dragonbreathfromjuno

Consider the case of two men (or women) who get married in a state where same-sex marriage is legal and then move to North Carolina, where it is not. They do their federal income tax and file as "Married filing joint" which would be recognized by the IRS as legitimate. The state of North Carolina requires that they file their state return with the same filing status as their federal return. But the state of North Carolina also does not recognize their marriage. So: what happens?

I have full insurance on my car so when I rent a car I waive all the coverage they offer, so I am 100% responsible for whatever happens. They want to charge me $12 day to add another driver, even my wife. I don't get it. What if I don't pay it and she drives anyway. What's the worst that can happen?

and a bright object were traveling towards me almost head-on at the same speed, would I be able to see it?

After we passed and were moving away from each other, would I be able to see it recede or would it just seem to disappear?

Imagine that you hear that a famous scientist has published a paper that reveals that he has found evidence that confirms his theory about what happened before the big bang. Without reading the paper, you speculate on what the evidence was and how that might confirm any theory.

Is there any chance that we will know - even with doubt - what happened before the big bang? What evidence would support our knowledge?

Something that I can show to students that will make history come alive, from all over the world. Something like "Lawrence of Arabia" or "Gandhi" or "Doctor Zhivago" or "Cry the Beloved Country",

good stories with historical settings and general accuracy. Target audience: 20-year-old female college students from around the world, English as a second language.

So what would you recommend? Maybe a top-5 or top-10 list.

I am planning on walking the Camino de Santiago in May/June of 2011 along the route from Roncesvalles to Santiago. I don't believe I can go the entire 800 km, more likely about half of that.

Which section - what starting point, what end point - of about 400 km is the best? The most scenic, the best availibility of hostels, the most interesting for walking?

I'm not a biologist but I know a few things.

1. Melatonin is a chemical that makes living things colored, like the skin or fur of animals, the color of our eyes, and even the colors of plants. It protects us from the sun, and, in animals, makes colorful patterns to attract a mate.

2. Animals that have evolved living in caves often have no color at all, they are often white or even transparent. Apparently they have no need for the protection of melatonin from the sun, and, because they are blind, no benefit from color to attract a mate. There is apparently some cost in investing in melatonin from an evolutionary point of view.

3. Many bats live in caves and only come out at night. They are blind.

So here is my question:

Why are most bats a dark color, usually dark brown?

Like many people, in 2008 I had enough capital losses to carry forward that I will probably not have to pay capital gains taxes again for many years, Perhaps ever.

How does this change my choice of investments going forward?

There is a puzzle that occurred to me several years ago that I have never been able to solve to my satisfaction, and I would like to know your thoughts on it. It is a paradox, in the sense that it seems to have strong arguments supporting completely contradictary results. It is about whether a particular scenario is deterministic or not.

Begin with the old sixth-grade math problem of the train that leaves Chicago headed for New York at a particular time and at a specific speed at the same time another train leaves NY for Chicago on the same track at such-and-such speed, and a bug which can fly extremely fast that zips back and forth between the two, and is able to turn around in zero time, and you are supposed to figure out how far it flies before it gets crushed between the two trains, and of course this is easy given all the right data.

And of course this is a mathematics puzzle so it flies in a perfectly straight line and all speeds are exactly constant and the bug is a mathmatical point and a the end, both trains and bugs are all at a single point. It is not a trick question.

But now consider the opposite question, the one that intrigues me.

If we take this scenario and play it backwards, with the two trains and the bug all beginning from a point, and the trains fly apart at that exact time and specified speed, with the bug bouncing back and forth, is the location of the bug something that is deterministic, in the sense that, for example, at the end of ten minutes we could calculate its exact location?

Answer one: Of course. It is a well-defined algorithm beginning from a mathematical point and following specific rules, it can only be deterministic. There is only one place where the bug could be.

Answer two: Of course not, playing the scenario forward (with the trains converging) the bug could begin anyplace between them and they would all still end up at the same point.