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For those of you who haven't looked today: http://what-if.xkcd.com/[^]
Read the last question and answer. I am amazed that I haven't seen this one in QA before! 
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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If we extrapolate that for income how big a pile of cash would be needed to make it worth Bill Gates time to pickup?
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Or rather. If Bill Gates' entire net worth was in $1 singles, how long would it take him to pick it up from the ground. Or similarly, how big would the stacks of bills be?
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The top and bottom bills look to be 'outside the printable margins of the paper' to me.
Re the turbine on the downpipe, I suggested to work they replace all the internal doors with turnstyles that they could use to create electricity each time anyone walked through them.
Also that the machines in the on-site gym be hooked up to give positive feedback to the electricity supply.
*We have a scheme whereby each unique suggestion to improve the thee Cs (Customer, Cost, Carbon) is rewarded with at least a bottle of wine.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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A lot of printers will actually print those things, though.
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ChrisElston wrote: Also that the machines in the on-site gym be hooked up to give positive feedback
to the electricity supply
The fitness center at my daughter's school does that with their aerobic machines (steppers and elliptical machines). IIRC the generated power is used for lighting in that area of the building. They've even had contests between campus groups for 'most power generated' over a given period, partially as a means of encouraging students to stay fit.
Software Zen: delete this;
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If only my late dad were around to learn that. He often expounded about all the wasted energy at gyms that could be generating power.
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There was a program in the UK a couple of years back where they tried to power a house with a load of cycles for a day.
They really had to peddle hard when someone wanted a shower.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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...which is a bit self defeating really - because when one person has finished his shower, all the others need one too...
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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I dont think those doing the cycling were allowed in the house.
Slaves I think they were called.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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ChrisElston wrote: Re the turbine on the downpipe, I suggested to work they replace all the internal doors with turnstyles that they could use to create electricity each time anyone walked through them.
A friend once suggested using turbines in sewerage/drain pipes in apartment buildings. There is always flow in those, not only when it's raining.
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Since we operate a sewer company, I've suggested turbines in the mainlines. My thinking is that, our cost - overall - would go down because of the electricity put back into the system by the turbines, and our revenue would go up because the energy extracted from the sewer flow would have to be made up by electric pumps at lift stations, and we can bill our sewer customers for that. Now that's a win-win for us! 
Of course, the customers kinda get it in the hiney, but "oh, well!"
Will Rogers never met me.
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I'm a little pissed that he dodged this question:
"What if you strapped C4 to a boomerang? Could this be an effective weapon, or would it be as stupid as it sounds?"
Let's say it had a remote detonator, or some sort of fail-safe that it would automatically detonate before returning within X meters (Fellow Americans, I'm using meters here because we are talking science). Wouldn't it be an effective weapon to clear out enemies that are hiding behind a building, tank, or other barrier. It could possibly be more effective than a grenade, since it turns and is not a line of site weapon.
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The trouble is that either the boomerang would need very accurate GPS or some kind of radio signal to order it to blow on return. The GPS is a washout - would you trust GPS with explosives?
The radio signal is another problem in that it could be used by the targets, I guess (unless it is a UID of some form in which case what happens to your mates when you throw it over their heads?
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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Then what about the obvious: a timer, the military still uses grenades right? Any grenade launchers ensure the grenade travels a certain distance before exploding.
I'm just saying, a person train in throwing one, could use the boomerang more effectively than a grenade. (to clear out enemies hiding behind barrier that blocks line of site conventional weapons).
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They have better ways of dealing with that nowadays.
They either go THROUGH said object and explode once it is past so many meters/etc or they go above it and explode.
Either are sufficient in dispatching those who would hide behind/inside things.
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I know, this would be handheld, much more portable than a grenade launcher (m32 or xm307) or similar artillery, and single person operational. The military still uses grenades right? The boomerang could serve the purpose of clearing a small space, too, by throwing lightly underhand.
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But it would be awkward in shape (i.e. hard to carry/stow) and would be unreliable in use as wind would play a bigger factor on its proper use.
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Andrew Rissing wrote: But it would be awkward in shape (i.e. hard to carry/stow)
It could fold up.
Andrew Rissing wrote: and would be unreliable in use as wind would play a bigger factor on its proper use.
But, but, there's never wind in videogames!
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Probably because no one has yet to put a boomerang weapon into one.
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I see what you did there!
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wizardzz wrote: throwing lightly underhand
Hey, that's not cricket!
If your neighbours don't listen to The Ramones, turn it up real loud so they can.
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Well, I guess there is no real answer, as this boomerang question keeps coming back...
Sorry.
~RaGE();
I think words like 'destiny' are a way of trying to find order where none exists. - Christian Graus
Do not feed the troll ! - Common proverb
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Someone had to do it. Why not you...
The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative. -Winston Churchill
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between. -Oscar Wilde
Wow, even the French showed a little more spine than that before they got their sh*t pushed in.[^] -Colin Mullikin
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I'm guessing the C4 would throw off the flight of the boomerang, and it wouldn't make it far.
Now if you made it out of C4 / filled a boomerang shaped shell with C4, then it might be effective...
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