In a glass I find my strength,
With paper and pencil I find my certainty,
Although sometimes I try to come from the negative,
I can be very convincing when issuing approval.
What am I?

A drunk mathematician

HAHAHAHA

ink?

red ink

lead?

yes!

Lead in glass?

1. glass + lead = lead crystal
2. lead pencil (graphite) to write
3. lead (to rhyme with bead) as in electric lead, can be connected to the positive or negative terminal of a battery, say

4. as in a leader, one who leads.

mmmm....

*nods in thought*

*hoping her answer is the right one*

P.S. I worked that out by myself, no googling here!

P.P.S. My edit above was only to remove the extra blank lines at the end - I didn't add or change anything!

s'ok...we believe you....

:D

Again, a grin that didn't work.

Which browser are you using DG?

:D

with some text

oooh..i just noticed you have an avatar now..

Ooooh.... and dek luvs it!

Okay, I've found when works and when it doesn't.

It works when I press ctrl-enter.
It works when I have other text on the line.
It does not work when it is on a line by itself and I click Send.
 

Glad you like my avatar! Just added it.

Which browser you using dude?

I don't think it matters. You try it - type : then D in a post by itself, then click Send.

Worked...

In Post Mode

Yep

Hmm, I'm on Safari 3.2.1

I had a feeling you'd say that

OSX?

Enough computing trivia. I know how to make it work now anyway.

Let's get back to the riddles.

Nah, I just need the info before I pass it on to my devs.

Things have to work dammit!

*bangs fist on keyboard*

Yes, OS 10.4.11

Cool. Thanks!

The other thing I've noticed that doesn't really work is shift-enter in Post Mode. It sometimes takes me to a new line, sometimes not. But a heap of blank lines accumulate at the end of the post, after my insertion point, which if I don't check for and delete before I post, gives a lot of blankness at the end of my post.

Oh! That's a new one.

Noted.

Thanks!

All these crazy little differences between browsers and OSs... you wouldn't think it would be a hard thing for them to all work in a similar enough way to allow developers to just do their thing once and have it work.

But of course the difference between theory and practice is that in theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.

...

Tell me abt it...

Drives me mad

Why can't the whole world just use Firefox, only the bestest browser in the world!

No correct answers yet

BTW SK, the best drunk mathematician was Banach

does glass refer to...

a drinking vessel?

something made of glass?

something with similar properties to glass?

regarding negative..
Is it related to the mathematical negative?
Negative sign of a battery? Anything todo with electricity?
Negative side of an arguement?
Anything to do with temperature?

Am I an actual object?
Something Imaginary?

This is not a lateral thinking puzzle but a traditional riddle.

XSM6319-Glass Straight-Line Round Edging Machine

FRAME

PROXY

CONTACTS

AGREEMENT

CAN

GRAPHITE

SIGNATURE

AUTHENTIC

STAMP

BALANCE

SHEETS

LAW?

CONTRACTS?

MAGAZINE?

Directions?

Machine with CE Approval

BALANCE SHEETS?

CASANOVA?

A gravel?

You know, one of them hammers judges have?

gavel

not my guess, just correcting dekrazee's spelling.

Ah... ooops

Thanks Dorian

*imagines a driveway covered with lots of little hammers*

hahahaha

shaddup!

Nope, still nothing.  Hmm, this is moving from good riddle (stumps SK and Sir M for a while) to bad riddle (nobody can solve it).

FWIW, SK's original answer is "closest"

a critic?

PASCAL (the mathematician) - (measure of glass strength)

laminator  ?

Sheet?

Tempering   ?

A drunk writer?

Keep 'em coming...

A drunk editor?

A drunk lawyer!

OK, it's not a drunk anything, didn't mean to give that impression.

But SK's answer revealed that he was thinking in the right direction at least for a couple of lines of the riddle.

mathematician?

Pressure?

Oh oh... Printing press?

And sorry abt going off on a tangent there

(hello!...ooh should be fun!)

it's not a drunk anything

ok....would it help if dek was drunk? 

even more that usual....

if that's possible...

I don't think that ever hurts.

A little more guidance, you are looking for a single word which takes multiple meanings to fit the different parts of the riddle.

I think lead was a good answer.

current?

Lead was a good answer, but not the right answer.

A hand?

A watch/clock hand, a writing hand, a slapping hand, a patting hand

No sorry the answer was (2n)! / n! 2^n

Just kidding

Light?

A watch with a minute hand, a millennium hand, and an eon hand.  When they meet it's a happy land.

LOL! cute

silver

mercury?

^ haha, i already tried mercury.

where?

I think he means he tried to get high from it.

Asking about relation to temperature

A thermometer uses mercury.

MARKS OR CHECK MARK

PRINTS or PRINTING

SPOTS

SUTURE (ART oF PHOTOGRAPHY)  PHOTO SNAPSHOT, DIAGRAM, FIGURE

PHOTOS

WINDOW/ MONITOR / SCREENSHOT

I am sure it is PHOTOS or PRINTS

How does the pencil fit?

None of these

I gots no idea...

Any clue drdec?

proof?

An order?

I think SirM may have it... proof being the strength of alcohol, worked out with pencil + paper, coming from the negative would be the practice of starting from a null hypothesis, or starting with an assumption you intend to disprove, and obviously a proof tends to be convincing... assuming it's a good proof.

Monty does indeed have it, but with "try to come from the negative" was intended to refer to a trial proof of a photograph from a negative and the last line was intended to convey the definition "the state of having been tested and approved" (see #15 in the entry for proof at dictionary.com)

Right... that's that then

I was sure I had that one right with all my answers...

i think the riddle was at fault for not being compatible with all you answers, dek.

yeah..... terrible...

*shakes head*