riddler

After college, instead of renting an apartment, I bought a house. I lived alone, no pets, at the end of a cul-de-sac. Sometimes, government employees would come talk to my neighbors and ask questions about my lifestyle (DOD clearance). I don't watch television, and periodically went out to mow the lawn and garden. Not the average lifestyle of a 23-year old male. The neighbors all kept their children away from me. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Oh, if I could only go back in time, and play the FBI the tender ballads of Steel Panther Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My mother, who passed away in February, was a mail carrier for 30 years. She didn't wear her seatbelt for the first 10 years. Remember that older mail jeeps had the driver's side on the right side, so that lazy mail carriers could put your mail in the box without getting out of the vehicle. My mom was merging into traffic, failed to yield right of way, and was hit by a garbage truck on the left (passenger side). This destroyed her entire mail jeep, and she was thrown from the vehicle, which broke her hip, and she stayed for five weeks in the hospital. She was not wearing her seatbelt. If she was wearing her seatbelt, there is a chance she would have been killed, because she would have remained in the vehicle while it was being crushed. So I would say, if you are in the position of driving a 30-year old mail jeep, with the driver's side on the right, and you frequently fail to yield right of way, while merging left, then it's probably OK to not wear your seatbelt. Any other time, you need to wear a seatbelt. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Driving in snow, Colorado, F-150 pickup, slow lane of three-lane highway. Man in small car behind me decides that 45 MPH in the slow lane during a snow storm isn't fast enough, accelerates to middle lane, hits ice, yaws several times, then hits my left rear tire. He skids off to the right shoulder with only minor damage. I am pushed to the left, through all three lanes of traffic, and end up sideways in the fast lane. Bad news is, there is a semi tractor/trailer Semi crushes the front of my pickup, pushing me right, back through the same three lanes I just came from. Now I hit a streetlight with a large concrete base. This crushes the remainder of my pickup truck. Now, it's just a box with some back wheels. No airbags. I am wearing a seatbelt, and get out of the car, run back 150 yards to make sure that the guy that hit me is all right. He is, and is able to drive away after we exchange insurance info. No seatbelt, I would have been dead at 19. Pretty easy decision for me. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Looks like a good thread to nudge over to S/C I'm definitely not a fan of OBL, but I don't trust the US government either. Seems like part of deconstructing a martyr is "proving" that he was a hypocrite. For instance, watching television, or reading porn mags. What we're told is probably a far cry from what happened. I didn't believe OBL when he initially denied he was behind the attacks. OTOH, I don't believe our government when they feed us information like this via blogs. All this does is make our own government look like juveniles. If they want us to believe that they are morally correct and just in this war, they should take care not to leak information like this, whether true or not. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This is EXACTLY why she would be a good porn star. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I stumbled on the Otter, jumping out the door to the ground, on the way back down (high winds). I fell on the ground near the wheel. A friend asked "Are you alright?" I replied, "of course, my landing under canopy are worse than that!" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

+1. No worries, after a few more jumps, you will look forward to going to the dropzone to enjoy some relaxing skydives. And I do mean relaxing. It's a great escape from the hectic day-to-day of your job and home life. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm reading a good book now call "The Intimacy Factor", by Pia Mellody. She talks about people that are "Heros", because as children. they were given a false sense of empowerment by a parent that wanted the children to take care of them. The child is denied their true identity, and repeatedly demonstrates acts of selflessness, because they were rewarded for that as a child. That may be person #1. On the flip side are children that were neglected or abandoned by a parental figure. This leads to a sense of shame and inadequacy described as "Lost Child" syndrome. Those people love fantasy, and may even fantasize about someone stalking them to temporarily satisfy their need for attention. Of course, in the real world, they are shy and introverted because they don't feel a sense of worth, which is why no one pays attention to them. This may be person #2. If person #2 is angry at person #1 (perhaps because person #2 is hoping for a romantic relationship, but has been thwarted), person #2 will strike out at person #1 in the way that person #2 considers mean and hurtful. Since person #2 feels shame and not given enough attention, the worst trait in the world to person #2 would be someone that goes in the opposite direction, as a violent extrovert (stalker, molester, etc). However person #1 is thoroughly confused, because person #1's idea of a mean person is someone that is selfish and doesn't give to others. If person #2 really wanted to hurt person #1, person #2 would say that person #1 is selfish and inconsiderate, because that's what person #1's parents did, and the wounds of early childhood bear the greatest pain for us. Person #1 may also be someone that places a lot of value on words (such as "I want to be nice to you, but don't want to be in a relationship with you"). Whereas Person #2 may be someone that ignores words in favor of actions (such as "this person is giving me the attention I want, I think he/she wants a relationship with me.") Both persons are confused because one person isn't listening, and the other is acting too nice. But it's all theory I don't know either person. But I might recommend a book or counseling (if one can afford it). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

That was a real improvement over the 28-S. I was pretty jealous of the guys that had the infra-red transfer, so they could trade formulas before a test. But I programmed my 28-S speaker to play "Fur Elise". It pretty much killed the N-cell batteries Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Man, I feel like such a dumbass Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Um, yeah, the "ex-husband" (read, pimp) who was in the passenger seat, steering her to her "boyfriend" (read, John), and she was grooming because her online photos on craigslist of a 20-year-old with a shaved "bikini area" did not match her own worn-out carpet. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Hmm - checked again this morning, and saw this. In text, way at the bottom of the page, underneath a different story about Obama's birth certificate, "Mixed reviews for Obama's emergency response". Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Why wait? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Gotta love Fox News. Headline of OBL dead, and underneath a picture and a quote from former President Bush about how it was a great victory for America. No mention of the current sitting president Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

So, things were nice and orderly before we went there? We've already been there over 10 years - enough time to build a few cities. Way, I see it, we had one mission - find and kill OBL. White house thought it was a good excuse to occupy Afghanistan, even after he left and went to Pakistan. We've already pumped billions into rebuilding their infrastructure and setting up a new government. It doesn't make up for all the civilians we killed, but we don't own them any more than what we've already given. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

So now, we can get the troops out of Afghanistan, right? Since we knew for years that he was in Pakistan, but we still occupied Afghanistan. But now, there's no reason to be there. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

US Citizen, parents, John and Martha, deceased. Only they knew that he was adopted. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The Man Of Steel is no longer a patriot. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Japan doesn't want to admit how high the body count is, and the governments of the world don't want to trigger another recession. They are still the third-largest economy. But hey, the top news story about Japan is how an ice skater brought a "little smile" to the people of Japan: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/sports/01skate.html No disasters here - please ignore the death toll and environmental crisis. Smiles, people, smiles! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Not one mention of how to appropriately administer it. I'm thinking if depression makes women frown, then it should be applied to the mouth and face. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I bet a cab driver that spent their whole lives driving could drive in zombie-state. It's kinda like walking, they're not real good, but ... have you seen the way cabbies drive? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

As soon as I saw this on the news, I raced over here to Speaker's Corner to see how the Birthers were going to deny it. My expectations: "It's a fake, since the government can print anything they want." "It looks too new to be fifty years old." "This doesn't match up to what the Secretary of Education's nephew said about the attending nurse back in 2007." "See, it says 'Birthplace: Kenya, East Africa' right there in box 11." Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I was observing a pair of cuties at Illegal Pete's yesterday, as I was there with another nerd from work getting burritos. As I was leaving, one of them was complaining about how she had to spend all day surrounded by these nerds at her job. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My dad gave me one of those when I was 9 or 10. I programmed it with a game for moon landing, where you plugged in fuel burn in seconds, and it returned altitude and downward velocity. The idea was to get to zero altitude with less than a small amount of velocity. When I was in college, I had a TI-28S. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD