jakke asked: Do you think there's any chance Romney will win this fall? If so, what would make it most likely to happen?

I gonna be “that guy” and play the “it’s too early to tell” card.  But I will say this: I think somewhere between 65-75% of the voting population has already decided who they are going to vote for, and that’s that.  There’d have to be a serious political folly on one of the candidates’ sides for people in this group to change their minds.

The only thing I think Romney can do at this point to secure more votes is name an attractive VP running mate that can pick up the demographics he can’t on his own.  The three names I keep hearing thrown around:

1. Chris Christie: A lot of Republicans like Christie, and this would force Obama to campaign harder in New Jersey, which has historically been a blue state (since 1988 to be exact).  However, Christie has openly stated repeatedly that he’s comfortable in his position as governor, and wouldn’t be too thrilled with being VP.
2. Marco Rubio- Another guy who seems a little reluctant to be Romney’s running mate.  The argument here is that he’d help the Romney campaign reach out to the latino vote, but you could argue that he’s Cuban, not Mexican, so he couldn’t reach out to that demographic as well as it might initially seem.
3. Paul Ryan- Despite (or maybe because of) all the heat he’s been getting for his recent budget proposal, Ryan is another possibility a lot of Republicans would be happy with as a VP candidate.

Then of course there’s the possibility of Romney picking a former rival in Gingrich (*wince*) or Santorum (*cringe*), which might do well to unify the party, but would also further distance him from the ever-elusive voters in the “middle” of the political spectrum.

But to get back to your original question, if the vote was held tomorrow, I think Obama would win.  Yes, there are a lot of people who don’t like him and even more that voted for him in 2008 but have been disappointed by his administration thus far, but I just haven’t seen enough enthusiasm and, more importantly, unity coming from the opposition yet.

jakke replied to your post: You know how some people say music from the 90’s was better than the music of today?

Yeah, that sums it up nicely.

jakke asked: The plans to reclaim more land just off Manhattan: how feasible are they?

This of course brought Ben’s old post on the subject immediately to mind.  Is it feasible?  Physically, absolutely, but effectively it’d be a nightmare getting through all the red tape and environmental regulations, especially if they use the landfill approach.  However I don’t think anyone’s going to be willing to dish out the level of capital needed for such a project for a long time.  But I do believe it will happen in the distant future, assuming rising sea levels don’t prompt the city to build sea walls around the island first.

jakke replied to your photo: I mean, I know you guys are giving out tickets to…

NO pie charts.

jakke asked: If you reproduce someday and generate a new mikerickson, will you give him a III after his name? Or what are your thoughts on Roman numeral names?

Roman numerals in names is an old practice you don’t see too much of anymore; it’s vintage, but also kind of pretentious and is usually associated with rich, old white families.  I’ll have none of that.

I’m fairly confident I’ve shared this before, but my naming convention for hypothetical future children is as follows:

1. Firstborn shall be named “Lief,” regardless of gender.
2. Secondborn shall be named “Maximus” if male, “Black Widow” if female.
3. Subsequent children will be named after famous warriors, such as Vercingetorix or Joan of Arc.

I’ve had these rules since a conversation in Middle School.

jakke asked: What kind of dinosaur meat do you think would taste best, and how would you cook it?

I think anything from the Hadrosaur family would be the best tasting.  We’re talking Parasaurolophus, Corythosaurus, Lambeosaurus, Shantungosaurus, all that jazz.  My reasoning is basically that they were large but relatively mobile and also amphibious to an extent.  Specifically their hind legs and strong tails would likely provide good meat. 

Just one animal would provide you with a copious slab of meat to deal with, so I guess the best way to cook it would be to just throw a chunk of it on a barbecue and grill it like a steak.  I imagine it would be fairly lean meat as well because dinosaurs didn’t have to deal with winters like we do today, hence less need to store fat for warmth.  Also fat-storage seems to be a mostly mammalian feature; you don’t see too many fat reptiles or birds.

jakke asked: FMK: Hillary, Condoleeza, Madeleine? Also, what's your favourite kind of cheese? Also, what language do you think it would be most useful to learn?

• Fuck: Condoleeza
• Marry: Madeleine
• Kill: Hillary

Favorite cheese?  I like Boursin’s Garlic and Fine Herbs goat cheese a lot, but Pepperjack would probably be my number one choice if I had to choose just one.  Mozzarella would be another honorable mention.

The most useful language to learn depends entirely on your situation.  For an American who already knows English, I would say Spanish in general would be pretty helpful.  For me personally, I’d probably be better off learning Hindi because I’m in a predominantly Indian neighborhood and I hear it literally everyday.