I got yer survey right here!

[muckefuck]

So all y'all who have been saying, "Ask me questions!", here are five that I really want to know the answers to:

1. Have travel fears (terrorism, SARS, etc.) given a boost to tourism in Central America or are USAmericans reluctant to vacation outside their country at all these days?
2. Why don't Palestinian terrorists give up soft targets for strategic economic ones? They could share the pain of their severe travel and work restrictions with Israel without, you know, getting condemned for indiscriminate murder.
3. Dialect question: "He has such tiny nipples topping off his big, soft ________."
4. Are you avoiding certain cities (like Toronto) or certain areas of cities (like Chinatown) out of fear of SARS? What do you think of people who do?
5. Is it a legitimate form of protest for those who supported the war in Iraq to boycott goods and services from and travel to countries (like France) where the vast majority of the population opposed it? What about countries (like Spain) where this was true but the leadership nonetheless supported the USA's position?

Comments

[welcomerain.livejournal.com]

1) No/No
2) It's past logic and into pride.
3) Skull
4) No/They're idiots
5) It's *legitimate*, but also idiotic.

[kayiwa.livejournal.com]

1. Where in the world is Central america? Do they speak American there?


2. too complex


3. belly


4. as much as I avoid going outdoors for fear of the flu/ they are hopeless


5. It is illegitimate and crazy

[lhn.livejournal.com]

Why don't Palestinian terrorists give up soft targets for strategic economic ones? They could share the pain of their severe travel and work restrictions with Israel without, you know, getting condemned for indiscriminate murder.

As far as I can tell, Palestinian terrorists have never let strategic considerations influence their agenda a whit. They also don't seem to be all that good at evaluating strategic considerations. (Remember the shock that went through the West Bank when Iraq lost so quickly?) They choose allies who can't help them accomplish their long-term goals (and whose interests lie in preserving them as a miserable symbol rather than in actually solving any of their problems), and go out of their way to align with anyone opposed to the only country in the world that can exercise any influence on Israel. As Abba Eban reputedly said, "The Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

Besides, while it wouldn't be tough to come up with a better plan for getting a Palestinian state than most of the terrorist leaders have, I doubt that any of them could exercise enough control to implement it even if they had one and wanted to. (That particularly true given the glamor they've attached to suicide bombing by now-- where's the cachet in attacking economic targets when you can take a busload of your enemies to God's judgement?) That's one concern I've had all along with the various negotiation rounds-- does anyone on the Palestinian side have enough power to put any agreement limiting or ending the violence into effect? Or will the militants just calve off into new groups while Abbas or whoever says-- whether honestly or not-- "Sorry, nothing to do with me."?

[nibadi.livejournal.com]

1. Keine Ahnung wie sich die Amerikaner verhalten. In Deutschland / Europa hat es erhebliche Auswirkungen.
2. Das kann ich nicht beantworten.
3. Weil du es bist: Bauch, wenns nach mir geht eher der Arsch.
4. Nein, aber ich kenne an mir selbst phobische und irrationale Impulse. Phobiker haben ein Problem, sie sind nicht besser oder schlechter als andere.
5. Natürlich ist es legitim.
Aber es ist doch trotzdem verrückt.
Ich bin hier auch gefragt worden "... und du willst in ein Land reisen, dass sich im Krieg befindet, ein Land, dass gegen das Völkerrecht verstösst ... blabla."

Ja, ich will.

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

1. Dunno. Terrorism has certainly contributed to the basic agony of travel, though. They make me take my shoes off every single goddam time!
2. Their foreign sponsors aren’t paying for that (see lhn’s response).
3. You’re looking for “man-breasts,” no?
4. No/Fraidy-pants!
5. Legitimate, but mean.

Numba 3

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

God, was my dialect question so badly worded? You're the first person to get within striking distance. How would you solicit this word without giving the game away?

Re: Numba 3

[mollpeartree.livejournal.com]

"Many tv news programs pixilated Richard Speck's ______ when broadcasting his prison party home videos."

Re: Numba 3

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

All those other answers baffled me. I would have gone for "pecs".

Re: Numba 3

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I know! Who has nipples on his belly?

(Wait--don't answer that.)

Re: Numba 3

[nibadi.livejournal.com]

zu 3. Ich Idiot. Habe wieder mal schnell überflogen und nicht richtig gelesen. Brustwarzen auf dem Hintern, oh je.

Werden deine Antworten auch noch erscheinen?

Re: Numba 3

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Später. Ich möchte nun die Antworte nicht beeinflussen.

[fengshui.livejournal.com]

1. Don't know.
2. Because economic targets don't pull the heartstrings like murder does.
3. Pizza.
4. We put off a trip to China and Hong Kong that we were planning when the whole thing broke out. As it turns out, we could have gone in the end, but we didn't know how things would turn out when we were planning it.
5. It's legitimate. Somewhat stupid, but whatever.

[danthered.livejournal.com]

"He has such tiny nipples toping off his big, soft lemon meringue pies..."

4. Are you avoiding Toronto or Chinatown out of fear of SARS?

Hell no! SARS made parking in Chinatown an unprecedented breeze!

What do you think of people who do?

I think they're alarmist, poor at maths, brainwashed by the bilge that passes for "news" in America, or some combination of these.

As for boycotting France, I'm not generally of the opinion that Quixotic boycotts do much of anything except make the boycotter look silly. If my mother is any indication, there are plenty of people doing it to be able to tell their friends they're doing it. Me, I'm much more concerned with trying to avoid products manufactured in countries where safe working conditions, environmental protection and due process of law are regarded as hilarious Western jokes than I am worried about who said what about whom in France.

[princeofcairo.livejournal.com]

1. I don't know, actually, but I imagine all foreign travel has dropped off since 9/11, between the recession, the new airport hassles, and the presence of so many foreigners abroad.

2. It is my understanding that virtually all strategic targets in Israel are far too well guarded for that strategy to work -- Israel doesn't have our jaunty, devil-may-care attitude toward water treatment plants and gas pipelines, so the terrorists have to resort to randomized mass murder of Jews, which is all they really want to do anyway.

3. Man-tits.

4. No. They are idiots.

5. Yes; the individual consumer boycott is almost always a legitimate form of protest. It may or may not be stupid, or ineffective, or wrongly directed, but it's legitimate. In the specific case, the situation hasn't come up for me, because [Unknown site tag] won't let me even look at French cheese unless there's a big party in the offing. The most interesting boycott I've noticed is one by a German STAR TREK fan who's shut down access to the English language version of his STAR TREK cartography website to punish the Anglosphere for its invasion of Iraq. ("Curses!" thinks Rumsfeld, "Our invasion of Cardassia must be postponed!") Fortunately, I read German, so I was able to evade his pitiful sanctions and download the information for for a project for work. I should have emailed a copy to Richard Perle.