Smartass

I understand that zebras have stripes because those which were able to hide between blades of grass survived better.

Ok, so how exactly did pandas come to be neither brown nor dark gray, and instead, white? What was the advantage that they had?

For the matter, are the "circles near the eyes" parallel/analogous to orcas? That they served as "fool's eyes" to scare their prey, and therefore were preserved?

Portability and costs aside, what can 3D printing do that can't be done by selling molds?

Is 3D printing only a big deal to the consumers who are currently stopped by manufacturers who don't like competition?

In other words, IF designers and model makers didn't care about licenses, intellectual property, or liability, couldn't they sell their molds to consumers and wholesalers, so consumers can make things today, faster, possibly cheaper, and most likely sturdier than 3D printing?

People seem to be fixated on the fact that 3d printed guns can be made without a trace of evidence, bypass metal detectors, but can't molds today use plastic or polymer too (let's say, assuming manufacturers don't care about losing money to competition)?

Isn't the 3D printing excitement just like the inkjet printer excitement, that something CAN be accessible to everybody, but it's still cheaper to BUY from a mass producer than to make one at home?

I have no doubt that when I was an existentialist, I believed strongly in both responsibility and free will.Today, I am more of a determinist, and not a libertarian (free will-ist). Is it possible still to be an existentialist?

Is an existentialist just a person who believes in responsibility, or must he also believe in free will?

I use this question to challenge multi-level marketers, network marketers, and people who don't know math, don't know business.

My point is this : I have never heard of ONE product, that has the demand of millions and isn't sold in stores.

First criteria is that the seller/manufacturer actually intends to sell it to millions, and not a niche, fad, short term small supply. If a product is in fact intended to be sold to a small audience, fine, they can't then turn around and claim there is unlimited potential income.

Second criteria is that there is actual demand for the product, and people actually want it. The best test of this, as far as I am aware, is people asking for the product, not the other way around. Stores carry products because they believe there's demand, stores are less likely to waste time risking to shelve, acquire, or ship products around if there isn't a good chance it'll sell.

If the two criteria are met, I have never ever seen a product that isn't sold in stores. Because if there's demand, there's profit, and why wouldn't any store want a piece of the profit if it was real?

Therefore, isn't it fair to say that any product intended to be sold to millions and has the demand of millions, can always be found in stores, and any product that fails to be found in stores (including online stores, Amazon, eBay) has no demand, no profits?

(We are assuming it's a legal product)

Can anybody help me find ONE exception to this rule? Is there any reason a product CAN be sold in stores, or wholesale, but seller DOESN'T WANT TO? I can't believe that. I am more than happy to believe the stores don't carry the item because there's no demand, no profits.

When we hear nationless, or people without a country, we typically think Gypsies (Romani).

What other population groups share this trait (Kurds?)? And is there a good term for these groups?

Ok, I know royalty means a person gets a percentage of a sale forever. However, how would that be different than owning equity? After all, how value is the company if all the profits come from sales?

For example : inventions such as coffee Joulies, Teddy Needs a Bath, Classroom Jams..etc, are examples of investors offering to invest in exchange for royalty in perpetuity, instead of taking equity.

If the company only makes money by sales (whether retail or wholesale), what else is the equity worth if it's not ultimately in a form of royalty or profit split?

Why would a person choose 5% royalty (no matter how long) when he can 40% equity? How else is 40% equity evaluated if it's not based on sales? If it's based on sales, isn't 40% equity essentially letting the person collect 40% royalty on every sale?

If I was giving away 5% royalty on all sales forever, can't it be represented as "5% equity"?

Did our grandparents save for retirement?

What is the best & worst kind of lifestyle people over 70 are living?

Has any elderly person died as a result of not saving for retirement? or has medicare and social security always came to a person's rescue if he simply lived long enough?

Where did this attitude of being so self important and careless come from? I am almost sensing it's a fashion statement and attitude more than a lifestyle.

They seem to be defined by what they are NOT and by people who are not themselves.

Were they yesterday's emo kids who got tired of pretending to be depressed or learned nobody gives them the attention they want?

Were they preppy Abercrombie kids who got sick of being hated for being rich, so act poor?

Were they white kids who wanted to be black (but change white to rich and black to poor), like "whiggers"?

Or were they computer geeks who do what they do best, fail at being impressive?

Were they straight edge kids who never get in trouble, but figured a little smoke and alcohol won't kill them?

Are they just a new code word for "skinny people only" but couldn't pull it off due to political correctness?

Are they the people who are super picky about what they eat, and try to do yoga in their uniforms?

They didn't come out of nowhere, and won't disappear quickly either.

I am very curious, in dollars, how much does an employee cost aside from his base salary or hourly wages, once we take into account social security, unemployment insurance, health benefits...etc.

What percentage on top of an employee's salary or hourly wage?

What's wrong with recording the proceeding and then paying people minimum wage to transcribe and double check them?

Are there any rules against audio recording? What can a transcriber possibly do that audio recording cannot? how can reading transcripts EVER be better than listening to the recording itself?

Is it determined solely on how many dollars a person is paid per unit of time?

Or does it ever matter how much a company takes in as gross revenue vs employee salary?

For example : It's been said that Apple stores collect a gross average per day $130K.

Each store has less than 100 full time employees.

So at $4.3M gross revenue per month, how much would they have to pay their employees to NOT be considered sweatshop labor?

Keep this in mind when you complain next time about a real estate agent getting paid 3% per sale or a CEO makes 300x his lowest employee.

What we typically hear over and over is that quality of life is declined, cost of living has risen, and people need more money to make ends meet, or 2 jobs to feed a family, or work more for less.

I don't buy it at all.

For those who wish to advance the "Life was better 50 years ago" arguments, please tell me :

1) If your family had to live on 1 income today, what would you need to give up?

2) What jobs did a family 50 years ago do typically, and would you be willing to do that today?

3) How many things do you currently own, pay for that were not even available 50 years ago, and if you didn't pay for them, how much money would you save?

Until these can be answered, I can't take the argument seriously. I conclude we are not worse off, we just continue to demand more, because "keeping up with the Joneses" is considered the new norm. We consider "not looking like a broke bum or cheapskate" to be a "necessity".

1. What other insurance allows people who are guaranteed to be unemployed to be on it (such as actors, waiters, other short term employed workers)?

2. What other insurance is mandatory? Or, specifically, unlike car insurance, who is actually affected by being uninsured if one is unemployed?

Isn't Social Security a mandatory fee/tax/insurance on all working people?

Isn't unemployment insurance a mandatory insurance unless you are an independent contractor?

Isn't car insurance a mandatory insurance for any driving person?

I noticed lately that all these malware sites, are directing to URLs that end with .ru, .pl, .cc, .in, .cn.

I have no legitimate use for any of these domain names, so can I simply block out any URL that contains certain TLD extensions? At least at the Browser level? If I choose to visit a site that's .ru, pl, cc,...etc, I can use another browser, or manually unlock the feature.

Is that possible?

Are Quakers, puritans and pilgrims three different people? Or do any overlap?

Or does it simply allow employers to pay 2 sets of wages, union and non-union?

Which system allows employers to pay 2 different wages, union vs non-union?

Are non-right to work states essentially allowing closed shop?

Everybody loves fast computers, whether it means better ram or better processor, or overclocked components, and optimized operating system.

My question is, since I'm not running a Mac or Linux, is it possible that a fast computer also means viruses can efficiently use my computer to destroy it faster (whether it means deleting my files, wiping my harddrive, or preventing restoration), such that it'll be harder for repair and interception by diagnostic or antivirus softwares?

Is virus exploitation ever a reason not to have a good computer? (In addition, doesn't it also mean the virus can destroy parts of my computer without me noticing because it's hard for it to slow down my computer until its too late?)

For example, if you are convinced that you just got a virus today, and no time before that. You've backed up everything you need, and your computer allows you to restore it back to 3 days ago. (System restore under Windows 7)

Let's say I deleted the virus after I found it, under safe mode, is that permanent? After that, I'd restore my computer to it's state 3 days ago (under the rule "won't affect your files and documents") how does Windows know what are "files" and not protect viruses from being "restored" to non-existent?

I WOULD love for my restoration and deletion to be irreversible and permanent, would being in safe mode ensure this? Or what would?

Lastly, can I create new restore points? (Such as set new restore points every week, every day?)

I'm a little tired and confused hearing people talk about how much better life was 40 years ago or 100 years ago.

Is it really? Typically they point to the fact they worked less, got more, but DO they? In the past, most jobs were labor, today, most jobs are white collar. In the past, people had less access to refrigeration, families did not have 2 cars each.

Aren't we simply demanding more today, keeping up with the Joneses? If we wanted the lifestyle of 1970, or 1910, wouldn't we be spending only a fraction of our income? Think about how many items in your home were not even available and possible back then, if you didn't buy them, would you die? Or just be uncomfortable?