Sean M

I'm graduating from GWU this year and am planning on joining the military, but am having a hard time deciding between the Air Force and the Army. I don't see an overwhelming negative to either, and was hoping to get the perspective of a few of you who may have served or have a family member who served.

As for me, I'm an International Affairs major with a concentration in Asian Studies and Mandarin Chinese. I would like to end up working in an intelligence capacity. Also, I'm pretty adventurous, so I'll more than likely want to do some of the more "fun" training when I'm in, like SERE school.

Any recommendations?

I have been doing research lately regarding the ineffectiveness of violent torture methods, and am curious to see what other people think about it.

In the context of the current war in Iraq, do you think that the US military should rely on violent torture methods such as waterboarding or those used at Abu Gahraib?

To give you an example of the position I tend to follow, you can read this article from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic...

Thanks for your honest and thoughtful answers.

I mean, yeah they were good when they came out. But I really think Pearl Jam was more important than them in terms of the grunge movement. And now that a few years have passed, Smells Like Teen Spirit is sounding more and more dated every year.

Is it constantly rated so highly just because it was the popular record while most music writers were in school?

I just don't get it.

What do you guys think?

So, in what is comically ironic, I have waited for this album for a while and I am stuck in China when it comes out. So I can only hear the few tracks I can get online.

I know it is fashionable to hate on this album, but in reality, how is it? It may be impossible for it to live up to the expectations that 15 years of production generate, but am I going to be disappointed or happy as a long time GNR fan?

Just a question for you, not an attack on either side. If somehow science was able to prove that God did exist, how would those of you that are atheists respond.

Conversely, for those of you that are religious, if somehow (theoretically) we were able to prove that God did not exist, or that a different god than the one you worship exists, what would your reaction be?

I have thought about this, and I'm just not sure how I would actually respond. Personally, I am agnostic, and wonder how someone proving a God exists would change me.

No one can speak all languages, so if they split this up a bit, wouldn't it be easier?

Not a category for every language, but maybe split it up geographically just to make it easier to weed through them all.

Don't they think about how it will affect the kids growing up? Or are they just in their own little world?

My father is a long time smoker, and over the years we have mostly relied on just trying to convince him that we want him to quit. But now he's getting older, and every time I see him light up, I feel like that is one less day I will have him around, and one less day he will be able to spend with the kids that I hope to have.

I thought he would quit when his parents died due to cancers caused by smoking, but that didn't do it. He just talks about wanting to, but never actually tries.

Any suggestions?

My vote goes for George Washington, for without him, I believe we would have no nation. His willingness to give up the power that the American people would have willingly bestowed upon him helped to secure the future of our nation.

But I am curious to see who is your selection and why you think they are the greatest president in our history.

I have read many surveys who have listed and ranked our presidents, but I am curious to see what individuals think.

I've always wanted to know why we smile when we are happy? I don't think it is a learned habit, but something we naturally do. Anyone out there studied this before, or know of research into it?

It looks like there is going to be record voter turnouts for these elections. Whether we agree with who wins or not, many people are gaining an interest in politics and the future of our country that they never had before. I hope that the interest in the future of our government continues after the election, regardless of who wins.

Actually I think if the person who you voted for doesn't win, you should pay extra attention to what the other person does. If you don't trust them enough to vote for them, you gotta keep an eye on them, right?

He's getting mystery checks in his mailbox and using that to pay his bills. This strikes me as just a bit hypocritical on his part. You don't want other people to receive benefits from the wealthy, but you are completely comfortable doing it yourself?

http://gawker.com/5075320/joe-the-plumber-will-sta...

How dumb are we as a nation to be duped by guys like him and Sarah Palin, who obviously have little idea what they are talking about but are nonetheless touted as experts and spokespeople for us?

This election has me feeling like I used to on the night before Christmas.

Now the question is am I going to get the new bike I want, or the crappy sweater.

http://lifehacker.com/5074532/brain%2Bonly-compute...

Check out this article and the 60 Minutes presentation on this. There are so many awesome potential uses for this. Imagine being able to communicate without speaking, using your cellphone to talk to someone without saying a word.

It sure would be interesting.

What do you guys think? Will we ever see an advanced version of this in our lives?

The gap has been widening over the past few days, but it looks like the final surge is going in favor of Obama.

Why do you think this is?

(please think before you respond, if you just want to flame hate speak, please go somewhere else.)

Right now I really miss the little things about home, sitting on the back porch with a nice cold drink watching the sun set over the woods, telling stories around a big fire, a great steak, ah, you get the point.

When you are away from home for an extended time, thoughts of what kind of things make you smile?

There is no reason to believe that the two cannot coexist. Believing in one does not mean the other is inherently false. If a god is great enough to create the world, wouldn't he also be great enough to allow it to evolve and grow, or do Christians just assume he was not that intelligent? If you look at your biblical stories of creation, evolution easily could fit in there.

The evidence for evolution is becoming more and more irrefutable, like it or not. But I just don't understand why there is this visceral hatred for it coming from Christians.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/feature...

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/home.php

http://www.nap.edu/html/creationism/evidence.html

If so, can you possibly tell me a bit about your dealings with the Uighur people? I'm getting ready to travel there in a few days, and in light of yesterdays bombing in Kashgar, I'm a little curious.

How were you recepted during your time there? Right now, I've never really had a bad experience traveling in China (outside of the obvious toilet and food related ones), so I have no reason to believe this will be any different. But, are there any things I should pay particular attention to, culturally speaking?