riddler

I came to that conclusion 15 minutes ago after using an electric caulking gun. Yep. Electric. I had a guy install a new garage door a few weeks ago - almond color, steel, very nice. New opener - Genie Excelerator - opens the door in 5 seconds. The installer suggested I get a little almond-colored caulk for the weather-stripping. I realized I already had several inches of almond-colored cock, but once again, not being a smart-ass saved me a punch in the mouth. Anyway, he said Ryobi has an electric caulking gun. I laughed at his lack of manliness. Well, I didn't really laugh out loud - like I said, trying to avoid that punch-in-the-mouth thing. He said it sounds crazy, but it leaves no bead in the line, and keeps your hand from cramping after all that pumping. Um, yeah - I think this guy has a dirtier mind than I do. So normally, I avoid Home Depot-sponsored, chinese-made, plastic copies of real tools, but Makita doesn't have one, and heck, it was only like $80 for the tool, charger and battery, so I figured what the hey. Wow, is that thing nice. But it really blows through caulk like - well, insert your favorite fellatio metaphor here. I used an entire tube and only got half the job done, so I guess it's back to Home Depot for more of the stuff. For those of you that are inevitably add something about battery-powered marital aids, I just want you to know that I already looked, and there are no such devices conforming to the Ryobi One Plus form factor. However, they claim they are expanding the line, so you may be able to convince them that 18V gives a lot of possibilities. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I hear ya, girl. All those interplanetary spacecraft were nothin' but trouble. I'll take a TDRS launch from the IUS anyday. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Thanks, Bill, this was a good tip. I asked the installer about it. Without saying they wouldn't install it, they're pretty much saying they won't install it. Their rationale is that the warranty isn't as good, and the efficiency of the system is less. I expected it to be less, but I wonder what the numbers are. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yeah, I have to get an annual physical to show that I'm healthy enough to teach scuba - same thing. I don't normally go to a doctor at all, except for this, and all he does is listen to my heart and lungs and sign the form for $150. But at least he dives, so we chat about diving. Another nice thing is you'll have equipment for snorkeling too - I did a snorkel with manatees in Florida - mostly, they were just annoyed 'cause we were interrupting their breakfast. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I assume you're talking about this statement: By bi-directional, I mean I get power from the power company if I need it, and sell it back when I don't. By going out, I mean a power loss (blackout). In the event of a blackout from the power company, you would think that solar panels will still give you electricity. That would be true if you are not connected to the power company also. In some cases it's true even if you are connected to the power company, but not sending electricity back to them. But in the case when you have bi-directional, the hardware will not allow you to have power when the power company is not sending you electricity. This is a well-documented limitation of PV setups when you are selling electricity back to the power company. What would it take to get around that? Batteries? *** More like an act of congress. A german company has hardware that will allow bi-directional power to run in any of the three modes (power solely from the electric company, power solely from the PVs, or power from both). But I doubt we will ever see it in the US. The power company needs consumers to still be somewhat reliant on thier services - they have too much at stake. I'm pretty sure they will put money in the right hands to make sure that this technology never sees the light of US soil. Also, in Colorado, Excel energy has a mandate that a percentage of their customers are using renewable - that's why there is such a big incentive from them for us to get PVs here. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Sorry - the name of this thing has changes and different agencies call it different things. Currently, in SSI, it's called "Stress & Rescue", and in PADI, it's called "Rescue Diver". Half of the class is learning about stress and learning to recognize stress in yourself - the other half of the class is learning how to rescue yourself and other divers. In my opinion, it's the best con-ed class to take for new divers. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've jumped for six years and scuba for five. I have instructor ratings in both sports. I teach about two scuba classes every month. In my experience, scuba is nowhere near as dangerous as jumping. I've never seen one of my students die, get seriously injured, hospitalized, broken bones, etc. The worst scuba injury I've seen was a fishhook in a guy's finger (not even one of my students). I also saw a guy get nipped on the hand by a nurseshark, but he totally deserved it, and I was tempted to take out my dive knife and stabbing the a-hole myself. Skydiving - I've had a handful of friends die, I've been to the hospital about a dozen times to visit other friends. At least once I should have gone myself to the emergency room, but didn't. A few times, I should have gone to a doctor but didn't. I've had some near misses (literally). If you're going to dive in, then go all the way. Buy a total system (be ready to spend about 3K), do some advanced classes right away. Take a stress class within a year. There is no expiration on a C-card, unlike skydiving, but if you don't make a serious effort to stay current, you are putting yourself at greater risk. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I really get the feeling that solar-energy providers are hiking their rates to absorb the credits that the government offers and still charge the consumer an awful lot of money. I just got a quote on solar energy for the house. The total - $48,000 I live in a duplex. The neighbors want to get it to. Close to $100k for both of us. The only reason I want to do it is to (hopefully) increase the resale value and appeal of my house, since I'm only planning to be here one or two more years. The technical details: 28 195-V panels (these are Sanyo and fairly high-quality), producing 4,900 AC Watts 5K Inverter All installation All paperwork with the power company to arrange for reselling the excess energy 20-yr warranty on the panels from the manufacturer 5-yr warranty on the installation from the installer (REC solar) Since it's bi-directional power, if the power coming from the power company goes out, I still don't get electricity (the inverter/synchronizer won't work without a 60-hz signal from the power company) The financial details: $48,000 to install $25,000 credit from the power company $2,000 tax credit $3,000 rebate from the installer My cost: $18,000 There may be an upcoming tax credit per watt installed, but we can't count on it. I sell back extra power, based on a 12-month cycle, at wholesale to the power company (wholesale = almost nothing). After reading billvon's saga of installing himself, I'm tempted not to install solar myself, despite my degree in electrical engineering and my tendancy to be a second-rate handyman around the house. Heck, I'm willing to pay a few thousand dollars to someone else just to avoid the paperwork with the power company. After looking at the components, I figure their totalcost of goods is about $24K (they must have reseller agreements with the PV manufacturer, giving them a good price). Cost of labor and equipment rental may be another $5K, but if they do it for both my neighbor and I (same roof!), they've got to save a bundle there. Where does the extra $20 or $25,000 go? Would they charge that much if there wasn't a tax credit and incentive from the power company? Who thinks this is worth it? Should I do this just to increase the resell value of my house? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Good riddance. He needs to go to the "special hell" reserved for people that talk at the movies. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I leave him alone and he leaves me alone. We have an understanding. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just a follow-up. I got a full-face recently (Sky Systems Oxygn A3), and I flew with it for 30 minutes in SVCO yesterday, without a problem. No sneezing during or after. So that problem is fixed. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Well, I'm not going to throw my opinion out there about this other person that I don't know. Mostly because all the other opinions on this thread make it look like a Pollack painting. But I do like the fact that you're concerned. Whether or not you say anything to him, whether or not that you watch to see what happens to him - none of that makes a difference, because you are going to see a lot of people like this in your skydiving life. Some of them do great, a lot of them get bored and stop jumping, a few get hurt. But the fact that you have concern in the first place - that concern will make you a good coach Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Heck no. Naked is the best. That whole thing about leaving something to the imagination is for people with imaginations. Me, I like to see. OTOH, I understand women like a little mystery, which is why I plan to skydive in a kilt from now on. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

No - it's better than that. A perpetual motion machine that has enough excess energy to power the family car Things I love about the article: "it's not H2O - it's HHO" "claims he has run the car entirely on water, but currently runs on a misture of gasoline and water" (I guess even a water-power car needs a boost ) "a special form of electrolysis" (I guess for people that can't balance energy equations) Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

If we could just get someone to follow Mary around with a camera 24/7, we'd have a pretty decent reality TV show. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Anyone else use this new Netflix service? It's a demand-download for movies on your PC, and it's *legal*. Those of you who use Netflix may see a new additional button right underneath the "Add" button (to add the movie to your mail delivery queue). The new button is blue and says "Play". Not all Netflix movies can be watched immediately, but it looks like there's a few thousand that can. The way it works: for every dollar per month that you spend at Netflix, you get an hour of demand download movie. So, if you're on the $18.99 3-at-a-time plan, you get 19 hours of downloadable movie time per month you can watch movies on demand. Downsides; It requires XP and IE - Firefox and Mac users are out of luck. Also, you don't have options for things like subtitles or alternate languages. And you need high-speed Internet access; I tried it even on my Verizon wireless (and yes, I am in a broadband wifi city), and it doesn't seem fast enough. Upsides; no more waiting a few days for a new movie in the mail. Works very well as long as you have high-speed Internet access. Includes "full-screen" viewing. Doubles the amount of movies you can watch with Netflix. Other companies offer service like this, but once a heavyweight gets into the game, it changes the scene forever. It doesn't look like Blockbuster online offers this service, but my guess is they'll have it available within a year. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

We're seeing a chiropractor now, and my s/o has the same thing. Lots of back pain. The chiropractor (who also flies in our tunnel) told her he can correct up to 30% of her scoliosis, and that it's not 100% correctable. She even forgot to tell him that she was diagnosed with it when she was a teenager - he found it from looking at the X-rays, and she said "oh, yeah, I forgot about that". It didn't bother her too much when she was younger, but as she's gotten older, it's causing quite a bit of pain. What she always thought was a dislocated rib was really the scoliosis, according to the chiropractor. I know a lot more girls that have it than guys (or maybe guys don't want to admit it as much), but it does have a higher incidence among women, according to Wikipedia. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My tax prep process is long. After going through a few CPAs for a few different years, and not being happy with any of their "work", I just do them myself. Takes all week, sure, but at least they get done the way I want them. This year, it's the complete works of Led Zeppelin, including the BBC interviews and How the West was Won. What are you listening to? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Nice - I bet Nintendo has been eye-ing this "untapped" market Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

There is a point where he types "gaudi" on the screen, but it's fast - you have to watch for it. The keyboard pops up and disappears very quickly. Maybe someone should invent porn that requires even more dexterity, so we all can at least improve ourselves in the process Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Probably not our generation - I frequently find myself typing with two fingers, and I *still* misspell about half the words. But maybe the kids growing up these days will be able to work all ten fingers. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

If you work with computers a lot, you might be interested to see what's coming next: Jeff Han Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

TV-B-Gone I wouldn't use it in a bar - too many people go there to watch games. But these days, you can't even have a quiet breakfast at a restaurant without CNN blaring. And stupid Continental Airlines now has noisy televisions in the terminals (at 4 in the morning when you're waiting for an AM flight!!). My Zen Vision has a built-in FM tuner. Anyone wanna bet the next version has a TV tuner? I hope so - personally, I would prefer if the people that just have to watch TV bring their own (with quiet headsets) so the rest of us don't have to put up with it in gyms, restaurants, airports, etc. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Don't watch tv. Five years now. I do watch movies. When I was a child, we didn't have tele at all - not until I was seven or eight. Then I gave it up in the 90s for a few years. Now I don't watch at all. There's too much on television to hate. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Where do you live? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD