riddler

Inconsistency in policy is a direct reflection of allowing corporations to rule the roost. Corporate America chases dollars, whichever way the dollars happen to be flying at the moment. At every turn, at each change in wind direction, those same corporations are buying our politicians and telling them exactly how to represent the corporations. The politicians are nothing more than spin-doctors that tell the people that they are acting in our best interest. A true representative politician would have a consistent policy; a policy that the electoral population understood and voted for (once every four years!), and would adhere to that policy in the name of the populations that they represent. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Speaking of this, I just got a letter saying my economic stimulus check is still at least another week away. It's nice of the gov to let me have some of my money back, so I'm not too mad that they are taking their sweet time doing it. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The DZO would have to be a woman too. Are there even any dropzones that are owned by a woman? I mean 100% owned. I don't think I've ever jumped at one, but maybe I have and I didn't know it ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I see - the Berlin wall fell because of our superior nuclear strength? Thanks for the history lesson, but I think it was economics that did that. Even if we didn't have nukes in the cold war, what would've happened? The Soviet Union would've said "well, communism failed economically, so let's just nuke the US out of spite?" Narrow it down to what? The entire middle east? Do we even know he's there? How does killing an entire continent or nation or city keep Bin Laden from terrorist acts? It doesn't. It just kills a whole bunch of people that share his geography of birth. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Nuclear weapons are an outdated dinosaur in military strategy. They were used twice, in one war, 60 years ago. Even the threat of an nuclear war (the cold war) ended 20 years ago. The only reason the United States built nuclear weapons is to deter other superpowers who have a lot of them, and the other superpowers are smart enough to not use them. So it makes sense for the superpowers to all agree not to have them, and verify with each other that there's no programs going on. We all realized a long time ago that nukes don't make sense because there's no real defense, and there's nothing left to take over once you've used them. Does it make sense for China, Russia, France and the US to all nuke each other? It doesn't. They fact that the US has a huge nuclear arsenal is not a deterrent to terrorists. The major deterrents to nuclear weapons are the outrageous amount of money it costs to produce them and the extremely difficult tasks of enriching uranium, the difficulty of putting one together, and the near-impossibility of creating a delivery system that can launch one to target. Does it make sense for us to have an arsenal of nukes to protect us from the nukes that the terrorists don't have? It doesn't. What are we going to do in the unlikely event that a terrorist can actually detonate one? Are we going to nuke the entire country the terrorist was born in? Or how about the one that we think they are in now? Maybe we should nuke the country that we think they built it in? Can we even find the terrorist to nuke them? We haven't even found Osama Bin Laden yet - nearly seven years after 9/11. So how does it help against terrorism for the US to have nukes? It doesn't. There's only one good reason for the US to have nuclear weapons. If violent extra-terrestrials come down from outer space and start blasting us with ray guns - then it would be handy to have some nukes up our sleeves. Somehow I don't see that scenario as too likely. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Can you take it to another state and license it there? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

If my commute involves walking upstairs to my computer, do I get more or less points? I mean, if the point of Bike to Work day is to help the environment by not driving, then I'm really kicking ass, 'cause I've worked from home for the last six years. But if the point is to get more exercise, well, I don't even spend the 30 or 40 calories of going outside and getting in the car twice a day. So I'm not quite breaking even there. And if the point is to work an hour less each day because you're spending more time commuting, then I'm really screwed, because I've worked thousands of extra hours by not driving to work for years now. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I haven't read any of the other posts, but you were looking for a recommendation for a first bike. I don't recommend you buy used - why? I've bought a used bike or two, and it's not worth the time and energy trying to fix them when they break. Better to get a cheap, new bike with a warranty, and just enjoy riding it for a while. The Ninja 250R is a great bike for a starter. It's cheap as Hell ($3,000), great fuel efficiency, and the parts don't change too much from year to year, so you can easily get replacement parts, lightweight, and still has a high redline. Who cares if the "hard-core" bikers give you crap about riding a kids bike? If they do, ask them how much they spend on gas for their 1500 Harleys that get the same gas mileage as a small car? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

He didn't believe in the afterlife, but his spirit will live forever on You-Tube Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

We need more heroes that aren't afraid to bash conventional thinking and the status quo. Even when it gets you arrested. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

There are three kinds of people in the US. Trouble-makers, Do-gooders, and Do-nothings. The trouble-makers have learned that they only get caught 1% of the time. The other 99% of the time they get away with it. Not enough cops, laws that protect anyone under 18 because they "don't know what they're doing", and no one is allowed to shoot you. The do-gooders make the news for all the wrong reasons. Usually, they think they know what the right thing to do is, and after they mess things up further, get thrown in jail, sued and abused in the press. Does it really make sense to do anything and get yourself into trouble? No. The do-nothings have been taught that the system works, when it really doesn't. The most you get from a do-nothing is a phone call or a report of what happened. They hope that the proper authorities will solve the problem, which is just about impossible considering how fast things happen. The best I've ever gotten from cops is a few days later, after filing a report, they come around and ask a few questions. Despite that, the do-nothing path is your best chance of getting out safely! And it's the right choice according to our laws. By doing nothing, you will not get yourself hurt, you will not subject yourself to a lawsuit, and you will not go to jail with everyone else. Probably the best and safest thing to do is pull out your camera phone when you see something happen, and make sure the cops get the video. If you got the license plate on video and some footage of what they did, the authorities can go and pick up the offenders after the fact and the judge can prosecute them based on the video. I have a Blackberry and an iPhone and they both take video - a lot of new phones do. Hopefully the offenders don't see you taking video and try to run you down ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

The best camping jokes are the ones that take a few days to setup. One thing we used to do it tell each other scary stories at night - a little unrealistic, but not too much. During the day, we plant evidence that lends credibility to the story. If you do it over several days, you can make a pretty convincing case. Then they made a movie out of it called "The Blair Witch project", and now no one falls for it anymore. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Scab. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What you say: "on weekends, I enjoy skydiving and walks in the park." What they hear: "I could die right in the middle of your project when you need me the most." Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Sorry, free geek help to cute girls ends after high school. After that we form unions and charge for our services. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I think that sentence could use a good semi-colonoscopy. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Well, I guess th thread got moved here anyway. I guess if you read Speaker's Corner, you would have read more than once that the war in Iraq had nothing to do with Sept 11th? Feel free to continue that argument there. Not half as much as your judgment qualifies you of the same. I know Drew personally, and he is neither ignorant nor sketchy. Very true, but what is harder to do with our geography can be made up for with our relative wealth. When the Germans constructed much of their public transportation, they weren't exactly flush with cash. Mostly, they just had determination, and they didn't let corporations dictate their infrastructure. Edit - changing thread title Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

It's definitely possible to inhale water and forget later. Cough, cough, choke, choke - oh, look, a shark! Hey, I'm feeling pretty good at the moment, that was a great dive! Symptoms tend to more of a "why are they convulsing right now?" thing. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Not to derail the thread (pun intended ), considering the US is the world's largest economy, and we seem to be able to drop $3 trillion on a war half-way around the world for no apparent reason, we could probably afford to put mass transit all across this country if we really wanted to. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I highly recommend this: Jabra BT8040 You can get them for about $60 online. The thing is so small and lightweight I can't even tell it's in my ear. I just leave it in all day, but it's easy enough to keep in your car and put it in while driving. I can run with it, too. Sometimes I get in bed at night and I check my ear to make sure I didn't leave it in on accident. The sound is so good, not one person has complained about hearing me - the funny thing is I get more complaints about sound quality if I'm talking directly on my phones, but not if I use this bluetooth headset. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Especially when you're heart is enlarged from chronic drug use and you happen to be on meth at the time. Just say "no" to drugs, unless it's your partner - in that case, encourage them to get high, hassle the police and get tased. If they die, you don't have to put up with them anymore, and you can sue and make millions. Maybe even write a book. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

No way in Hell. Just because everyone hacked the iPhone doesn't mean they can do it on a Blackberry. 2,048-bit encryption in the OS Kernal. It would take years for a server farm to crack just one device. Or a few seconds for RoadRunner Blackberry has never been hacked, as far as I know. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

That's my fault. There was a shipment of government whores in the next cargo container, but I waylaid them in Albuquerque. I mean, I really way-laid them. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My Blackberry has a GPS chip, and the stupid carrier (Verizon) disabled it, so they can sell a $10/month triangulation service that works half the time. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Apparently, Steve was reading my previous post. LOL. I can see him stewing somewhere in Cupertino ... "ooooohhhh, I'm gonna show that Riddler" The biggest improvement will be not paying $500 for one of these. Too bad I got a second one in February The second biggest is using 3G - the iPhone data is unforgiveably slow. The true GPS is a bonus. With these additions, plus the announcement that the iPhone firmware 2.0 will have true A2DP, the iPhone is looking to edge out over the Blackberry to become the better of the two. Blackberry keyboards will always be better than a touchscreen, though. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD