riddler

Yep - only they say "kebap". Don't ask me how I know Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I love getting the family together and pigging out on huge meals. I still like Christmas morning, even after the commercialization and material focus. Call me a dork, but I like Christmas music - something you can still sing along with. I hate the whole "presents" thing and also the cold weather. The plan is to spend all future holidays in much warmer climes, and reduce the gift-giving/receiving. I do think it's possible to change your holiday experience if you don't like it - it's taken a few years to clue my family in about not buying me presents, and the fact that if they're somewhere cold, I'm not gonna be there. And I think after a few years, they're finally starting to understand. Now just a few more years to get them to accept it Then a dozen or so years to get them to stop buying me stuff. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Wow. Sounds so negative. Maybe eye doctors should exam your eyes looking for nice color, brightness, clarity and at the end of it, tell everyone how nice thier eyes look. I would pay for that service Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What a fun movie! I loved Boundin', and the audience actually clapped after it was over. I was excited to see the EP3 preview. The Incredibles made us laugh pretty darn hard. It wasn't quite as good as Nemo, but it still gets an A for me. Makes you wonder if there will be a lot more CGI movies in the future. Seems like it should be cheaper and safer than expensive stunts, giant Hollywood set, etc. I think there's still plenty of room for more realistic movies - LOTR showed that great movies can be made by reducing CGI. But movies like Final Fantasy and Pixar flicks prove that CGI is just as profitable as the standard fare. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

No, but dz.com post-whores like you get more than dz.com casual sluts like me. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Remi, classic French-Canadian sarcasm doesn't become you But the server has been disabled - rats, I missed it. But I'm planning on seeing The Incredibles this weekend. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Meditation - I could talk for hours about it, but I don't do it much anymore. I will say this: It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. And I think it's been the most worthwhile. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I think that Bush's next target will be Pennsylvania. They have it coming after what they did to him this week. Plus, they invented scrapple, and they deserve to die for that. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Can you confirm the spelling? Is it Fouth or Fourth? Fouth Protocol might have something to do with the halting the spread of nuclear weapons? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Simple solution - don't watch TV. I stopped watching about four years ago when I started having dreams about commercials. Tell me they're not subliminal. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've heard people say they could smell burning flesh, but I did not. Maybe my sense of smell ain't that good. The only uncomfortable part was the suction thing that helped stableize my eyes - but I had an intralase laser for cutting the flaps - they didn't use the razor blade thingy. I never get my eyes checked any more. I probably should. But then again, I only go to the dentist about once every ten years, too. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Rumor is that Remster got sick and tired of listening to the French people talk about food all the time, so he needed a new forum Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Both Longmont (Mile Hi) and Brush (Denver Skydivers) are good dropzones, and have something to offer. Ryoder is right - the scenery is better in Longmont, and there are more loads, typically. Groundpounder is also right - there are good vibes at Brush, and if you are spending nights at the DZ, it's easier to crash on the couches in Brush - you might have more trouble finding a place to sleep in Longmont. Both have King Air, but call Brush the day you are considering going out, to make sure they have the King Air. Heck, if you're going to be out there all week, try both places. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I would never have guessed that bugs like the taste of a canopy. News to me! Maybe it's the ZP coating they like, rather than the actual canopy fabric? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The clutch on the average Ferrari is so stiff, I doubt that an 84 year old man could engage it. But what do I know? Maybe the pontiff does lunges in the sacred halls? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

After teaching FJC, I always try to find out - either from the student, or instructor - how their jump went. None of my students have done anything incredibly stupid yet, but if they did, I would take it personally. Either I didn't teach them well enough, or I didn't recommend that they don't jump. Yes, there have been a few students that I recommend do not jump. Some of the issues I've heard on this thread, I would attribute to poor training and the lack of the instructor to get an idea of the awareness of the student. You can't account for everything, but instructors have to take some responsibility too. Now, I've seen some other people's students Like the guy that trained in Poland. He opened his 230 into strong headwind and was flying backwards. He wasn't going to make the landing area, so he chopped at 2500 feet and opened his reserve by 1,000, narrowly avoiding a CYPRES fire. On the ground, he explained that he wanted to get down faster so he wasn't blown backwards as far. Yes, it was stupid. It was also stupid for the DZO to allow the student to jump in strong headwinds - USPA recommends 14 MPH limit until A license. Then there was the guy that just graduated AFF. On his first solo, he went unstable every time he reached back to pull. From 5,000 to 1,000, he tried to pull several times, but each time he went unstable, so he did not complete the pull. What did he do? Waited. He knew the CYPRES would fire, so he waited for it. Luckily it did fire and saved his life. Luckily, the CYPRES OS isn't written by Microsoft, too, or else it surely would have crashed, and so would he. Maybe the instructor didn't cover pull priorities well enough. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

No truer words have I heard today. There will always be people that believe it's safer to NOT wear a seatbelt, or that wearing a seatbelt gives you an excuse to drive recklessly, or that an airbag is safer technology than a seatbelt, or even that one brand of seatbelt is completely reliable and another brand is sure death. People usually do what they feel is right, rather than taking an objective look at the facts, and often that is to their detriment. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I have been told about one case of a jumper that threw away the cutaway handle and it went upwards toward the already opening reserve. The yellow cables from the cutaway handle went into one slider grommet of the opening reserve, preventing the slider from coming down fully. This jumper still landed the reserve canopy fine, but could have been more seriously injured. This is a very unlikely instance, and of course, there's probably about an equal chance that keeping the handles could cause some odd-ball malfunction as well. Just something to be aware of. I have had one cutaway, and I'm pretty sure I threw both handles at least two states away Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yep, seen Euplotes too - my brother's hobby is electron microscopy - he just had to get the microbiology degree so he could play with them

Having worked for a major telecomm for two years, my bet would be they wouldn't know how anymore. Technological dependence is a mainstay at TCs - if you asked them to do this, they would probably just tell you to buy the service. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Next question - if someone actually paid for this, it would be a pretty good indication they will sue afterwards. Would the dropzone let them jump? Sounds more like paying for your right to not jump at that DZ. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Ok, so this isn't as ground-breaking and awe-inspiring as mapping the human genome, but the complete sequence for a cloned species of tetrahymena has been completely mapped. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/viewer.fcgi?db=nucleotide&val=53830043 Tetrahymena - you know - they're related to the parameseum. Parameseum - you know - those little pond-water germs you used to look at under a microscope in high school biology class? Why is this so exciting? Because this was done by none other than my older brother, after four years of research for his PhD thesis at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Have I already mentioned how proud I am of him? All I can say is that when we were kids, I was the smart one. So the next time you think four years is too long to spend doing anything important - getting a college degree, saving up for a rig, planning a wedding - just think: there are people out there that spend that same amount of time mapping 8500 base pairs of single-celled organisms that live in pond scum.

Then the two celebrated by jumping from Lovers' Leap. Sorry about the hack job and poor image quality here. Turning a 5 Meg image to a 60K one isn't easy Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Thanks all! I look forward to seeing you all again at some point! Rem - I'm gonna try to make it to dinner next week. Mar and eener - I'm really looking forward to the tunnel, and I hope my old-man body can take the abuse. LDS - I'll see you at some boogie again I'm sure! Couldn't escape work this b-day, but I got a two-and-a-half-hour massage and had dinner with family, so it wasn't all bad. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

And I find myself in Austin, TX right now. I guess we'll all have to just keep meeting at boogies. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD