riddler

I always file taxes on April 15. Usually I pay a lot during the year (quarterly), and get a small refund after April 15. I file on paper, but have them direct deposit my refund in my business bank account - the same one I've been using for years. I always triple-check everything, including the bank routing numbers, and there's never been a problem. This year, they sent me a notice that there was a problem because I submitted the wrong numbers on the direct deposit, so they are waiting three to four more weeks to send me a check. I verified the numbers - they are correct, and the same they've been for the last several years - never had a problem before. Is the government a little short of cash?? It could be a problem with them reading the numbers with their scanner, but it does really sound like they are stalling this time. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Dude. They're students. They haven't developed the skill of the ninja yet. I recommend watching the film, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, to see pizza-delivery ninjas fighting each other, as well as pirates, in a modern office building. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You're generalizing the issue into a broader argument. This is one oil company, in a business that has five others of equal size and hundreds of smaller ones. This one company appears to be guilty of not following procedures, killing their own people and causing irreparable harm to the gulf. Saying we are responsible for their actions of this one company is like saying we are guilty of making the largest banks fail because we gave them money to invest badly. BP bears the responsibility for this disaster, and they need to be punished. Law-abiding and safety-conscious oil companies need not be condemned. Nor does the consumer, who has a right to assume that their supplier is following the laws and regulations. Not surprisingly, Exxon has become one of the more environmental and safe oil companies since the Valdez spill. Putting that same pressure on BP may do the same thing. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'll go as far as to say, anymore, it's only mildly interesting when any politician does it. What's more interesting is when they tell us it's bad, don't do it, then they do it. Did John Edwards preach abstinence from the pulpit? Did he have his lover interview him about what a great guy he was for being so abstinent? John Edwards isn't any better than this guy, just less interesting. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

But this time, it's not gay sex. Just heterosexual sex with an employee. The hypocrisy is that he preached abstinence education. Here's a video of his mistriss interviewing him on his own address to Congress about abstinence eduation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj0i17nCTFo&feature=player_embedded Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Sure they do, but as they are a big oil company, the government will give them a lazy slap on the wrist, followed by a flirtatious grab of the butt (and maybe an indecent proposition). In 2006, BP had a pipe leak that spilled a quarter-million gallons of crude into Alaska's ecosystem. They got probation and a $20 million dollar fine. It takes BP just under fifteen minutes to earn $20 million. Seriously, everyone at the oil companies and in the government is laughing at what a bunch of Rubes we Americans are, even as they are acting over-worked, shocked and outraged on television. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Proof that evolution is not perfect. The fact that people that don't really like children can still have them. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I read a magazine article several years ago that said ATC was the most stressful job in the country. If it's true, pay them well. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It's like this - they want you to come there and work and learn about their procedures, etc, but they have a specific salary that they're willing to pay you. It's probably less than what you're worth in a good economy (thus, the polite word "overqualified"). They don't want to get you in the door, have you spend time learning their systems, maybe even potentially become a critical asset doing a job that no one else there can do. Then the economy gets better in a year, someone else offers you more than they do (i.e. what you're actually worth), they can't pay you that, and now you leave and get a better-paying job. Many established corporations don't have good processes in place to replace people quickly. In today's marketplace, you have to expect a lot of turn-over and have great processes in place to be able to replace people quickly. They don't. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

From here. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I had a high-school English teacher that posed in that several years before she became a teacher. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Where are the tea-baggers and Palin-wannabes shouting DRILL, BABY, DRILL? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This happened many years ago for me, but I used retroactive coverage, and it worked fine. 1997, I left one large corporation on a Friday. My health coverage with them ended that day. I did nothing to try to bridge healthcare coverage, knowing that I was covered for 60 days, retroactively. The following Monday (three days later), I start a new job with another large corporation. Health insurance at the new company doesn't begin for 30 days, even though I sign up on the first day. So I'm working, and waiting for the 30 days. Unfortunately, 20 days into it, I get acute appendicitis. I miss one week of work, costs about $13,000 total. New insurance at new company is not yet in effect. So, I call up insurance at old company. They make me pay for the current month of health coverage, retroactive (about $160), and then they pay for everything else. After a few more days, my new health insurance kicks in, and I'm covered. Had I not gotten sick, I would have had to pay nothing. As it was, I had to pay a little bit of money, and they covered the rest. Case closed. The congress during Reagan years gets the credit for saving me a lot of money - they enacted Cobra. Clinton made it retroactive. Overall, it worked out pretty well for me. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Not real, but pretty good editing. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Eye color, like skin color, isn't delineated enough to be able to categorize people. Eyes come in nearly every color imaginable. They change color as we age, or even when they dialate. Some people have color deficiencies, so they can't tell you for certain what color their eyes are. Other people have heterochromias, resulting in two eyes of different colors. It's all an outdated basis for prejudice, and doesn't even make sense to talk about. For the record, my eye color is #B0E2FF. But it looks different when I wear a shirt in the range of #B3C95A. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I tried to say it, but I ran out of breath. Damn dust. But really, isn't this a Latin word, more than an English one? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I know very little about the SCOTUS candidacy. The fact that she hasn't actually been a judge raises a big red flag with me. Am I the only one that thinks that a Supreme Court judge should have at least a little time on the bench? Or is the Supreme Court so much different than regular courts that it doesn't really matter? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Seems like it should be tied to the number of jumps you do, more than the calendar. I keep a can of ACE silicon spray in my skydiving tools, but I usually only do this on repacks. If I jumped several time a day, all year, I would do it more often, but on a good year, I only get about 100 jumps. I feel OK about only doing it twice a year, since I don't jump all that much. The cable does get pretty dirty and oily. Some other good things about doing it are you can take the opportunity to flex your three-ring binder loops, you can get an idea if there's dirt or pebbles in the cable housing, and you can make sure that the ends of the cables are properly housed in the hard riser housing (sometimes they sneak off to the side). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Comparing a law to a proposal is like comparing an idea to an action. There's a long way between the two. Here's a video that explains the difference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Agreed. The supposition that they shouldn't release it now, because the market isn't ready doesn't explain why several other DVDs have already been release for 3-D. Like LOTR, they want you to buy the first DVD release, then the second, then the third, ad infinitum. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Jon Stewart just did a segment on how many of the medical marijuana stores are struggling now: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-may-4-2010/gone-to-pot Honestly, these dispensaries are springing up everywhere. I have real trouble believing that demand is "high" enough *snicker* to warrant the number of stores. In other news, the Denver courts just struck down a measure that would curb future stores from opening. The government really, really likes the money they are getting from all the business. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Very awesome - dates and times are accurate, even. "Finland - just for the record, I'm only here cause my mom made me come" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

How close it was! Here's audio from ATC, ordering the plane on the runway to turn around: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGKP_mnOONI&feature=player_embedded The street vendor that called the cops was a hero, IMO. The cops that responded to a potential bomb threat, also heroes. The bomb disposal people that knowingly approached a car bomb, heroes. Not one of those people knew that it was, for sure, a bomb, or that it would probably have not detonated. The feds that tracked the guy down did their job, and so did ATC and the pilots that turned around. Good work all around. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Baseball is not a sport. Anything you can do while drinking beer (and spilling little or none) is not a sport. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtzB2q_-aB0 NSFW Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD