Humor Random Comments Thread

[Andy44]

You guys speaking all this computer gibberish make me feel old and obsolete...

I'm at the point now where I just want computers to be tools that work and do things for me. I no longer have the motivation to build my own machine like I used to. I have always been more of an analog electronics guy anyway.

 

[Notebook]

CNC...Computer Numerical Control. or have I got it wrong?

N,

 

[MaverickSawyer]

CNC...Computer Numerical Control. or have I got it wrong?

N,

You have it right. It's wonderful stuff when programmed right. If not... It's expensive. :shifty:

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Eh, it could be worse. Much, much worse:
http://www.techrepublic.com/article...-that-haunts-a-michigan-public-school-system/

Dear God.

I mean, you could probably make enough money from selling an old dinosaur like that to a collector that you could replace the whole system with something decent. :facepalm:

 

[Linguofreak]

Question (rhetorical):

Being as much of an aviation and flight-sim buff as I am, why am I almost cripplingly terrified of actually flying in a real plane?

 

[tl8]

Question (rhetorical):

Being as much of an aviation and flight-sim buff as I am, why am I almost cripplingly terrified of actually flying in a real plane?

On on side you have invested time and brain power to a task, the other you have payed the smallest amount necessary and you have to put your neck on the line...

 

[jedidia]

Capable of incredible performance, but prone to failure at the slightest disturbance.

Well, with high-speed cutters that's not so surprising. They're kind of like hypersonic planes: everything has to work perfectly right, or there's going to be a be a big boom...

---------- Post added at 12:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:50 AM ----------

My official first "why would you ever do that?"-experience with the Orbiter API: DWORD color for oapiColorFill and Sketchpad operations use different formatting :facepalm:

(on the plus side, considering how lond I'm using the oapi already and this was the first experience of that kind just goes to show how well the thing is designed overall...)

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Question (rhetorical):

Being as much of an aviation and flight-sim buff as I am, why am I almost cripplingly terrified of actually flying in a real plane?

After the first 60 seconds or so, it's perfectly safe. Probably safer than any other transportation method out there.
Does first 60 seconds, though? Yeah, that's the scary part. If you have a problem in that window, you better have a very, very good pilot!

 

[Andy44]

After the first 60 seconds or so, it's perfectly safe. Probably safer than any other transportation method out there.
Does first 60 seconds, though? Yeah, that's the scary part. If you have a problem in that window, you better have a very, very good pilot!

Actually, it's the last 60 seconds that gives me any anxiety.

I am a private pilot but I am less comfortable flying now than I was when I growing up. Probably because once you learn how to drive, sitting the back seat makes you nervous forever after.

 

[n122vu]

I hate heights. Terrified of them. Can't go on Space Needle-type attractions, get shaky when I'm 2 feet off the ground on a ladder changing a light bulb. Ironically, flying has never, ever bothered me, from the first time I flew commercially in 1998, to my first flight in a small plane in 2000, to today. Even at 6,000 feet in a 45° steep turn in a C172, when I can glance down and see the ground right below me, I don't even bat an eye.

I'll never understand it, and strangely, I'm ok with that (which is also abnormal for a guy who normally feels a compulsion to understand everything).

 

[TMac3000]

10,000 feet is "Meh" to me if I I'm on a plane, but 5 feet up a ladder gives me the jitters. As long as I've got four walls and a floor, I could be in LEO and not bat an eye...but I damn well better have them.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

I hate heights. Terrified of them. Can't go on Space Needle-type attractions, get shaky when I'm 2 feet off the ground on a ladder changing a light bulb. Ironically, flying has never, ever bothered me, from the first time I flew commercially in 1998, to my first flight in a small plane in 2000, to today. Even at 6,000 feet in a 45° steep turn in a C172, when I can glance down and see the ground right below me, I don't even bat an eye.

I'll never understand it, and strangely, I'm ok with that (which is also abnormal for a guy who normally feels a compulsion to understand everything).

10,000 feet is "Meh" to me if I I'm on a plane, but 5 feet up a ladder gives me the jitters. As long as I've got four walls and a floor, I could be in LEO and not bat an eye...but I damn well better have them.

Agreed. I have always attributed it to the fact that I TRUST airliners and airplanes that are well maintained to keep me alive in the event of a mechanical failure. Rides, rock climbing, ladders, etc? :lol: NOPE. Made by the lowest bidder, and Murphy bait to boot.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I hate heights. Terrified of them. Can't go on Space Needle-type attractions, get shaky when I'm 2 feet off the ground on a ladder changing a light bulb. Ironically, flying has never, ever bothered me, from the first time I flew commercially in 1998, to my first flight in a small plane in 2000, to today. Even at 6,000 feet in a 45° steep turn in a C172, when I can glance down and see the ground right below me, I don't even bat an eye.

I'll never understand it, and strangely, I'm ok with that (which is also abnormal for a guy who normally feels a compulsion to understand everything).

My father was like this. He was a pilot in the USAF, flew in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, flew small commercial for years after that - no problem while at the controls. But he disliked flying as a passenger, and he really didn't like heights either. He chalked it up as a control thing - if he had the control he could go anywhere.

I'm kinda weird. I have a private pilot's license (unfortunately haven't flown in a while) but I hate flying commercial. I dislike the cruise at high altitude for hours on end. Take-off and climb out is OK except for the anticipation of the long cruise. When I hear the engines throttle back and the descent begins, it is the biggest relief ever. Final approach and landing is when I feel most relaxed. I don't know how much of this is acrophobia or just hating be crammed in a metal cylinder with a bunch of other people. From a safety standpoint it isn't rational as I am happiest and most calm at the statistically more dangerous portions of the flight.

 

[Andy44]

Being cramped inside the sardine can of coach class is certainly uncomfortable on long flights. Solution for that is to pony up for a class with bigger seats if you can afford it.

And being more comfortable does help a little with the anxiety issues.

I just look at the stewardesses and think, "Well, they have to do this every day for a living, and they don't get to sit at the controls, either. So I'll just suck it up and deal with it." Basic self-shaming seems to do the trick for me.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Being cramped inside the sardine can of coach class is certainly uncomfortable on long flights. Solution for that is to pony up for a class with bigger seats if you can afford it.

And being more comfortable does help a little with the anxiety issues.

I just look at the stewardesses and think, "Well, they have to do this every day for a living, and they don't get to sit at the controls, either. So I'll just suck it up and deal with it." Basic self-shaming seems to do the trick for me.

Or, if you're able to toss the emergency hatch, cough up the extra money for that row. (Yes, they DO charge extra for that row now...)

 

[fsci123]

For the first time in my life i managed to intercept and dock to the ISS

 

[SolarLiner]

10,000 feet is "Meh" to me if I I'm on a plane, but 5 feet up a ladder gives me the jitters. As long as I've got four walls and a floor, I could be in LEO and not bat an eye...but I damn well better have them.

Actually in LEO you'd have to have at least 6 walls ... or else you wouldn't worry about the actual height, but more the pressure ... :lol:

 

[TMac3000]

Actually in LEO you'd have to have at least 6 walls ... or else you wouldn't worry about the actual height, but more the pressure ... :lol:

The deck and the ceiling count as walls

 

[Andy44]

A conical vehicle such as an Apollo CM only has 2 walls...

And a Vostok capsule only has 1.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

And being more comfortable does help a little with the anxiety issues.

I flew to St. John's Newfoundland via Halifax on Air Canada last year. The flight was overbooked, and me and this real of a woman were bumped from the flight. I was in no particular hurry, had never been to Halifax, so it wasn't a big deal for me. The gate agent was trying to engage both of us to arrange new tickets and accomodations, but the woman spent the better part of an hour trying (but failing) to make the gate agent's life miserable. I sat quietly while the gate agent had to get her manager, and her manager's manager, to come down to be screamed at by this woman. She was so irate that there was no opportunity to actually schedule accomodations for her.

Finally the woman walked away and the gate agent called me over, thanking me for my patience. I chuckled and congratulated her on her fortitude and professionalism for dealing with people like that. The agent smiled and walked me down the terminal to another gate well out of earshot of the woman. She said she was authorized to give me a $400 CAD refund for being bumped (which she did, she gleefully filled out the form in front of me). She then handed me two $20 vounchers for the food court downstairs, giving me a pointer to the good place where the agents ate, and also explaining the vouchers could be used for beer and cocktails. She then informed me that there was a single seat available on a flight leaving in 4 hours, and strangely enough, she decided to give it to me. Unfortunately it wasn't coach; it was business class, but she hoped I didn't mind the upgrade. The only other available seat was a coach seat, in 18 hrs.

So after a lovely lunch and a few beers, and a few hours walking around the airport on a glorious spring day, I went back in through security for my new flight. I walked down the terminal and saw the woman, sullenly slumped in a chair, screaming at someone on her cell phone about how she was going to be stuck at the airport until 6 am the next morning. I walked onto my (now free) flight, sat in the nicest seat in which I have ever flown, and spent 2.5 hours enjoying the glasses of wine, cheese and fruit plates with which the flight attendant kept plying me, enjoring the views of the Maritimes and Newfoundland.

Best. Flight. Ever.

Being patient and polite does pay off sometimes. Whatever you do, don't ever piss off a gate agent. :rofl: