riddler

Weather was the BEST we've had in the past four years

Does anyone believe this, anymore? If you call a company that has this message on their systems, you always get this line. What is a high volume anyway? Higher than yesterday? Last week? If it's high all the time, shouldn't they hire more people to take calls? I called the Internet cable company on Christmas day, and I got this message. Is everyone else calling on Christmas day too? They answered in less than 20 seconds. Are all the "high volume" of people calling for only two seconds and hanging up? It's like companies know that 90% of calls are bad news, and they're starting out in a defensive posture. "Don't blame us for waiting on this call." Maybe if they create a computerized voice message at the beginning of the call that tells me to be patient, I'll be more calm when a person answers But probably not. Then there's the "please enter your account number". Do you fall for that one too? I always put in my account number, and the first thing the person asks me is "what is your account number?" I always say "I put it into your phone system." They usually respond with "I can't see that from here." Then I ask "why did it ask me to enter it, then?" Where does it go, anyway? I have a sneaking suspicion that those phone numbers you enter into their system get piped right to the telemarketers in the building next door. Why else would they ask for them? They're obviously not using them. More likely, it's just something to do while your waiting for the "high volume" of callers in the queue. They should just give us a trivia game or something to play. They could ask questions like "that phone number you entered. What do you think we did with it? Press 1 for Sold it to a telemarketer. Press 2 for Put on our internal Blacklist. Press 3 for It was just something to waste time while you're waiting." Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Don't worry - the best feature is the receive email - the others you only use after you've gotten used to that. I use a lot of the features now, but that's only because I've had the thing for four years. I use the send email when I'm not in front of a computer, which is almost never. The calendar can be useful for stuff you're likely to forget (like meetings) 'cause it has a reminder alarm. I use the contact manager too. You won't use it to surf the internet, because most of the pages won't load, and the ones that do take forever and you can't read because the screen only shows a few lines at a time. Off button is the same as the on button - you just need to hold it down for like five seconds. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What about hands that smell like dead kittens? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

oh yeah. It's been a while since I looked at those profiles. Those are some sweet machines. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

23. No kids. Sounds like a lot of people are hitting the middle. Is this a test that shows you who you are, or a test that's designed to make us feel good about ourselves? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

F-100 super sabers? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Personally, I have to wash my hands a few times a day. But I can get dirty Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

That's because people are constantly screaming at their dogs in the park: "Fido! Don't shit there!" "Jessable! Quit humping everyone's leg!" After a while, you learn their names and behaviors Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'll bet it went right through the nipple too. Damn blue stuff seems to know the most painful place to create a circuit and go right for it. I swear when I use my fingers it always hits me right underneath the fingernail Like a few of you said, I use my foot to shut the car door too. If I have a heavy jacket, I'll use my elbow and get the jacket dirty. I may even use my hip. You'd think that car manufacturers would figure out a way to keep the car, you and the ground all at the same potential. Companies spend more time figuring out how to make new flavors of toothpaste - you would think a lot of industries would figure out how to stop static shock. It's even caused gas pumps to explode when people sparked the fuel vapors. I have this theory that the pain or electricity of the shock interferes with short term memory, and we usually forget that it even happened 30 seconds later. For this reason, I think we'll never see any technology put into improving this one small annoying factor of our lives. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Much of Colorado is a semi-arid desert. Ask anyone who's lived in the Denver basin - it's friggin' dry here. You build up static voltage, you shock yourself. You live here more than 30 years like me, you get used to it. In the winter, it's really bad. The humidity drops to single digits. Your skin turns to sandpaper. You wake up in the middle of the night dreaming about being stranded in a cold desert. You keep water on your nightstand. You can't use a humidifier, because you're cranking up the heater, and all it does is evaporate the moisture in the air instead of keeping you warm. So it gets really dry, and you build up a lot more potential voltage. Now you can see blue sparks when you turn on the lightswitch from your finger to the faceplate screw. You wear wool socks and thermal underwear to keep warm. You might as well dress in a funny suit and call yourself the Human Dynamo. You feel the buzz of electricity every time you walk. Before you kiss your sweetheart, you first ground yourself to them by touching your nose on their cheek. Sure it's painful, but going right for the lips is downright dangerous and could mean the end of your relationship. Or your life. Now there's a fear of turning on the lights. You reach for the light and stop, finger inches from that metal screw of death, hovering on the brink of the 50,000 volt zap that you're pretty sure almost stopped your heart last time. It still hurts to think about it. I know from my electric power classes in college that the conductive path from the left hand to the right foot has a nerve that goes right by the heart - I should touch this with my right hand. Maybe I can touch the plastic cover kinda close to the screw and "ease into it." ZAP. Fuck! That didn't work. Turn on the light quick and hold onto something because you're so dizzy you can barely stand. Everything looks blue for a few seconds. This must be what it's like getting hit by a small lightenting bolt. I remember the grounding strap I wore on my wrist every day I was in the secure lab building rockets at Lockheed Martin. The electronics were sensitive, and you didn't pull out a circuit board unless you were properly grounded to it. I still have some old buddies there. I'm sure they could steal a spare wrist strap for me. I'm sure they're all using them in their houses. Heck, they probably have their kids wearing them. All my electronic devices are pissed off at me too. Four laptops, two cell phones, iPod, house phones. Even the stove. I zap them all several times a day. Every time I get back to the computer, I wonder if it's going to survive that nasty shock I just gave it. Did I kill the disk drive? CPU? Memory? Trucks that drive on the highway drag a grounding chain - I see them sparking on the road at night. Maybe they have a small one I can wear on my ankle? Would it work on carpet? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Personally, I've opted to forego the obligatory gifts at Christmas, birthdays, etc. It creates a lot of stress for everyone and all sorts of social ramifications (am I spending too much/little, I don't know what they want, et al). I also have asked my friends and family to please not give me anything - I have too much stuff as it is, and it's hard to get rid of. We all save money and time (and most importantly all the STRESS) associated with gift giving. For holidays, we get together and do something we all like - eat! I buy things for people when I see something and think that someone I love would like it. They get random gifts during the year, and they usually appreciate them. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Is everyone back home safe today? Did everyone do OK (i.e. pass)?? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Jeez, in Denver, just my taxes and fees alone are $80 for gas and electric. Sucks to live in the city. But you're right about insulation. I have great window insulation. Problem is, I have walls that are plaster-over-brick. Not even drywall on the inside. Maybe I should do like they do in old castles and hang tapestries on the walls Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I can't say I've ever bought into the concept of Peak Oil. The statistics are based on current production of oil combines with (IMO) a lack of understanding of real-world market conditions, and don't take into account alternative oil resources, such as oil shale, which is not economical to mine now, but would be in the event of a dramatic increase in the price of black crude. Additionally, you have people that are trying to predict markets based on a limited historical review of a market that has proven itself, in nearly every crisis, completely unpredictable. And I can't say I'm an oil expert either But I was forced to endure many lectures on the subject for five years at a school that seemed to think it was about the best oil school in the world Don't know if they were the best or not - I went with Electrical Engineering And I don't believe that the energy market is vertical supply and demand, as conventional economists want to use in examples. I believe that they are for the most part, controlled by a limited number of groups that determine the price for many natural energy resources. But that's probably because I'm a conspiratist nut that believes that a few rich people are controlling our lives a lot more than we think they are Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I don't know what to say Joe, except I expect to see you around when we have sushi night near the tunnel No worries about jumping - it'll always be there if you want to come back. Unless it's made illegal, or too expensive by fuel costs, or if there's a nuclear armageddon or something. 'Till then, there's always BASE Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'd rather have my mortgage + heating bill than the mortgage of a loft downtown Seriously, I looked at quite a few lofts seven years ago, and found I could get three times the space, plus a two car garage, front and backyards by going less than one mile east of the business district. I can still walk downtown and live much cheaper. A little more research yields the fact that they are blaming Katrina for 40-50% increase of cost in natural gas. Could someone please tell me how a hurricane in New Orleans affects installed facilities to pipe something close to methane out of the ground in Colorado? Really, they get it right here in the state. The facilities are already in place. I mean I understand that Katrina makes it more expensive for whatever equipment and trucks use gasoline. But a 40-50% increase in natural gas? I think that's stretching a bit far to justify a huge price increase. Sounds to me like some greedy company is slipping some cash into the pockets of the regulators and then playing on the fact that many people don't understand the difference between natural gas and oil. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What are you heating? A hangar? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Windows are closed. Don't leave the house much when it's cold. Gonna start working on better insulation plans for areas of the house that are colder. Thermostat is at 70 - going down to 65 as of now. This bill includes the last 20 days of November and the first 12 of December. So, it's not going to match a bill that's entirely November. Edit - electricity was another $64, for a grand total of $271 from Xcel energy. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I notice quite a few canopies on the top-right portion of the chart that are 210 sq. ft. and larger. I'm new enough that I remember buying my first rig about four years ago. There aren't enough used rigs with 210's (and higher) that many newer jumpers will be able to buy one that fits their needs. If this chart is made mandatory, it will result in a lot of new canopy (and container) sales, because there aren't that many used ones of those sizes. But I'm sure you're not against that too much The chart is conservative. I agree with being conservative, although I followed a faster progression for my first two years of jumping, just because I couldn't easily get anything larger. For the last two years, I've been right in line with your chart, and I consider myself conservative with canopy progression. I just think it's going to make it harder for jumpers in their first two years to buy used rigs. At least until everyone else is doing it. The end result will be fewer people that can cost-justify skydiving. We lose a lot of jumpers in the first two years. Many of them because they figure out just how darn expensive our sport is, and they can't justify it. New rigs can cost six thousand USD or more. We have to give newer jumpers more options, not less, if we want to keep them in the sport. Edit - I need to add that my first (used) rig had a 190 main, because there seemed to be enough of them that I could pick a rig with a good fit. 190 seems to be the largest size that has a good presence in the used market. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It's been cooooold this month in Colorado. Just the natural gas part of my bill - $207 More than twice what it was last month. What about you? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

dude, more than once I've looked down to see a helicopter below me. My main DZ in a municipal airport with lots of traffic, including some helicopters. In the past, they've spent time hovering right over the landing area while we were jumping Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

dz.com rule of etiquette #72. If you post a question about us, you have to start by giving the rest of us your answer to the asked question dz.om rule of good sense #73. If your answer's boring, nobody will respond Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I thought the *same* thing, which is, of course, why I opened it. Then I thought - jeez - another one of these threads, I wonder how many there are? Then I thought hey, it's pretty cool to see online friends from years ago bragging about how they have 100 jumps, and now a lot of them are pushing 500 or more

I have three hours in Flyaway LV. My view is that they are good for jumpers with less than 100 jumps in your discipline of choice. It was great when I was having trouble with AFF. It was also good when I was practicing for my coach rating. After I got past 100 jumps, it didn't do that much for me, and I started going to Orlando. But I think a lot of skydivers can still benefit tremendously from Flyaway. It's just not for all jumpers. And yes, you'll be in there with whuffos, but that's the same as Skyventure Orlando. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD