Displaying Vote Archives 250 to 260
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(Created on 20th May 2012)
Vote #251
Question:
Eureka beckons. We're heading up to Eureka for the long weekend. Fancied a change of scenery and I wanted somewhere I could drive to rather than flying. It's about a 5 hour drive north from here, but I'm thinking that will depend on what the traffic's like trying to get out of San Francisco on a long weekend. Anyway, should I take a bath and jump out shouting Eureka whilst I'm there?
Results:
Yes - that's a stupid enough thing to do was the clear winner with 100% of the votes from the following selection:
- Yes - that's a stupid enough thing to do (100%)
- No - that's a stupid thing to do - who do you think you are - Archimedes? (0%)
Analysis:
A resounding verdict of yes, I should jump out of the bath and shout “eureka” ... but sadly I didn't. As it happens, it was when Archimedes got into the bath that he proclaimed eureka when he saw the water rise making the connection with volumes and displacement and all that good stuff.
(Created on 28th May 2012)
Vote #252
Question:
After a long weekend away that seems to have consisted of more driving than anything else. Well, anything other than sick given that poor William doesn't travel too well, I seem to be facing the grim prospect of the long drive home, more sick and then back to work .... fun! So best to look forward to the next holiday which will be a trip back to blighty that's going to see me dust off the old fishing kit and head off out to the river or lake banks, but which one should it be - river or lake?
Results:
Both was the clear winner with 60% of the votes from the following selection:
- River (20%)
- Lake (20%)
- Both (60%)
Analysis:
Looks like there's a lot of fishing in my short term future if I'm to follow the votes. Not really sure how many days I'm going to get out on the bank yet. My guess is that most of it will be focused on lake fishing, but you never know - there's always the potential to take a quick trip to one of the river banks.
(Created on 3rd June 2012)
Vote #253
Question:
So, I've been watching a lot of Star Trek re-runs lately. I'm currently watching Voyager, but I'm pretty sure this question relates to both TNG and DS9 if not the other two. What I've noticed is that whenever they go into battle, the captain says “evasive maneuvers, pattern [Greek Letter]” with the Greek Letter being either Delta or Omega. Anyway, the next thing is that the ship gets hit. Every single time. What bloody use is that? What is the point of a Star Trek starship taking evasive maneuvers?
Results:
It gives the captain something to say was the clear winner with 57% of the votes from the following selection:
- None - they always get hit (0%)
- In case they are being attached by an idiot that couldn't hit a barn door at 10 paces (14%)
- It gives the captain something to say (57%)
- It gives the person at the con (pilot) something to do (14%)
- It's the done thing (0%)
- To at least avoid critical systems being hit (14%)
Analysis:
This is actually one of life's great mysteries to me and I'm not really sure the vote question helps sort this out. You would have thought that evasive maneuvers would help avoid being hit, but they definitely don't given most of the episodes I've seen.
(Created on 10th June 2012)
Vote #254
Question:
Time to drop back to another fishing question as we get closer to the holiday .... well, that's somewhat in question at the minute, but that's another question for another day. Anyway, I've been researching a lot of kit with the expectation that I'll treat myself to something when I get back. The question is how should I get all this kit to the bank to go fishing?
Results:
Buy a trolley, Get a harness and strap it to the old man and use him as a mule and Only fish where you can park next to where you want to fish tied with 33% of the votes each from the following:
- Buy a trolley (33%)
- Convert a motorized golf trolley (0%)
- Carry it bit by bit (the exercise will do me good) (0%)
- Get a harness and strap it to the old man and use him as a mule (33%)
- Only fish where you can park next to where you want to fish (33%)
Analysis:
A mix between the sensible and the vicious. Reality is that it'll likely be a combination of buying a trolley and fishing where you can drive to your peg. I think we'll be opting for the easy way out and not looking to go hiking across many fields.
I might, however, look for a big stick as a backup plan so I can use the old man as a pack mule and beat him if he's not moving fast enough.
(Created on 17th June 2012)
Vote #255
Question:
You know when someone takes something of yours and you're looking round for it and then get annoyed that you've been wasting your time as the person that took the item could have just told you. Well, nothing like that happened, but Karen did take something that belonged to me to work this past week. What item of mine did Karen take to work with her this past Friday?
Results:
My poo was the clear winner with 57% of the votes from the following selection:
- My car keys (14%)
- My computer (14%)
- My mobile phone (0%)
- My poo (57%)
- My underpants (14%)
- My wallet (0%)
- My watch (0%)
Analysis:
Ha ha! It was indeed my poo that Karen decided to take to work with her. Let me explain .... although, I suspect that any regular voters know the trend of things that seem to happen and that my poo pops up from time to time. I was thinking that underpants would be a good red herring, but it didn't fool the majority of you.
Anyway, what happened is that we're incentivized to have annual physicals. I think that it lowers the premiums somewhere along the line - I guess there's some research that shows the number of people that have annual physicals are less likely to have things go wrong in the year, lowering the medical cost. (Clearly I'm a statistical outlier here as it doesn't matter how much prevention we go for, I tend to have at least a couple of visits to the hospital each year). So, had the physical and was given an order to get a blood draw for every test under the sun. Went to the lab to get the blood done on Thursday and apparently I had to fast for at least 12 hours prior, so I said I'd come back on Saturday. When the phlebotomist (look at me with the big words today) looked at the order, she noticed that the request included a stool sample so she gave me the kit for it and sent me on my way.
It's a little hard to explain the kit, but basically, it was a small container with a twist off lid. The under side of the lid had something like a cocktail stick on it that you push into the poo and then put it into the container and you're done. It also came in an envelope so you could mail it off. Being the lovable joker that I am, I took out the container and showed it to Karen and made comments about the fact that I needed to take a dump in an envelope and mail it off. I made motions of how this would logistically work and then pointed out that surely it would ooze out of the side of the envelope in the mail. Ho ho!
Obviously I eventually showed Karen the actual container. So, I got the sample and left it on the side and headed to Phoenix on Friday. For some reason Karen was still stuck on the mailing bit and when I landed in Phoenix I had two voice messages. The first was to let me know that I'd left the container on the side and did I need it mailing off. The second was to say that I hadn't answered the first voicemail so she'd taken it into work with her so she could mail it off if I wanted her to.
Well, that took more explaining than I was hoping to do, but it does sort of describe the circumstances whereby my beloved took a little piece of me with her to work.
(Created on 23rd June 2012)
Vote #256
Question:
Due to some unforeseen circumstances we're moving house next week and then I go on holiday. The EastBayRag support team have been relocated on a temporary basis. The backup servers have been carefully packed and are ready to ship. The production server farm with the terragigamegaquads of data will be expertly brought down next Tuesday morning (removing the plug from the socket) and hopefully brought back up that evening if the new data center has been provisioned correctly and the communications equipment has been installed and is operational. The simple question is whether the move will be completed before I leave, so will there be a vote question the following week?
Results:
Yes - the system will be up and running as expected was the clear winner with 75% of the votes from the following selection:
- Yes - the system will be up and running as expected (75%)
- No - something will go wrong and won't be fixed in time (25%)
Analysis:
Well, the system was up and running, but the webmaster was a little behind schedule. I forgot to set this week's vote question so will update now. It was touch and go as when we moved in, the cable company hadn't connected the house as promised, but they fixed the issue the next day. Then there was a mix up with our electricity and we got cut off, so the website has been up and down, but is hopefully now back up on a more permanent basis.
(Created on 2nd July 2012)
Vote #257
Question:
A hurredly created vote question as I forgot to set one - what with moving and then going on holiday. So, we'll drop back to the fishing theme. One thing I thought before I came back is how much can fishing have changed. I mean the fish are still the same. Wrong! There are now genetically modified fish in the fisheries, particularly a new carp known as an F1. Who will be the first to catch an F1 on this holiday expedition?
Results:
Dad and William tied with 40% of the votes each from the following:
- Dad (40%)
- Me (20%)
- William (40%)
- No one will catch one (0%)
Analysis:
All ye of little faith! It was me .... at least I think so anyway. Only been fishing a couple of times and only once on a proper lake. Caught a mixed bag of bream, roach, tench and carp and I believe that two of the carp were F1s. On the basis that my Dad decided he'd rather mow his lawn and William has decided he doesn't want to go fishing as it sounds boring, it's not really surprising that the answer is me.
(Created on 8th July 2012)
Vote #258
Question:
Continuing the holiday theme, we turn out attention to the weather on the basis that it's pissed it down with rain since I got here. We have the big BBQ planned for next Saturday - will it happen or will it get rained out?
Results:
Yes - it will happen was the clear winner with 60% of the votes from the following selection:
- Yes - it will happen (60%)
- No - it will get rained out (40%)
Analysis:
Not really sure how to call this one as it was somewhere in the middle. We did get the actual BBQ, but we had to sit inside and eat it as it started to rain. Given the recent weather, I think we can declare this as a significant victory regardless of the vote question.
(Created on 15th July 2012)
Vote #259
Question:
Well, the end of the holiday is here and it's time to start making my way back State side. To top off the fishing holiday (something I didn't know before I came), Sky Sports show the Fish O Mania competition on tv - a two day course fishing festival. In the team competition there was a little bit of controversy as Lee Edwards of Wales had a carp over 4 kilos disallowed as it caught the line of one of the other competitors whilst he was playing it. Do you think Lee's carp should have been disallowed or not?
Results:
Yes - it's in the international rules and should be disallowed and I don't care and I've had enough of these fishing questions tied with 40% of the votes each from the following:
- Yes - it's in the international rules and should be disallowed (40%)
- No - it wasn't intentional and should have been allowed (20%)
- I don't care and I've had enough of these fishing questions (40%)
Analysis:
An odd mix of voting! I was really expecting the majority of votes to come down on the side of wanting the end of the fishing questions. Well, I guess that was where the joint winner in the vote questions, but not unanimously. The good news is that the fishing questions will likely stop for a while as I get back into the routine of work and all that good stuff now that my vacation is over. Regarding the question, it's a bit of an irrelevant point, it's in the international rules, it was an international match and therefore the fish doesn't count. End of story. I have to say, as sad as it may sound, I really enjoyed watching the match and the commentary that Sky TV put on.
(Created on 22nd July 2012)
Vote #260
Question:
So it's time to move on and there will be no dance to your daddy! No little fishy on my little dishy anymore. Well, at least for a little while anyway. So, back to some more serious things as move into the week of the Olympics and the whole of the UK goes on strike. I've come back to the fantastic weather of California, but what will the weather be like for the Olympic games?
Results:
Some days good and some days bad with typical English showers was the clear winner with 80% of the votes from the following selection:
- Great - it's only a myth that it rains all the time in the UK (20%)
- Bad - the games will be washed out (0%)
- Some days good and some days bad with typical English showers (80%)
Analysis:
Well, it does indeed look like we'll have some days where the weather is good and others where it's not. The good news is that the weather held for the opening ceremony. Would have been a bit worried about the Queen if the weather had been bad as don't know how she'd have parachuted in. We wouldn't have wanted her to get blown into the Thames or something would we now.
Regarding the opening ceremony itself, I really did enjoy it. I thought it was a great production and that all of you enjoyed it too. There is, however, one thing that keeps nagging at me and it's the bit about the boy meets girl. So, if I understood it correctly, boy and girl see each other on the tube (London Underground). Girl gets taken off the train and they lose each other. Boy then finds that girl has left her mobile phone on the train. He gets her phone and then calls her to meet up .... Well, if she left her phone on the train, what on earth did she answer his call with? It did seem that she had some kind of magical implant as she seemed to be talking to her hand as opposed to on the phone given that he had her phone. Had she wanted him to call her, she just had to beam her number to him anyway. No need to bugger around with leaving your phone on the train for him to find. I'm sure I'm missing something and it wouldn't be the first time. That said, I really did enjoy it. It's pretty amazing that I managed to watch the whole thing in the first place, let alone enjoy it, so we'll stick to the positive thoughts.