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I'm not one to turn down a deep conversation, but it seems no one wishes to wax philosophical while waiting in lines these days. I find, however, that I can engage in reasonably time-killing conversation with random line weirdos if I lower my standards to that of a monkey's. Matt

Visited the Astrodome during this fair. The attractions were right out of a parking lot traveling carnival. There weren't even any credits. I don't have any photos to show you (my new digicam doesn't arrive until next week) but the rides looked tiny inside the Astrodome. I think, aside from the whole parking issue, a real amusement park would have more than ample room inside, but it'd take a decent amount of work to make it look nice. It's easily a good 300 feet from floor to ceiling: definitely room for a couple of coasters. Matt

In preperation of Sunday's final, I found a secret video of the Italian team practicing: GO FRANCE! Matt

Howdy! My wife and I were planning on a ski trip from December 28-Jan 1st. Unfortunately, the group we were planning on going with fell through and thus we have vacation money saved to take a different trip. We were planning on a non-Disney Florida trip at some point, but now that we have this time and money to do so, we'd like to try it this Xmas break. It appears that Universal/IOA and Busch Gardens are open this week, but SWO's site doesn't list any hours for this week. I know many of you live in the area: are they open at the end of December? If they aren't, we might delay our Orlando trip and head for Jamaica again or something. Thanks, Matt

I'm not a fan of myspace either. I'm mainly on it to keep in touch with certain old friends. Anyways, without further ado: http://www.myspace.com/mattmedi Matt

FRANCE VS ITALY! ALLEZ LES BLEUS! Matt

Summary of first-half action: Both teams came out strong. France's defense is especially dominating, only allowing shots on goal from long distance. France's offense, however, was lacking as Henry and Zidane seemed a bit rusty. Midway through the half, France has a promising chance but Henry gets tripped inside the penalty box. France gets a penalty kick for this offense. Zidane takes it versus Ricardo, who stopped nearly all of England's penalty kicks to decide the last game. ZIDANE SCORES! FRANCE 1-0. After this point, Portugal, who've never trailed in the World Cup, lose their nerve. They start protesting with the ref every time the lose the ball and start hard-fouling France every time they have the ball. France's defense is in lockdown mode, although Bartez in goal is still a wildcard. It's a wonder no cards have been given to Portugal yet. My prediction is France 2-0. Matt

I bet this is doing wonders for Shapiro's Family Park image! I can just see the tag line now: "People are dying to come to our parks!" Matt

AJC Link: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/shared-blogs/ajc/copbriefs/entries/2006.07.04.80227.html

France is now the only hope remaining for an interesting final. Italy would crush Portugal. ALLEZ LES BLEUS! Matt

Free-falling would be 0g Equivalent to 0g, yes, as your inertia isn't encountering any resistance. You are still being pulled down at up to 9.81 m/s^2, however, which is 1g. The point, of course, is that you don't pull positive G's on drops. Matt I should clarify because I said "pulled down at..." which although illustrative isn't technical. On ground you experience 1g due to the ground itself pushing up on us to counteract gravity (which is you being accelerated at 9.81 m/s^2 into the ground). In a freefall, you're still being accelerated the same as on the ground but nothing is there to push back up on you so you feel 0g. Matt

Free-falling would be 0g Equivalent to 0g, yes, as your inertia isn't encountering any resistance. You are still being pulled down at up to 9.81 m/s^2, however, which is 1g. The point, of course, is that you don't pull positive G's on drops. Matt

You don't pull any more than 1 G free-falling. With track friction, it is slightly less than 1 G on the way down (Discounting S&S towers which actually push you down). Positive G's are experienced as the track goes from vertical to horizontal, as martinb explained, or in the case of drop towers as the brakes are applied. Matt

The only coaster I've ever greyed out on is in fact Titan at SFOT. It has high sustained Gs over several sections and sustaining Gs to the point of losing your vision isn't fun. It's the ΔGs that is fun to me. Worst hyper I've been on. Matt

Surprisingly enough, that actually worked. Time for a newegg.com shopping spree. Matt

Yup. Grosso's one heck of an actor! If things don't work out for the Azzurri this year, they can join Italy's diving team in time for the 2008 Olympics! /I keed, I keed. Matt

On a somewhat related note... I'm currently in a debate with myself over whether or not I should start consuming eggs and egg based products again since I am very pro-stem cell research. What can I say, I have a lot of free time to think about stuff when I go out jogging. But I am finding myself in total hypocrisy to be against one and for the other. Color me a hypocrit It's not totally hypocritical: We've been conditioned to work for survival of our species and are far-sighted enough to see that while in the short-term, using embryonic stem cells may cause a loss of possible life it will eventually increase the quality and duration of life for billions of people. A legit case could be made for and against eating eggs while still maintaining a pro-stem cell position. Matt

God hates shrimp: http://www.godhatesshrimp.com/ Matt

"Doesn't believe in myspace"? Is that anything like how my wife doesn't believe in geography? Matt

No kidding. Was it an all out chimp or human that was produced? Or something more missing-link-ish? They terminated the experiment due to ethical concern during the blastocyst phase, so I guess we'll never know. Unless somebody screws a chimp or something. It only worked one way: I think human sperm and chimp egg worked but chimp sperm and human egg didn't. I forget. I'm not a fan of it except when necessary for medical advances. Hopefully further stem cell research into producing human tissue will allow for testing to shift away from animals. One of the big reasons I'm going the clinical path instead of research. Matt

There's still no hypocrasy being shown here. The majority of the U.S. population attributes different values to different animals and then demonstrates this in their selections of food, pets, etc. They do exactly as they claim. Your best bet for 'hypocrisy' would be 'hypocrisy against evolutionary advantages' which is weak at best because it is the evolutionary development of society itself that led to such differing values for various animals. I apologize for mischaracterizing your position thusly. Fine by me. I won't eat shellfish. Or raw carrots. Hardly. You're obviously both educated and level-headed. I respect that in a discussion. Matt

Actually, you have it backwards. Almost all humans (and mammals) are born with the ability to produce the lactase enzyme (to digest breast milk obviously), but due to a mutation a small amount of people stop producing lactase as they grow older. Matt

Is it supernatural? No. If it isn't supernatural, what is it? Gross, disgusting, and wildly inappropriate, but this is moral relativism based on our society's evolution. We cannot reproduce with cows. We can reproduce with other animals, namely other humans and in some rare isolated cases chimpanzees (lab-tested only...eww). Because we like the taste of it and we can. Can you create offspring with an apple tree? Then why do you eat its fruit? Matt

It isn't supernatural, therefore it is natural. We're omnivores by nature. Matt

This in no way arguementative, nor am I making fun of you in any way, but I find this term to be COMPLETELY AWESOME. Thanks. Maybe I should petition for that to be my custom title, if it fits. Matt