jaaska

How about if we raise it up to 3 L: What is the current Formula One? "In addition to a large number of regulations governing chassis design, the current formula restricts the cylinder capacity of the engine to 3 litres, prohibits supercharging and stipulates a minimum total weight of 600 kg, including the weight of the driver and his race equipment." "How powerful are Formula One engines? Even though the constructors never divulge exact details of their engine power, the maximum is known to exceed eight hundred horsepower in some cases. Manufacturers of engines claim that maximum power is not always the most important factor. Having power available at lower engine speeds is often of equal importance, especially in slow corners." (This F.A.Q. is based on data from the F.I.A.) I'll bet they'll get over 500hp out of 2 L engine - I'm sure there are quite a few 8 L engines with less HP... ---> The point I was trying to make - it's the sound that counts! I mean, it just doesn't sound that manly when the engine is running close to 20 000 rpm!

I know, that's what I was trying to say!

Now that the inspections are getting started in Iraq(we'll see for how long ), there is an interesting issue of another country, that has VERY efficient weapons developing programs (rumors say that this country has the most advanced bio-chemical warfare ever known). This country has announced that it will not allow any UN inspectors to weapon sites / laboratories etc. ! It is one of the few countries in the world that has not signed the UN treaty on inspections... Also this country has not signed the UN international court pact nor is about to... Yep, it's the good old United States of America Well, we do have to remember, of course , that these stupid UN rules and regulations apply only stupid and weak. I mean come on, what was that stupid UN thing about cutting down greenhouse emission? How in the hell do they think I could manage w/o my three precious pick-up trucks with 6 liter V8 engines? I don't care if they can get equal horse power out of an 2l hi-tech engine with 1/5th of the consumptions - it's the sound that counts. If US produces 1/3 of all the pollution in the whole world with 1/24 of the population, the only right thing to do is to try to keep up with consumption of fossil fuel! I don't care if the Saudi-Arabia is a one big nest for terrorists (9/11: 13 out 15 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia) - they are our friends! I don't give a shit about the state of human rights there - as long as the oil taps are open! It is a lot easier to go to a war when that war does not affect the amount of oil flow to US - better yet, if in the result of that war US has a military foothold (bases etc.) on 1/3 of total oil production in the world (Saudi Arabia + Iraq). Tell me it's not about oil!

Kenzo's Kenzo (I think it was that one)... It was some six years ago... I met this girl at a lecture and I swear, based almost solely to her sent, I asked her out. Gee... She was ok looking but it was the sent that _totally_ drove me crazy. Well, the thing didn't last too long, but afterwards another girl from the same program asked why had I asked her in the first place... I told her the truth and she said: "Yeah, I totally know what you are talking about - I'm straight, but that sent of hers got me 'confused' too..." So ladies, next time you pass by a perfume store, try it. - - Oh, another thing - do not overuse _any_ perfumes. That totally turns off any guy - besides, the idea is to smell the sent from close by, not 100ft head wind .

Just out of curiosity... Are there any regulations in US concerning the canopy size (the wingload) or how "aggressive" that canopy is? In Finland, the SIL (it's the organization in which all Finnish skydivers have to members - iow. a Finnish skydiver cannot skydive in Finland w/o being a member) has regulations from anywhere the size of the main canopy, elliptical canopy vs. the total number of jumps to how many jumps you _have to_ jump within a one season to maintain your license... e.g. One of the regulations states that you cannot jump with an elliptical canopy before you've jumped at least 250 jumps (so until that number of jumps, no matter how big is the main, is has to be "conservative" type)...

So, lately there have been a lot of writing about war etc. How many of you have actually served in military? Probably there are not enough options though... We'll see...

Sure it was. And we used their rules. They started a war where the rules are this: Define the enemy, kill them... ..."no purpose other than the deaths of targeted people" Exactly. That is what we should be doing at every opportunity... ...Good idea. Let's keep finding these peckerwoods and car-bombing them. Term 'war on terrorism' is a term used by the Bush administration. In more conventional usage war - in absence of more civil political devices and/or when negotiations fail - is a way to get things settled between two or more countries/states. The point is, as far as I know, US is not in a war with Yemen. Yes, there are plenty of arguments pointing that Yemen might/could not get the job done - then again there is the matter of sovereignty. You all probably remember the terrorist incident just couple of weeks ago in Moscow. Now, the personal assistant of the (darn, how is it spelled anyway) tseshny president is now held in Copenhagen. Denmark is not willing to give up the assistant to the Russian authorities in lack of evidence - this is heating up the political relations between these two independent countries. The point? I sure would not like to see the Russian intelligence agency to blow up the guy on Danish ground...

So... What's far enough and who decides it?

As this discussion is quite US domestic, I do not want to start to argue one way or the other on the main subject of gun-control nor the ballistic fingerprinting (the original subject left far behind). It's been interesting debate... However, I would like to point out for those who talk about "...[having] a lot of rules and restrictions [in Europe], enforced by an all powerful government..." should first of all read a bit more extensively and use wider range of sources (and this, I'm afraid, does not include a story about the raped rights of Europeans in a NRA's magazine

Boy, if I ever decide to take up a life of crime I'm definitely moving to Sweden. Will The thing is: If you would end up getting charged in Sweden (let's say you did something not so nice during the Hercules Boogie) OR You would end up getting charged over a similar thing in another not so civil or democratic state run by a military government, which one would you choose? The way society treats it's inmates and arrested/accused persons tells quite a bit about the society in general. Although I'm not Swedish, the similarities in Nordic countries, including the justice system, are quite real. Jaakko

My second attempt was a success. Basically I just kept on thinking the right procedure during the lift and did couple of mental exercises and it worked out just fine.

Sensory overload was the term I was looking for... Well, my examn went, grhm, not so well but the weather is really nice, so most likely my second attempt will be done in a couple of hours or so - keep your fingers crossed! Blue skies, Jaakko

Soo... My first time posting here. I just started skydiving (well until sunday I should have called it parachuting ) a month a go or so. I've progressed in S/L-program to the point where I get to jump w/o the static line. My practice pulls went well and last sunday I did my first selfdeployment jump. Arching and getting the delta right has not been a problem, so far. Boy I was nervous. So off I went from C206 and then I experienced something that happened to me only on first ever jump - a black out (not really passing out or anything) for a 2 seconds or so. I was supposed to do 101 (delta) 102 (looking towards the ripcord) 103 PULL with my right hand while left hand touches my helmet. -> back to arching 101-102... WHAT HAPPENED was: 101 (well formed delta) BLACK OUT around 102-3 I noticed that I had totally de-arched (according to my jump master I was close to a sitting positin with my back and butt towards the ground) and my both hands were on the rip cord. Somehow I did not freak out. I made myself NOT to pull on that position, got back to delta and waited until I was stable, then I pulled. The most weirdest thing was that I felt peacfull after I noticed the de-arched position. 3'' freefall was closer to 6'' or so. First thing my jumpmasted asked was: "What happened? Why did you not do it the way you did on your last practice pull earlier today?" I could not answer him. He said that since I got myself back to stable position before the pull I would not have to go back to the static line. Now, the weather looks really nice today (a bit cold, but hey, it's Finland!) and I'm going to the dropzone after an exam I'm taking (yeah baby English to Finnish translation). I could not care less for the exam, but I feel quite nervous about my second selfdeployment. I only can hope that the "blackout" was similar as on my #1 jump and would not bother me this time since it's my 2nd S-D (#10 in all). I'm redoing my first S-D jump since it was not 3'' and because the circus tricks I've described. I still feel very scared everytime I get into the plane and especially when I get to the door and wait for the GO... After I'm out, I feel wonderful... So, you oldies who did the S/L-progression: How was your first self-deployment? How long it took until you did not feel almost physically sick when getting ready to jump? Jaakko

IMHO it all comes down to the way the society has been dealing with the situations like this. Now, somebody already posted a message concerning about a burglar breaking in your own home... I've asked this from couple of my friends (we had a sort of an argument about the value of life vs. property). Picture yourself waking in the middle of the night. You go looking for the source of the noise and as you step on your doorstep, you see a bulrglar running on your yard, back turned on you, away from your house, and carrying your brand new TV-set... What would you do? What if you had a pistol in your hand? Alarmingly (is that a word? ) I have gotten answers where people actually tell me: "He's still on my yard, holding my personal property - I would shoot the son of a bitch!" and give me a look "what a dumb question!" Well, to me that sounds like an execution - There's now way that one would think of shooting the guy to pits and pieces in order to get the bloody tv-set back. The TV would be in pits and pieces as well. The only conclusion is that out of pure rage, one just pops the guy. I mean, if the guy is running away (holding the tv would not give him any chance to use his arms etc.) the threat he supposedly caused on you/your family is gone. Of course it's easy for me to judge for in most European states firearms and problems caused by them are in totally different scope if compared with US. Since it's highly unlikely that a common thief or a bulrglar would have guns here, I would not be as scared for my life etc. as my counterparts over the sea. The NSA, right for guns etc. of course is a another thing, which can be discussed in a different thread. PS. There was a internatial group of people where we discussed this matter (mostly from the States and Europe) and out of those people, you could clearly see the cultural difference that there is among some issues b/w Europe and the States...