tisha

Wow - this sounds really gross :(

For the purposes of settlement, a 'major epidemic' will be an outbreak that is described as an 'epidemic' on the WHO website

This question might be a bit tricky so make sure you read the settlement details - it refers to the outcome at the end of the superior court's decision ONLY eg if Matilda may in the future receive the life insurance payout but has only received damages by the end of the court case, the winning outcome will be damages only. If by the end of the court case she has already been awarded the life insurance and receives extra punitive damages, it will settle as both payments.

We do have some rules on settlement and suspension - http://www.hubdub.com/public/rules#settlement

This one might be relevant: In questions on news where initial reports are often inaccurate, questions will generally be suspended on initial reports however they will not be settled until there is a stronger consensus among news sources. If the consensus results in the question remaining open then it will be unsuspended.

Well Yang's only stepping down once a replacement is found. So if a replacement is not found by the end of 2008, he will still be CEO of Yahoo.

Yep - bring it on!!!!

Haha - awesome question! Thanks for highlighting the very real problem of pet obesity!

Sorry for this - didn't catch the early suspend date earlier ... has been set to the end of the year, as suggested by the question title.

At least we haven't degenerated to this extent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/facebook-vigilantes-identify-mother-of-baby-p-1019501.html

Note all - I've added a suspend date to this previously open question. If there is no news of this happening by then, the question will settle as 'no'.

I predict, think and sincerely hope 'NO'.

Many have tried, but when have you actually seen a politician look cool dancing???

Cool - was just about to create this question. Sue Decker's name seems to be thrown up by everyone ... here is what Bloomberg is saying

CEO Candidates

Yahoo President Susan Decker is a candidate for Yang’s job, said Brad Williams, a spokesman for Yahoo. Yang, 40, will stay on the board and remain CEO until Yahoo finds a replacement, Yahoo said yesterday. He took the top job at the 13-year-old Internet company in June 2007.

“He played one too many poker hands up there and got caught,” said Pat Becker of Becker Capital Management in Portland, Oregon. His firm owns Microsoft shares but not Yahoo. “Microsoft still believes that it needs scale” in the online advertising business.

Microsoft spokesman Bill Cox declined to comment. The Redmond, Washington-based company will hold its annual meeting for shareholders tomorrow.

There isn’t a timeframe on finding a replacement for Yang, Yahoo’s Williams said. Yang had been in discussions with the board about seeking a replacement for “some time.” He will return to his position of Chief Yahoo when a successor is found.

Other potential candidates include Jonathan Miller, the former chairman of AOL; Dan Rosensweig, once Yahoo’s operations chief; and Meg Whitman the former chief of Internet auctioneer EBay Inc., UBS analyst Ben Schachter said in a report today.

Note some clarifications included in the background text folks

I've changed the suspend date now, thanks

Haha - ok, so apparently I'm the ONLY one who watches Australian Idol??!!

Well, hope y'all make some hubbucks off of it, anyway :-)

@dieseldog - dunno yet! what's on your christmas list?

Breaking news - Mark has been eliminated; it's Wes and Luke in the final.

I'm distraught :-( he's so much better than Wes or Luke.

Tis true - no high energy collisions were fired before the LHC broke.

Right now they're heating up their big broken machine, so people can go and find out exactly what went wrong. It's not due to be restarted again until next spring.

That's a cool story :-)

And reminds me I need to start my Christmas shopping ...

Sterling Mortlock, I'll never doubt you again. I deserved to lose my $$H

Good point - sorry, my mistake.

I've unsettled the question, so it will remain open until the end of the year (or until Maradona resigns). Winners keep their winnings, and those who lost get their predictions reinstated.

I know - they're proving to be feisty little guys!

ps - vh, I think a photo comp for most outlandishly worn t-shirt is a great idea!!

Hubdub: The only place to make money from a failing economy *


*appropriately tiny disclaimer about Hubbucks not yet being recognized as legal tender in any country ...

Shamefully, I'm backing England on this one too. The wallabies have disappointed me numerous times over the past two years :-( Hopefully i'm wrong!

To settle as 'no', the shuttle launch is scratched for the date of Nov 14. It's more common than you'd think - there's generally only a small launch window set, and if weather or a number of other factors are not optimal, they will postpone.

Another clarification - I'm interpreting 'launch' literally as the shuttle getting off the ground. The question does not ask about the success of the launch. Any probs, see me.

Some news that cold, wet weather could thwart the launch ...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/6106394.html

Agreed - good work vh

Was Madagascar 2 any better than the first one? I seem to recall that even my 7 year old cousin wasn't impressed ...

Lol ... ok, just let me take a moment to decide whether I have an aching need to invite any more enraged hubdubbers into my life .... erm .... erm .... it's definitely no!

Because we're looking for a slogan we can use to sell our website, not an inflammatory picture that will piss off a lot of people :-)

Lol - you guys are hilarious!!! Keep them coming :-)

Again folks - sorry for the delay in this one, but the figures aren't released yet. We may be waiting a couple of weeks on this one, if I recall the figures for September weren't released until about 3 weeks into October ...

For a bit more info - this match is going to be played at Twickenham on the 15th
http://www.rugby.com.au/matches/tournaments/spring_tour/2008/england_v_qantas_wallabies,81416.html

hey jason - welcome to the science category ;-)

OK - I didn't realise she had to get better by this Saturday to keep her place in the show. This is going to be a good question!!!

Teale voted off tonight!! Wes got the shock of his life being in the bottom two ...

Who's holding out so far? By my rough count, I thought all but HSBC had announced impending rate cuts ...

Now there's a t-shirt on offer for the best slogan!

http://www.hubdub.com/e/Topic/Want_to_win_a_Hubdub_Tshirt_Then_tell_us_what_to_write__235

vh - I'll add your suggestions to the list. dragon - I might not add yours ....!

lol - as far as i know, dave is correct on this one! go archie eccles

Thanks for settling these questions mrperfkt, and for the company all the predictors! felt like i was in the living room with y'all - see u at next week's live match :-)

Others in front by a long way - but who do you actually think will be the single winner? Maybe the winner of x-factor? Apparently with jonathan ross off-air in this period, it will be a lot harder for newer acts to grab the title

I think this will be a really interesting question to watch - gotta love launch questions.

can't believe how long 5 minutes can seem!!

tooo exciting!! this has been an awesome match!!

uh oh - what's happening now?? who's in front?

i've got to walk to the library ... won't be online for 30 minutes, STAY IN FRONT GIANTS!!!!

I'm too skittish ... who is ranked higher out of these two teams?

lol - ok, throwing caution (and any ideas of being productive this afternoon) to the wind - i have money on total yards ... i may have to learn more about football!!!

ah! cool - that last 30 seconds was tight!!!

sorry to throw an amateur question out there - 7 points for a touchdown and 3 for a fieldgoal?

lol! i'm sweating too!! we're almost as nervous as if we were playing ourselves ... this is great fun!!

i'm glad you're keeping an eye on this market anyway, hect0r :-)

i could be a football fan! i've come to see what all the fuss is about ;-)

lol!! thanks for the site destry - it's a good one! mrperfkt and sdchargers - sorry your team is losing!!

hhaha - i'm not, and it's not televised here either, so i'm relying on the wisdom of the tv-watching crowd. Don't let me down!!!

I don't know if the situation is the same in the States, but in Australia attempted murder is a very real crime with harsh penalties (I think the maximum jail term is close to that of an actual murder) - you can't plan a murder and then get off scott free just because you happened to be stopped by the police before you could carry it out? You don't have the liberty to take other people's live away

That's correct

I thought labradoodles were non-allergenic...my cousin who is allergic to everything under the sun has a groodle and she doesn't have any problems. But given that they sell for like $1000, I can't imagine too many of them being unwanted at a pet shelter

Lol - that was me ;-) I know it's not from QoS but I couldn't resist!!

lol. Actually we're discussing possible shirt designs and slogans. What are your ideas?

Ps - though I should clarify, I intended this to mean any rate cut, whether or not it is the full value of the cut by the reserve. Will this cause any problems for those who already have predictions?

I'd say Glen McGrath has a pretty good chance of winning it, especially after all his involvement in breast cancer charity work (so sad that his wife died...) But I also hope Geoffrey Yunupingu wins, his music is amazing.

lol!

disclosure - I was a greenie in a past life, but I have to agree that the idea of GE food doesn't particularly thrill me. There's been no evidence (that I know of - feel free to prove me wrong) that says that they increase the yield of crops or are able to increase food. Due to the high cost of the seeds, there is virtually no way that they will be able to be accessed by the world's poorest farmers, who are arguably most in need of weather-resistant crops. And they are likely to contaminate other non-GE crops.

I still think food was meant to grow in the ground, not be engineered in a lab then grown in the ground.

The rocket is currently scheduled to launch at 2044 GMT on the 5th of November (although the launch is in Khazakhstan, which is 4 hours ahead). Thus, this question will be settled on GMT time.
http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=7266

With 6 hours lines, it's not that surprising! That kind of boredom would make any baby start to wiggle

Amazing stuff- hope you're all excited and there's not too man tears. I thought John McCain's concession speech was a good one!

Weird rumour going round ... Brand to land a job in Pirates of the Caribbean IV as Jack's younger brother?? lol

I've settled it for you - the way to get it settled more quickly in the future is to send in a settlement request with a link.

hey nipperino - i've settled this question for you now, but in future the best way to catch the attention of the category editor is to send in a settlement request with a link to prove the winner.

No - the question maker isn't like a bookmaker ;-)

All the money that is won or lost comes from a central 'bank' - the winnings and losings of individuals does not affect other individuals (although the placements of predictions can affect the value of other people's predictions)

@neuronexmachina - it's obviously going to be pretty hard to dissect an article, but the gist of my point is that it's essentially going to have to be close to 100% to settle this question. We were talking about 'debunking' climate change, after all, not just providing a potential alternative theory. Otherwise, I think the starting odds would be misaligned.

I'm in the land of the free until December :-) Very fun online, but wish I was at the racecourse ....

And i'm glad i only lot $$H - i'm hopeless at the races! (although i did find $10 on the floor at the spring carnival a few weeks ago ....)

Nom de Jeu just did his walk past - i'm putting more money on him, he's looking good :-)

30 minutes to go .... wish I could put money on a quinella and trifecta!!

Has someone flagged this question to make the clarification official??

Unbelievable! I thought Luke or Teale should have been the next to go. And although I like Mark a lot, his rendition of 'I'm Bad' was supremely annoying ...

Thanks Kruijs and potatp - I agreed that some major constraints needed to be placed on this market to allow for non-objective settlement in the future. So the nature of the question has been edited to talk specifically about whether the top few mainstream media sources will report climate change skepticism. Here is the clarification:

The settlement requirements for this question are very specific to ensure non-objective settlement. An article must be published by the NY Times, BBC, CNN, AP, Reteurs or The Independent, only. The article must, as its main point, state/argue that Global Climate Change is not the result of mankind (not just state it as one side of the argument). It must not be an opinion piece.

Hope you've got your frocks on!! A hint for all the non-Australians - mad rush and septimus are the bookies favourites to win!

We need a definitive settlement source for this. I'm thinking publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Any suggestions?

Fascinating stuff on this tiny little machine:
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/081031-ap-phoenix-mission-update.html

Mandelson is going to be grilled by his peers about the saga this Thursday ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/cameron-will-not-sack-tory-chairman-over-nanny-inquiry-984641.html

Some updates:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brown-heads-home-to-defend-his-kingdom-981751.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/flash-gordon-woos-fife-voters-in-attempt-to-fend-off-snp-984646.html

A hint for y'all - the November odds are so high because of news about British airways making derogatory comments about customers:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ba-staff-attack-annoying-passengers-986846.html

At the moment they're investigating but no sackings yet.

Just added some background, hope that's ok Oppugner. Fascinating stuff going on in space at the moment.

Yes - for more info check out this link (scroll down to the superusers bit)

http://www.hubdub.com/public/staff

lol! i'm glad i'm not the only one :-)

Update - I'm going to put some money on 'yes' right now ....
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/lockerbie-bomber-may-be-free-in-a-week-980319.html

Omg - just read the article and Jonathan Ross earns £6 million a year! I had no idea he got paid so much

I've asked for clarification

Prizes and merchandise is a fun idea that we've been looking into for a while. Maybe soon ...

Making everything 'votable' is an idea a lot of us like. Maybe in the near future we'll have this functionality in place ... we'll keep you posted

I suggested this myself once too, actually. Idea was firmly shot down :-) I think it's not really the direction we want hubdub to head in, as we're all about collective wisdom and news prediction markets. But I understand how hubdub-thinking starts to seep into all areas of your life!!

You should youtube the clips of the couple being interviewed - the story sounds dodgy to me ...

Wondering how far up heads will roll ... have your say at the forum
http://www.hubdub.com/e/Topic/Russell_Brand_Saga__Was_the_prank_really_that_bad__205

@rbbr25
Our rules at 2.3.2: (http://www.hubdub.com/public/goodquestion)
Questions on sports events should not include postponement as an outcome. In the event of postponement the question will stand but the suspend time will be extended.

This is the commonsense understanding of the question, so the question will be settled on the completion of the match

Only basic html works for comments - pretty much bold, italics, underline and strikeout!

Hi lrossouw - i know what you mean, this has happened to me too...I'll point it out to Chris but for now if this happens just flag it for the category editor and they can fix it up for you.

I'm not the best person to ask because I only have $18,000, but I think it's just easier to grow your wealth exponentionally once you reach a certain level of wealth, because you tend to lay on bigger predictions...I used to make $100 bets and now I make $1000 bets ... assuming that you get about the same amount of questions right and wrong you can make more $$ quicker.

And I save the $20 bets for questions where I get challenged about something I know nothing about :-)

We only have a handful of partners at the moment - you can see who they are because their profiles are different eg

http://www.hubdub.com/partners/reuters

Thanks all - for now, we have decided not to implement invisible tagging until there is more consensus in the community.

@pixelpaws - from the above reuters link, this extremely convoluted paragraph might help give a better idea of timeframes:

Pursuant to Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) guidelines, the
FDA is expected to determine whether to accept the NDA for filing
within 60 days, and to notify the company of its determination within
fourteen days thereafter. If the NDA is accepted for filing, under the
PDUFA guidelines it is expected that the FDA will complete its review
and provide an action letter with respect to the NDA within 10 months
following submission of the NDA, or in December 2008.

Thanks rbooth - I've edited this question now...it is AC Milan that is talking about getting Beckham on loan

You should send in a flag asking the category editor for clarification - it's possible that they haven't seen these comments.

lol - not me!! well done kruijs

Well, we're taking it one year at a time, but looking good for 2010 at least ;-)
http://www.hubdub.com/e/Market/Will_Hubdub_still_be_around_in_2010_1235/view

lol - hilarious stuff! hope they scrape up the losing pumpkins and make a nice pie afterwards ...

Lol - thanks for this Jen. I was going to write a question about this, particularly as I live around the corner from the Coogee Bay Hotel and this story has been covered by every major newspaper and primetime news bulletin for the past three days!

I personally think the family is lying ... I suppose this would still be enough to settle the question, eg the date we found out the family had fabricated the entire story?

Hey all - check out the other in-play markets for this market that Mark has created too!

I was just going to write that hect0r ;-) thanks for checking it up, anyway

Roshani got booted last night ...

Sounds like a great way to inspire even more eating disorders and unhealthy yo-yo dieting in the community ...

Thanks ausvotes!

It will be settled on the 1st November

dragonfanxl's comment has been edited and repasted here:

Look, i know its hard for us joe blows to understand how someone could spend so much cash on clothes, but when you are running for a public office, especially such a high level one as Vice President, you dont go shopping at wal-mart. I dont see barack obama shopping at walmart. I dont see hilliary clinton shopping at wal-mart. And i certainly dont see Joe Biden shopping at walmart. Laws are hard to follow, complicated, and most of the time poorley worded. It is very very very easy to mis inturpret or even not know about a law. I know it sounds funny that john mccains vp broke his law but i doubt she went over every law he wrote when she was asked to be vice president.

No - well, yes a satellite was launched, but this question is about Australia establishing their own Space Agency (it's at the end of the background details). We were expecting an announcement by the Senate in October.

However the settement date is 31 December, so if no news by then question will settle as 'no'

Wow - just watched Chrislyn's second peformance, it was amazing.

Ps - odds loosely derived from Sportingbet Australia:
http://www.sportingbet.com.au/uipub/sport.aspx?l1id=26&l2id=968111&l3id=972817

I couldn't find the date for the final anywhere - if you know the exact date, please send in a flag and we can change.

I'll also start posting weekly elimination questions after this Monday's elimination.

@bigken lol!

@ryan - yes, but isn't your sole income paid to you in ££ ?? lol

Sorry for the delay - email request didn't get through for some reason. Let me have a look at it now.

Nice question!

I can imagine there are some keen hubdubbers out there going 'pick me, pick me' :-)

@notable - yes sorry for being defensive ;-) it's all good.

I second your point that some things shouldn't be given advertizing space:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-421431/Scorned-wife-advertises-husbands-infidelity-2-500-billboard.html

That's a great looking graph!

Ok - I wasn't articulating particularly well. I went to an Anglican school for 12 years, I had to sing hymns every morning. I have a great deal of respect for Christianity. But it's not exactly a religion that doesn't 'advertise'. Putting an ad on the side of a bus is tacky but not any different than the way other religions try to convert people.

i'm pretty sure it wasn't - i've not made a public comment about this.

Well, I have a lot of christian friends who have tried to convert me and let me know that i'm going to hell for not being christian ... isn't this the same thing?

Chandrayaan has just launched, so this question is suspended. It will be settled when its probe successfully lands on the moon - predicted to be in about 10 days.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1852608,00.html

Chandrayaan launched two hours ago so this question is suspended but as per orlin's comments above it will not settle until it reaches the moon.

Nice question. With 'deaths', must they be human deaths? Huff Post reported that 1500 raccoon dogs died from the melamine milk thing:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/20/tainted-chinese-milk-chem_n_136230.html

@bigken - yes, only the first one will settle it; sorry what is the satellite Io?

Eek! Nice question.

Guiness record folk are quite strict about these things though, aren't they?

See here for functionality suggestions about taking contentious questions off the front page http://www.hubdub.com/e/Topic/Hiding_contentious_questions_173

See here for functionality suggestions about taking contentious questions off the front page http://www.hubdub.com/e/Topic/Hiding_contentious_questions_173

Haha - harsh but fair!!

@balcacer - who put you down?

i was feeling risky yesterday - chances are I cash out before it settles!!

Nice question monkey man.

For a very unofficial answer, exchange rates are the net result of a few different factors in the economy of the local currency. These factors are all based on the movement of supply and demand curves.

1) Trade (exports/imports). eg at the moment, the Australia dollar is going way down because we export a lot of commodities, like coal, which people tend to steer clear of in times of economic uncertainty. So there is less demand for the Australian dollar and the exchange rate goes down.

2) Interest Rates - increasing the interest rate makes saving and foreign investment more enticing, bringing money into the economy and increasing demand so making the exchange rate go up.

3) Inflation - relative inflation rates also affects the economy's international competitiveness, so have an inverse affect to interest rates (ie inflation goes up, exchange rate goes down)

4) Speculation - there are traders in foreign currency markets, who buy and sell currencies based on what they believe is going to happen to a local economy. If they believe that a currency is going to depreciate, they will sell creating a surplus supply of this currency and causing the depreciation that was initially speculated.

Anyone else care to contribute or correct me?

lol - i've got nearly as many challenges as I have net wealth ...

Hi joaoxxx - last week's odds are listed here:
http://www.theofficialcharts.com/top40_singles.php

The settlement link posts this week's odds. I wasn't aware that you had done these questions previously, but I'm happy for you to keep doing them in the future. You'd save me a lot of time and probably do a better job too ;-)

We aim to settle questions (and distribute winnings) as quickly as possible. However, sometimes there can be a delay as, for non-straightforward outcomes, the Category Editor must decide whether the criteria for settlement is met. Also, due to time differences the Category Editor may be asleep at the time the question is suspended.

You can speed up the settlement process by sending in a settlement request to catch the attention of the Category Editor, with a link and reasons why the question can be settled.

@ddog - The Rules at 2.2.5:
'If the question is potentially contentious (e.g. about loss of life) then it must be in the context of a mainstream news story.'

http://www.hubdub.com/public/goodquestion

@bobdevine - I've added a picture and settlement sources so your question can be better marketed, hope this is ok. Thanks for this question!

ahh! that's **creepy**

good one guys - i'm hoping to slowly convert the world to australian music!

@sd - we must have the same taste, the living end were my absolute favourite band of all time when i was a teenager ... then my brother ends up going to school with their manager's son and gets to go backstage (and doesn't invite me!).

And gabrielle cilmi is all the rage in Australia at the moment (and quite popular in europe too) - she's got the most aria nominations this year.

thanks ddog - i'm trying to mix up the news content a bit and bring on more of an international focus. i've enjoyed reading about the multitude of weird and wonderful things that come out of your parts of the world :-)

lol - well I guess any Australians out there might predict on these guys...just because they're not in the states don't mean they don't exist!!

in any case, the Australian music scene is very impressive - i'd suggest you check out the clips on the website

I think the problem could be that admins are supposed to html-ize their background links to make them live ... mine end up looking like this too if i don't code them

The Foo Fighters do an awesome live act - I saw them at the hurricane festival in Germany this year and they were easily the best act there. Taylor Hawkins is my hero!

TV detective actor for president! That sounds fun

@gabby - if a question is suspended, it means the category editor is deciding whether the question should be settled or not.

Unfortunately you can't cash in your prediction while a question is suspended, but it will either be unsuspended or settled shortly.

lol - i'm sorry, i'm pretty-sure 'hand-picked' is a term i found from an article when I was researching the story... altho i used to actually enjoy watching 'the girl next door' more than is healthy to admit (and the french translation 'trois femmes et un chaud lapin' is a far superior name!).

... next time I'll try and better disguise my rampant jealousy that i'm not among hef's chosen ones!

I was just going to ask whether these were the same as the ones at Schipol - I had the lovely experience of going through one, you have to stand in this cubicle with your arms up in the air and you feel like a right dork going through ...

@achew22 - best way to catch the category editor's attention to a needed settlement is to send in a settlement request (see icon under market options) with your link.

I've sent one in for you on this occasion.

That's a decent point Orlin. I would suggest that only closes in November count - so effectively this question cannot be settled in October. If bear agrees, maybe he can make an official clarification. I'm happy to hear more opinions on this though.

Thanks Bear!

Believe it or not, I actually have an economics degree that I've never, ever used .... (macro what?? don't know how I ever passed!) but I agree the global economic situation at the moment is really interesting stuff.

This is actually a really cool question - read this article from the newsfeed today, 'Volcano in lab may help predict real eruptions'

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/technology/5069771

... and they're not talking about the old trick of putting bicarb in the toilet bowl and vinegar in the cistern ;-)

This is a really interesting article - NICA currently value a year of quality of life at £20 - 30,000 per year. It will be interesting to see whether this recalculated figure goes up or down, if at all.

How much would you pay to have good quality of life? I may have misinterpreted this abstract figure wrongly, but if I had cancer and could pay a figure to have perfect health, I'd be willing to pay a lot more than £30 thousand quid a year.

I really can't decide between individual male and group males....I've hedged my bets so what would be a huge win for the correct option will hopefully turn out to be a mini win for either option. Just my luck, a whole bunch of women will win the prize ...!

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvgJXYzXRBOttYAflCSJumnfVXxQD93P1E5O0

This is really interesting - thanks randburg (and dragon, for asking all those questions! don't understand the 500 point font interlude, but anyway ... !)

Nice work cheesenips!

My understanding was that this question would include hurricanes in both the Atlantic and Pacific, so I've added this to background details.

Let me know if you think there is a compelling reason for it not to be so.

Yay! Thanks for creating this question - I just read about this too and wanted to write one :-D

If only Google could also create some 'PMS' goggles, and 'you're tired and just trying to pick a fight with your boyfriend' goggles, I think all conflict in my life would be halved!!

I don't think this article constitutes a public endorsement, but it does suggest that Jolie is strongly pro-Obama, even though her dad Jon Voigt supports McCain:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081011/ap_en_mo/people_jolie_obama

welcome back valornhonor :-)

I added a pic of the 8-year-old Miss Sweetie Poo. When the Ig Noble award recipients go over their allotted 60 second acceptance speech, she runs on stage yelling 'Please Stop, I'm Bored'!

i think it's because our little computer goes crazy thinking about creating a 100 year market ... just tried suspending in 2107 but it brought the date back to 2018.

ps - remind me when to start procreating so i can game this question...!

sure ... we'll pay you the equivalent current exchange rate for pounds stirling = hubdub dollars!

ps - if you need help interpreting the data in that mega database of a link, the first column is the date, and the second column is the average temperature, which will be used to settle this question

I've moved the suspend date to November 12, as that is the latest game scheduled on the website. Not sure whether there are finals that come afterwards or not?

http://www.pba.ph/sched.asp

oh my gosh you're right - I totally missed it! Wonder if anyone got a massive payout at 2% ...?

The original is much much better - noone in Australia thought it would translate either, as the humour is a bit 'unique', but it seemed to do pretty well in Britain (using the original version).

@raiders - I agree, scientists do often have their own agenda (confirmation bias is an interesting psychological theory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias) but it would be interesting to see how much of a trace of drugs there is in the tap water as a black and white figure - I'm not sure how these figures could be subjective.

They say that tap water in London has gone through the average person 7 times... I personally find it tastes quite yucky ...

Yet again, the Literature prize prove elusive to pick ....

@pawnmowerman - i hear what you're saying, and hey i'm the first to admit i can make mistakes as an admin, but we can't change odds once a question has been published because that would obviously screw up any predictions that were already made on the market at a certain percentage.

We do have a 15% either way leeway that we take with odds, so we do try to avoid voiding if possible.

The admins can predict on questions, but they are long-term users who have established credibility on site. If there was any evidence of unfair behaviour by them, it would be thoroughly investigated.

hey andrewdb - hope you're not too disheartened by the void, it happens to the best of us! hubdubbers are a tough crowd to please, but we're just trying to keep things fair and clear - it's a nightmare trying to settle a question that ends up being unclear when 100 members have already placed predictions on it.

Good luck for your next one

hey andrewdb - hope you're not too disheartened by the void, it happens to the best of us! hubdubbers are a tough crowd to please, but we're just trying to keep things fair and clear - it's a nightmare trying to settle a question that ends up being unclear when 100 members have already placed predictions on it.

Good luck for your next one!

From our help section - basically, you or others nominate you when we advertise, and current superusers vote. We are looking for people who have a good record of contributing to the community, including sending flags and settlement requests, appropriate commenting and question creation:

When positions for Super User status become available, we will advertise these on the website. We may ask members if they are interested in becoming Superusers, and members may also nominate themselves for the position. We are looking for members who: * Have a record of successful question creation
* Participate actively in the community - provide useful and timely flags and settlement requests, and make useful comments
* Have no history of gaming
* Show respect towards and willingness to help other members of the community

Additionally, Super Users must be seen to be responsible, to understand the concept and purpose of Hubdub, its rules and how it operates, and to able to provide intelligent, balanced judgements.

I'm really sorry - I don't understand the problem. When I place a prediction on on NFL, i get taken back to the market page, and have links to NFL and Sport. When I predict on NCAAF, I get taken back to the market page and only have links to NCAAF and Sport - if I'm in the middle of viewing the 3rd page, I can't find a link to go straight back there.

I'm sure I'm missing something glaring ...

I mean that the claim will be successful. Sorry - just added this to the settlement details. If any of the 3 first predictors want their money back, I'll refund it.

ps - I could use multi-trillion pounds ... anyone got a shovel?

From the creator's comments, it should be Friday the 17th - I've amended now, sorry for the confusion.

Read this article on why an American cannot win the nobel prize for literature - it's feisty!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aGSZZH6LLRWU&refer=muse

@dieseldog - I agree that it's better that all voided questions have an accompanying explanation; it was my fault that this question didn't have one - communication breakdown. Sorry.

awesome - thanks for this question yobaby. gotta say, i hang in holden circles...!

It appears that the drop happened almost at the beginning of trade on Tuesday (and all newspaper articles refer to it happening in the morning). I would cut off predictions after 9am Tokyo time (7pm EST, GMT +9)

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=%5EN225&t=5d&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=%C3%B9

Sorry all for the confusion - other index markets WILL still be allowed, just not as in-play apart from the five listed above.

Good on you patriotic Canadians - thank you for my Hubbucks!

@dan551x - are you talking about Tropical Depression Fifteen E?
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/nhc_storms.shtml
I think it is still a Tropical Depression, not a Tropical Storm - but if you think this question should be settled, you should send in a settlement request with a link to verifying information.

@bayoubear - collective wisdom may not be that wise??? I guess this is the place to test that theory lol!

That's hilarious! Gotta love nerdy humour.

September figures not yet published - I'll settle this question as soon as they are.

haha

'Mothers - work from home. As an industrial wet nurse'

@s99nj - the tech category editor is based in the UK and is probably asleep right now. But the best way to flag it for his attention in the morning is to send in a settlement request, with an appropriate link.

I've edited this into the settlement details for you jimmsolo

lol - next step is to create an illegal spreadsheet market for hubbucks!! i know i'm in dire need of a helping hand!

With movies and other events where the 'number of times something is spoken' is the question, you have to get approval from the relevant category editor (for entertainment it's jenniandboys) who has to agree to watch the film (or have another member of staff watch ... if it's a particularly bad film) to verify it. You can find this in our rules (see the link in the Help section). Once you set the question details, it would be good to ask her on a forum, or send her an email jenni at hubdub dot com

If the trailers came out and revealed that the line did in fact occur in the movie, the question could probably settle straightaway based on the 99.9% rule.

But I kind of like it like that - "tisha"

Hi peanutscreams!

Agreed - cool question Mork!

I concur - i should add it to my will

That's definitely pretty crazy ... and kinda gross!

RBA meets on the first Tuesday of every month, so that will be the 7th of Oct

That's a fair comment.

Just so you know, you can also get email notifications for when someone shouts on your profile. It's an option under My Account/ Site Settings

Hi hubdubbob - I just tried adding a pic to your market and it seems to have worked. May have been a temporary glitch. You should flag the cat ed with the pic you actually wanted and he'll be able to add it for you.

@lrossouw - yes, from the background information it seems this question asks whether any construction, political or other problems will prevent the world cup from going ahead, as planned, in South Africa

Thanks mork and paulcroft - I've moved the supension date until Feb for now.

what a strange child it would look like!!

Thanks tocm - I've added the following clarification: In the event that two or more parties contribute equal funding to the mission, this question will be ettled for both options.

From the settlement link, it appears that this question refers to the US employment market only.

Trying to find out, randburg - there's not even any news of a birth. About to contact the aquarium direct, but if there is no response this question will have to be voided, unfortunately

Although the suspend date for this question was moved to the end of 2008, I have judged that by the end of Setember this question will be settleable based on the 99.9% rule. I will be reviewing the data then.

no - i'm happy to let jenni decide - she's probably more impartial than i am :-)

I'd be happy to say that all David Blane stunts are boring. Seems cut and dry to me!

Ooh - ouch, mate! We don't have any plans to delete threads at the moment, although it's certainly not hard to do when we decide we want to.

@dragon - the forum was made live in stages, to Tom, then Rob and I, then admins. This was our real testing area, which is why there are so many dorky comments left here (which i assumed would be deleted before we went properly live!)

awwww, thanks ken

That's great feedback Jennifer - I like to think that Hubdub is a pretty welcoming community :-)

Hey jhouseholder! Thanks for this question - I've just flagged it because I think we need to have a definition of 'celebrity' clarified before predictions are placed.

Oh dear - this launch was vividly described on the web hours before the actual launch of Shenzhou

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ig_kaxVkOSnGAZwKb9JC6z6RyTNwD93DP22G0

haha - awesome question, and even better pic. That duckie looks like it's possessed!

@pitchedoutsideleg - legend. I was just looking at the data table and thinking 'wha???'

@dragon - You can change your settings so you don't receive an email every time someone posts on a forum topic you have posted on.

Go to Dashboard --> My account --> Site Settings and uncheck the 'Someone posts a reply to a forum topic I created or replied to' box.

I'm not sure why you receive two emails every time a question you predicted on is unsuspended, but I'll follow it up for you.

Note - suspend date has been moved out to Spring 2009

Here's an article on GLONASS which you might find interesting:

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=153781

@forbichoff - I think it's worth noting that Hubdub users predict, rather than bet on, the news. As such, the numbers you see here are a forecast of what people think will happen, not necessarily what they want to happen.

More importantly, these forecasts serve a greater purpose in drawing attention to and engaging people into relevant political issues.

I can understand that some people might be squeamish about this question. It's not nice to imagine deaths and terrorist attacks, even hypothetically. My advice would be not to predict on questions you don't feel comfortable with.

@ilyah - to get the closing date edited, just send in a flag and I'll change it for you.

Unfortunately once you've submitted a question, you have to flag all changes with the category editor.