riddler

He enrolled at Ohio State some time ago.....which means by now he has probably lost the ability to form coherent thoughts, or write, or display common sense, or turn on a computer, or find his own ass with two hands, or..... *** Not the first guy to be ruined by a college education. But it's all worth it, in the end, you get a good job making decent money, and that means you skydive more (which probably goes hand-in-hand with fewer brain cells), and we get to see him more at boogies. Or you have kids and spend all your newfound money on them, and still skydive occasionally. Wait, what was my point again?

The advantage of leaving your access point open is then you can blame wireless pirates when the RIAA says you illegally downloaded music. Seems like they'll have to prove you actually did it, and the evidence it pretty easy to erase from your hard drive. The WEP encryption is getting much easier to setup, even 128-bit, so more and more people are into encrypting their systems. But a lot of people are forgetting to change the default password on their wireless router, making them susceptible to pharming. WEP kinda sucks for security, WPA2 is quite a bit better, but WEP is so common these days - even the iPhone can use your WLAN with WEP. I shut off my SSID broadcast as well, just so drive-by pharmers won't try to hack it. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Back when I was in high school it was like a daycare. I never took homework home - got most of it done right in class. Graduated third, only because the first two were smart enough to go to another school and get more points for college credit. All day was locked down (we couldn't leave the building, even for lunch) because they didn't trust any of us out on the streets. Every week, one of the teachers got into a fight with one of the kids - one day I saw my vice principal beating the crap out of one of the "stoners" in the cafeteria while I was on my way to class. "Cool, it's another fight - hey, that's my vice-principal!" Same went for junior high, only the kids were worse. I didn't ever realize that people worked hard at an education until I went to college. People wonder why I want to home school my children In home school, your three-year old isn't judged by a teacher that's used to half the other kids being on Ritalin. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Looks like you're right. According to United's own website: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52481,00.html So we used to be able to check two bags, but now it's only one. I don't fly United that much - once every few years. But even with the few times I've flown them, they are the ONLY airline that lost my luggage. And it wasn't once, it was THREE times (once with my checked rig) - I got all of it back eventually. Also, they stranded me in LA for three days on my way to New Zealand. They are pretty much the worst experience in commercial airlines I've ever had to endure. I guess I'll be paying an extra $25 for them to lose my checked bags after May Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I was flying between islands in Fiji about two years ago on a Chinese Y-12. Everyone of us passengers were required to stand on a scale with our luggage. They were calculating the total weight of each passenger + luggage to make sure the plane wasn't overloaded. A few people had too much weight - no problem - they just put their luggage on the next plane. I foresee a time when we will all be standing on a scale with our luggage to get on a commercial plane. It'll have a doorframe in it as well. If you're too wide, you have to pay for two seats. For the weight, you are surcharged a percentage for each few pounds you are overweight. No offense to the overweight people, because it's you AND your luggage, so no one can judge your bodyweight. Oh yeah - we will all also be butt-naked while scanners automatically go up and down in the doorframe to scan us. Everyone will hate that part of it, but it will detract from the humiliation of being weighed. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Probably, you shouldn't shake hands with new people that you meet, either. I wouldn't suggest drinking out of a public water fountain or pushing shopping carts without wiping down the handle first. We are besieged daily with bacteria and viruses. The only defense we have is our immune system. Eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, get moderate exercise every day and enough sleep and you can beat those nasty bugs. Or you can blame someone else for "giving" the germ to you. Of course, there's the social stigma of double-dipping, but you are probably getting loads more bacteria from just touching the same doors as people that don't wash their hands after using the toilet. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Ohhhhhh, OK. That and reading the threads and remembering what day it is. Suddenly it all clicked Here's hoping you find a hot piano teacher Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Not a developmental reason - we just like to know what she's thinking and seeing. She's 15 months now, so she only speaks about 3 or 4 words, but she knows more than 30 signs (most of them have to do with food ). It's nice when she wants water, for instance, she'll sign that to us and we can get her a glass of water. BTW - to any parents of infants or newborns out there - it's very easy to teach them sign language, they pick it up very quickly. Just look here to learn the signs: http://commtechlab.msu.edu/Sites/aslweb/browser.htm Edit - I forgot that I want to teach her scuba diving when she's old enough (I can start her at 8), and also I want to fly with her in the tunnel (we can start at 2), and plenty of other things that you can't speak to someone while doing. I think sign language will help us with these things. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Besides being a great name for a rock band, this is a brand new word to me. I've lived in Denver for 34 years, and I've never heard it, except recently on some weather news sites. But I became a believer last night. I was playing with my daughter, and I was showing her snow outside (we teach her sign language while we show her stuff). After a few minutes, some great big blue flashes, followed shortly by thunderclaps. But it wasn't raining - it was snowing??? What in the world causes this? I've never seen lightning nor heard thunder during a snowstorm (probably because I haven't been paying enough attention). My first guess is that the heat from the city has something to do with it. Anyone else ever seen this? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Why is the world did you set your alarm for Saturday morning? I know there ain't any jumping this morning, since I see some fresh snow on the ground and it's currently 12 degrees. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Everything you said is exactly the way I see it (and probably a lot of other people). They should publish what you just wrote in the mag. Couldn't have said it better if I tried. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The real engineering joke it that you have three gears, all with a 1:1 gear ratio. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

These aren't predictions. In a contest where you have a 50/50 chance of being right, that's hardly proof of your powers of supernatural divination. Saying that you think Twardo will run on the field naked at half-time wearing a Don King wig and eventually become the only official Giants' cheerleader, now that's a prediction. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Well, I was hoping it was more interesting than that, but I sympathize because I have my list of words and phrases that drive me crazy too: "I could care less"

K, so I downloaded a 130-meg gameplay vid. Looks like a good game for me, but I doubt most people would enjoy it. I think it's only a Japanese release right now, so you'll have to pick it up on eBay or something (for probably $200 after the exchange rate). Some of the readouts are Kanji, but most are english/numeric. According to the PS3 store, it will be available in English sometime this month (February). Looks like three modes - one 4-way (belly) mode, one freestyle mode and one accuracy mode. Belly mode - four-way team does brief hand-slap in the plane, then jams in the door (no floaters, but the point-guy has a head-jam). One brief shot of someone that looks like they are floating, but the next shot, everyone's inside. Then a really good exit (Airspeed would be jealous), and you play one slot, where the computer tells you where to fly to. Start at 12,000 feet, and red zone at about 3-4,000 feet. The faster you get to your slots, the more points. After each point, it tells you the name of the formation (meeker, satellite, etc), which is VERY cool for people like me that need to learn that stuff. I think you have to pull at a certain time, and you get red-flashing and buzzing near pull-time. In the demo, the guy routinely pulls at like 600 feet, and I guess the rest of his team bounce because they are still in freefall at that point I think the FAA's gonna have heartburn, because the whole team punches a few small clouds. No need to track away in this game, either - your team's nice enough to let you pull in place while they suck it low (I wanna be on that team ) The computer counts your points, so no cheating Also, the team does some cool tricks, like barrel rolls between points. No collisions when you are flying around your team, and no burbling or funneling, but maybe in the next version. The tunnel flying looks the same, but just a tunnel background, rather than an outdoor background. Accuracy mode, you jump at 3,000 and redzone is about 1,200 feet. If you pull really low you get bravery points (not cool! ) Next, you maneuver your canopy to an accuracy pit on a really lovely beach island. It would be cool if there was wind and a sock, but there's not, but there is a groundspeed readout. The demo guy did a 270 hook-turn at 150 feet to hit the target - doesn't look like you lose a lot of altitude in turns, despite the toggle-turns. This might be a good excuse for me to get a PS3 Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Now I want to know what the original title was! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I dove with a guy that would take his regulator out of his mouth, open wide and invite wrasses to clean his teeth. I tried it, but I couldn't get them to go inside. Truth is, I don't think I could open my mouth at 40 feet, knowing a fish was about to swim in. I kept thinking that if I had to jam my reg back in, I would choke on fish or seawater, or both. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Something I've learned about women. They ALL think they can tell fake boobs from real ones. A little "under-cover" work has led me to conclude that women aren't any better than men at telling the difference. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

A friend of mine is getting breast implants on Monday. She's recently divorced and has a new boyfriend that really thinks she would look good with a D-cup - she's relatively thin and tall and quite pretty. Guys - would you want your wife/girlfriend to get implants? Personally, I think it's disgusting. The only reason I think they're acceptable is for women that have had to undergo mastectomy. Although I am one of those (seemingly rare) guys that like small breasts, and that may have something to do with it. Or maybe it was the disturbing images I remember from the 80s and 90s of silicon implants rupturing and the resulting surgery and claims of silicon-induced poisoning. It's also interesting that silicon implants are back! I thought they only used saline these days, but starting on November 17, 2006, the FDA approved silicone gel implants: http://www.justbreastimplants.com/implants/silicone.htm Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

From the website:

I met my wife skydiving. Her father owns a DZ. Her sister is an AFFI, and her husband is a T.I.. My father-in-law's wife is a rigger, and her son and his wife also jump. I'm probably forgetting about one or two people It's kinda fun to go to a boogie and do a family-way skydive with six or seven members of the family. A few years ago, we were all at the holiday boogie in Eloy. One of the men (technically my brother-in-law, although it's pretty distant) had two young boys that liked to horse-around on the packing mat. I'll never forget him saying - "Careful! Don't step on grandma's parachute!" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm tempted to believe that someone is helping him out right here on dz.com, considering the number of threads I've seen about this Maybe we should all just chill until he actually does it. Kinda like how we all stopped talking about, errr, that one French dude that wants to beat the high-altitude balloon jump record. (Yes, I know his name, but I don't want to start another thread about it). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

IIRC, Singapore Airlines paid a butt-load of money to be the exclusive owners of the first 380. They have one only, and they are going to fly it around for a few months before Boeing gives any others to other airlines. Sounds like a lot of money to pay to be a guinea-pig Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Cool concept, but there will be always something missing without actual demonstration and usage of Force powers. Yoda said "you must learn control", but you know the padiwans were thinking "or he'll kick my ass with that Force shit." Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Technically, this is illegal. Probably best not to ask in a public forum. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD