Shotgun

Yes, I agree with this. I am complaining and it is not going to do anything to change the world... The trouble is that it is so hard to know what is actually going on - the only source we have for information is the media really (unless you have some sort of inside source???) and, as we all know from the way they report skydiving stories, their stories are not necessarily accurate. When this war first started, I honestly believed that Bush was doing the right thing - now I'm not so sure. The fact is that I, as most people, will never truly know... But you're definitely right... sitting here criticizing the government on dropzone.com is doing nothing to change things... guess I'm just venting (or is it post-whoring???), that's all.

What about the queen bee???

Sorry to hear that, Amber Losing a pet is just like losing a best friend... My thoughts are with you...

I feel so used.... knowing the only reason you responded to my post was because you were trying to post-whore.... oh well, guess I'll go back to believing the world is an ugly and desolate place ;-)

Lecherous dudes suck... but hey, you only live once... do whatever makes you happy ;-)

Same thing we do everynight . . . post whore on dz.com. Hey now... I'm talking serious stuff here! Or maybe I'm just post-whoring... Who knows??? ;-)

Well said Bill ;-) I just wish there was a way to find out what's really going on!

Oops, sorry Kev, I screwed up... Now let's do the same thing we do every night - try to take over the world!!! But you can be Brain if you want - I'm pretty stupid most of the time ;-)

Well I don't know... Are you in Perris??? I'm slammin' down the whiskey myself... trying to forget about what a fucked up world I live in...

If only we had Pinky and the Brain as leaders... what a wonderful world it would be ;-)

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/06/23/ED301407.DTL

Ayn Rand! "The Fountainhead" is one of my favorite books ever... and I'm about to read "Atlas Shrugged"... knowing you, I think you'd like Ayn Rand too. ;-)

Sweet :-) So are ya gonna make dirty movies with it? Or skydiving videos? Or both? ;-)

USSA kinda makes more sense because they don't get involved with all parachuting activities (i.e., BASE jumping ;) But I don't think it's important enough that they should waste their time (and our money) on changing their name... and it's been USPA for so long I'd hate to see it change... I wonder why they're thinking of changing it anyway??? Thanks for reminding me... I never did send in that questionaire, but I'll drop it in the mail today.

Ah, Purusha... Well she's not really my spiritual advisor (although I'd have to say I have definitely learned some things from her - she's an incredible person ;-), but she's more a good friend... and definitely has some good stories about the "good ole days" of skydiving, and has a very refreshing outlook on life as well (She's 60+ years old and has more energy than I've ever had.)

Do I??? If so, could you refresh my memory? Because I need to get in touch with whoever that is... I must have lost the damn bar napkin.

LOL There it goes... more of the mind-boggling!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nevermind... what is the meaning of life???

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking... I guess there are really so many variables that it's impossible to even conduct an accurate study... Like if you skydive for a living (or just skydive a lot), you're probably more likely to die that way than someone who doesn't jump so much... And if you drive a lot then you're more likely to die that way... And of course, both of these situations could be reversed where if you do either a lot you are more experienced and therefore less likely to get injured??? Ok, this is all too mind-boggling for my little blonde brain. I may as well have asked what the meaning of life is. Really??? (Oh wait, my husband's probably reading this!!! ;)

Those are interesting numbers... not sure what to make of it, but I guess it depends on how much you do of each activity??? My personal perspective is that I've had pretty much the same number of friends killed or injured in both skydiving and automobile accidents... but since pretty much everyone I know drives an automobile, yet only half (or probably less) of the people I know skydive, that makes me conclude that skydiving is more dangerous... But again, that is just my personal perspective so it doesn't really mean much (could be bad luck with the skydiving part?)...

I think they're about the same - depends on what mood I'm in

Yeah, I suppose it is like comparing apples and oranges... I just see a lot of people saying that as though it is fact (and I've said it myself), but now I'm wondering how true it is... And you're probably right about being able to "prove" it either way - statistics can be manipulated in any way that's useful I guess. Now how big did you say your canopy is?

Does anyone know if there is any statistical information that has been published comparing the dangers of skydiving vs. driving a car? I've always kinda gone along with the "well it's no more dangerous than driving a car" theory, but now that I've stopped to really think about it I would have to say (based solely on my personal experience) that skydiving is actually more dangerous than driving a car... Again this is only based on my personal experience, which could be way off base from average, so I'm just wondering if anyone knows of any "real" information that might prove or disprove the theory???

June 23

Yeah, food is a joy for me :-) It's one of the greatest pleasures in life, and I'd much rather live 50 years eating the stuff I love than live 100 years eating nothing but a bunch of bland crap!

Well you're probably better off not listening to your body then... I crave different things at different times, occasionally sugar, but usually breads, vegetables, meats, dairy products - it works out to be right around what the FDA says is good for you anyway. But what works for me won't necessarily work for anyone else - it's only in about the last five years that I seem to have started craving what I actually need. When I was younger I did crave sugar all the time, but luckily that has changed. I'm 32 and have been eating moderate amounts of red meat all my life. I'm in very good health and have low cholesterol, so I can't see any reason to change my eating habits now. I'm certainly not gonna start preaching to everyone else that they should eat red meat though. Since I haven't devoted my life to studying this in an actual scientific setting, I wouldn't feel comfortable giving other people nutritional advice based on what I've read somewhere or seen on tv... it's alright to share such information, but to state it as fact is a little bit misguided I think... Edited to say: Sorry, I hope that didn't sound like a personal attack - I definitely don't mean it that way ;-)