It's not that exciting. I used to study under a guy with an Erdos of 2. But he has integrity or something, and wouldn't let me publish a paper with his name on it just to get my own number down, and wouldn't put me on any of his work unless I actually contributed something worthwhile. But I've since moved into a…

I review technical papers for journals from time to time. The blind review doesn't mean much. There are only so many peers in a given domain, so it's usually pretty easy to tell who the authors are (or at least who their advisors are). But I agree, adding a fake name probably didn't have any impact.

No! No! No! I'm closing in on halving my Erdos number. We can't change the rules now!

That's too bad. I'm enough of a Cardinals fan that I try and stay at a hotel that overlooks the ball field whenever I'm in town, and then walk over to a game if they are playing. Maybe I'll have to stay over by the zoo instead, where the animals are a little less scary.

It looks like only a couple of vehicles outside the gate, and no visible activity around the building. I wonder what this target was.

Redacted for being too slow and redundant.

Laser safety glass shouldn't be reflective of the laser's wavelength at all. That would make the glasses themselves dangerous when hit. In practical terms, I except they'd just build the filter into the plane's canopy rather than the pilot's visor. But in any event, any laser powerful enough to dig through such a…

Because our enemy's pilots don't have access to safety glasses?

Wow, that's really going to drive the neighborhood cats crazy.

Some of the best advice I ever got was about losing bids on houses: "Don't worry. They're like buses. Another one will come along soon enough."

I hope she kept the receipt. That always makes returns easier.

Because we don't. And because we don't have it for remote areas either. And these can be replaced/updated far more often. Collecting aerial photos is very expensive so they don't do updates very often.

There's a guy in Denver that still makes Buckyballs, but only sells them by mail order. However, he's now trying to sell them at checkout counters at the marijuana stores here in Colorado (since you have to be an adult to go in). I think it's marketing genius, but a lot of people are concerned for the safety of the…

I still miss these. Such a satisfying "thud" when they hit the ground (or whatever).

here's the first result: http://www.businessinsider.com/13-airplane-et…

"Most people" clearly never fly on the same flights as me. That's odd because you'd think more of them would be flying through Denver.

Clearly you and I should never travel together.

Not in my experience. The internet has never provided me with invitations to meals at strangers' houses, or backstage passes, or free Cessna plane rides for example. I've yet to be set up with unlimited free drinks via the internet either. Perhaps those things are available, but it sure seems like a lot of extra…

My wife and I travel a fair amount for business and fun. Talking to strangers is key to elevating travel from being a chore to being interesting. How else do you find the best places to eat, get invited to local events, or figure out how to really move around inside a city?

So your solution is to quiver in fear, never leaving your house? Because that's the only logical approach you offer. That is, unless you just aren't very good at risk management and figuring out what's a risk worth diminishing your life for, and what's just fear mongering by silly people who are bad at math.