#1. In order to obey the “RESUME SAFE SPEED” sign, do I first need to drive at an unsafe speed?
I don’t drive. so can’t answer.
#2. Since you are never supposed to increase your running mileage by more than 10% from week to week, doesn’t that mean that a non-runner (whose mileage is zero) could never take up running?
If you run 10 miles in one week and zero in the next, you should consider your average weekly millage 5miles/week for those two weeks. Since most everyone who knows how to run has run at least a few steps in in the past, childhood, chasing after other kids etc., hence she cant claim to be an absolute non-runner (i.e having exactly zero average weekly millage). In other words, most people capable of taking steps have more than zero avg weekly millage for their entire life, ergo they can work on that. The fact that people move at all, suggests that the 10% rule is not correct for the boundary conditions.
#3. Would the world be better off if certain people refrained from exercising their so-called “civic duty” on Election Day?
Probably. But there are some in the said group of people who almost certainly feel the same about those whose opinions contrast theirs. So in each one’s view, the world would have been “better” without the other voice heard.
#4. Would an Omnipotent Being have the power to limit its own power?
Omnipotent being is a logical paradox.
#5. Is the answer to question #15 “no”?
The answer is whatever Kurt Godel says 
See also Q15.
#6. We’re often told that the Declaration of Independence has no legal standing. In that case, isn’t the U. S. Constitution invalid, since the colonies are still bound by British law?
what exactly gives legitimacy to legal documents?
#7. Exactly how can an exception prove the rule? (See http://www.snopes.com/...tthink/exception.asp.)
seems like a bad link.
#8. Why do people call certain behaviors “selfish” even when they are demonstrably destructive to the self?
Lets take smoking in public places. Even though it is damaging the offender first and foremost, it is still a selfish act because it puts the individual’s (short term) satisfaction in front of the welfare of others, in a situation where they do conflict. Why would one get satisfied from a destructive act is an orthogonal issue.
#9. When people talk about “giving back” to society, exactly what do they think they stole?
Stealing might not be what being compensated. They have gained their status partly by the virtue of all the history of their predecessors, and the people whose contributions have made their lives easier in the society. The continuation of this trend, to which the human race seems to be bound depends on what you refer to as “giving back”. Whether, it is meaningful at all is, however, another story.
#10. Is there really any difference between religion and superstition?
Depending on the source of the superstition, there could be differences. Some superstitious beliefs are formed based on personal anecdote. For example based on few experiences, one might form an opinion about fortunate nature of certain phenomena, e.g. a sequence of license plates etc. Religion however is, most of the time, a subscribed belief, passed on by inheritance and institutionalized advocacy.
#11. Is it possible to intervene into a free market twice?
You first have to implement a “free market”. Can you argue that it ever existed?
#12. If all people are created equal, then why do we recognize certain rights for a person born on one side of a national border but not for people born on the other side?
Good question. Why?
#13. Why do many people consider human sacrifice to be a good thing?
Many people consider many things good, so long as they assume the role of spectator in movie theaters. Least action principle, in my opinion, is one of the most fundamental laws that the nature, including human being, is governed by. There are always very few who are willing to get out of their comfort zones.
#14. If an issue was ever resolved on Slowtwitch, would that have any measurable impact on the world?
yes. The impact might be low, but it is still measurable. If you manage to change my opinion, you have got 1/7.00E9 of the job done.
#15. What is the correct answer to question #5?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsgdZFIdmeo&feature=related
#16. If everything ought to be done in moderation, shouldn’t one practice extremism from time to time in order to avoid carrying moderation to an extreme?
Even if you do that, you will settle into a pattern of being moderate for the most time, and then extreme for a little. Just like a pulse with duty cycle of say 90%, which will be repeated to the extreme. The only way out is to act absolutely randomly.
#17. In a group of more than two people, isn’t everybody a “minority”?
It seems that is the case. I guess I am missing the wit on this one.
#18. If “everything is relative,” does that make the relativity principle an absolute?
Relatively yes.
#19. Ex-convicts are said to have “paid their debt to society,” but have they paid their debt to their actual victims? Also, exactly how does sitting in a cell pay off a debt?
By paying debt, if you mean reversing the damages they have afflicted, then they sometimes are not possible to be inverted. Sitting in a cell, more than anything, should serve as a preventive measure; whether it does accomplish that goal is debatable.
#20. If the ends are properly chosen and if the means support the ends, shouldn’t the ends always justify the means?
No, why should they? The ends as properly chosen as they might be, may not have taken into account those, well-being of whom might be at stake to meet the ends. There is also always tensions between goals (Hegel’s anti-thesis), meeting one will inevitably give rise to the forces supporting the other and so on.
