pick back", which meant to throw something on your back for the purpose of carrying it.


who was the second leading scorer on philadelphia the night wilt chamberlain scored 100 points in a game?

Warriors guard Al Attles with 17 points.


How do I change the nickname I chose when I first logged in to qa.yahoo.com?

You can change the nickname in your 360 profile. Then select that nickname in Q&A by clicking on your current nickname (it's a link). However, you can only have one nickname at a time in Q&A using the same yahoo ID.


Why are the colors of Christmas red and green?  What do these colors symbolize?

The origin of the popular Christmas colors red and green is speculated to be Italy, since the Italian flag's colors are red, green, and white and most of the Christmas traditions we have were usurped from early Pagan people of the 3rd Century.\n\nIn AD 274, Emperor Aurelian decreed December 25 as natalis solis invicti ("birth of the invincible sun"), a festival honoring the sun god Mithras known as Saturnalia. It had been celebrated by Pagans for centuries, but the emperor moved it to this later date.\n\nShortly thereafter, the Church Fathers likewise set the official date for celebrating the birth of Jesus as being December the 25th.\n\nThe Italians today commemorate Christmas for an entire month. Just as in the days of Pagan Rome with Saturnalia, the period between mid-December and early January is one constant celebration.\n\nRich Nativity scenes and the playing of bagpipes by the zampognari (shepards) are very important to the look and feel of Christmas in Italy.


What is a good platform for writing complex web apps in php?

You can use of of the many php MVC Framework. One of the most used one is phpMVC. \n\nQuoted from their website "php.MVC implements the Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern, and encourages application design based on the Model 2 paradigm. This design model allows the Web page or other contents (View) to be mostly separated from the internal application code (Controller/Model), making it easier for designers and programmers to focus on their respective areas of expertise.\n\nThe framework provides a single entry point Controller. The Controller is responsible for allocating HTTP requests to the appropriate Action handler (Model) based on configuration mappings.\n\nThe Model contains the business logic for the application. The Controller then forwards the request to the appropriate View component, which is usually implemented using a combination of HTML with PHP tags in the form of templates. The resulting contents are returned to the client browser, or via another protocol such as SMTP.\n\nphp.MVC is a PHP port of Jakarta Struts. It currently supports many features of Struts, including declarative application configuration via the XML digester. For example, mappings from the various Action business logic components to appropriate results pages can be specified declaratively in the XML configuration file. "


Should teachers be required to renew their credentials every 5 years?

On one side I say yes and on the other I say no. It depends really. Some teachers I do not think should be teachers, and I think this will help remove them, yet the good teachers also may be removed because of that too.


How should I encrypt/pw protect my backup files on an external harddrive for easy recovery on any machine?

I recently backed up and restored a bunch of files using Roxio's Backup MyPC Deluxe, which was bundled with my copy of Easy Media Creator 7.5.  I don't know how secure the encryption is, but it definitely lets you recover files to any computer.  I would assume that any of the more recognized packages (i.e. Norton/Dantz Retrospect/Ghost) would let you restore files to a different machine as this seems to be a core feature of a backup program.


What is the difference between a state and a nation?

In political science, a "nation" refers to a group of people who feel bound into a single body by shared culture, values, folkways, religion and/or language.  A "state" just refers to a patch of land with a sovereign government.  States often coincide with nations (and are called "nation-states," but not always.  States that overlap multiple nations tend to have civil wars; states that exclude parts of a nation tend to have wars with the neighboring state(s) that contain the rest of the nation.


What is the difference between Notepad and WordPad?

Wordpad allows to save in RTF format, which allows such enhancements to the document as bold/italic text and bulleted lists.


What is the best microphone or headset for recording a podcast?

OK - I podcast, just wrapped my 160th show. I use a Plantronics Computer headset. Key is to position microphone 3 fingers away from your mouth, not under your nose. I think it was $14 from Fry's\n\nFor calls, I use a Radio Shack call recorder, plugs in between your phone and headset (phone must have headset jack). Was $24.\n\nProcessing your voice afterwards helps: normalize, use a little reverb, and compress. It makes a big difference, and you dont really need to use hardware to do it. \n\nThats the cheap method. You can spend a lot more and there are huge differences and situations. It depends on where you will be using it, who you will be talking to. Big difference between say a portable , interview show, and/or studio.


I've heard of a "Green flash" when the Sun sets. Does this happen? Only over the ocean? Why?

The green flash is real... here are resources to read about it:\nhttp://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/reading.html\n\nAlso, below is a link to go see some pictures of the flash.


Can eyesight be trained or improved?  How?

How to restore 20/20 vision.\n\nExercise 1:  \nhold your index finger six inches from your nose. look at it for 2 seconds then look at an object 20 feet away, and then look at your index finger again. keep doing this for a few minutes.\n\nExercise 2:\nimagine you are looking at a giant clock. raise your eyes to the ceiling to look at the 12 as far as they will go. hold them there for a few seconds then bring them back to the centre.  then look at the 1 for a few seconds as far as your eyes will go and then back to the centre. keep doing this until you look at all the numbers.\n\nExercise 3:\nlook at the imaginary giant clock again but this time instead of bringing your eyes back to the centre, move your eyes to the next digit on the clock and hold them at each number for a few seconds.\n\nRepeat exercises 2 and 3 but going counter-clockwise.\n\nWithin a few days you should 'see' a vast improvement (no pun intended).


What is the 4th largest city in the U.S.?

Assuming that "largest" refers to the greatest population, the 4th largest city in the U.S. is Houston Texas.


Do best friends always have to do and share everything together?

I don't think best friends always have to do and share everything together. This is a tall order that even couples don't always fulfill.\n\nBest friends should appreciate each other's presence, but sometimes people just have different plans/tastes/preferences so that they can't or don't always want to do things together. Best friends should be able to care for each other even though they don't do everything together. The same goes for sharing things.


Legal separation means that the husband and wife live apart and both are not free to marry since their status has not been changed to unmarried or single person.    From Wikipedia:    "Legal separation is a possible step towards divorce under United States law. A couple are legally separated if they have successfully petitioned a court to recognize their separation; simply living apart does not constitute separation for these purposes. A period of legal separation constitutes grounds for divorce; the length of that period varies from state to state.    Legal separation does not automatically lead to divorce. The couple may reconcile, in which case they need do nothing in order to remain married. If they do not reconcile, and wish to divorce after the statutory time period, they must file for divorce explicitly."


What do you mean by "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"?

"You use this proverb to say that the things other people have or their situations always look better than your own, even when they are not really so."


On September 13, 1922, El Azizia in Libya recorded a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit (57.8 Celsius)!  Death Valley in California makes for a close second, though.  On July 10, 1913, it got up to 134 Fahrenheit.  Whew.  That is HOT.  Best,\n\n`k.


Why did the 80's rock group Husker Dü breakup?

Drugs, it seemed like to me.  I saw one of their shows right towards the end, and Grant seemed pretty f*ckd up... not sure about Bob.  The rumor certainly was around drugs.  Also, Grant supposedly chafed under Bob's control, so wanted to get out on his own.\n\nHeard from someone who talked with Bob for a while couple summers ago that Husker Du could reunite and make a lot of money on the reunion concert circuit, but  they can't stand each other *still* so they won't do it.


Can someone explain to me what Ruby on Rails is all about?

Rails is a full-stack, open-source web framework in Ruby for writing real-world applications with joy and less code than most frameworks spend doing XML sit-ups    Look at the site in the Source.


Do love relationships with co-workers work?

Yes they do. My wife and I worked for the same company albeit in different depts. We met when a co-worker we both knew has his leaving party. Since we were in different depts there was no issue, although we did keep it a secret for a while.


The Earth is round because it is a large body, and gravity tends to make large bodies round because that is the gravitational efficient configuration for the matter to be in.\n\nThere are a few reasons you can encounter non-round bodies in space:\n\n1) the object is small (for example asteroids), so it's gravity has less say proportionally on the shape\n\n2) It has experienced a catastrophic collision with a large body\n\n3) It is under very strong rotational or tidal forces\n\n4) It is expelling matter/energy in the form of cosmic jets, nova ejecta, etc.


Where is the best place around here (Mountain View) for a novice to go for skydiving ?

Check out the link for Skydive Monterey Bay Inc. I haven't done it by my friends have done their first jump there. Their website has a lot of good information on skydiving. As far as I know, your first jumps will always be tandem jumps, where you are strapped to an instructor who will pull the parachute. It seems that the only risk is if the regular parachute and the emergency parachute all fail, which is probably very unlikely.


What is the difference between phishing and pharming?

Both are entirely made-up terms, of course.  "Phishing" generally refers to those e-mail messages that say they're from a bank (or eBay or PayPal or your ISP), but the links actually go to some other web site where the phisher (still pretending to be a bank) asks for your information, and will use it to steal your identity, money, etcetera.\n\n"Pharming" is another twist on the same thing, using more devious tricks.  In phishing mail you can usually figure out that the site you're about to visit isn't really your bank.  So for "pharming," they'll first trick you into running a program (see "trojans," "malware," "spyware," etcetera) that changes the way your computer looks up domain names.  Then, the pharmer can tell your computer that bank.com is some web server in Russia, and it's much harder to figure out that something's wrong.\n\nThere's some good info about these kinds of scams at http://antispam.yahoo.com/faqs#a13 .


What's a good way to find a pick-up basketball game?

Find local parks, YMCAs, gyms, churches (with courts) etc.  There are usually great pick up games at these locations in whatever town you live in.


do i need to pay tax before filing tax return if i sell my ISO stock options this year?

As you may know, NQSO (non qualifying stock options) have tax withheld at source as soon as you exercise, so theoretically you don't have to pay any estimated tax on NQSO exercises/sales (although see * below).\n\nWith Incentive Stock Options (ISO) though, the situation is quite different.\n\nIt sounds like you plan to exercise and sell your ISOs on the same day.  If so, then this is what's called a "disqualifying disposition".  In other words, you will be liable for ordinary income tax on the spread (sale price - exercise price).  \n\nIn general, the IRS wants you to pay tax in the quarter in which the related income is earned.  So you theoretically should pay the estimated tax at your standard income tax rate in the same quarter you exercise and sell ISOs.  You do this by filing an Estimated Tax payment.\n\n\nHowever, there is a way to postpone filing these taxes until your normal April next year tax return.     The following information is sourced from See http://www.fool.com/school/taxes/taxes35.htm. \n\n1.  The simplest way is just to suck it up and not worry about paying a penalty for underpayment of taxes.  Depending on how much you think you can earn on your money, and when you were supposed to pay the tax, this may be a win for you (this used to happen a lot during the dotcom/IPO days of 1999-2000).  Be wary though that you probably can't keep doing this year after year without the IRS getting on your case. \n\n2.  Alternatively, you can avoid the underpayment penalty *if* any of the following are true\n\na) you owed no tax at all in the prior tax year (and were a US citizen/resident for all of that year)\n\nb) you expect to owe less than $1000 in tax this year (unlikely, since you're exercising ISOs)\n\nc) your ordinary income tax withholding (e.g. from your wages and/or NQSO exercise) will exceed 90% of this year's tax bill.  This may happen if your ISO exercise/sale is less than around 10% of your total income for the year.\n\nd) your ordinary income tax withholding (from wages and/or NQSO) is greater than 100% of your last year's tax liability and your previous year's Adjusted Gross Income was < $150,000.   If your previous year's AGI was >= $150,000 (lucky you), then you need to pay at least 110% of last year's tax liability in order to avoid a tax underpayment penalty.\n\n\n\nClear?  As mud?\nOption d) is usually the easiest one to satisfy if you're making a large ISO exercise in this year only, particularly if you got a raise this year and are hence paying more taxes than last year anyway.\n\nHowever, you may also want to consider whether you should do an exercise and hold (for 1 year) to pay long term capital gains tax (15%) instead of your ordinary W2 income tax rate (probably 25-35%).  \n\nIf you do, you will *still* be subject to tax this year, due to the dreaded AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax), but you can use that AMT tax liability as a credit for future years when your AMT is less than your ordinary income tax.  However, that's a topic for a whole 'nother question/answer.   \n\n\n* Even with NQSOs, if the amount held at source is less than your eventual tax rate for the year,  you may be subject to tax penalties unless you meet one of the exceptions listed in a) through d) above.


How do I roll my 401(k) over to a traditional IRA?

Just go to vanguard.com or any of the brokerage firms (Vanguard usually has the lowest fees), sign up for a rollover IRA account, and follow the directions they give you. It usually involves filling out a form and submitting that to whatever company is managing your old 401(k).


Is this the end of the housing boom? For October, existing home sales was down while new home sales surged.?

I think there is a lag in new home sales and the closings in October really were under contract in Aug and September, thus November numbers should be down dramatically even after seasonal adjustment. Rates will undoubtedly go up again at the next meeting, but with the advent of so many new mortgage products (interest only, reverse mortgage, etc.) money is still relatively easy but definitly more risky. I expect volume levels to slow, prices to flatten across most of the US but do not see a big drop in prices unless rates get above 8%.


What is the best Tennis club in or near Sunnyvale, CA?

the Sunnyvale Municipal Tennis Center (right next to the Cherry Orchard plaza) has great facilities. it's near the sunnyvale/saratoga and el camino real intersection.


Parttime MBA or Certification in Management, which one is better. Where can I do the Mgmt. certification from.

You see, one of the biggest value an MBA will bring is the "networking" opportunity. Hence, a part-time MBA with no classroom-based activities will miss this important piece.\n\nIf you want to go for a fully remote-based degree, the Open university is a good option.\n\nColumbia also has a good option for a certificate: you keep taking several courses and after some time you can apply for a certificate in business excellence.\n\nI think both the part-time mba or the certificate are good options if you pick a good school.\n\nIf you can afford going to the campus about twice a month, an executive mba is the best option in my opinion. Chech NYU, Kellog or Columbia.