murrays

It depends on how many jumps the canopy has on it...a new F111 canopy is almost as non-porous as a ZP canopy...and flares accordingly. As it loses porosity it loses flare. If it has very few jumps on it you might be able to load it heavier. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I started my first family when I was 23....and fathered my second son when I was 44 (different wives). I wasn't ready to be a father the first time around. I'm a much better Dad now...has something to do with growing up, quitting drinking and smoking and having a career. I would recommend that you get a good financial base before starting a family...doing school, being broke and having little mouths to feed is a tough job. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Then I'd buy the HC40 over the HC42 for skydiving purposes. My HC42 is just getting used for videoing my kids, etc. It's a good camera but for jumping I'd prefer to have Firewire and AV out built into the camera. I used a Diamond .3 to just video every skydive and loved it. It was great of PFF (AFF) jumps as well. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I have an HC42 and I bought it because of the wide aspect ratio feature....which has been discussed in another thread in here somewhere. The only problem with that in a skydiving milieu is firewiring to and from other people might create a bit of a mess. You can use it in the usual 4:3 mode if you don't want to shoot widescreen. I don't know if the HC40 uses the docking station like the HC42...I find the docking station is a pain in the a**....carry it to and from the computer to the TV rather than just carry the camcorder. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Something I tried but didn't get results (because my flash didn't work) is do a longish exposure with a flash....the first shutter curtain opens, flash goes off...skydivers continue turning/moving leaving a blurred image with a sharp image from the flash. The blurry images were kind of interesting... blurry silhouettes against the evening sky....late sunset load. It has potential for some great images....imo. I've done things like move the camera around during the exposure...like the "throw" shots you linked to...I also liked doing multi-exposures moving the camera and sometimes throwing the image out of focus on one shot. Can you do these sorts of things on digital cameras or would you just do it on your computer? I did all these things on film and part of the fun was waiting for the slides to come back and see what I'd gotten. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Windows uses FAT32 file format and Macs use HFSPlus. The Mac _may_ recognize a Windows formatted iPod as an external drive but Windows won't recognize HFS Plus. Macs have always been able to read PC Formatted floppies, etc. I bought a flash drive a while ago that came formatted for DOS...it would be recognized on my Mac as long as the file names were compliant with the 8.3 convention. Browsing the Mac is easy..double click on the icon for the iPod which will show up on the Desktop and then double click on the folders you want to look into. Give it a go....I think it might work for you. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

On September 3rd my wife was diagnosed with leukemia. We have two young sons, ages 6 & 8. I've always thought that if anything happened to her I would quit until the boys are old enough to manage on their own. I won't take the chance of leaving them orphans at such a young age. Due to the risk she might die or have a relapse even if she survives I am done for the next 10-12 years. Basically, my sons' well-being is more important than me getting my rocks off skydiving. Nothing I love doing more than jumping but this was an easy decision. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I owned the Wildfire's predecessor canopy, the Bandit, and loved it. Old tech today but when they were current they were hot little canopies. I wouldn't load it up much...1:1 would likely be ok provided it doesn't have too many jumps on it. How many skydives does it have? -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Beautiful! Thanks so much. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

My old 2nd gen 20gb iPod feels like a brick compared to the 4th gen models and the 5th gen models are even smaller. Smaller is nicer...and the video capabilities will be very cool. USB 2.0 is the way Apple is going. If you don't have firewire you'd have to add a card to your machine. If you don't have USB 2.0 you'll also have to add it...USB 1.1 is way too slow for GBs of transfer. Hard drive - more capacity, possible skipping Flash - Less capacity, faster access, no skipping, smaller form factor. I wouldn't buy an older model...buy a new one with video, sharp screen, warranty, etc. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

You can buy add-on FM receivers among many other products for your iPod. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I bought one for my wife shortly after they came out...it's a real slick piece of work. Small, light, sharp screen. But, you know what, I'd buy a video capable iPod if I was in the market....I've already converted our club's year end video to iPod specs and I'm awaiting the chance to take it down to my Apple dealer and see what it looks like. Thanatos340 will shortly tell you of all the better alternatives He don't like iPods...I love my old 2nd gen 20gb and think my wife's 4gb nano is a great little item. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Apple just sent me their latest Quicktime News email and it has a link to some Quicktime High Definition (HD) trailers. I haven't looked at the trailers but here's the link You will need Quicktime 7 to view. Edited to add...WOW! Just watched the 480p trailer..the smallest and the quality is spectacular. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

When Eckstein came up I said to my 6 year old..."He's a pesky tough out" ...and he hits a seeing eye single on an 0-2 count...good pitch by Lidge, good hitting by Eckstein. Then, when he was pitching to Edmunds, I said to my little guy "we've got to end this here, we don't want Pujols coming up with 2 men on"....and Lidge walked him. Well, you know the rest. Sure was disappointed for Biggio and the other Astros who I'd like to see play in the WS before they retire. But, I still like their chances with Oswalt and Clemens (if needed). Here's hoping they can pull together and win it on Wednesday. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Interestingly enough, HC42 connection problems such as you describe also occur on Macs. The thing to do on a Mac is start the camera in the middle of some footage...if you start it between shots you get the ability to control the camera from the computer but nothing is visible on the computer and no data is transferred. Good luck. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

With regards to playing WMA files...iTunes 4.5 and later for Windows will import them (if they are unprotected WMA files) and convert them to the format selected for imports in iTunes preferences. I've had an iPod (2nd generation) for 3 years now and just replaced the battery with a replacement from Newer technologies. It took me about 4-5 minutes and resulted in an iPod that plays for over 20 hours. $35 for the battery. I've used some shareware/freeware to copy music from my iPod to my work computer. That wasn't an issue for me. I can appreciate why some people would rather directly control what is and isn't on their mp3 player but I can understand why Apple makes it easier for the far larger group of people that don't have a clue about files and directories, etc. They designed their system of software, store and iPod to make life as easy as possible for the masses of people that I'd say not only don't want to do what Thanatos does...but are incapable of doing so. I worked at an accounting firm a few years ago where about half of the people working there would call our IT people to move a file from one directory to another....sad but true. Are iPods better? I don't know as I have no experience with anything else but I have been completely satisfied with my iPod, the iTunes store and iTunes software. I think that if you buy an iPod you will be very pleased with your purchase. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Cool shot. I love the small camera sidemounted on his helmet. Main ripcord on the left main lift web or is that the reserve ripcord? I've never seen a front mount reserve ripcord that wasn't on the front of the reserve itself. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Coming in to replace an injured Colon makes his performance even more impressive. Josh Beckett's complete game shutdown of the Yankees in Yankee Stadium in 2003 and Francisco Rodriguez' performances in 2002 were similar performances by young or rookie players that came up huge with huge pressure on them. Santana was simply great last night. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

That was beautiful. Earvin Santana, a rookie, coming in to take over for Colon due to injury, and stonewalling the Yanks over paid sluggers. Mussina getting the loss in his shortest post season outing. Beautiful, just beautiful. The Braves and Yanks are both gone and I am a happy man. I'm hoping either the White Sox or the Astros wind up as WS winners but I really don't care. As long as it isn't the Yankees or the Braves I'm happy. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I think that the first in the US was in AZ....starts with an M...shit, I'm having a senior moment..... Just came to me...Marana. I also seem to remember reading about Bill Dause's experiences with students on ram airs at about the same time. The canopies in question were Django LR-288's...which became Mantas after Django lost its lawsuit to ParaFlite. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I bought one for my wife a couple of weeks ago. Sweet piece of technology! Buy a case with a screen protector. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I recently replaced the battery in my 2nd generation iPod with a 2200 mah replacement battery from Newer Technologies. They send you the tools necessary to open your iPod without damaging the case. I had it done in maybe 10 minutes. After I charged the battery up I started the iPod playing my song library to see how long it would last..22 hours later it was still going!! I think the cost was well worth it. The service from Newer Tech was great. If you need a replacement battery for your iPod I think you will be pleased with the results if you get one from these folks. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I hate Real Player too...I've never tried to open RP files using VLC...but maybe it is worth a try. VLC is freeware that is great for viewing a lot of formats that Quicktime doesn't handle. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

if I was buying a new set of gear today I would buy a Vector with a Skyhook. If you want to disconnect it when doing crw you can do so...the same as any RSL. I will bet that in a few years, after Bill Booth licenses it to other gear manufacturers, it will be almost as commonplace as a Cypres. It is going to save a lot of lives. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Do you have a camcorder with Firewire? If you do you can use that. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey