Challenge to Readers IV

Help find the answer to the following question.

I don't know about the readers, but I've had a lot of fun posting a challenge now and then. Today's challenge is about one of my favorite movies; "Three Days of the Condor". The lead actors are Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway and Cliff Robertson. Robert Redford (Turner) plays the part of a CIA employee who is employed to read novels and books from around the world and to simply file reports on the various plots that he encounters. Faye Dunaway is the innocent bystander and Cliff Robertson (Higgins) plays a CIA leadership role.

I've chosen this movie and challenge because I believe it has relevance to our current foreign policy situation (I'll explain in more detail at the end of the challenge). Sometimes, art does mirror reality.

The movie takes place in 1975 and is centered in New York City. To refresh your memory; Turner leaves the office to get lunch for everyone at a local eatery. Upon returning, he finds everyone in his station has been assassinated.

The question is this; What did the Redford character, Turner (code name: Condor) uncover that lead to the elimination by assassination of his entire station in New York City?

Have fun with this. More importantly, go watch the movie again as it has remarkable parallels to the realities of today.

The challenge has ended.

Congratulations! That challenge was solved rather quickly. In the final scene; Condor asks Higgins, "Do we have plans to invade the Middle East?" Higgins replies; "today it's oil, tomorrow it's food." Condor goes to the New York Times with the entire story. Higgins goes on to say; "you have done more damage than you know." Condor responds; "I hope so." The backdrop for a few scenes in the movie is the twin towers. Life does imitate art; I can see Dick Cheney now shuttling back and forth between the White House and CIA Headquarters to gin up an excuse to invade Iraq. Cheney was busy dodging the draft when the movie first came out, but I suppose he saw it and said to himself; "I think I'm going to grow up and do that some day." He did; and a lot of Americans and Iraqis are dead because of his evil.

tomtoak

Challenge to Readers III - Commitment to Service

It seems like we had some fun with the last challenge, so I've decided to post another one. Below you will find an equal list of famous people from both major political parties and a third list of famous political pundits. The question is this; What is the total amount of time the people listed in each group (in aggregate) served in the military? I'm looking for 3 numbers, an estimate of joint military service for each group.

The Challenge has ended: To view additional information, read the comments.

Democrats - 46 years of Service - 12 major service medals

1. Barack Obama
2. Tom Daschle
3. Bill Clinton
4. Al Gore
5. John Kerry
6. Charles Rangel
7. Ted Kennedy
8. Walter Mondale
9. Tom Harkin
10. George McGovern
11. Max Cleland
12. Jimmy Carter

Republicans - 0 years of military service

1. Mitch McConnell
2. Tom Delay
3. Karl Rove
4. Paul Wolfowitz
5. Richard Perle
6. Phil Gramm
7. Dick Cheney
8. Jeb Bush
9. Newt Gingrich
10. Dennis Hastert
11. Trent Lott
12. John Ashcroft

Political Pundits - 0 years of military service

1. Sean Hannity
2. Rush Limbaugh
3. Bill O'Reilly
4. George Will
5. Michael Savage
6. Bill Bennett
7. Pat Buchanan
8. John Wayne
9. Bill Kristol
10. Kenneth Starr
11. Antonin Scalia
12. Clarence Thomas

When somebody responds and gets within +/- (4) years for all three groups, I'll then give you some more numbers regarding the 3 groups in a follow up comment. I'll provide hints along the way.

tomtoak

Challange to Readers II - Impact of Cars in the U.S.

Today's post is just a simple challenge. If you saw Yesterday's, Random Reasoning's X, I talked about automobiles in the United States and the world. It is estimated today that there are 300 million cars in the U.S. and 600 million world wide. It is expected that this number will double in 30 years.

Cars are taking up a lot of room in this country and the resulting pollution with today's technology is causing environmental concern planet- wide. Global warming is becoming more problematic because of our love of the automobile. This does not mean that 30 years from now we can't have clean burning, energy efficient cars that will help to sustain our environment.

Here's the question: If we parked every car in the United States in one big parking lot, with each parking space 10 feet by 20 feet (200 square feet), which state or portions of states would be required to house all 300 million cars?

I wouldn't mind charging Logan Airport parking rates for this fun little game. Feel free to do some math, take a guess or multiple guesses. Just a short note: don't included the inundated areas of states in the calculation. You shouldn't park a car under water.

tomtoak

Challenge to Readers - I

Help find the answer to the following question:

Did Sarah and Todd Palin break the truancy laws of Alaska when they removed their children from the classroom during the Presidential campaign in the Fall of 2008?

I have long thought that laws were broken when Sarah and Todd Palin took their children out of the classroom to travel across the country during the election. It's one thing to take your kids out of school for a week to travel to Disney World or visit distant Grandparents, but taking your kids out of school for half a school year is illegal in most states.

I do know that it was tough on Piper Palin from the Matt Lauer interview. My search for the truancy laws of Alaska was extremely difficult. I'm not so sure that Alaska is close to fully connecting to today's cyber world. I did find a reference to a bill from 2006 that would restrict payment of the Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) that Alaskans receive each year as their portion of oil revenues, for any parent that allowed their child to be truant. I had trouble finding out whether this bill actually passed. If the PFD payment was eliminated for parents of truant children, did Sarah and Todd Palin collect their PFD? Was it against Alaska law for the Palin's to receive a PFD?

Bottom line here; the Palin's were very poor parents for removing their children from school for such an extended period of time. I have no problem with short periods to attend the Convention or other significant events, but their kids were out of school for a period that would be considered illegal in most states. Don't tell me that Sarah Palin was home schooling her children like I read on one conservative blog. Anyone that believes that is an idiot.

So help me out; please! If you can shed some light on this, the readers to this blog will be grateful.

tomtoak