Scenario:

You are riding a bike at a constant speed.  On your left side is a drop off and on your right side is a fire engine traveling at the same speed as you.  In front of you is a galloping pig which is the same size as your bike and you cannot overtake it.  Behind you is a helicopter flying at ground level.  Both the giant pig and the helicopter are also traveling at the same speed as you.

What must you do to safely get out of this highly dangerous situation?

Click more for the answer.

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(I don’t know the origin of this story but I did like it.)

I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn’t sure I wanted one. I wasn’t sure how my customers would react to Stevie.

He was short, a little dumpy with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Downs Syndrome. I wasn’t worried about most of my trucker customers because truckers don’t generally care who buses tables as long as the meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade.

The four-wheeler drivers were the ones who concerned me; the mouthy college kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded “truck stop germ” the pairs of white-shirted business men on expense accounts who think every truck stop waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those people would be uncomfortable around Stevie so I closely watched him for the first few weeks.

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Ok that doesn’t sound like an unusual occurrence maybe but what is funny is that he fell asleep waiting on hold. Who was he waiting on hold with? Why Comcast customer service of course. Too funny. There is an article about it here.

It is not only possible but it happened in Colorado recently. Apparently a man was struck by lightning while riding his sportbike and wrecked, sliding 150 feet. He was killed instantly. No more riding in thunderstorms for me.

CNBC has a pretty wild video of a person trying to cancel their AOL account. It is amazing just how downright idiotic the AOL rep is in this situation. I must say I have had very similar conversations with other companies customer service reps. Apparently customer service has officially died…..

I just read a very interesting article regarding the power requirements of the major game consoles. Some of the figures were very surprising. I personally have a 360 and it is using 2 Watts of power when it is turned off. What is really surprising is that while playing an average game it is using 165 Watts. That is a lot of power!

Bill Hill is one of my favorite designers and developers and a true joy to hear speak. Check out this video of his explanation of the most important operating system. You can also download the video from here.

A biker was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, “Because you Have TRIED to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.”

The biker pulled over and said, “Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want.”

The Lord said, “Your request is materialistic, think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking. The supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific!

The concrete and steel it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of something that would honor and glorify me.”

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, “Lord, I wish that I could understand my wife. I want to know how she feels inside, what she’s thinking when she gives me the silent treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing’s wrong, and how I can make a woman truly happy.

After a moment the Lord replied, “You want that bridge with two lanes or four?”

Ever heard of it? Don’t worry I hadn’t either. It is apparently the oldest geared mechanism known to have existed. It dates back to 80 B.C. an was found in a shipwreck in 1902. It was believed to have been used to calculate astronomical positions. You can read more about it here on Wikipedia. Check back often as it’s inscription, some 2000 characters, is still being translated.

Sounds like a funny statement but it actually happened. A university IT department apparently put Linux on an Xbox and installed it in their server room. It was then used for their students to work on their web projects. When the helpdesk started getting calls that the site was down a hunt for the missing Xbox began. You can read the entire story here.