CanuckInUSA

Yes there is more (salt) water in this world than anything else. Are you about to tell me that you believe in Kevin Costner's Waterworld? ROFLMAO ... and you call yourself a scientist. Paper ... you have paper ... ohhhhhhhhh paper ... Humans CAN NOT control Mother Nature. but They can control their pollutants. If you want to talk cancer causing toxins in our air and in our water, then I am all ears. But if you are pushing Cap and Trade from your hero Al "I invented the Internet" Gore, then I am sorry I do not believe in your religious climategate socialism. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

What are you doing posting on the internet with a computer device? Don't you care about the environment? How insensitive of you? Where did you get the electricity to power that computer device? Where did they get that electricity to power all those servers? How about the plastics that made up all those computers and peripherals? How insensitive of you? Don't you know that plastics are made from oil? Don't you care about your children and your children's children etc, etc, etc. How do you heat (or maybe cool) your home? Don't you care about the environment? Where does your water come from? Do you walk everywhere you go? Maybe ride a bike? How did you build your home? Very impressive that you were able to transport the roof trusses on your bicycle, or did you get them there on public transit? Maybe your home isn't made using trusseses. What is your home made of? Wood? Metals? Some sort of composite material? Maybe you live in a mud hut? Aren't you concerned about the environmental impact that occurred building the place you call home? How insensitive and selfish of you to be thinking you needed to destroy the world's environment just so that you could have a place to call home and use electricity and oil to post on the internet Humans would have to revert back to the stone age and then still it would take eons to see any environmental results. I believe in evolution (yes hard to believe that a Conservative believes in evolution, I know Liberal Lefties love perpetuating the stereo-type that Conservatives are ignorant religious nut-cases ... not that there is anything wrong with religious nut-cases) and yes as a believer in evolution I believe this planet continues to adapt to changes. What was yesterday, will not be the same tomorrow. The planet is much more powerful than any human can dream of being. Stop pretending you are Gods. Humans can NOT control Mother Nature. but Humans can control their pollutants. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Do you have the slightest idea how large of a land mass is up here in the frozen tundra called Canada? The north and the western prairies (currently experiencing these arctic temperatures) would eat up much of the land mass of the entire continental US. This is NOT local weather I am talking about. Humans CAN NOT control Mother Nature. but ... Humans can control the toxins they pollute. Stop trying to play God ... your hero Al "I invented the Internet" Gore CAN NOT control Mother Nature with his Cap and Trade scheme. All that is going to happen is that a small minority of the elite who are already rich beyond belief are going to royally screw everyone else with their wealth transfer and China and India are going to continue to pump toxins into their respective eco-systems. BTW ... Electric cars are useless in -30C climates. I have not seen a single Smart Car driving the public roads this last week and yes people do own Smart cars up here. But driving a Smart car is not a very smart thing to do during a Canadian winter. Unless you have lived up here, you are clueless as to what we go through every winter. But it is easy to act like you know it all when you live in a warm climate isn't it. Once again come on up and spend a winter in Western Canada and then tell me the world is warm. I ###king welcome Global Warming after the cold we have experienced this week. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Why don't you come on up to Alberta and pay us a visit. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/12/13/calgary-frigid-weather.html That's right -48 Celcius (-58C windchill). For all you people who can't read metric (well the entire world uses metric ... why can't you?) that would be -54 Fahrenheit (a -72 Fahrenheit windchill). Come on up to Alberta and pay us a visit. Tell us how warm it is. It's only a balming -25C (-34C windchill) right now in Calgary. I am concerned about possible cancer causing toxins in our air and cancer causing toxins in our water. I fully support cleaning up the pollution in the industrial world (which now included China and India). But climategate is a scam. A socialist plot to change the world and some of you fools are all to happy to buy into Al Gore's Carbon Trading scam. Give me a freak'in break. All that will do will allow Al "I invented the internet" and his band of thieves to live in bigger and bigger homes as they jet sets around the world in their fleet of private jets buying more and more propaganda carbon credits. Cancer causing toxins ... absolutely ... clean them up. Climategate ... Seriously ... come on up to the Canadian prairies and experience what -30C feels like. It's easy to talk about Global Warming and talk about wealth distribution to your favorite banana republic when you're not living in -30C conditions. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

ROFLMAO you already know the result of a game that is weeks away from being played? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Just trying to propose an alternative to the present system. But since you think this idea is crap, I guess I should just shut the fuck up and crawl back under the snowy frozen rock from where I came from. As Andrewwhyte already mentioned, the US loves to call themselves "World Champions" while they continue to only invite fellow "Americans" to their "World Championship" competitions. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I am saying sacrifice 6 Bowl games (heck add 6 new games if need be) to implement an 8 team playoff. The rest of the Bowl games can still be played as they are now. The crux of my solution in finding the 8 teams. 6 of those teams should be pretty obvious (best team from the SEC, ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10) ... but who are the other 2 teams? 2 wild card teams to allow the possibility for a Boise State or a TCU to make it when they have a good year? It's better than what exists now ... the present system is bias. BTW ... while I am not a 'Bama fan, I am assuming they are going to roll all over TX the same way they rolled against FL. But then there is that nasty word "assume" ... don't assume anything otherwise you risk making an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

It is rather stupid for Congress to get involved here. But there is a relatively easy solution(s) to the NCAA college football quagmire. First off implement an 8 team playoff where the National Championship game is played one week after new years, the semi-final games are played on new years and the quarter final games are played around Christmas. The NCAA can still use their full suite of other Bowl games, they will just be sacrificing 6 Bowl games to implement the 7 games needed for this playoff. After all should a 6-6 or 7-5 team really be playing a Bowl game? Besides the individual schools who really cares about many of the 25+ Bowl games. Here are two possible easy solutions: 1) Take the best team from the SEC, ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 10 plus two wildcard teams for an 8 team playoff. 2) If people do not like the idea of using wild card teams, realign NCAA college football to use 8 conferences and invite the best teams from each conference to the playoff. Of course solution #2 means re-aligning more than just football, it is a major realignment of NCAA conferences for all sports. So I still say having the 2 wild card teams is the easier of the 2 solutions. But the Big 10 and Pac 10 really should also start seriously thinking adding a conference championship game to their respective schedules. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Take your stereo types and shove it up your you know what. Where did I say anything about Obama's race? Typical for people to resort to the race card. I couldn't care less what race Obama is. I do care that a junior senator with no leadership experience was given the most powerful job in the world. Sarah Palin (who in my opinion is NOT qualified for the job) has more leadership experience than Obama. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

How does that saying go? Those who can not do teach. Obama is a great public speaker and yes he is more intelligent the GWB ... then again who isn't. But Obama has no leadership experience. Contrast this to someone like Mitt Romney who has successfully lead in business, lead in State government and help put the Salt Lake Winter Olympics back on track. Either the Republicans knew they were toast in 2008 and wanted to save Romney for the future, or they are just fools who can't look past the man's Mormon religious background. But Romney has leadership experience, something the junior senator from Illinois does not have. Am I to understand Obama no longer does daily matinees parting the Red Sea? He still does his 7pm and 9 pm shows though? Yes Obama is the savior alright. Who needs to work when Obama will be there to spend the future generation's prosperity on his socialist agenda. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Of course this is common knowledge, but ... The world would be a whole lot safer if people kept religion to themselves. Then there would not be issues when someone was a Christian, a Muslim, Jewish or even if they worshiped some mythical Flying Spaghetti monster. But since people like to judge others who are different from themselves, since every religion thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong. The world is a dog eat dog world and I am wearing puppy chow. Now if you will excuse me, I need to crawl back under the frozen snowy rock from where I came from. While some people are claiming the world has warmed, I live in the part of the world where it is not uncommon for the temperatures to be -25C (-13F) with wind chills of -33C (-27F). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I stand corrected, looks there are have been four deaths in competitive swooping. Still not that large of a number when you consider there has to be 1000 (may be more) extremely talented swoopers across the world who have competed in fairly high level swoop comps at some point in time. If there is still a problem with people swooping on regular loads then by all means we need to segregate the swoopers from every one else by either time, distance or both. But just because one fellow made a mistake at this swoop comp does not justify banning all swoop competitions. Despite what some dizzy.dot.commers may be saying, the vast majority of competitive swoopers are NOT killing themselves. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

How many swoopers have died in competition? Prior to this Russian fellow the last one was Marianne and she did not die as the result of a swoop. She died because of a double mal which could be traced to using a highly loaded main and a highly loaded reserve coupled with wearing a weight belt that could not be released. In fact correct me if I am wrong, but I believe only three people have ever died while in a swoop competition and this Russian fellow is the first one to die while actually swooping through the entry gates (the other two had problems before they could even set up their swoop). Yes we know about the broken record called education ... learning to swoop starts with education and then more education is needed when learning to run gates. But there comes a point in time where education is replaced with experience and judgment. If someone wants to propose possible (reasonable) rule changes then post your suggestions and let those who have competed in swooping competitions tell you whether they think your ideas are viable or not. While it sounds like the deceased Russian skydiver was an ultra-experienced skydiver, it also sounds like he did not have that much high level swoop competition experience and if there was an error somewhere maybe it's in thinking that competitive swooping is ready for world championship events. Competitive swoopers need to be honest with themselves. As much as competing on the world stage sounds cool, you have to ask yourself do you have the minimum skills and experience competing at club and regional levels before you put yourself on the world stage where the pressure to perform is higher. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I am sorry Paul but you just do not understand the nature of the beast called "competition". Besides seasoned swoop competitors know when they have messed up and know taking a donut is better than the alternative. The problem lies in people new to competition may not have necessarily figured this out yet. I know one of my close calls in competitive swooping occurred when I tried to salvage a bad approach at the gates. Not only did I put my safety on the line, but I put the safety of a volunteer judge also on the line. Fortunately I pulled my head out of my ass and learned from this error and never repeated it. But unless you understand the "competitive" nature, you will never understand why some people do what they do. There is a classic line from the 1960s Grand Prix racing movie where one of the principle drivers tells someone else "After an accident when other drivers are lifting off of the accelerator, I am applying full gas". This is not the first time someone has been hurt/killed in a swoop competition and it won't be the last time either. But the vast majority of the competitive swoopers are NOT killing themselves. So I don't understand this desire by some to rush out and call for swooping to be banned (not saying this is what paul is calling for). Please people, shoot me before you force me to live in your over controlled over protected world. Last time I checked, none of us comes out of here alive. Did the racing world ban racing when Aryton Senna was killed? Did the racing world ban racing when Dale Earnhardt was killed? Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Thought I would come out of my posting retirement to chime in here. I wish I could come out of my competitive swooping retirement, but I am just not current and having a winter blizzard hit Canuckistan like it is today, you know talking about swooping is as close as I will get to it. I think this is an even bigger issue than whether or not a World Swoop meet should be held in South Africa at a high altitude DZ. We know swooping can be done at high altitude DZs. It just needs a slightly different approach. In fact I would go out on a limb and say that once you know how to swoop at altitude, it is easier to do than swooping at sea level. Anyway I think we should focus more on the talent of the people versus the location of an event. Take my country as an example. Canada has some good swoopers, but most of Canada's good swoopers do not live in Canada. It's just not the right type of country to stay current with swooping in. Plus the same can be said for some of these other competitor's countries. Just because someone is good at their DZ or good in their country does not mean they meet a minimum standard for competing on the world stage. The Olympics does not let any yahoo from some country enter their Alpine Skiing events unless they have the skills and have competed at previous World Cup events. Sure a few have slipped through the cracks (like Eddie the Eagle at the '88 Calgary Olympics), but nowadays the Olympic officials make sure the competitors meet minimum standards before they are allow in. Maybe swooping shouldn't be all that worried about marketing a competition as a "World" event. People need to be honest with themselves when they consider entering an event. Do they have the minimum skill set that is required to be at that event. Sure I would take pride in representing my country, but will I take pride being in an event when my skills are not even remotely close to the skills of another competitor who wasn't even good enough to be selected to represent their country? The best swoopers live and train in the USA (that doesn't mean they are US citizens) with a few others sprinkled around the world. As much as I wish competitive swooping was global, reality tells us that it is not. Now if you will excuse me, I need to crawl back under the snowy rock from which I came from as while my DZ.COM moniker may give the impression that I am still in the USA, reality has me back living in my native frozen tundra where the real reason why Canadian couples like doing it doggy style is because this allows both of them to watch the hockey game at the same time. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

In the 1940s - 1980s did they ban Formula One / Indy car races after a racer died? Did they ban auto racing after Ayrton Senna was killed? Did they ban auto racing after Dale Earnhardt Sr was killed? No they looked for ways to improve safety of the sport. Racing is still a dangerous activity, but lessons were learned from the deaths of the folks who helped pioneer the sport and nowadays deaths in racing are not as common. Competitive swooping is a new'ish sport. There has been a few accidents along the way and yes even a few deaths. But by and large the really good swoopers are not killing themselves. The problem is is that in order to get really good you need to push yourself to your limits (but stay within these limits) and the margin for error is pretty slim. As a former (mostly amateur) competitive swooper I knew the risks and even had a few close calls as I pushed my limits to the edge. It's hard to say for sure, but it sounds like this fellow found himself in the corner and the corner can be very unforgiving place (even over water). He is not the first nor will he be the last to die. But just think where humans would be if people were afraid of risks. Afraid to fly because of the possible dangers. Just think where humans would be if race car drivers were afraid to push themselves and their cars to the limits (our modern cars would not be as remotely as safe as they are now). Competitive swoopers know why they do what they do and I don't think that there is a single competitive swooper alive who does not know the dangers they put themselves in on every jump. Unfortunately (at least for now) I have had to stop my pursuits of competitive swooping due to my lack of currency in the sport. But unless you do it, it's almost impossible to understand what drives the competitive swooper to do what they do. You have to be a competitive swooper to understand. PS: BSBD ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Good grief give it a rest. Rhetoric like this just shows the world how much hatred brews in your head. Once again Glenn Beck is an entertainer not all that different than Stewart or Colbert, except that the message is different. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

When I first heard Glenn Beck, I thought he was a bit of a loony red neck hick. But since then, I have listened to him and found him to be rather funny. I do not agree with everything he says, but he does bring up many good points. Glenn Beck is an entertainer. How is Glenn Beck any different than some of the other political entertainers like John Stewart and Stephen Colbert? Stewart and Colbert can be very funny, but they are also extremely partisan with their political messages. Outside of their partisanship, there is little difference between Glenn Beck, John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. They say things to draw attention and to primarily boost their ratings. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I am a few days late reading this thread since I don't visit this site as much as I used to, but cheers Chester. Josh is still on my mind from time to time as well. Play hard, but play safe. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Where's my Nobel Peace Prize? I'm not Bush. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Blue Skies Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I may or may not be correct here, but I think the Republicans purposely kept Mitt Romney out of the 2008 election because they are saving him for 2012. They knew they were in trouble in 2008 and why sacrifice Romney in an election they knew they would likely lose. Romney has leadership experience both in the private sector as well as the public sector. Obama is a great public speaker when his teleprompter works, but the man had no real world leadership experience and it's beginning to show. All we ever hear these days is "spend spend spend". How much debt are people willing to burden their future generations with? Time will tell if I am right or wrong. LOL the only thing worse than Canadian politics is US politics. (Trust me our politicians are a joke up here) Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

so you're saying blacks are lazy? No I am saying people like you are absolutely ridiculous to be playing your race card on virtually every thread that you start. But obviously "personal responsibility" means nothing to you. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Besides the few who are born into wealth, do you know what the secret is to being financial stable? It's easy ... Stop thinking of yourself as a victim and ... start being more pro-active towards your future. Do you think Obama became president because he sat back and waited for things to happen, or did Obama achieve success in his life because he took responsibility for his own future. Yes there is still racism in this world, but sitting back and thinking of yourself as a victim is not helping anything. The blacks you label as perpetual victims could learn a lot from the Chinese in regards to their work ethics. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Why are you using the race card? Who's fault is it when people live beyond their means? I guess "personal responsibility" is not in your vocabulary. There is nothing racial about "Don't spend more than you make". Try not to worry about the things you have no control over