joecool123_us

My question is for people who have bought houses. How much did your house cost and how much do you make in a year? Or, roughly what percentage of your income goes to your mortgage?

There are many websites and advisers who say that you should only spend a certain percent of your income on house payments, but what factors does that percent take into consideration? Could you safely spend more on a house if you chose not to spend money on other things?

Just looking for advice on home buying from people who've been there.

The United States government drafted a resolution supporting the protesters in Iran. "It also condemns 'the ongoing violence' by the government and pro-government militias against demonstrators" (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_us_iran)

However the brutality of our own police forces towards protesters as evidenced by the rallies at the 2008 DNC and RNC seems to be increasing.

Why is it that when something happens in another country we take notice but when it happens here it gets brushed under the carpet? Seems strange.

Is it because if people come here they are utilizing our social services? Is that where the additional outrage comes from?

Do you think that the issue of illegal immigration gets people more upset than outsourcing? Other than the social services, is there any reason why these shouldn't be equally troubling trends when it comes to job losses?

I was just wondering, if you define abortion as murder (and I'm not saying that is necessarily a bad position to hold) would you then also define a miscarriage as involuntary manslaughter?

If killing a fetus is the same as killing a post birth person, than should mothers who have miscarriages be charged the same way that we would charge them if they had accidentally killed(through no fault of their own) a post birth human being?

This just was interesting to me, I dunno. The whole topic is a little morbid, but it seems to be on everyones minds lately.

A few years ago, the airlines were falling apart financially so the government bailed them out. It is famously made fun of in the "it" episode of South Park.

Does anyone remember which political party/ president made this happen?

I want to say "involuntary manslaughter"? Is this right? Does anyone know what sentence is usually given for this charge?

Considering how graphic intensive the web has become, will a computer that has 400mhz processor, 128MB of RAM be able to easily surf the web?

for your birthdays or parties in general. My party is going to be pretty low impact already, but I wanted to see if anyone can come up with anything I haven't thought of yet.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080608/ap_on_re_eu/ar...

I thought this was a pretty cool article. Did anyone else see it?

Considering the rising costs of fuel, and the increasingly hectic lives we live, and traffic snarls... could grocery delivery services be a small part of the solution? One vehicle going to the store to pick up food for multiple households rather than each individual driving themselves?

If you think this might be a valid idea, what do you think would be a reasonable amount to charge, considering the money you would be saving people in fuel costs, and the time they would save as well.

Just looking for some friendly input. :)

Haha, ok. So that's a bit of a conspiracy theory. But do you find it interesting that two cases in one day of commuter train accidents are considered to be national news, while the thousands of automobile accidents go unreported and unnoticed. Do you think that news coverage like this contributes to the national reluctance to utilize mass transit?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/boston_train_accident

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080528/ap_on_re_us/tr...

"Yea, it's better that Wal-Mart take their business else where and let these poor people starve instead of giving them work." -Annon

Before transnational corporations opened sweatshops in various countries around the globe to offer cheap products to the first world, how ever did people in these countries feed themselves?

Did no one exist anywhere in the developing world before factories owned by invesors in the first world opened their doors?

I am a naturally nice person, I like to do things for others and treat people with respect. Unfortunately this often comes off as being too nice, being creepy, or being a doormat.

So I tried to not be myself and be a bit of a jerk. It's how I got my last girlfriend, and we dated for around a year and a half. When it ended, her advice was that when I found someone else, I should just "let myself fall in love" and "not pretend to be aloof and distant and things would work out better".

So would anyone like to help me navigate this paradox? If you're too nice girls aren't interested because you come off like a creeper, but if you're too mean, they'll be attracted to you on some bizzare primal level but at the same time be totally unhappy. So where do you draw the line? Where is the happy medium?

Ladies? Help?

I know I've asked this before, but I keep seeing it over and over again! Even from Top Contributors to the environmental section!

Unreal!

In terms of embracing new technology, who is more for stagnation and regression? Environmentalists want to move forward to the next best thing, the next wave of technology.

Why is there still this idea that to be sustainable, you have to live in a cave? There was no electricity in the rennaissance, no oil or cars or TVs either, and yet look at what humanity was able to accomplish during that time period!

Do you think that people who say things that polarize technology and lack of technology are just throwing a huge insult at thousands of years of human development?

Assuming that your only goal is to make as much money as possible, which would make more sense? Selling something that can't be produced by your customers and requires them to continue buying from you indefinately, or selling a means by which they will be able to create their own product and will no longer need you to provide for them. This is kind of like the economic version of the teach a man to fish story.

Now, if you were going to start a money making scam, which buisness model would you choose to use?

"I say we do whatever we gotta do to save our country. We tried it the green way, and now we have $5 gas."

Where was I and how did I miss this happening?

I don't watch TV, did I miss something important?

Yes, it is true. Doing things that are more sustainable, both for the planet and for our own health, are often more time consuming. Many people cite this as a reason as to why they can't do the things that are suggested as ways to lighten our impact.

However, the average resident of the United States watched 4.5 hours of television per day in 2007. This amount is down from an average of 7 hours per day in 1991. ( I would guess due to a rise in internet use)

Still, that is 4.5 hours per day spent looking at a box. And that is an average number, so while many people watch less than that, many people also watch more.

4.5 hours is over a quarter of your waking life if you are getting the reccomended 8 hours of sleep every night.

If you don't have enough time to do things that are healthy for yourself and your community, how much time are you spending watching TV? And on a larger scale, what impacts do you think that this drain of time and human attention is having on our culture?

As the cost of fuel rises, how far would you be willing to walk/ ride your bike, before deciding that it is too far and the trip requires a car?

I'm pretty lucky, I'm close to alot of the places where I go so I can walk or bike pretty much anywhere. But I was wondering what peoples limits are.

A. Walking/ jogging serveral miles outdoors for exercise/recreation but then going home and driving to the store to pick up a few groceries or driving to a resturant to pick up dinner.

B. Driving several miles to a gym so you can run on a treadmill or sit on an exercise bike?

Today I had a really big sandwich with american cheese on a loaf of french bread and a few slices of tomato and lettuce. After eating it, I was over come with a strong wave of drowsyness and pretty much passed out for a few hours. My mind was all foggy and everything. The odd part is, this has happend before a few times, most noteably when eating a large portion of Mac and Cheese. So is it the bread, the cheese?

Whats odd is I eat large servings of pasta and don't get drowsy, and other sandwiches and don't get drowsy(that I can remember). And other foods don't really do it either so it's not just large meal related.