NLIC.org

Seth Said:

Which of these reasons most convinced McCain to speak out in favor of the rich paying higher taxes?

We Answered:

I agree completely. The only fiscally responsible tax plan is progressive taxation. Poor and middle class people have been completely bamboozled into subsidizing all kinds of programs for the wealthy, at steep costs to their own financial security.

Josephine Said:

Does the fact that no time travelers (from the future) are here now prove that it will never be possible?

We Answered:

LOL, you have pretty much answered your own question. Since time travellers from the future are as great an unknown as aliens visiting the earth, there can only be conjecture as to whether they exist or not. In fact it is far more likely that aliens are visiting the earth right now, than human time travellers from the future.

The odds that human beings from the future are visiting us (even if they are hiding themselves) is quite low for a number of reasons:
- the ability for a person to travel backward in time is as of yet an unknown and it will likely take a great deal of time before it could (if possible) be done safely.
- even if humans could travel backward in time, the risk of disrupting their own time line would be too great and it would most likely be banned.
- given the complexity and risks of travelling backward in time, it is likely that it would be many thousands of years before such an activity would be allowed. If so, by then human beings would either have evolved naturally or through genetic manipulation to the point that we would no longer call them human beings. In fact to us they would be 'aliens'.
- the odds that our species will survive long enough to invent time travel are low. We are too violent and stupid to prevent our own destruction. As Carl Sagan once said "The possibility of survival in a century -- less than one percent, not very good odds.". And he said that almost 30 years ago now (we have less than 70 years left).

Johnnie Said:

Young professional with a dream but don't know what to do. HELP HELP?

We Answered:

I am not a flight attendant, but my mother was. She had the same dream of traveling the world, so after she graduated college she said "screw it" and became a flight attendant. She went to almost every country in the world, had fabulous experiences and made lifelong friends around the globe. She says that it was by far the best thing she could have ever done with her life.

Life is fleeting. We as humans tend to think of it as long-term and permanent when there are literally hundreds of things that could kill us every day. Why would you use this time to do something other than your dream?

Basically, do it. Take the chance. You won't regret it. :)

Linda Said:

...More homework help, please?!?

We Answered:

13. Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
14. Hospitality and tourism
15. Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
16. Weighted
17.So you can compare yourself to your friends
18. 2.83
19. Graduate
20. Graduate
21. Undergraduate
22. Weigh, compare options
23. Weigh, compare options
24. Define the problem

If you have anymore you need help with, there is a link to my email on my profile page.

Marjorie Said:

if you know many kinds of jobs, please let me know :)?

We Answered:

$3500 per month x 12 months = $42000 per year. You are not going to make that much money as a teacher for a while, especially without a masters degree.

Major in business with a specialty in finance if you are looking for serious dollars.

Jesse Said:

What expenses may be considered "extraordinary expenses"?

We Answered:

Why are you agreeing to such a lopsided financial agreement. Of course you want to do what is best for the child, but have you consulted an attorney? I imagine you have not.
The child is only 2 months old! and you are agreeing to pay for 'extra classes(piano,gym)? omg. $500 a month for "tuition funds for baby's post secondary" omg The child is barely out of the womb!
When do these payments commence? If she wants them now, you really do need to consult a lawyer. If you can afford all of these things you can afford a lawyer.
Be a good daddy, but don't be a fool.

(You never married. lived together 6 months. I see. You have of course no doubt that this is your child, Yes?
If there is any doubt, perhaps a DNA test is on order.)
hummm

Kimberly Said:

what are the chance of airplane crashing?(different question)?

We Answered:

Yes it absolutely safe to fly.

You have an interesting array of statistics, which mostly goes to show that statistics can be set up to show many different results depending on how you cut up the data. Statistics by themselves do not prove a causal relationship. Only you can decide which evaluation is most important to you.

In 2007 and 2008, there were NO fatalities on commercial flights in the US - I think that is also true worldwide for those years as well.

In those two years, for US carriers, there were a combined 21 million takeoffs and planes flew about 15 billion (yes, Billion) miles with no fatalities.

From 1989 through 2008, the average fatalities per 1,000,000 miles flown was .0004, or 1 fatality per 2.5 Billion miles flown - and that includes all those who perished as a result of the 9/11 hijackings. Are you going to fly 2.5 billion miles in your entire lifetime - probably not.

The last statistic you cite may be true but what does it prove? Some people I know get into their car 15 times a day to go somewhere, so there are a lot more "journeys" for cars (carrying 1 or 2 people), than for planes (carrying 50 to 250 people), which probably distorts the conclusions (at least in my opinion).

In a research job I once held many years ago, it was simple to calculate correlation coefficients between all of the various measurements we took for each experiment. So I did, just for fun. It turned out that there were many factors that had either highly positive or highly negative correlations - and there was absolutely NO connection between those items. It was simply a statistical calculation applied without regard to the meaningfulness of the test.

So, be cautious about interpretation. As Mark Twain said, "There are lies, damned lies and statistics!"

The NTSB site has lots of very interesting collections of data, and an accident data base that you can search.