Military static line jumps tend to be performed with round chutes, which are only minimally steerable, particularly when you consider that these drops tend to be at pretty low altitudes/openings which means that as the jumper you have very little time to maneuver. What they do do is get you from the plane to the…

I've seen this look before.

Had one of the best meals of my life with work colleagues. Peche in New Orleans. Upscale but casual. Mucho wine, and food ordered for the table and shared. Moral of the story? Work with people you like.

I'm going to offer some random, incoherent observations from my 25+ years involvement with rugby, as a player, administrator, referee, and general evangelist for the game and its culture.

No discussion of the Many Worlds interpretation can be complete without a reference to Neal Stephenson's Anathem. Fantastic book.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anathem

Nigel Owens is the very best ref in the business and is in top form right now. He tends to be on the chatty side (as you hear from his mic) but the players genreally love him. And he's spot-on for this call, as he said in real time: "Timing is fine!" That is a signal to the players that he's seen an action and judged…

Beat me to the Fifth Element reference. Well done, sir.

1a - Spaldeen

Privates. We have reports of an unidentified flying object. It has a long, smooth shaft, complete with...

I worked turning wrenches at a bike shop when I was in high school. The owner of the shop had a proper track bike (steep, fixed gear, super twitchy geometry, way stiff, no brakes) that he let me take out on the road a few times. I got to the point where I could lay down serious rubber stopping the thing. So dangerous,…

That's a Clowney question, bro.

The Iron Sheik is a full-on Persian badass. Born in Tehran and a former bodyguard to the Shah.

He certainly weighs the same as a duck.

Obligatory

I've not jumped in about 17 years, but went through the AFF program and logged 200+ jumps in around 2 years (with a reserve ride on jump 76 after a hourseshoe malfunction out of the plane) before hanging it up due to family/kids/life. This instructor did exactly what he was trained to do, and did it exceptionally…

Now, moving on to your question: I'd like to start by saying that you're a brave man for challenging the wagon establishment that exists here in the automotive enthusiast community. I say that because we car enthusiasts tend to love wagons; we adore wagons; we're obsessed with wagons. You get the feeling that if you…

my kid has celiac. All over this. That nks!

George Washington University, 1989. Thurston Hall cafeteria. Black History Month dinner special of fried chicken, collards, watermelon. I shit you not. We were told this was the idea of the kitchen staff, which was mostly black. Major guilt felt by this then-19-year old white kid, which may have been the point.

That's easy to eliminate. Mandate that the balls be provided to the refs basically new out of the box and inflated to the prescribed PSI, then let the officials do any required "preparation" to get the balls ready for play (akin to the mud rub for MLB baseballs). If the primadonna QBs can't handle a standardized ball,…