title: Why won't my WHILE loops run in Python?
body: <p>I'm a beginner programmer, learning in Python, but I was pretty sure I had a decent grasp of how to make most things run, until I came across this. As i was attempting to run a piece of code with an if..then statement nested inside, Python decided to throw me a curve ball by <strong>not running the if...then statements</strong>. When I try to run the program, all it does is continually run the one line of code I have inside the while loop, coming before the if...then statement.
  Here's the code:</p>
  
  <pre><code>def deg_or_rad():
      global deg_rad
      deg_rad = False
  
      while deg_rad == False:
          query = raw_input("Are you working in 'degrees' or 'radians'?  &gt; ").lower
          if query == "deg" or \
             query == "degrees":
              deg_rad = "deg"
              print "Cool! I like degrees."
          elif query == "rad" or \
               query == "radians":
              deg_rad = "rad"
              print "Cool! I like radians."
          else:
             "Umm... I'm confused..."
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I've tried a few other variables for the while loop, such as:</p>
  
  <pre><code>def deg_or_rad():
      global deg_rad
      deg_rad = False
      while_variable = True
      while while_variable == True:
          query = raw_input("Are you working in 'degrees' or 'radians'?  &gt; ").lower
          if query == "deg" or \
             query == "degrees":
              deg_rad = "deg"
              print "Cool! I like degrees."
              while_variable = False
          elif query == "rad" or \
               query == "radians":
              deg_rad = "rad"
              print "Cool! I like radians."
              while_variable = False
          else:
             "Umm... I'm confused..."
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Anyone have any ideas? I'm really confused by this point.</p>