riddler

Life, like skydiving, often goes better when you plan it out. I've gone home after having a few too many (well, OK, it was only two, but two is one too many for me). Since then, I've brought a sleeping bag and I sleep in my car while at the dropzone. There are only a few things in the world that are as good to wake up to as a Cessna warming up for a 6:30 am load. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I do both. I love both. I like skydiving a little better and do it most weekends, but only go on SCUBA trips once or twice a year. Both are surreal experiences. Human beings didn't evolve to be able to fall long distances and survive. Neither did they evolve to be able to breathe underwater. For both, the environment is foreign and the experience is mind-blowing. Kinda like brain candy. People who like one will typically like the other. For some reason, though, many SCUBA people think skydivers are crazy. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just wait until you have a few more jumps. You'll have a shaved head in no time I started bleaching my hair a few months ago, and I'm thinking about going blue. After that, it'll probably be a nose-ring and a tattoo on my ass. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It's definitely possible for North Korea to do these things, but I think the government determined that is was unlikely give their technological and financial state before they OK'ed the sale. And I believe part of the rationale was actually and environmental one, rather than a financial one. People in N.K. were deforresting the timber to burn wood, which they agreed to outlaw with out help of the U.S. led consortium (including South Korea and Japan). The bigger part of the deal was that by us providing them, they would agree to suspend all nuclear testing, since they argued they should be allowed to test to develop reactors (a bad argument, but it got them $100 mil). Of course, all of this is moot in the face of politics. Politicians are all greedy liars, so it's hard for me to argue the official story when I don't necessarily believe it. I do believe that North Korea is on the verge of a government collapse. They are more interested in surviving than building ICBMs with nukes. Our government fears instability in the area because of our economic interests, but I don't think they fear a nuclear strike. Maybe I'm stupid, but I don't either. And I agree with helping other countries in hard times, even if most of them come back and treat us like shit later. The people remember, even if the politicians don't. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This really sucks for ALL skydivers. Chances are if the person buying is a skydiver, he/she will eventually sell the gear. The new buyer probably isn't going to check the serial number even if they have the rigger take out he reserve for inspection. Am I wrong about this - do riggers routinely check Cypress serial numbers on inspection? I don't think so, but I could be wrong. I don't like the idea of people buying bad equipment, but I really hate the idea of them re-circulating it into the community. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

With one post to his name. When I checked his profile, it was blank and was started Oct. 18th (today). It has since been filled in. I'm still suspicious. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

spam - please delete. jeesh - I don't know many spammers that will go to the trouble of signing up just to post their garbage. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Nice! It doesn't even look like a zero-g exit. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The polls looked fun, so I though I would jump on the bandwagon. This is an interesting one to me, because I used to have so many friends that were not skydivers. I guess they all got sick of hearing me talk about it, so I only have a few whuffo friends left. I've heard this happens to a lot skydivers. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You can sue anyone for any amount of money at any time - I don't think there's a law anywhere that specifies you can sue and win from telephone solicitors. Ya know - I used to work for the phone company and I could never get a straight answer about solicitors on cell phones. I've never gotten one on any of mine, and I've have four or five different ones over the course of about 10 years now. I had one person tell me it's against the law for solicitors to call you on them, because of the cost-shifting involved (meaning, you are paying for the airtime of having them call you). But I don't know if that's true. I do suspect that there is SOMETHING going on - otherwise, I should have gotten at least one solicitation in ten years. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Many of these test projects are. I used to work for Lockheed Martin and tested products by Boeing, so I have some experience with both companies. Many of the efforts these days are fully funded by the companies, but the details of cost, materials, etc are divulged to the customer (i.e. Air Force) and the point is to prove to the customer that you can do things faster and cheaper than the competition. I did look closer at the pic, though, and I think it does have an ejection seat (just a visual guess, though). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Congrats to all involved. This is an amazing achievement. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

(Sorry - quotes don't seem to be working at the moment - the original quote was BillVon's about nuclear reactors producing plutonium). I hear this often from people, and I believe it's kind of a common misunderstanding. Either that or I have an uncommon misunderstanding Most modern nuclear reactors contain plutonium as a fuel (or rather heat) source, but there is a difference between plutonium used in reactors and weapons-grade plutonium. My understanding (not being a nuclear physicist) is that weapons-grade is much higher in purity, which would require reprocessing to create a weapon out of it. Obviously, we wouldn't sell them the tools or materials to do this, but it doesn't mean they can't make them or get them from someone else. But it is a substantial effort - almost as much work as creating the fuel from scratch (uranium). In other words, just because N. Korea has nuclear reactors, doesn't mean they can stick the plutonium from the reactors into a bomb and make it explode. Here's a better explanation: http://www.top-education.com/warweapons/nr.htm I think this is a common misunderstanding because of accidents like Chernobyl and three-mile island. A meltdown is not a nuclear explosion, but rather the beginning of a nuclear explosion. They are extremely rare because they are extremely difficult to make happen (the instances I mentioned were both a series of goof-ups and some freak events). The beginning of the explosion is certainly enough to rip apart the reactors and pollute the area around with radioactive particles, but the low-grade material doesn't have enough concentration to allow the start of the reaction to complete. You can't turn a meltdown into an ICBM type bomb, because you can't make it happen at a specific instant - it happens whenever it wants to happen. Also, the force of the explosion is a tiny fraction of a "real" nuclear weapon - you could do the same thing with conventional weapons. With our nuclear missles, we can trigger the explosion within a millisecond, allowing us to detonate at a a specific altitude with a full chain reaction. Of course, N.K. could always just stuff the plutonium rods into a conventional bomb and have it explode and scatter the radioactive material, which would kill a lot of people. But they could do the same thing with sarin gas, only cheaper and more effective. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Tax Refund. There's some sort of Karma about buying rigs. The first one is always the hardest. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Considering the "better-cheaper-faster" mantra of the air force these days, I doubt it even has an ejection seat. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I used to be a respectable guy. College degree. Nice house. Regular girlfriend. Stable, 6-figure job. Now, I'm a punk kid with bleached hair, no real job and I spend all my money on skydiving. Can anyone recommend a good place to get your nose pierced? And on that note! It's 6 pm Friday Denver time, just got blown off by a girl for tonight. I got a case of beer in the fridge. Who wants to come over to my place? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Here's another link: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviation/article/0,12543,365576,00.html Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Personally, I like the idea of a rubber band being able to break if it needs to. I've only used rubber bands, so I can't give a fair comparison. The guy that sold me my rig put one reserve ride on it - a bag lock from using tube stows. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I think every executive should demo one of these, starting with CEOs and working down from there. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I took my mom on an observer ride on the Otter from Eloy. After I jumped they dived the plane. My mom didn't think that was all that safe But free, you go out of jumps planes all the time. No offense to DD, but I think that commercial pilots typically have a lot more training and experience than jump pilots (I'm sure there are exceptions). And I trust my life to most jump pilots, so why not a commercial pilot? BTW - if you're going to Mexico, they'll likely have margaritas on the flight, which taste better than pills. I always take one or two early on in the flight and get the vacation off to a good start

Lasik was the best thing that I ever did for myself. I went to a good doctor and had state of the art equipment. Actually, some of it was experimental - this doctor invents a lot of the equipment that they use in Lasik. Anyway, I'm at 20/15 in both eyes and I've never had any problems skydiving, scuba diving, mountain climbing or off-road biking. Well worth it! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You forgot less inhibited, more willing to take risks and better liars about what happened I love older women. I love younger women. Hell, I'm not really all that picky. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Oh, I see - now you're being picky. Yesterday it was free parking and today it's a $5 lot. I'm all about pleasing you too - at least until morning. I can live with a grass strip - I just prefer a hard surface. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Go with bald - after all you're doing this to please us right? Sometimes the ol' tongue gets a wee bit excited. I hate losing traction and ending up in fur city. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Beer, sex and skydiving. Is that all you people ever think about?? Oh wait, that's pretty much all I think about too. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD