riddler

Barack admits admitted he doesn't didn't know what he's he was doing, back in 2004, when he said that it wouldn't be right to run for President when he had never even served one day as a Senator. When did you become a troll, anyway? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Would that include the versions of the bible that came before King James? I mean the King James bible was completed in 1611, and was a new translation by the Hampton Court Conference of earlier versions of the bible. Is that how God does things? He evolves his own written word? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

If you saw what I pay in taxes, you probably would say I could have bought a dropzone But seriously, I.T. is my work, I rely on telephones because I work from home, I save that much in office space (and petrol), and in the end it's a much better and cheaper way to do business (and better for the environment). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The medical community recommends starting at 50 years for men. However, I remember when breast exams were recommended at 50, then 45, now 40? Prostate cancer awareness will likely bring down that age as well - many of the statistics are based on men starting at 45, so that's probably a better age to get a PSA. PSA is a blood test, which is only somewhat accurate, but a high antigen level does not mean one has cancer - only that further tests are recommended. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

For $200, GPS, slightly faster AT&T network, it's worth it. I have two of the older models, $500 each, slower edge network, no GPS, and they're not worth it. iPhone is contractually tied to AT&T for four more years, so you're stuck with them if you go iPhone. Check out Verizon's Blackberry Curve (8830). No GPS, but the network speed is awesome, and the keyboard is better. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My bandwagon - prostate screening for men. Screenings for both are important. More men contract prostate cancer than women contracting breast cancer, annually. In 2005, the US spent $699 million for breast-cancer research and only $390 million on prostate-cancer research. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

That's the first time I've not read your entire post, end-to-end Not that I won't - I just need to reserve some time to go back and read it later Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Definitely keep in mind that it is not compatible with Mac, and it only works on IE6 (or higher). At least last time I tried to run it on a Mac, I couldn't. Other than that, it works pretty well, but you're only going to find about 15% of the movies are available (the list is growing) for immediate play. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

They tell very loud jokes? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I was kinda thinking the same thing: 1. Last person alive (as far as he knows) 2. Plenty of free ammo 3. Living depends on being able to shoot and kill animals 4. Spend your free time ... Playing Golf???? I don't think so - geez, get some target practice in. Dude had a scope and everything. Those CG deer didn't even look that tasty. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I had a professor that was Polish and hard to understand, impossible writing on the chalkboard, made routine basic math errors, and did NOT issue a textbook - he just gave us photocopies of different "ideas" that he wrote up every day. Passing grades in the class - 40% of everyone that did not drop the class got a 'D' or higher - not the hardest class I ever took, but the only math class I got a 'C' in On the drug front - let's not forget Lewis Carroll and "Alice in Wonderland". Oh yeah, and all that great Rock music. Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaally fucking high on drugs Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm in the base, black jumpsuit, red grippers, orange tie-dye rig. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

A graph may help explain why we didn't decend from apes, but we are cousins. Another picture may explain Christianity. I'm not sure why it's always judeo-christian dogma that is opposed to evolution. Seems like every major religion has it's own story of the creation of man. I never see "Daoists against Darwin" or "Hindus aren't Hominids" or "Buddists, not Baboons". Maybe other beliefs are not so black and white, us-vs-them, if you're not with us, you're against us. Maybe Christians can learn something from that ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

No, we just chop their heads off and eat them Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Even before 9/11, government laws were cracking down on computer hackers. Stiff penalties, including fines and jailtime levied to anyone hacking into any computer system. This included script-kiddies, like this guy, that hacked into any college computer without authorized permission to do so. I have no doubt this guy downloaded some scripts from the net (which any 10-year-old can do) and used them to break into some computers. For that, you get fined and jailed by the US government, if you get caught. I highly doubt he got close to anything "confidential", much less classified. The implication is that he broke into classified systems - bullshit. I've been there, and I know the security measures - they simply aren't connected to the Internet. Not much fun if you watch TV and like to imagine that all these classified systems can be hacked, but the truth is if you don't have physical access to these machines, you can't get in (assuming security standards are being followed, and yes, we were routinely audited). And physical access is much, much harder. He claims he talked to government employees, but do you believe what other people on the Internet say? Probably just some people with "issues" or kids having fun. He claims he did this and that, but just couldn't seem to produce any evidence of what he says he saw. It reads like a guy with a delusion of grandeur making some small-time hacking seem like the greatest story ever told. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Baloney. The implication of this article is that a hacker broke into government classified computer systems. Government classified computer systems, in the space sector, as a rule, are never, never connected to the Internet. Those systems can be declassified, but the process is extreme, and there are points, such as the hard drive being dipped in acid that make it unlikely that this person ever saw classified data. At most, he might break into a desktop computer somewhere, but none of the information on a desktop is classified. Lines of note: "and bearing in mind this is a 56k dial-up," (i.e. this is not a real hacker) "It's a Java application, so there's nothing to save on your hard drive, or at least if it is, only one frame at a time." (i.e. this is not a real hacker) "He said "What are you doing?" which was a bit shocking. I told him I was from Military Computer Security, which he fully believed." (i.e. he definitely wasn't in a military system, as security measures eliminate the possibility of fooling a person. Probably, he was on an Unreal Tournament server, and the 14-year old kid on the other end was smoking dope and is now scared shitless ...) "One of these people was a Nasa photographic expert, and she said that in building eight of Johnson Space Centre they regularly airbrushed out images of UFOs from the high-resolution satellite imaging. What she said was there was there: there were folders called "filtered" and "unfiltered", "processed" and "raw", something like that." (yeah, and I believe everything "she said" on the Internet, too ) Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Private industry is repeating what governments went through 50 years ago in the space sector. Failures are part of the game. On this page is a table, about 1/4-way down that shows the old Pioneer and Ranger spacecraft from the early moon-landing days. Notice how there are 15 failed missions before there is one successful mission. But we only remember the successful ones. The thing about private corporations is they are typically more short-lived than government, and have more limited budgets. That means that after enough failures, the program ends, and all of the learning from the failures is lost. What we really need in the private sector is an open-source space program, where learning is maintained online, and failures are recorded so that other's don't repeat them. Since that's not likely, then place your bets with the companies that are the longest-lived. If Google ever starts building spaceships, I'll put my money with them. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Nope. But I was on the Otter when the Brit popped open his reserve Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

We're going to have to pay a lot for energy, no matter where we get it at this point, so it makes sense to pay for clean energy. Nuclear power, not offshore drilling, is our best short-term and mid-term energy source. Very low emission, decent power output, sustainable for decades. At some point in the future, probably solar, wind, geo-thermal and even hydrogen (from water, not oil) will be much more feasible. Nuclear can get us to that point, but the oil companies will fight it every step. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It's a mistake to legalize it completely, I think. If corporations start to make money from it, they'll genetically engineer it with complex cancer-causing chemicals, add filters, make it look cool in movies and cause another health disaster. Look what they did to tobacco - that shit in cigarettes ain't natural, and it's probably the leading cause of death in America (between the heart disease and cancer caused by it). In the Netherlands, companies are prohibited from growing or buying marijuana. People grow it in their basements and sell it under the table to the coffee shops. It keeps the product natural. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It's not too late for Matrix-like tanks, where we float around in our own blubber and watch you-tube video of other people mowing the lawn. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Bluetooth is still not at the point that it works flawlessly with cell phones and headsets. I have a Jabra BT8040 and a Verizon Blackberry8830 and iPhone, and I routinely have to connect the devices to each other. The connection will be lost after I charge the headset, and sometimes the Blackberry bluetooth radio just shuts down, and I have to shutdown and take out the battery to get it working again. The iPhone firmware 2.0 handles BT better than the 1.3 firmware, and I usually don't have to reconnect it to the headset (I used to frequently with 1.3). Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It's an officer's duty to maintain the peace. This officer was clearly assaulting someone out of anger, not to force submission, not to protect the community. Just because he was angry. Whoever was taking that video was using a cell-phone video camera (I'm guessing), and holding their hand over it and shooting between fingers. I imagine the cops would've probably taken the camera away (and maybe beat the camera person too) if they knew the video was being shot. Most cops are decent hard-working citizens, but a few of them need to be put in jail. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I want to thank SDC for a great week of skydiving. I didn't really get to jump on the weekdays, but I still managed to get 20 jumps in. I made some landing errors, and no one yelled at me - a few people talked quietly to me, and I already knew that I messed up, but I appreciate the professional response. It's nice to jump at a large dropzone that treats up-jumpers with respect. Highlights from the boogie for me: 500th jump, fireworks show, a hot 28-point three-way with Terry G, a 20-way that actually built (I think), renting a convertible for the week and driving every day with the top down to the DZ, and a couple of really nice freefly jumps to end the boogie for me. I also want to thank Terry Gardner for putting together some fun, low-pressure skydives. I was waffling on coming to Summerfest until I saw on the website that Terry would be there organizing. When I saw that, I immediately bought a ticket Thanks again, and God save the Queen Oh, and watch your reserve PC when you're in the plane - I don't think the Queen would approve Edit for spelling. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD