today's Question

Since this infernal link between my blog and the facebook seems to advance glacially, I'll post later when I can, with the purpose of more inclusive and timely participation, should such a thing exist.  Regardless of technical difficulty, I had the opportunity to dine out with the boy and wife today at a hard-core staple of ours and thought, here is an excellent question.  I am a huge fan of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, a hard cover residing within reach of my sleeping quarters, so to that end...What is your favorite quotation?

Today's Question

With respect to STUFF, I too am in the process of purging.  However, being the entrepreneurial type, meaning a cheap hustler, I am trying to hock my wares in an effort to purchase electronic gear in order to get new musical sounds.  All of this really means, that like Megan, I am in the process of getting rid of tons of crap and buying few quality pieces.  When you think on this critically, and hearken back to the messages of the olden and simpler lifestyles, people bought what they needed and rarely what they wanted and that, in its simplicity, seemed to gratifying in its base utility, making little things a big treat.  With that in mind, my telephone is taking a dive. A slow, glitchy dive into the great technical beyond.  So, I am in the market, reluctantly, for a new phone.  What does everyone suggest?  I know that people are insanely attached to their particular brand and model of phone, so tell me what is absolutely crap about yours and what your favorite features are.  Keep in mind that I write, work, and play on machines and would, therefore, like to be able to do so on a new phone, IF my hand is being forced to get a new phone. 

Today's Question

Since there was some sort of bottleneck with respect to the blogger/facebook feed, I am trying again.  Two folks answered the question, but to recapitulate...do you have to much stuff, and if so, do you sell it, toss it, or reuse it?

Today's Question

Hey there friendlies, I have been blogging, composing, typing, tweeting, downsizing, and all other types of technologizing lately, so please excuse the lack of uniformity in my creative output.  So, as it turns out, I believe that I have managed to link my Question of The Day Blog, my OhScuttleworthU twitter feed, and the Pipé Scuttleworth facebook page, yeeeeee-haw.  As a result of all of this Social Networking linking, there are some odd things happening at the site, most of which have been removed.  Nevertheless, from here on out, I will be posting everything to the blog, toward an end that most of you will find rather interesting later on.  If you could reply on the blog, great, otherwise, I think that replying to facebook or twitter ought to get to the blog through the ether, in one form or another (you should still save your work in a text editor before posting though).  You should be able to reply to the blog through facebook and so on and so forth through twitter, but it is all experimental at this point and should be fun.  Anyway, today's question, for July 25th, 2011 is as follows... do you have too much stuff and if the answer is yes, do you sell it, toss it, or re-use it?

Today's Question

Well, yesterday's question seemed to be one of those odd questions that elicits a visceral response from you lot.  Therefore, as a follow up for those that answered in the vein of living until 105 on a budget of $25,000 per year, I'll bump you up to $35,000 for your self-imposed austerity measures.  Yet, you are charged with providing three thoughtful options to reduce your expenditures that other readers may also employ.  In other words, what brilliant ideas can you provide to all of us as to how we might reduce the amount we spend on things.  For example, If I like to drink, say $30,000 worth of wine per year, this budget won't cut the mustard. However, if you can provide an example of how to make the same amount of wine for, say $10,000 per year, that would be a solution.

For Dan and Teymour, would it be possible to take donations from or get interest free loans from you?  Or, alternatively, may we have your stuff when you are dead ?

Today's Question

Thank you for today's question, you god damn stupid people of the world.  Thank you also to the media and their sick fascination with the pornography that is celebrity and its deranged obsession that highlights the stupidest of us and places us on the cultural mantle of filth, in what I can only surmise, is an effort to encourage and instigate the other inconsiderate, insensitive, no-manner-having, fuck heads to do more stupid things to get on the next editions of the news to boost ratings and gain more corporate sponsorship.  So, my choice is license-to-do-bodily-harm, but your choices are either 1) license-to-do-bodily-harm and 2) license-to-kill?  Keep in mind that you, the moral, kind, ethical human beings that you are will have to set aside certain learned behaviors and allow  animalistic, base tendencies to bubble up from within and simply let your animal-auto-pilot fight instincts to do work.  Anyway, I wouldn't want to kill anyone per se, but do bodily harm ala those who received punishment in the film Seven, which seems to me a fate far worse than death.  This treatment is not to be doled lightly, and certainly not to the two-faced, the road-ragers, the bread thieves, or the like.  These licenses are to be used on only the likes of baby murders, and animal beaters, and rapists, and terrorists and other nice people like this.  So, to restate, would you prefer, either a 1) license-to-do-bodily-harm and 2) license-to-kill? 

Today's Question

Wow, brothers and sons and dogs and beers and grilled meats and stuff like that.  Some turds were blowing off Roman Candles and huge bottle rockets on the boulevard until late, from Friday until last night so I'm a bit sleep deprived.  Anyway, summer time and the Fourth of July and grills and indoor grilling and fruit and good stuff are all delicious.  So, a quick, appropriate, and easy start to the week is "what is your favorite summer time dish?" (recipes are encouraged but not necessary)

Today's Question

Aside from gaining hard-fought freedom from tyrannical, English overlords, trying to impose a state-sponsored religion on its territories abroad (ahem, don't we still kinda have that, if we consider the District of Columbia and Super Churches as being 'abroad, anyway) and levy fat-ass taxes on its denizens (hey, don't we still have that TOO, sorry), what is your most favorite part about the Fourth of July?

Today's Question

I feel as though I should say this "next question comes from longtime listener, first time caller," but it doesn't quite fit, though it is loosely applicable (longtime answerer, first time asker seems closer to the truth).  Anyhow, Sister Lisa posed a question for the blog yesterday, and I like it, so I'll pose it to all of you.  Moreover, the question is quite appropriate for this forum as it pertains, a great deal, to this forum.  It is worth note, that my facebook 'friend' list has people in it: A) that I have never physically met, an interesting notion now but certainly moreso 5 years ago; B) that I have not seen or seen very rarely in the past, oh, say 14 to 17 years, wow; and C) people that I see all of the time.  The point, and the question, is this..."how do you define friendship? And how has your notion of friendship changed with [the advent of certain] technolog[ies]?"  What I think Lisa is very directly hinting at, is whether it has become easier to make connections and communicate with people, whether we consider those connections to be friends or colleagues, and whether this has diluted our notion of what constitutes a friend (or 'real' friend, whatever that 'means').  I don't know many people that would take a bullet for me in my 'friend's' list, and that is okay, there ain't anyone that I work with that would, but what does this all mean with respect to friendship.

Today's Question

Everyone is good at something. Unfortunately, in order to pay for junk that we don't need, with money that we don't have, to impress people who don't really care and whom we don't really care for, our jobs and livings are not typically that 'Some Thing' that we are truly and passionately good at.   That applies to most of us, not all.  God knows there are those lucky few that have the right idea at the right time, or those who are self employed, or those who spend so very little that they can subsist on bottle returns and hustling.  Anyhow, we all have something that we are good at.  I can sit down and compose a song very quickly.  I can also take machines apart, fix them, and put them back together, for the most part.  I am also very good at emptying wine bottles and make beer disappear.  What are you really good at?

Today's Question

Have you stinkers signed onto the blog yet?  I don't believe that you all have.  I do love your zealousness for the fachybookis, don’t get me wrong.  Ah well hell, that's alright.  I just appreciate and enjoy your participation.  Some of you are vigorous all of the time and some of you are just floaters and free-lancers and part-time contributors, but it is all good.  I hope that you are having fun, because I sure as heck am.  I will often read a post and then have to wipe the tears of laughter off of my keyboard.  Just silly time awesome show!
Anyhow, I have spoken with a ton of you, here and there, and it seems to me that many of you are viewing and then posting but then losing your work because you don't have an account.  Well, I've posted on how you can remedy that issue by creating an account and it seems to have gotten to some of you and I suspect that we will see more from you all. 

I've also spoken with some others who really like reading posts but don't participate because of several reasons.  Let me address those concerns, in turn. 

First, if you are shy about what you post because of modern privacy concerns with technology, create a dummy account and post from there. 

Secondly, if you are concerned that your comments 'seem stupid,' well then just stop that negative thinking right now ‘debbie downer.’  Nobody is going to say anything mean or nasty to you and if they do, we will remove that post and release the goon squad we have retained to open a can of Organically grown, low-sodium whoop ass on those meanies (the goon squad is technically just me, but I have been lifting heavy weights and babies and riding my bicycle).  Now, for just a quick word the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment and freedom of speech…you certainly have the right to say whatever you feel, and we encourage that.  We like deep and meaningful discourse because it helps us to grow, and learn, and become more engaged in life.  That is how you find out that even if you have bigots in your family and preconceived notions about the world that gays don't want to eat your children, and that all white people aren't rich and snooty, and that Mexicans don't want to steal your jobs, and that Russians don't want to take over the world, and that the Chinese and Saudis aren't drinking up gasoline just so we have to pay $15.00 a gallon, and that, well, you get the point.  Talking to one another, and particularly positing and discussing viewpoints different than our friends and colleagues from an intellectual, rational, and mature state of mind, demonstrates Democracy in action and a way to learn (not all knowledge is in a book). 

So, and I think that we can all agree that a jerk is a jerk is a jerk, there are no stupid viewpoints and as such any infantile challenges to a comment and hurtful statements will not be tolerated.  We haven't seen any such things nor do I expect to, but you should feel free to post.  So...Do! 

Finally, if you just don't want to write a massive, drawn-out, tome, don’t, just post a pithy answer. “No,” for example, is a perfectly acceptable answer to the question, “Would you like to spend a weekend at the nude beach with Michelle Bachman, Newt Gingrich, and Harry Reid?”
Now to the question of the day, which by this point has become all but tertiary and will, true to my form, be overly long and disjointed but eventually make sense. Because I began a twitter account to blast you all with quick posts about “Today’s Question,” and because they, the machines at Twitter, thought I might (correctly, I’ll have you know) like to follow Wayne Coyne’s Twitter feed, and because the Flaming Lips are awe-inspiring, and because they are so Awesome that I have seen them thrice, and because concerts rule the physical realm, “What is the bestest, most bad-ass concert that you have ever attended and why was it soooooooo bad-ass?”  [ed. Note Triple ties are perfectly acceptable]

Today's Question

Well, by weekend's end, I had met my goal of having Filipino and Ethiopian food.  So, go me.  Good job.  In addition to a lovely weekend of food, music, family, etcetera, I managed to squeeze in some cinema.  I watched "Persepolis," an animated film based on a graphic novel about the Iranian Revolution from the perspective of young Marjane and how her attitudes change as she ages.  I also had the pleasure of viewing "Harry Brown," starring Michael Caine.  Caine gets all vigilante on some English hood-rat, jerk-bum-assholes and starts murdering faces after he's taken about all he can stand.  This morning during my workout, I happened to begin another Michael Caine film, called "Play Dirty."  I haven't finished it yet, but suffice it to say, Caine has been kicking asses for a very long time and in this particular film, those asses he is kicking belong to Nazis, Axis Italians, and their North African allies.  It is a desert film and in both of these Caine films, his characters are seen playing Chess.  I wonder with what frequency Michael Caine characters enjoy a game of Chess? Curious.  Nevertheless, since I'm into the films lately and was thinking about some of my favorite English actors (we'll save the actresses for another day), which of the following is your favorite contemporary English Actor, and why?  Gary Oldman, Daniel Day Lewis, Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon, Raphe Fiennes, Brenden Gleeson, or Christian Bale, or perhaps you've another.

Today's Question

I have had all three of the following types of cuisine and will likely have all three again by week's end.  I adore all of them for different reasons.  However, if you have never had the following, which would you be most intrigued to try on your next culinary outing, Ethiopian, Filipino, or Japanese? 

Today's Question

Well friends, we've had some real doozies in the last month (if you are bizarrely fascinated with word origins, Etymology as it is known, take a look at this link for the possible origins of the word doozie or doozy, as something unique or 'heavy bro').  Anyway, I seem to get an overwhelming response, in bulk, not necessarily substance, from the less cataclysmic, soul crushing, more fun questions such as the one that I'll ask today.  I do love the controversial, technical, tear jerking, ire inspiring, and sometimes vitriolic, but today we shall just see what YOUR TOP THREE FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME ARE (capital letters here denote me asking the question quickly for dramatic effect ; O )?

Today's Question

    We've heard a great deal lately about three active wars, the reduction of troops in Afghanistan, the War Powers Act as it pertains to Libya, the slipping and potential failure of the American economy (unlike the Goldman Sachs, we are NOT too big to fail),  and riots in foreign, developed nations that have rejected austerity measures in the face of disastrous overspending, Greece for example.

     It would appear that the World is on the brink of utter and total chaos, and yet, people everywhere, good people, are recycling, and fostering relationships, and taking responsibility for their actions, and creating art and positivity wherever possible, and even trying to die with dignity while the world is killing each other.

    "So, Pompa" you ask, "where the hell are you going with this, and why do you get all heavy on us, particularly after such a round of lightweight questions?"  Well, I read the beginning of a brief article this morning, about fathers, and a few anecdotes of the many ways in which fathers (biological and otherwise) and father figures, have taught us through education, ethics, responsibility, familial knowledge, hare learned guy stuff, and all other ways of how to be a strong, kind, caring, sensitive, and at times, a mean son of a bitch of a dad.  So, with all of the nonsense happening in the world in conjunction with reading this article and latching onto something the author John Corrigan said and thinking about what we could do 'at home' with the money we should be spending here instead of Kandahar, I started thinking about what I could do to make the World just a little bit better.

    What more could I do? I ride my bike, I use little fuel, I recycle and re-use almost everything that I can.  I cook for myself and my family, with my family, using whole ingredients.  You know, the kind of shit that won't give you cancer, or a third arm, or hyper thyroid.  We use reusable bags, like stinky hippies, excepct without the stink.  We don't use air conditioning.  I fix my own clothes, and can do a helluva an improved job now that my wife just bought me a sewing machine.  We try to shut off the lights when not in the room, with varying degrees of success (women can do many things but apparently have some strange disorder with respect to turning off light switches).  We don't run the water when we brush our teeth.  We even use cloth diapers for Christ's sake.  Have you ever sprayed baby shit off of cotton into a toilet?  Come on over, I'll show you how pleasant it is.  We don't want a pat on the back.  We don't do it because it is easy.  We do it because it is important to us that our kid be able to go outside and play without getting asthma, not have to live on a landfill, and not stare into an ocean of garbage on future beach vacations.  We do it so our kid can enjoy a spring and an autumn instead of what global warming appears to have recently given us which is two seasons, unbearably fucking hot, rainy, tornadoey death time and bone-chillingly fucking blizzard season where we have to have shovels and augers to get to a grocery store.  We are not judging anyone that doesn't, I'm sure you've perfectly good reasons.  We will however, help you get started if you'd like to do more (take a look here...http://www.reuseit.com/).  

    Nevertheless, I am forced to ask myself "what am I doing to help people, what am I really doing to impact a life for the better?"  It all comes back to me thinking about what we are going to do with all this money we throw at war when we are done fighting and pondering this article that I mentioned (http://theweek.com/article/index/216401/what-my-father-taught-me).  In the article, Corrigan quotes his father as stating, during one of his simple lessons, “You should help one person each day.”  What does he mean?  Teach someone something?  Maybe.  Seems a bit judgmental unless done with tact, a trait I've found most people lack, sometimes myself included.  Does he mean to hold a door open for a delivery person? Help a person with mobility issues accross the street?  Perhaps.  That is always a nice gesture.  I don't know what he means, but I need to start trying harder, whatever the hell it is.  I ask if someone 'would like' help, rather than 'needs help."  Many people don't need anything, or at least don't think that they do.  What I believe Corrigan means is simply to be a better person.  Pick up that stray piece of trash, help the lady with the bag, hold the door for the delivery person more, yes, this is what I believe he means. 

    But even more than that, I think that in my own way, Corrigan's father is telling me, "don't be a selfish asshole," and that pertains particularly to me.  I try not to be, but the god damned world gets me down.  It gets you down too.  It gets most people that are not self medicated to a catatonic state into a tizzy.  That is why we have car horns and cigarettes and whiskey.  Have you ever thought of that?  What the hell is happy hour?  If you're not on vacation, boozing for fun, happy hour is therapy for the working world.  It is a psycho-therapy bitch fest to complain about your two-faced boss, your jack-ass clients, the shit-for-brains at the D.M.V. that talks to you like you've never seen a vehicle, let alone operate one (author's note: I am not condoning the use of alcohol or drugs, but whatever you need to not burn down schools or beat women, maybe the Korengal Valley needs more booze).  What we do after we've had the shit day and drank the drink is what really matters, whether we get over it and seize our time and leave the troubles where they belong is what matters.  And just like us, the other person on the street, scowling and skulking and kicking dirt needs a smile sometimes.  Those people, just like you, want to get home to their kids and their spouses and their buddies and their girlfriends and their dogs, jesus christ do they ever want to get home to their dogs, because no matter how pissed off everyone is, the dog just wants to give you some snuggles and get a belly rub. 

    So, what the hell are we going to do?  If we bring these soldiers home from this Afghani war and we free up all of this money (we shall see) and start making jobs and building bridges and helping people, are we going to fight homelessness, are we going to feed all of these hungry kids on the streets and in the projects and in our little mountain towns?  Are we going to try to cure cancer?  Are we going to find alternative fuels that don't rape our planet?  Are we going to try to talk to our neighbors and build community gardens so that people aren't so fucking depressed that the only thing that our medical system can do to prevent these people from throwing themselves off of skyscrapers is to get big-pharma to dope em' to the gills on zoloft, paxil, xanax, and  oxy?  I don't know, but I am going to start by spending more time with my kid, spend more time talking to my friends, even if it is on facebook, start walking more and sitting less, start doing more art and exercise and living and stop making excuses for not doing whatever it is that I should be.  Maybe I'll volunteer at a soup kitchen.  Maybe I'll help start an organization that helps homeless people get new training and get a resume and get a job.  Maybe I'll start a venture capitalist firm that helps develop beneficial technologies to fight disease and hunger.  Maybe I'll start a website that matched philanthropist to micro loan applicants.  I don't know yet, but I'm going to do something.  What would you do to help people?  What does this mean to you?

Today's Question

Is cable television really worth the mint that we pay for it?  Do you watch enough television to justify the exorbitant costs that we pay toward that aspect of entertainment/edutainment?  Sell me on it.  Sell me on pitching it. Do work.

Today's Question

Friday = on the road, then family, then beer, then chicken.  Saturday = surprise party for in-laws, dinner at Michael Symon's "Roast"... awesome, Sunday = Asian Barbecue, beer, dj brother's birthday party at Detroit's New Center Pavilion, Monday = on the road and late, shitty (technical term) job, and here we are, back in the grind.  Since we had such a hiatus I'm going to provide a goofily recurring, multi-part question. First, bear versus shark? Second, would it matter the venue, i.e., water or forest?  If water, shallows or deep? Third, does it matter if the bear is polar or otherwise?  Four, if it seems ridiculous, wouldn't you want the bear in the water if there were a shark near you?

Today's Question

Since you've all demonstrated a clear propensity for the indulgence in sundry libations, what is your favorite past-time, surely to be done with a cocktail in hand, but seriously, what is your favorite past-time?

Today's Question

What is your drink of choice? What does it 'say' about you?

Today's Question

Love or money?  Which would you rather have?

Today's Question

If forced to eat 1 gallon of ice cream, would you choose Superman, Mint Chocolate Chip, or Mackinac Island Fudge?

Today's Question

Gasoline?  Keep drilling for it or accept the fact that peak oil, i.e., the pinnacle of the parabola of the existence and therefore consumption of all oil, is now in the past and we have to find an alternative or suffer complete and total, global economic chaos if we fail to do so, OR, any additional opinions?

Today's Question

Potter Stewart, late Supreme Court Justice, and native of Jackson, Michigan, in his opinion on the 1964 obscenity case Jacobellis v. Ohio, stated that he could not define hard-core pornography, but knew it when he saw it.  Many intangible things in life could be defined so nebulously without much contention, but what do these things really mean, and what comprises their essences?  With that in mind, what is music?  Is anything music?  Are jack hammers and heart beats percussion?  Are humming power lines in the key of D rhythmic?  Are a group of  bull finches whistling their mating call a polyphonic lead?  How do you define music?

Today's Question

What things would you imagine buying from a General Store in your neighborhood rather than going to a big box store?  My brother, for example, would like the option of purchasing a single bar of soap from a local shop, which apparently, in Detroit anyway, is nearly impossible.

Today's Question

Everyone has likely heard the question that I am about to ask you, in one incarnation or another.  I love to ask this question because it is very telling about the individual's personality.  There is no limit, meaning, you can list as much as  you could reasonably shove into your face and that your body could process, what would you care, it's your last.  Anyway, what would your last meal consist of?

Today's Question

Are you of the opinion that people are just animals with some fairly sophisticated tools or are we something more?

Today's Question

What is one of the funniest things you have ever seen or heard?  To pick the very funniest would be too difficult, thus, give us something that ranks in the top ten.

Today's Question

Is the situation comedy dead?  Meaning, does a television program exist between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. that actually makes people laugh because of good dialogue and funny jokes?

Today's Question

Bone-in Ribeye or Filet?  Kind of a phone in, but I just came home from the butcher.

Today's Question

Sorry for the massive delay in postings.  Practiced Friday, Played Saturday, Recuperated Sunday, Drove Monday, Worked Tuesday, now back to posting on Wednesday.  All this heat has me thinking about cool things.  I love it.  So, if you only had one choice this summer, as a method of cooling down, would you choose air-conditioning OR ICE COLD BEER?  Can you tell which I'd choose?

Today's Question

What is your favorite Holiday and why?

Today's Question

Electronic Music...you could 1) take it, or 2) leave it? Why?

Today's Question

If you are averse to eating test tube meat, would you accept a replacement organ that was grown in a laboratory if it meant life or death?

Today's Question

Would you eat test tube meat, meaning, meat grown in vitro, in a laboratory? Defend your answer.

Today's Question

What is the one thing, that you always revisit, as that one thing you wish you could do better, or be better at?  Then tell us why.

Today's Question

Today's Question is as vague as the responses it is likely to garner...How Much Is Too Much? Enjoy

Today's Question

Congratulations!  You've just won $700,000 dollars.  What is the first thing that you do?  (Note: Not what is the first thing that you buy or pay for, but what is the first thing that you do?)

Today's Question

Religion is good for people?  Serious, well thought out answers please?  This is a heavy question and often violently argued, somehow antithetically to its often stated purpose, so use your inside, rational voices.

Today's Question

Apologies for the missed weekend questions.  Baby Showers, Dinners, Birthday Parties, and general compounded fatigue set in.  I slept in clothing last night for Christ's Sake.  That usually only happens while abroad or if booze is involved.  Anyway, if you could take a pro-rata pay decrease for a reasonable reduction in work hours, would you?

Today's Question

Someone help me straighten this out, please?  I suspect that once the dust settles from this one, we will not be any clearer on the issue than when we started.  However, I bet this goes well and I like to laugh.  What is a hipster?  I’ve been told that I am kind of like one but not really when people thought of it before shooting their mouths off, a problem from which we have all suffered at one point or another.  Here, for example, I sit in relatively “skinny jeans” (thought not sufficiently so to limit procreative abilities), writing a “blog-post,” listening to music that I’ve made in my “basement studio,” on the way upstairs to take out my “recycling” before I head out to purchase some “vinyl” records and “micro-brews” all done on my “bicycle.” 

            So, if we were to analyze this, from my perspective, none of this makes me a hipster.  First, skinny jeans are hardly hipster-esque.  They are merely a seventies revival, they fit well, and are perfect for riding a bike.  Does that make me a hipster? No, that makes me practical and shows a desire to keep my kibbles in bits in good working order instead of having my bullocks smashed every time I hit a pothole.  Pompa 1, Hipsters 0.

            Secondly, web logs are a godsend for creative types and the kind of folks that like to stay connected with their peers.  It is an excellent way to share experiences and learn new things.  As I understand it, most hipsters are too cool for school and wouldn’t give a shit about trying to learn something from someone else unless it involved free PBR or the awesome-est band you’ve never heard of and never will, because you suck.  Pompa 2, Hipsters 0.  Admittedly, I enjoy so-called underground, rare, and obscure music, but I’ll share it with you rather than make you feel like a turd that you didn’t know about them already.  Pompa 3, Hipsters 0.

            Thirdly, and related to issue two, yes I make music.  I know many people that make music.  Making music does not make you a hipster.  Luciano Pavarotti made music.  Was he a hipster? Hell no, I think, is a safe answer.  Ravi Shankar made music.  Indian hipster or master sitar player.  From what I’ve been told there are only sub-continental Indian hipsters in Brooklyn, San Francisco, and Milwaukee.  This is very basic generalization and limiting but probably not far from reality.  In either case, making music does not a hipster make.  Making some kinds of music may make you a hipster.  While fashioning experimental, electronic, psychedelic sounds may make you a hipster, I again will not make you feel like a turd if you don’t listen to my record.  Pompa 4, Hipsters 0.

            Fourthly, I recycle, and I compost.  If you don’t, that is okay.  I will rarely judge you.  My boss informed me that, though he has the container in his garage, he still doesn’t recycle.  I told him that his actions were abhorrent and that he epitomized my definition of laziness.  I JUDGED HIM.  I used to drive, with my wife, to a remote facility to drop off our recycling.  Now, my City, I believe actually recycles what we put in our blue bin.  I make an effort because the Earth is fucked up and we are likely the reason for that and I don’t want my kid to have to run his tap water through charcoal purification in the future.  That certainly doesn’t make me a hipster because I am demonstrating care for another living being without seeking recognition.  I’ve always recycled, I’ll continue to recycle, and I’ll help you do it if you ask me to.  As far as the information I’ve been given, these are not traits of the elusive hipster.  Correct me if I am wrong.  Pompa 5, Hipsters 0.

            Fifth, we have the issue of my vinyl collection.  Three points, and not a single point more.  A.Vinyl is analog and it sounds richer and more beautiful than 1s and 0s.  Again, I’m not judging you if you don’t listen to vinyl.  Don’t judge me because I don’t have an Ipod.  Deal?  B. I am a dj. I dj records…that is how I started and that is how I will likely finish.  C. Vinyl music comes with art in a tangible format.  Remember buying music from a music store?  If you have always bought vinyl it makes you old fashioned, not a hipster.  Pompa 6, Hipsters 0.

            Sixth, micro-brewed beer is just like old beer, but better in a ton of cases (no pun intended).  You try to buy local food, local booze, local music, and local stuff so that Walmart doesn’t murder you in your sleep and run off all of the nice people in your community.  Also, beer tastes good and makes you feel nice.  If you want to drink Busch Lite because it tastes good rather than being friendly to your pocket book, you will probably get diarrhea, for starters, and have deeper issues than being concerned with what type of beer I drink.  Can hipsters afford micro-brews if they don’t work at a micro-brewery?  Don’t know, not a hipster, don’t work in a micro brewery either.  Again, I know many, many people that like beer.  Mmmmmmmmm.  Pompa 7, Hipsters 0.

            Seventh, and this has gone on for long enough at this point, is the issue of my bicycle.  I ride my bike to get exercise, because gas if obscenely fucking expensive, and because I care about the environment.  So, I want to be fit and I’m cheap.  I ride the goddamn thing in the rain and cold.  If you think I do that to be cool, you’re dumb. 

            Finally, here is the capper.  I have a wonderful baby boy.  He makes even hipsters smile.  But, I don’t see a whole lot of hipsters with babies, because they don’t find poopy diapers very hip.  Having babies can make you cool, but it is the antithesis of hipsterdom.  So there.

            Hit me back with your answers.  I am so curious, I could pee!

Today's Question

What is your preference, Ravi Shankar or Nora Jones?

Today's Question

Bass or drums?  Simple as that!

Today's Question

Sorry for the couple of absentee days, I was lost in New York.  In either case, do you relate more to Batman or to Superman and why?

Today's Question

If money were no object, which it is, physically and figuratively, what is the thing that you've always wanted to buy but never have, but would, if you could?

Today's Question

I, myself, am a Jeopardy man.  I record, and watch, the show everyday.  However, I do understand that there are many folks out there that are die hard Wheel Of Fortune fans.  Hell, my brother could probably do without either so long as he was free to catch episodes of the Price is Right.  My wife always wanted to take her family on Family Feud.  So, what is your favorite game show?

Today's Question

Should there be compulsory military or other state service in the United States for all able bodied citizens between the ages of 18 and 24?

Today's Question

People celebrating the death of a terrorist, in my mind, is fine.  However, is it acceptable to be jumping around like mad men at football match, intoxicated, in front of the White House, drunk with blood lust?  Thoughts please?

Today's Question

Since most of us are in the Midwest, Abroad, or on an island, literally, here is fun one.  My good friend Ben once told me he met a girl that the plane between the Los Angeles and New York was a vast wasteland, where, I paraphrase, dreams go to die.  Despite her ignorance, it got me thinking, which was my favorite.  So, which is your favorite coastal metropolis, New York or Los Angeles?

Today's Question

Do you have the intestinal fortitude to quit what you know and go learn a trade?  Do you think that you could do that or does risk aversion have a hold on you? Defend your answer.

Today's Question

Since everyone seems to like, or at least know, John Carpenter's Magnum Opus Big Trouble in Little China, and oh yes, do not delude yourself, it is his Opus, my question centers around it's cast.  Are you a proponent of David Lo Pan or are you an Egg Shen person?  Please provide support.

Today's Question

Thinking about how terrible my job can be is a total waste of time. As Bertrand Russell stated, "A great many worries can be diminished by realizing the unimportance of the matter which is causing anxiety," meaning, in my case, that the god damned, crap job will be there will be there until it isn't and I don't really much care when that is until it so happens that I don't have to go do it any longer.  Hopefully that happens soonish, but I'll just likely replace this steamer with another, so I'll just be happy doing the things that I enjoy and ignore the idiots with whom I work until I replace them with others.  So, the direction I am headed with this question is as follows...What do you enjoy doing when making a paycheck isn't getting in the way, OR, if you are one of the ever-diminishing few that does what you love, what do you do to make money that you truly enjoy?

Today's Question

In honor of Earth Day, what could you do to be 'greener,' and why don't you?

Today's Question

It may be obvious to tell by the question that my bosses are incompetent, two-faced, passive-aggressive, and are doomed to fail, however, they have not yet and so this question results.  What makes a good boss?

Today's Question

If you won $3,000,000, would you continue to work at your present job?  Would you find a new job?  Would you just quit it all and become a philanthropist with yourself being the charity?

Today's Question

My apologies for not posting on Saturday or Yesterday.  The celebration of the impending birth of a friend's child, a visitation from a New Orleanian Zombie, Serbian Burek, Gravy appetizers, and a Prince Rama psychedelic freak out all met in a strangely nuanced choreography to upend any plans for civilized discourse or even the quick dispensation of internet questions.  Nevertheless, I have a three part question for today.  Or rather, a top three, rather than three parts.  You awake this morning in the White House in the Presidential Quarters.  There is no Congress and you have the opportunity to unilaterally impose three sweeping changes to the United States with impunity.  Your power is supreme in both its potential for benevolence as much as its depths of cruelty.  What are your three implementations?

Today's Question

If you did not have to eat to sustain your body, would you still do it?  Meaning, do you derive pleasure from food or treat it as a chore of refueling, which technically it is?

today's Question

Since I was out and about, Pantha Du Prince show, I can technically ask today's question.  What is your biggest regret? Think hard about this and don't divulge anything too painful, but mine, in the whole vein of not too painful, is that I wish that I knew more about sports, for the whole trivia thing.  I love my family and such, and, I do whatever pops into my mind, so nothing too nasty, but that is my biggest regret thus far.  Many more friendships could have been cultivated, and many more quiz show questions could have been answered.  So there!

Today's Questions

Salutations.  Due to yesterday's overwhelming response, I have an equally ludicrous question for today.  The choice is yours, as I realized that not everyone is as in love with the inestimably righteous John Carpenter.  What is your favorite John Carpenter film of all time? Or, for those not as learned in the minutiae of his filmography, and for my own personal joy, what is your favorite romantic comedy?  Be forewarned.  I know that many of you have seen Carpenter films ( Halloween, Escapes From New York and L.A., Big Trouble In Little China, The Thing, the list goes on and on).  If you opt a romantic comedy in lieu of a Carpenter film and I KNOW that you have seen a Carpenter film, brace yourself for ridicule.  Seriously.  Rock it out.

Today's Question

I was the only person that answered yesterday's question, but have no worries.  I was almost too busy to answer myself. (Ha, ha. Get it?  Answer myself!)  Anyway.  What is your favorite guilty pleasure song that you don't really tell anyone? 

Today's Question

Paper, Plastic, or Reusable?  Don't Lie or I will shame you, if you have any shame!

Today's Question

This is an area of great contention.  This issue has destroyed families, broken homes.  Toiler paper roll over or under?  Have a warm and fun Sunday.

Today's Question

Thanks to everyone who has been answering.  Today, we have a topic I enjoy very much, and that is travel.  So, if you could go anywhere you would like for one month, where would you go, all expenses paid?

Today's Question

All, I totally missed yesterday.  I was hand numbering record inserts and the day just got away from me.  Anyway, since I missed yesterday, here is a two part question.  If you could have any superpower, what would it be?  Note, this is an often asked question but rarely receives a well thought answer, so be very creative.  Also, after choosing your power, what would you use it for? 

Today's Question

For some much needed levity.  What do you prefer on your pizza, cheese only, pepperoni, or bacon?  You may only choose one, your favorite.  Defend your position.

Today's Question

Today's question, which I've narrowed a bit, comes from Maui Mike.  Since I haven't much time today and since the question was good.  The question has its foundation in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (which some people, NOT POLITICIANS, still abide by, and believe in).  The relevant part reads "The amendment prohibits the making of any law ...infringing on the freedom of speech..."  So, if you can predict that the consequences of your "free speech" will lead to violence and the death of innocents, should you be held responsible? [examples: Burning a Koran, murdering cartoonists that portray Muhammad in a perceived negative light, writing literature or speaking on a television program with the intent of incitement]

Go nuts!

Today's Question

Yesterday was a bit too busy for a question, so today's is two parts...Would you rather give up television or your car? If you gave up your car, how would you get around, and if you gave up your television, how would you fill that new found time?

Today's Question Saturday, April 2, 2011

This question should be fairly simple.  Do you all want to answer weekend questions? Simple enough, right?

Friday, April 1, 2011

First, an administrative order.  I suspect that without additional input or response from the moderator of such a group, the experiment is incomplete, although only just mildly so.  Therefore, I will try and add a response to as many questions as I can.  I will try and do this on the weekends, unless I am gifted with an abundance of time, in which case I will respond as quickly as possible.  Thanks for participating.  Now for today's entry.

I went back and forth on which question to post today.  After much deliberation, conscious and dream sub/con/un-conscious alike, here it is...What is your earliest memory and why do you think that your mind has chosen that particular memory as your first recollection? As always, respond and support.
 

03.30.2011's Question Of TheDay

If you knew a child would grow to be evil, antithetical to the beliefs of many, and would be a murderous tyrant, could you kill the child while still in the innocence of youth?  Please provide an answer and support.