riddler

According to Ohio State University, not true. In general, electric cars today still produce more emissions than gas autos in the US, because the US still burns too much fossil fuel for electricity. The advantage of everyone using electric is that it makes it easier to control the source pollution. Government just has to put better emission control on the power plants. Of course, the power plants are paying off the politicians, just like every other industry, so it's not likely to change anything. Too many people making too much money killing the environment. That will never change with the US government. *Edited for URL string Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Mal: "We did not need to hear that!" Jayne: "I could stand to hear some more" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The DVD commentaries are as good as the show. Speaking to Joss Whedon: "How did you come up with this idea for this great show?" Joss: "Well, first I smoked some good pot and got REAAAAALLY high" OK, so the quote isn't exact, but that was pretty much what he said Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just found out today that I got hit with a small fraudulent charge on my AMEX. A company that calls itself "Lexbay" in California is charging hundreds or thousands of people small charges (less than $20). It seems to be mostly people that are using AMEX cards and have Verizon Wireless accounts, but a few Citibank cards as well. If you are using an American Express and Verizon Wireless, please carefully read your statement this month. AMEX is refunding charges. Beats the heck out of the kids that stole my card earlier this year - they bought $3,000 worth of flat-screen TVs from Walmart, and tried to charge another $5,000 of diamonds on it. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Eloy isn't any different than any other American city, large or small. They mismanage money, so they want more money, they sniff around to see where they can get it, then they raise taxes, levy fines, or whatever else. They hope it's too much of a pain for the taxpayers to move from the city, so the residents pay through the nose. I don't see why the tunnel needs to move - sure, it's convenient to have it near the DZ, but it's not entirely necessary. OTOH, if they don't move it, Eloy will probably just keep raising the cost of electricity, or impose an indoor-arial-sports tax, or something to that effect. But any other city will eventually do the same. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Eloy can be a busy sky, with or without the holiday boogie. A lot of teams and foreign military units train there the rest of the year. The few times I've been there outside of the boogie, I've learned to politely ask if I see a whole group of military on the plane with me, which of the two landing fields they are using. Then I land in the other one. When they start lining up those big canopies close to each other on final, it doesn't leave much room for anyone else. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Another great story from Twardo Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What I really hate is when the director yells "CUT" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

No way! You were a joy to have in the class. I don't care as much about the little details as I care about people that are enthusiastic, pay attention and focus on the important things. You did all of those Landings. Well, your landings needed some work, but then again, so did mine Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Hey, watch it! You're talking to Mr. Minimum A license at 25 jumps B license at 50 jumps, followed immediately by two night jumps C license at 102 jumps Coach rating at 105 jumps D license at 200 jumps AFFI at 6 hours, 2 minutes of freefall (380 jumps) The minimum has to be somewhere, ya know About the ratings. A rating is a license to learn. That's all! Someone says "you are now licensed to learn to teach." It doesn't mean you're a good teacher. I've never met a new AFFI rating holder that thought they were a badd-ass instructor - in fact, most of us are a little scared It's a tough thing knowing you are responsible for saving another life. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Josh was a good person and friend. We both got our coach rating together some years ago, at a course that was taught by Mustard. I will always remember him as a man that had a great balance of strength and kindness. He was considerate of people's feelings and he taught skydiving liked he loved skydiving. He was one of the good guys, and I'll miss him a lot Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It might be a more interesting story if it was the case, because we could call it YouHooTube, but no, it was Google - you can read it on the Blog, so we'll have to settle for GooTube, or something equally silly. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Man, is it just me, or is YouTube dead slow since Google bought them? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My personal favorite for females: Ya-ya'ing the Sisterhood. Makes me crack up every time I hear it. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm definitely not an expert and never said I was. I never even said I was a conservationist. Or a knee-jerker for that matter. Sure, shit happens. When you feed crocs, shit happens. When you dive with rays, shit happens. This was an individual that made a living putting himself in a position where shit was very likely to happen for the "entertainment" of people at the expense of wild animals. I don't think they should have to suffer for it. Nor do I believe we'll ever see the video, because it's likely that shit happened for a reason in this case, and some people would rather see bad things happen to animals than admit that a loved one screwed up or lose money from it. I would be happy to be wrong about it, and all I can do is relay my own experience (without ever stating that I am an expert) and why I think this happened. Yep, it is speculation, and I have no problem speculating in Bonfire. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Here's a good reason to show the video: protection of the Stingray species. I've dived and swam with maybe a dozen different species of ray, from great big Mantas in Fiji to tiny little oddballs in Indonesia that were on cleanup duty after the Indonesians destroyed the reef from dynamite fishing. This is an animal that doesn't deserve a rep as a killer. The marketing people for Irwin have stated that he was casually swimming over a ray that freaked out and stabbed him in an unlucky area. I believe it's much more likely that Irwin was abusing the ray in some fashion. In my experience, these creatures don't lash out unless they are in extreme duress (such as being stepped on or handled). I've scared a few large stingrays by swimming too close over them when they're buried in the sand. I've never been stung - they just swim away. I was chatting with my brother (a biologist that spends some time in the oceans) on the phone last night and he mentioned the only time he's seen a stingray lash out was when a fishing boat landed it, then the stuck a plunger on the animal and it started to whip it's tail. I believe that Irwin must have been abusing the ray in some fashion (man-handling it, trying to hold it or pin it down) in order for it to strike. Now that this has happened, more and more people are going to feel that the stingray is a deadly animal that should be feared, hunted as a prize or just killed for "safety". I don't think Irwin would have wanted that. I think if the ray killed him because he was mishandling it (as I suspect), he would want the world to know that it was his fault, and he wouldn't want the animal to be further abused - but I'm sure he would want it to be respected (and specifically not touched). Show the video. Let the world see that he fucked up, and that the ray isn't a random killer that strikes just because it gets scared. I think Irwin was actually a good guy that did a lot of positive things for conservation and awareness. I think he would want that to continue. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You must come to skydiving. It will not come to you. I used to encourage my friends to come. People who were very enthusiastic about it - "yeah, I REALLY want to do that!!" Then you make plans for them, offer to drive them, work out a deal with your tandem friend to make the same jump. Then they forget, or their petunia dies, or they can't afford it, or their spiritual advisor tells them it'll upset their past lives. People are mostly talk and very little effort. I guess I'm guilty of that myself. After a while, you stop wanting to "help" people skydive - if they don't want it enough to call and schedule themselves and set aside the money and whatever else that needs to be done, then they're not going to last long in the sport anyway. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

An aboriginal child was also killed some years ago. But yeah - it's very uncommon. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm not sure I agree - yeah, the stinger can be long, but in most cases, it's not 10 inches - five to six inches is more common, and they aren't going to be plunging it all the way in, because of the thrusting angle - upward and at an angle. Penetration of the wound is typically much less than the full length of the stinger - usually an inch or so. In most cases, the venom hurts much more than the perforation. But I could be wrong I've never been stung by one. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Pretty much. Look for the next Hollywood movie "Stingrays on a plane!" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

In the words of Morpheus, "how would that be different than any other day?" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The barb is ON the tail. Some species have more than one barb. The barbs tend to be close to the base of the tail, above the anus. The tails are strong and they do whip very quickly to lodge the venom that coats the barb (as well as a pretty big puncture) in whoever threatened it. This is purely defensive - they don't use it to kill prey. Most stings are people wading and stepping on the rays, who have buried themselves just below the sand. Pour hot water on it to destroy the protein enzyme that causes the sting, then treat the puncture wound and you'll survive with a painful story. Sometimes when I dive or snorkel, I get my body down close to the sand to look at something closely. This involves some careful manuevering, because I don't want to disturb what's on the bottom or let any part of my body or dangling equipment or fins touch the bottom. You don't want to kick up sand and ruin the view, and you don't want to damage the coral. It's requires some buoyancy skills (basically, careful breathing) to not touch and still get close - learning skills like that is part of the joy of diving. Once or twice I've been pretty close to the bottom and seen two breathe-holes open in the sand. It's possible in this situation that the ray may freak out and whip a barb into your chest, face or other body part. You would have to be just inches off the bottom for that. Or the ray may swim up quickly to affect an escape and hit you at the same time. Other possibility is that a really stupid diver might try to grab a wild ray by it's wings. The whole venomous barb is there to save the ray from becoming dinner and if you are mauling it, it will assume you're trying to eat it, and it will whack you, probably in the chest, head or groin. I don't want to assume anything, but this is an individual that seems to regularly handle wild animals in such a fashion. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Hard to say - the barbs can penetrate maybe only an inch, depending on the size and species of the ray (and the thickness of your wetsuit I guess). Most stings are to people's feet when they step on the poor guys, and are non-fatal, but very painful. The barb itself it pretty rigid, but the tail is very flexible and can whip around to strike in many positions. The venom shouldn't kill you - but I could see a scenario where it punctured or paralyzed his heart muscle or an artery. Sting to the chest? Very, very rare. Either he was swimming close the bottom and got very unlucky, or he made the mistake of trying to handle a wild ray. Given that he tends to handle dangerous animals routinely, speculation will abound. Edit - found a pretty good drawing of a ray that shows where the barb is. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Hey - I've been there - Stingray Alley. Two days later I was diving with wild rays, and they are like different animals. The ones in Stingray Alley are much more like pets, and they seemed to put up with a lot of abuse (getting stepped on, etc) that a wild one wouldn't. When my students ask about stingrays, I tell them the same thing I tell them for all animals - look but don't touch. The sting has venom, but it's usually non-lethal (unless you're allergic to bees). For him to take a barb in the chest, I can only think of a few scenarios, and one of them would involve trying to handle the ray - bad idea. It's also possible that he was swimming very close to the sandy bottom, and a buried ray got startled - just bad luck. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I can't say my mother was thrilled about skydiving, but she knows I do what I want without her consent. I took some time to get her a bit involved so she would understand. I took her to the home DZ and got her a plane ride on the King Air while I jumped out. I even took her to a boogie once in another state, and got her a ride on the Eloy otter while I jumped out. It still worries her a bit, but she knows I love it and that I practice safe procedures and try to keep my gear in good shape. Overall, she's pretty supportive of my decisions, but I think involving her more made her feel better about it. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD