CarpeDiem3

What's your opinion on this?

"No ADD" is a good thing - I wouldn't want a rig with attention deficit disorder. When I'm in freefall at 120 mph, I insist that my rig be very focused on what it needs to do the entire time.

And to Normiss, congrats for hanging in there through all the wedding stuff. Just watch out, because with that done, skymama might start spending her time drawing up a long honey-do list...

Were it not for the guns fired in the air, the power line would not have fallen, and those 23 people would still be alive and basking in the happy glow of a beautiful wedding and marriage. The gunfire was the direct and initiating cause of the event that led to the deaths. Because a few gun nuts wanted to affirm their manhood through their weapons, what should have been that happy glow turned into extreme tragedy and sadness.

I rarely eat a Big Mac, I drive responsibly, and I don't shoot guns in the air. I usually eat fast food while driving somewhere, and that middle section of the Big Mac, slippery from that special sauce, always tries to slide out into my lap. So I usually just get the double cheeseburger. I think more people are killed by guns, than by eating cheeseburgers while driving. But hey, I'll give up cheeseburgers while driving if you give up your guns. Deal? Besides, Big Mac heart disease will only kill the person who ate it, not 23 innocent people all around them like this gun incident.

News: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/31/us-saudi-wedding-electrocuted-idUSBRE89U0FJ20121031 This is what happens when irresponsible gun nuts run amok.

However innocent it may have started out, it became political. And since coal and oil companies are huge contributors to the university, and were threatening to stop their donations, it also became about money. So the university is pulling the temporary art piece out earlier then planned, in order to end the controversy, and preserve their funding. The dollars needed for education are more important than standing their ground on a controversial piece of art. I think that's a lot more justtified than standing up for the art piece and having to explain to the public why a bunch of scholarships are being cancelled and kids will no longer get a college education.

So how does one prepare cat for a dinner dish? Cat cordon bleu? Cat chili? Cat canapes? Feline fettuccine? Pussy puree? Pussy pot pie?

Destruction of government property. Oh yeah, that would just give them another reason to arrest you. How about just putting a piece of duct tape over the lens? Or taking them down and mailing them back to the police department? Same message, no crime.

Tax payers pay for everything. But you have to have taxes, so that's who you get them from. We can't make burglars pay for police, or arsonists to pay for firemen. The law-abiding do that. Likewise, law-abiding gun owners should pay for the cost of the illegal use of guns. Just as law-abiding drivers pay for the cost of roads and drunk drivers. All I'm saying is that gun owners should pony up and pay their fair share, for the bad effects of the particular thing that they believe in.

There is this little thing called the Constitution that might have something to say about that. Well, if a piece of political art is allowed on a college campus, then why shouldn't a piece of religious art also be allowed? If the constitution is going to ban one, then it should ban both, or neither. But to selectively ban one type of religious/political speech but not others is contrary to free speech - it's discriminatory. That's in the constitution too. Right. In fact, free speech pretty much ensures that everyone will be offended at some time by something. So if you want your anti-coal anti-carbon pro-environment sculpture to be in a public place, then you should also respect the rights of others to also post their own political sculptures, like crosses, in public places.

News: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57542510-38/court-oks-warrantless-use-of-hidden-surveillance-cameras/ Sounds like a good ruling to me. People may have a right to privacy in their own homes, but out in a 22-acre wooded field? No way. If it puts drug dealers out of business, more power to the government. These pot growers don't really care about the 4th Amendment, they're just looking for a technacality to get off scott free, because they got caught breaking the law.

Are you saying that your guns HAVE killed someone, but you just haven't been caught yet? We're not really taxing the guns, since guns don't have income or pay taxes. We're taxing the people who buy the guns.

Update: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/chicagos-cook-county-drops-bullet-tax-keeps-gun-221122419.html Drat! They gave up on the bullet tax. But are still considering the gun sale tax. Let's see, 670 victims of gun violence times $52k each, equals $35 million! And they're only going to collect $600k with a $25 gun sale tax? That doesn't come close to covering the cost of gun violence. Let's see, $600k raised divided by $25 tax on each gun sale means there are 24,000 guns sold each year there. Why do people need all those guns? In order to cover the $34 million cost of violence, each new gun sale would have to be taxed... Let's see, $35 million divided by 24,000 gun sales = $1,458 sales tax per new gun. Yep, that'll put a damper on gun sales. Let's do it! Or if you gunnies want to spread the cost around more, we can also tax already-owned guns each year. Regarding the 5-cent bullet tax exceeding the cost of the ammo. So what? Do it anyway. Or make it a percent of the bullet cost. For .22 rimfire, make it a penny each. For .45 make it a dime each. Something's got to be done about those 440 murders in Chicago so far this year. That's intolerable. And if having more guns than computers is a bad thing, then let's implement a computer tax and use the funds to give computers to the poor.

Excellent post Stratostar!

So if someone erects religious symbols like a cross in a place where others object to it, then no one should be allowed to make them remove it? Doesn't freedom of expression require tolerance from BOTH sides of things they don't agree with? Do you defend the display of religious symbols on public property?

At one time people like you said the same thing about rigid wingsuits, snaggy camera mounts, outward protruding ripcord handles, solid cone pin closures, boot lace hooks, non-tapered container flaps, flap stiffeners, anti-wind blast handles, kevlar lines, free-packing without a deployment bag, no riser covers, belly-mounted pilot chutes, capewell riser releases and other things that at the time they could not imagine possibly causing problems. But they all eventually did. If it's unnecessary and serves no beneficial purpose, then why risk it? But go right ahead and wear a hoodie if you want. Maybe you'll be lucky and nothing bad will happen. But that won't prove that something bad cannot happen. Then again, maybe you'll be the first to die from a hoodie/reserve pilot chute bridle entanglement. Hey, maybe you could also jump with a machete as a hook knife. I've never heard of anyone dying from having a machete on their gear, so I'm sure it's perfectly safe. Good luck with it!

Steve Snyder - inventor of the AAD Domina Jalbert - inventor of the ram-air chute Wallace Carothers, DuPont chemist - inventor of nylon

Hmmm. If I was looking for a rigger that I didn't personally know, I'd want to know how many years of experience he has. And that system doesn't show it. Some guy who got his rating last week looks just the same as Dave DeWolf. Me no like.

Where's the option for "just average"? The older I get the better I was.

Ah yes, being stylish and lazy are excellent reasons for adding risk to your skydives! (sarcasm)

"When will they ever learn..." - From "Where have all the flowers gone?", by the Kingston Trio

See the attached news story headline. Be careful out there...

What is that red blob on the upper left side of the shield in the Nationals logo? Image attached. At the bottom, the star with yellow and red sun rays represent the Arizona state flag. I get that part. And what's with the red and blue vertical stripes on the top half? Shouldn't they be red, white, and blue, to represent America? Maybe they're red and blue to symbolize the election year, divided between red and blue states representing republicans and democrats?

Is that a good idea? I would think a tandem master's first priority is to land his pasenger safely, not to risk their life by intentionally landing in a dangerous area. Shouldn't he have gone for the safe LZ and let someone else deal with the video man in the woods? Is this a case of being so focused on trying to make the shot, that they increased the risk to the passenger? They could always make another jump to get good video for TV. But if they had hurt the passenger making this choice, it would have looked really bad...