riddler

Snow, and more snow in Colorado. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Second that on the local DiveShops. You'll be happier with the gear you get - it will fit you you will have a guarantee on it (usually) where they will swap it out if it doesn't fit you. Also with more retail brands, you get a warranty if and only if you buy from an authorized dealer. I dive a LOT of ScubaPro - they give a *lifetime* warranty, but only if you buy from the local dive shop. Think about that - a regulator may cost you $500, but you have it for your entire life, and it gets serviced every year (ScubaPro replaces parts and does upgrades for FREE). You don't get the lifetime warranty if you buy off the Internet, and you don't get your gear regularly maintained. It's life support equipment - you want to make sure you keep it in good order. Now, fins, I would buy from the Internet - scubapro twinjets are pretty much indestructable. Mask, I would NOT - most masks do not fit most people (contrary to manufacturer's claim) - you get a mask that fits you only when you try it out at the LDS (local dive shop). Snorkel, wetsuit, I would buy on Internet only if it's cheaper. Other basic gear (BC, reg, computer), I would buy at the shop and get the lifetime warranty. But if you're buying most of your gear at the LDS, you might get a good package deal on all of it that makes it cheaper. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Maybe it was good luck. New cars are statistically safer than old cars. If you were driving your old car that was 10 years older, you might have been hurt, or hurt the other driver. As long as insurance pays for everything, you might have been lucky. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've also got one of those - it's a fancy one that projects the time and outside temperature (from an outside, wireless thermometer) up on the ceiling. Oregon Scientific. I've noticed that any time change takes anywhere from a half-day to a few days to update, and sometimes they never update. This one, I can set manually, though. But usually it's a waiting game to see how long before I get aggravated enough to change it myself. I suspect that the people that change the radio broadcast information aren't always on-the-ball about it. Edit - also, there is no time signal from the wall outlet. If yours auto-updates, it's probably from a radio frequency that's broadcasted (unless you have X.10 from another clock somewhere in the house). What you may be thinking of, is the power company does make sure that exactly 24 hours * 60 minutes * 60 seconds * 60 power cycles/second are sent every day through your wall outlet. If at the end of the day, they are a few cycles short, they add a few extra cycles, and if they have too many, they skip a few cycles. This is because the 555 timer ICs that are in many clocks count those cycles to be able to tell the time. But there is no actual time information from the power outlet, so that won't update based on daylight savings. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Nice to see others have the DST blues. The kitchen clock reads 12:55. My computer reads 1:55. My Blackberry just buzzed and told me I have a call in five minutes, because it ALSO reads 1:55. Somehow my Bang&Olufsen home phones managed to set themselves BACK an hour to 11:55. It's the new Y2K bug, except apparently, no one cared. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

OK, the resolution on you-tube isn't always great, but is that Christopher Walken?? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Been there, seen that! It was pretty cool! Also at that museum are the Apollo-13 command module, actual V-1 and V-2 rockets, and the real liberty bell 7. What I didn't like about the place was all the replicas - they need to do a better job letting visitors know what's real and what's fake. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I can't believe I'm saying this to a freeflyer. But - next time, get video Would pay to see that Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I have been on hundreds of flights, and not ever, once, flown anything except coach. From now on, if I have the option, I'll fly BA. At least if I die, I'll get an upgrade. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I love riding, but haven't in some time. I feel much safer jumping out of a plane among other people that have received a high level of training and have currency requirements than riding a motorcycle amongst teen-age boys that slept through driver's education and drive giant oversized pickups and 80-year-olds that can barely see, drive 50-year old tanks and think Eisenhower is still in office. I think the statistics back me up here - motorcycles are far more dangerous than jumping. Maybe someday, I'll be rich, buy a few hundred acres somewhere and pave a road around it so I can ride a bike by myself with no other traffic. Only then will I feel as safe riding as skydiving. But I'll have a runway on it too But then again, if my family tried to tell me not to ride, I would probably buy a bike and drive it to all their houses Once you reach a certain age, arguing with your family is no longer a requirement to getting what you want. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I paid for an additional three jumps there that I never did about six months ago. I wonder if I should send them a bill? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Sounds like ya'll aren't kissin' the right parts Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Tunnel instructors that don't jump can be good for a tunnel - otherwise there would be no one working at the tunnel during boogies or any nice weekend Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I visited Niagra two years ago, and they were saying it would open "soon" then. As far as I know, this is a Flyaway type of tunnel (ala Vegas/Pigeon Forge, not SkyVenture). But hey, if they get it going, I'll probably visit at some point - a tunnel's a tunnel Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I believe we just set a record low in Denver five days ago. -18F. That did not include wind chill. Reminds me of when I was a kid (I grew up near the Colorado mountains). I was in Boy Scouts, and we had this thing called a "Polar Bear badge", where you camp out in the winter at a time when it falls below freezing (32F). Well, we camped out on a weekend when it got to -11F one night. Sure, we were young boys and just as homophobic as the next 13-year old, but nights like that are when you and your best friend share a sleeping bag for warmth. And no one talks about it the next day But it's a good experience, because I've camped out many nights since when it got below zero. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I did the course about 18 months ago - I noticed different people had problems with either the ground part or the aerial part. So, where do you feel weakest? Ground instruction/speaking/material preparation? Or flying skills? You need both to get the rating. If you feel weak with flying, spend the next month in the tunnel You can practice flipping students over in the tunnel. If you aren't so good with ground instruction, read the SIM. A pre-course will help you with both, and also help you figure out where your strengths and weaknesses are. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Since Henson films has released the muppets as seasonal discs (they've had the "best of" for a few years), I've been watching them from Netflix. Mummenshanz reminds me of the Blue Man group, but yeah, they were kinda weird. Some of those guest stars on the early shows were really terrible Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yay! I did a search and actually found a post (I think). This Yahoo story is out of date, so I guess that makes it worthy of a bump with a more permanent link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silly_String Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Ya know, I thought about that, but there's always the risk of them getting lodged up there in your sinus cavities. How would you explain that one to the doctor? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm not totally convinced that solids are simpler. Mechanically, yes, but they have a lot of very high tech problems of their own. For instance, after the solid material is laid out, the solid boosters are x-rayed to check for gaps (or very large bubbles). If there are any, the solid has to be "patched", which is quite a process. We brought in the Russians to LMA 10 years ago to help teach us about liquid fueled rockets because their overall design was quite a bit simpler than some of our solid designs. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The last two visits to SVCO left me feeling like my nose was full of dust, and I spend the next few hours having sneezing fits. Maybe I should wear my scuba mask in there, since it has a nose pocket built in. Seriously, would a full-face to prevent this? I like the open-face for visibility and so people can read my lips, but I don't like feeling like I'm allergic, since I've never had allergies to anything else before. I don't get this result on a skydive - or ever before in over 10 hours of flying Las Vegas, Orlando, Perris or SVCO. Maybe I'm just getting old ... er. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

One time I was working at an astronautics facility and there was a hydrazine leak. It formed a large cloud of gas over the holding tank, which was only a few hundred yards from my office. We were all asked to report to our desks. The thinking was if the cloud of gas moved over to our building, they would be able to identify our bodies based on where we were sitting. We asked how would we know if the hydrazine was in the building. They said it smells like almonds, then you die. We wondered how they know it smells like almonds if everyone who smells it dies. Yeah, it's pretty nasty stuff, but it makes good rocket fuel I guess. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I didn't read the whole thread, and I'm sure it's already been said, but the wind tunnel can help you. I repeated level 3 twice. After the second failure, I went to the Vegas tunnel and spent an hour there, came back and finished all the remaining levels in one weekend. I wish I had done the wind tunnel first Now I have over 10 hours of tunnel time and I got my AFFI rating with less than 400 jumps. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD