MarkF

Seeing as DIscworld has been mentioned.... How about Robert Rankin stuff ?? Some great titles. Armageddon the Musical, The Dance of the Voodoo Handbag, Nostradamus Ate My Hamster and The Book of Ultimate Truths among others. The Magician series and the Daughter of The Empire series by Wurts / Fiest are good reads too. I'll read science fiction by just about anyone with the exception of Stanislaw Lem. Downright STRANGE... Ooroo Mark F... P.S. HH I like the new forum format. Took a while to get used to though, but I mainly lurk anyway.

Amen, mate, Amen. Last Oz summer I was up in New South Wales playing with the fires there as a fire spotter / observer. I got to ride in the Erikson Aircrane as director for a day. FUCK THAT. Updrafts, downdrafts, SAVAGE crosswinds, SAVAGE alterations in weight, can't see shit for smoke, hose crashing through burning tree-tops, etc. As I say, FUCK THAT. Ooroo Mark F...

And one of my favourites from Henry Lawson. The glass on the bar. Three bushmen one morning rode up to an inn, And one of them called for the drinks with a grin; They’d only returned from a trip to the North, And, eager to greet them, the landlord came forth. He absently poured out a glass of Three Star, And set down that drink with the rest on the bar. "There, that is for Harry," he said, "and it’s queer, ’Tis the very same glass that he drank from last year; His name’s on the glass, you can read it like print, He scratched it himself with an old bit of flint; I remember his drink – it was always Three Star" – And the landlord looked out through the door of the bar. He looked at the horses, and counted but three: "You were always together – where’s Harry?" cried he. Oh, sadly they looked at the glass as they said, "You may put it away, for our old mate is dead;" But one, gazing out o’er the ridges afar, Said, "We owe him a shout – leave the glass on the bar." They thought of the far-away grave on the plain, They thought of the comrade who came not again, They lifted their glasses, and sadly they said: "We drink to the name of the mate who is dead." And the sunlight streamed in, and a light like a star Seemed to glow in the depth of the glass on the bar. And still in that shanty a tumbler is seen, It stands by the clock, always polished and clean; And often the strangers will read as they pass The name of a bushman engraved on the glass; And though on the shelf but a dozen there are, That glass never stands with the rest on the bar. Ooroo Mark F...

In my view Lawson and Paterson just can't be beat...:-) The Man from Snowy River Banjo Paterson There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around That the colt from old Regret had got away, And had joined the wild bush horses -- he was worth a thousand pound, So all the cracks had gathered to the fray. All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far Had mustered at the homestead overnight, For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are, And the stock-horse snuffs the battle with delight. There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the cup, The old man with his hair as white as snow; But few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up -- He would go wherever horse and man could go. And Clancy of the Overflow came down to lend a hand, No better horseman ever held the reins; For never horse could throw him while the saddle-girths would stand, He learnt to ride while droving on the plains. And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast, He was something like a racehorse undersized, With a touch of Timor pony -- three parts thoroughbred at least -- And such as are by mountain horsemen prized. He was hard and tough and wiry -- just the sort that won't say die -- There was courage in his quick impatient tread; And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye, And the proud and lofty carriage of his head. But still so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay, And the old man said, "That horse will never do For a long and tiring gallop -- lad, you'd better stop away, Those hills are far too rough for such as you." So he waited sad and wistful -- only Clancy stood his friend -- "I think we ought to let him come," he said; "I warrant he'll be with us when he's wanted at the end, For both his horse and he are mountain bred." "He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko's side, Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough, Where a horse's hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride, The man that holds his own is good enough. And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home, Where the river runs those giant hills between; I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam, But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen." So he went -- they found the horses by the big mimosa clump -- They raced away towards the mountain's brow, And the old man gave his orders, "Boys, go at them from the jump, No use to try for fancy riding now. And, Clancy, you must wheel them, try and wheel them to the right. Ride boldly, lad, and never fear the spills, For never yet was rider that could keep the mob in sight, If once they gain the shelter of those hills." So Clancy rode to wheel them -- he was racing on the wing Where the best and boldest riders take their place, And he raced his stock-horse past them, and he made the ranges ring With the stockwhip, as he met them face to face. Then they halted for a moment, while he swung the dreaded lash, But they saw their well-loved mountain full in view, And they charged beneath the stockwhip with a sharp and sudden dash, And off into the mountain scrub they flew. Then fast the horsemen followed, where the gorges deep and black Resounded to the thunder of their tread, And the stockwhips woke the echoes, and they fiercely answered back From cliffs and crags that beetled overhead. And upward, ever upward, the wild horses held their way, Where mountain ash and kurrajong grew wide; And the old man muttered fiercely, "We may bid the mob good day, No man can hold them down the other side." When they reached the mountain's summit, even Clancy took a pull, It well might make the boldest hold their breath, The wild hop scrub grew thickly, and the hidden ground was full Of wombat holes, and any slip was death. But the man from Snowy River let the pony have his head, And he swung his stockwhip round and gave a cheer, And he raced him down the mountain like a torrent down its bed, While the others stood and watched in very fear. He sent the flint stones flying, but the pony kept his feet, He cleared the fallen timber in his stride, And the man from Snowy River never shifted in his seat -- It was grand to see that mountain horseman ride. Through the stringy barks and saplings, on the rough and broken ground, Down the hillside at a racing pace he went; And he never drew the bridle till he landed safe and sound, At the bottom of that terrible descent. He was right among the horses as they climbed the further hill, And the watchers on the mountain standing mute, Saw him ply the stockwhip fiercely, he was right among them still, As he raced across the clearing in pursuit. Then they lost him for a moment, where two mountain gullies met In the ranges, but a final glimpse reveals On a dim and distant hillside the wild horses racing yet, With the man from Snowy River at their heels. And he ran them single-handed till their sides were white with foam. He followed like a bloodhound on their track, Till they halted cowed and beaten, then he turned their heads for home, And alone and unassisted brought them back. But his hardy mountain pony he could scarcely raise a trot, He was blood from hip to shoulder from the spur; But his pluck was still undaunted, and his courage fiery hot, For never yet was mountain horse a cur. And down by Kosciusko, where the pine-clad ridges raise Their torn and rugged battlements on high, Where the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze At midnight in the cold and frosty sky, And where around the Overflow the reedbeds sweep and sway To the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide, The man from Snowy River is a household word to-day, And the stockmen tell the story of his ride. Ooroo Mark F...

Those two dumbass instructors should have owed beer for that. =================== Nope. In my view, they owed their ratings. =================== Damn good on ya for knowing your equipment!!! =================== It comes from doing far too much RISK analysis for far too long. Anyone here ever worked on an off shore oil rig or in heavy industry ? I'd bet that if you substituted instructors for plant foremen and the for the pilot a plant manager and for the CYPRESS some piece of safety equipment which when used incorrectly would endager lives you'd have 3 people on the unemployed list. Same should apply here. The people concerned were left in absolutely no doubt as to my feelings. In a way they were damn lucky it happened to someone who makes a living from understanding RISKS and effect. Imagine if it had been someone with no knowledge of how the AAD worked and they were rubbernecking out the window opposite the door while firmly attached to the aircraft by a seat belt. In this case the reserve PC would have fired straight out the door probably killing all on board when the whole mess impacted. I'm reluctant to identify the A/C type as that would identify the DZ concerned and since the owners are a litiginous(sp?) bunch I'm not doing that in a public forum. Al lot of people, sadly, fail to use the bit of safety equipment between their ears. Ooroo Mark F...

And if for whatever reason you find yourself riding the aircraft down make good and sure that your AAD is turned off. I once rode a doorless aircraft down (wind picked up too much for a 5 jump wonder) and the instructors both assured me that the CYPRESS (student) wouldn't fire on the way down despite my protestations. Because I'm positively paranoid[1] about gear operation in any activity I HAD read the CYPRESS manual and thought it _might_ fire on the way down so I sat with rig FIRMLY against the wall. After landing when I got up my reserve fell out of the container. I wouldn't go near that DZ again in a fit. Nor will I fly with that pilot again. He should have insisted. Any Aussies who want to know where it was e-mail me at forsythm@optushome.com.au [1] A RISK management career will do that for you. Ooroo Mark F...

So we have slowly seen the long list of Anonymous people dwindle down to almost noone. There is one little lurker out there for the past few days though. ------------------------------------- That'll be me trying to conserve my newbie status for as long as possible. With this post I blow it...

----------------------------------------------- Not sure what you mean there; the Ghauri ICBM was first tested only three years ago. Their nuclear weapons are newer than ours, yet we seem to assume that ours will work. In addition, they've tested them rather regularly - they both tested nukes in 1998. I would not want to bet on them not working 4 years later. ---------------------------------------------- Pakistan reputedly has a missile programme that's to run from 2000 to 2010 which aims to replace all of the ancient Chinese MD-9 and Korean Dong-1 missiles that they have. At least one of the recent test firings was more likely than not to be an old MD-9 or a indigenous device from the current programme of similar capabilities. From the stuff that I get to see the newest nuclear warheads available are only a couple of years old. BUT they aren't classed as "ready for use"[1] yet. The stuff that _is_ classed as "ready for use"[1] dates back to around 1994 or so. Give or take 2 years. As for GWB, I think that most Aussies, me included, reckon that GWB is OK-ish, farm and steel policies aside. (These REALLY F*****G HURT). SO far he's demonstrated that he's far from stupid and that he's a bit of a ditherer who couldn't fly off the handle before some advisor gets to him and stops it. Imagine Ronny Reagan or LBJ in the hot seat ATM...:-( From an Oz perspective, of course. Ooroo Mark F... [1] Whatever that bit of defence speak actually means. I work in an industry (defence) where nobody says what they mean and no-one means what they say.

(another step closer to not being the longest time newbie..:-) ) You oughta come to Oz. Plenty of coverage here. Have a look at www.theage.com.au and www.abc.net.au (nat. broadcaster)...:-) I tend to think that the "Axis of Evil" speech by GWB has put a bit of a spanner in the US works. Let me explain, if I can. In the mid east we have Palestinian fundamentalists allegedly making mayhem in Israel with guns and bombs 'n stuff. The Palestinians are HEAVILY censured by everyone. Palestine is widely considered to be dispensible. In India (near the Pak. border) there are allegedly Pakastani fundamentalists making a pretty equal amount of mayhem using pretty much the same methods. Pakistan CANNOT be as heavily censured. Since the Axis of Evil speech, the US _needs_ Pakistan on side for what I call "The War of Mirrors" or the war against terrorism. The US / UK have said that the co-operation of Pakistan is vital to their anti-terrorist ends. For the US to censure Pakistan as much as Palestine would make nonsense and would alienate Pakistan which would most certainly NOT help the war against terrorism. Of course I have problems with the War of Mirrors too. I recognise that it's real easy for me, safe and pretty secure in Oz. but hasn't the boot got on the wrong foot here ? I wonder if anyone actually stops to think just WHY terrorists exist. I suspect not. If the targets of terrorism were to take note of the criticisms being made, and of the reasons being put forward for the violence, and made an effort in changing their behaviour to be less belligerant, there'd be less reason for bombs 'n stuff. As for the nuclear weapons in the area; remember that they are DECADES old. Pak. has done some testing over the last couple of days that are widely reported to be tests to determine if the missiles still work. No-one knows for sure whether or not these missiles would be capable of placing a warhead where it's wanted. Equally no-one can be certain that a warhead will actually go bang. Just my 2 bobs worth. Ooroo Mark F...

I come from a family of HARD CORE bookworms which means that I'll read almost anything. There has to be a line drawn somewhere and Mills and Boon is most certainly on the other side of it. 5 books...hmmmmm... I give up, how about 5 authors....nah....bugger it here's a list of standouts. Terry Pratchett. The Discworld series is an all-time standout. Plagarism at it's best, you can't tell me that Wyrd Sisters isn't MacBeth and that The Patrician isn't Lee Quan Yew (Singapore)...:-) Robert Rankin. Really strange hilarious stuff. The Book of Ultimate Truths is a must, as is Nostradamus Ate My Hamster. Tom Sharpe. The Throwback had me crying with laughter on the train on the way home from work one arvo. I kid you not - I was getting some _strange_ looks..:-) ("........the golfer with the now terminal slice.....") . I've read 'em all and they're all brilliant. Just about any science fiction. Stanislaw Lem is about the only one I just can't deal with. Standouts... E. E. Doc Smiths' Lensman series. Bunches of interesting ideas. Anything by Niven and / or Pournelle. Clarke ? I've read most of his stuff but.......I dunno, not riveting. Good ideas though. I've got boxes of SF, some good, some absolute crap but mostly ho-hum. The Emporers New Mind by Roger Penrose is a _heavy_ read but worth the effort. The Worst Journey in the World by Appsley Cherry-Garrard. For my money the best record of the last, lethal, Scott led disaster trip to the South Pole. Anything by Ranuph Fiennes. Widely regard as the last real polar explorer along with his off-sider Mike Stroud. Mind Over Matter is a standout. Anything about Oz. explorers. They were for the most part such a mob of fuckwits. Sturt taking off into the desert with a boat in the middle of summer... Burke and Wills...at least the navigation was good. Expedition leadership was rooted though. And that's just two of 'em. At the moment.... Us Mob by Mudrooroo. It's a sort of intro to indigenous Oz. And (at last they all cry) Robert Jordans WOT series and most Janny Wurts / Raymond E. Fiest stuff. The first skydiving related thing I read was The Falcons Disciples Parchutings Unforgetable Jumps by Howard Gregory There, that orta do it. Ooroo Mark F... Getting DANGEROUSLY close to getting off newbie status....damn

I can't believe that no-one has mentioned The Phantom yet...:-) I had a tee-shirt a loooong time ago that had a man and his dog walking along with the caption "and he walks the streets as an ordinary man". Fabulous Furry Freak Bros.....of course. Who could forget the image of a couple of blokes falling asleep with their noses buried in a mound of speed about the size of a soup bowl. Or the cat thinking "...you don't feed me and I'll shit in your boot.." whilst squatting over said boot..... Damn... Another post gone, I'll get off newbie status if I don't watch it...:-) Ooroo Mark F...

Well I can see why you want to escape from Oracle. Invoices from Oracle tend to go along the lines of "give us all your money and two important body parts"...Nearly as bad as CA. Anyway... For POWER processing you can't go too far wrong with OpenVMS and Rdb. I had to say that, I'm an OpenVMS bigot...:-) I run Postgres on Slackware at home as the database for my IDS (snort) and it _seems_ OK-ish. It can get pretty badly bogged down when you're shipping large amounts of data around though. Other resource usage is about average for a database engine. (ie. Considerably less than what Oracle would use.) The API is pretty well non-cryptic but somewhat limited when you step outside SQL. (BLOB handling, for instance) Triggers and stored procedures just aren't handled AFAIK. (It's been a while since I upgraded Postgres...:-) ) There's also a nifty little forms driven front end called Pgaccess in the source package which tries to emulate M$ Access on a fairly rudimentry level. It isn't bad either...:-) I duno if it's in the RedHat rpm though. You might also want to look into MySQL, it has pretty wide usage so there should be a fair bit of doco around the place. I haven't looked at it so I can't say first hand though. There's also a version of Oracle for Linux available. If you try it out remember to get rid of MySQL / Postgres / etc. before you install Oracle. Wierd shit happens if you don't, giving you a valuable opportunity to learn what libraries go where and what uses 'em. Same deal if you get rid of Oracle and go to one of the others. Make good and sure that _all_ of Oracle is gone else you'll start seeing the dreaded weird shit happening...:-) Ooroo Mark F...

Thought I'd stopped lurking didn't you ??? The aircraft was a Piper Navajo. Donkeys years ago at the 1976 Nationals at Labertouche (Vic. Oz. The DZ no longer exists) when I had a current licence it was organized that I'd sit on the floor in front of the right hand of the seat hopefully out of sight of the rest of the load.... At around 8,000 the pilot hits full rich on the starboard engine which produced a VERY nice backfire, leaps out of the seat, yells out GET OUT OF THE F*****G WAY and runs straight out the door. Needless to say everyone else followed and I got to land the thing. MUCH swearing and cursing when everyone found out what happened...:-) The next morning, new years day when everyone had force 10 hangovers, we flew the aircraft, all 4 of 'em line astern, at ever decreasing altitudes between the tent rows at full noise. I gave up when I could see the top of the hanger doorway over the top of the wingtip. Scary low...:-) That was my last flight as pilot in charge, there was a little yellow van at the DZ gate which belonged to the old Dept. of Civil (which we were accused of not being) Aviation. Licence pulled...:-( Ooroo Mark F...

You wouldn't want to send some of that rain to NSW ( Oz ) would you ???? We could do with a bit to help with the fires. In fact NSW could do with a LOT of rain right now. You can hang onto any wind that you have though. Bush fires are NOT fun...:-( For a bit of a pictre of a Eucalypt fire have a read of :- http://www.theage.com.au/news/state/2001/12/30/FFXHMUZ9SVC.html Ooroo Mark F... Who got a call to go to NSW last night. I'm off this arvo. SHIT !!!!!

This is gonna sound (read) harsh, man..... But here goes anyway... I'm not gonna mention your parents, this is YOUR problem so YOU have to deal with it, OK ? I can't be dismissed as an ignoramous where cannibis is concerned either, I've been smoking around an ounce every 6 or 8 weeks for better (or worse) than 30 years. GET OFF THE WEED or at least limit your intake. You are blinkered by your smoking so much that you seem unable to deal with life without the chemical crutch. Cannibis IS psychologically addictive, don't try and convince yourself or your parents that it isn't. Cannibis has a marked impact on all aspects of human performance. Kelly has seen first hand what it can do to motorists. I KNOW first hand how _I'm_ effected. Reflexes are slowed, perceptions are skewed, blood pressure rises, metabolic rate alters (to a near disastrous point for heavy diabetics) etc. Treat yourself to a little experiment or two... Stay straight for a few days, 3 days MINIMUM is required for your system to purge itself completely of cannibis products. Pick on an activity that demands concentration and hand-eye co-ordination. The game of darts is a good indicator. Measure your perfomance whilst completely cannibis free, suck a few cones or a medium spliff and try the experiment again. See what I mean ? Next try an activity that requires your reflexes to be pretty well up there. Again try it cannibis free and again after a few cones. See ?? Next try something that requires thought and planning like chess or backgammon. Play straight and again stoned. See ?? You get stoned and then get the munchies, right ? Try a few hours of researching a subject that you aren't particulary interested in. Have a few cones and continue the research. Look at the quality of research before and after cones. See ?? All of these simple things can prove just HOW much cannibis affects you. Now let me ask you a simple question. Would you jump immediately after sucking a few cones or a decent spliff ? If you would NOT jump, why not ? If you would jump, why ? So what to do. Well you've clearly shat in your own nest leaving you with two and only two possibilities. Either straighten up your act or get out. Either way you'll need to support YOURSELF without relying on others. Perhaps learn to pack and take a tent off to a busy DZ. Perhaps pumping gas or even perhaps working for the golden arches mob. Don't like tjose ideas ? Well stiff. Find some way to support yourself WITHOUT bringing any more ill feeling into your life. Lastly don't whine, do something positive. Remember that the most common cry from a heavy dope smoker is "Nobody understands me." The answer from non-tokers is - well if you made more sense we may be able to work something out. You seem like an alcoholic in denial, work on it. Ooroo Mark F...

Skyhawk, Yep, we're fortunate in that we have some of the best (for the consumer...;-) ) consumer laws on the planet. From the Oz point of view BB made a few mistakes. They charged against an expired card. They charged extra against your card without telling you. They didn't issue an invoice before payment was taken. And they didn't issue a receipt after the funds were taken. With _our_ laws that's enough for BIG trouble. In Oz your bank would also be somewhat liable in that they processed a transaction against an expired card. The old Prof. Fels[1] and his henchpersons would have something of a field day. Again, in Oz, a quick call to the bank would have seen the transaction reversed pending paperwork etc. [1] Prof. Fels is the head honcho of the ACCC (Aus. Consumer & Competition Commision). He's a brave man, he goes after the banks with some success. At the moment he's working on pricing collusion between oil companies. Fels is like a terrier with a bone in that he will NOT give up...:-) Ooroo Mark F...

Damn, you made me log on for the first time in AGES...:-) But I lurk a lot. I was Mark F... then and I'm MarkF now...:D Just now I'm considering whether I'm able to start over with AFF. I got stage 7 done around mid December last year and then what I was SURE was my arthritus playing up stopped me cold. REALLY h e a v y pain in my feet. Well I now know that it isn't arthritus, it's a fuckin' nasty mosquito borne virus called Ross River Virus Disease or Ross River Fever. I'm well on the way to recovery now so I reckon I should re-start jumping early in 2002. Maybe another month or 6 weeks, just to be sure that I'm not going to suffer any more flare-ups. When I get back you'll probably need explosives to get me off the DZ...:-) Ooroo Mark F...

FORTUNATELY Netscape carked it before I could post a VITRIOLIC reply. The reply was not to the post, rather it was a reply to the "Editorial" Suffice to say I'm an Aussie and, like a large majority of Aussies, regard the USA as a good friend of Oz. For those that don't know Oz has offered rescue workers, police, fire fighters, blood, emergency supplies etc.... for this latest tragedy. As an athiest I don't pray. I am however sickened by the level of violence visited upon America by who knows who. Rest assured that the thoughts of Aussies are with you all. You've suffered a tremendous loss. Hang in there guys, I'm sure that it'll all come out right in the end. Ooroo Mark F...

Ahh Something I know a bit about....At last...:-) First up forget wreck.photo.digital. It's the wreck dot of the digital camera world. Give http://www.dpreview.com a try, it's a great site run by Phil Askey as HH, sort of the dropzone.com of the digital photography world. For your own peace of mind don't buy "grey market" stuff, guarentees etc. won't be honoured and, if it comes from Europe , the video out standard will be PAL rather than NTSC which may or may not cause hassels. IMO the best thing to do is to visit a local camera shop, or three, and explain _exactly_ what use you intend putting the camera to. Have a play with a few different cameras and make good and sure that you can see what sort of results the camera is capable of. If the store wont let you have a bit of a play just go somehwhere else. Remember that the store will be trying to push the product that they make the most out of so very often you'll not get to see what they have in the way of second hand gear unless you ask. About the only advice I can give concerning which camera is to steer well clear of Sony. Yes they make damn fine cameras BUT they use very proprietry batteries and storage (except those which use either floppy or CD-ROM for storage). Cameras that use _only_ smart media can also be a bit of a pain. The media is somewhat more fragile than CF (compact flash) cards. Speaking of which you'll NEED more than 1 card as big as you can afford. For printing you can either take the card to _most_ photo-finishing places for a traditional (wet process) print or you can get a decent Epson photo printer. HP and Canon also make photo printers but they tend to be much more expensive to run ( at least in Australia). Anyway have a look at http://members.optushome.com.au/forsythm/ they were all taken with an Olympus E-10 except for the landscapes page which were taken with an Olympus C2020. (Which could well be a pretty good choice for what you want.) If you need any more info give me a hoy at forsythm@optushome.com.au and I'll do my best to help out. Ooroo Mark F...

Not really an option...:-( My problems are caused by a polio affected right leg. It's a wee bit shorter (1cm) than my left leg but the strength difference is huge. The result is that for the last 40 or so years I've been wearing various joints in an "unnatural" manner. Of course it hasn't been helped by me being an ACTIVE bushwalker for the last 25 or so years.... Yep still in Essendon. No way can I afford to move, not from here anyway. Besides that the Bank (which bank ?) still owns most of the place..... I never did follow the Bombers. I'm a Fitzroy man. Of course the bloody AFL STOLE the roy boys and sent 'em north. I'm STILL a memner of the Fitzroy Social club though...:-) Now I only go to the footy if it looks like being a good game. Couldn't give a rats who's playing.... I was jumping at Barwon Heads but due to..... well for various reasons (and you probably know who I mean..) I think Nagamby will be the place of the future. Most of the people that I respect (jumping wise anyway) have left BH and gone to Nagambie. Pity Colac didn't work out, it had the makings of a great, small, friendly, C-182 DZ. Oh well.... At least I'm talking about getting back in the air. maybe if I threaten, in aerious way, to go jumping again the 5 year drought will break..... One can but hope. (for those that aren't from around here, we've had well below average rainfall for around 6 or so years. Our water storages can stay topped up if we get 70% of average rainfall. This summer it looks like we get water useage restrictions...;-( 5 VERY dry years. Ooroo Mark F...

It's gonna take a while to get back up, if ever....:-) However since jumping has given me a lot over the last 2 years or so I reckon It's only fair that I give a bit back. So, given a bit of education and time I can at least get a packers or riggers rating (In Australia we have the Packer B license (pack and inspect only. Not reserves. Packer A is around the same as an FAA riggers rating). At least I'll not feel like a complete imposter at a DZ...:-) As for getting back into the sky....... Remember I've not yet completed AFF (1 jump (hop 'n pop) short)... Sitting here at least 2 hours drive from the nearest DZ I'm feeling "Door Fever"...:-) Damn... A word for any arthritus sufferers.... DON'T TOUCH Voltarin. A BASTARD drug if ever there was, it does help with arthritic inflamation and pain but it stuffs you around in other ways so that you have to stop taking it. The old aches and pains then resurface worse than ever. New drug regimes take quite a while with chronic degenerative diseases. Steer well clear of non-steroidal anti-inflammatories(sp?). If MikeD is still around..... The Rover is now completely in bits and the body is now bare metal. I'll start painting it tomorrow. Should have it finished in, oh, 3 or 4 years if past projects are any indication...:-) It's looking good though. Lovely and straight...:) :) :) Ooroo Mark F...

OK so I've been near on a year away from jumping (arthritic feet and back...long story) and here. I stayed away from here because, at the time, I couldn't jump and it made me miserable to read about others' fun. Even stayed away from DZs as well. Total bummer. Anyway I now reckon that my back and feet are about OK for jumping again so I thought I'd come back here and check it out. BUMMER. This forum seems to me to have degenerated into childish swearing and flaming. Quite frankly I can't be bothered. Ooroo Mark F...

Yeah I still lurk now that my embryo jumping career is over...;-( Go to your local police an tell 'em ALL the details. Then you need to motivate the FBI to investigate wire fraud. This is where your local cops come into it. They have much more chance of motivating another law enforcement body. It wont be easy but it IS doable. I've recently had a very similar experience and all it took was a single call from the FBI to the Rip Off Merchant and I got my money back. It took a few months but it workds...:-) I know it sounds very bloody drastic but skydiving gear aint cheap. Especially for an impoverished jumper. Another method is to post something on rec dot anonymously asking for this person to contact you via a hotmail or yahoo or something e-mail address. Don't give reasons just a plea for him to contact you. Although this person is out of the sport it's quite likely that he /she /it maintains contact with someone still in the sport. Good luck... Ooroo Mark F...

I don't _think_ that anyone's mentioned any of the problems a CYPRES may cause, except for the two out scenario. If I had a choice, and I don't as a low timer in Australia, there is no way that I'd jump a rig with an active CYPRES.....(I bet that stirs 'em up...:-) A CYPRES is a man-made electro-mechanical device. It relies on accurately measuring something that is rapidly changing at different rates of change (freefly vs RW + transitions..). It's battery powered. All of which, in my view, adds up to an unreliable device. Yes I do realise that the VAST majority of jumps with CYPRES are event free. A _few_ (by comparison) have their sorry arses saved by the correct operation of the CYPRES. Even fewer have problems caused by their own idiocy (going low and ending up with 2 out). There have been VERY few unprovoked CYPRES fires and they are the ones that fair scare me. One on a picnic table, one in a doorless aircraft on the way UP and one as the door was opened in another european incident. I've had the one in my rig fire in an aircraft on the way down. NOT a CYPRES fault, ratehr an education fault. I'd only got 3 jumps at the time and had to ride down because of wind. I asked the JM to turn the thing off, and he told me that I shouldn't worry and that we'll just have a nice ride down. Fortunately that aircraft had a door...... Ooroo Mark F...

In this neck of the woods No Fear has a different meaning. As in. You gonna crawl throught that broken glass and razor-blade pile ? NO FEAR !!!!!! Therefore the No-Fear tee-shirts cause me a bit of amusement.....:-) You gonna do .......... ??? NO FEAR !!! LUV IT..... Ooroo Mark F...