murrays

The TRV 19 has Super Steady Shot and a Zeiss lens. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Friends of mine who keep donkeys told me a fairly interesting story along these lines... A number of years ago, one of their donkeys had a baby mule (she was messing around with a horse). The young mule died suddenly at about a year of age. My friends buried him in a corner of their property. The mother donkey stood by his grave constantly for several days after he died. Then, my friends saw a raven land on a fencepost near the mother, the mother looked at the raven while it croaked at the donkey for a while. The raven flew off and the mother donkey ceased her vigil at her baby's grave. Who knows what goes on? -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Michael, Thanks for letting us know the quality is good. I think I will order them and have them converted to NTSC at a place in town that supposedly does a good job on conversions. Apparently they will convert to DV - NTSC so that I will be able to edit them on my computer and burn them to a DVD. Blue skies, -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I just started Muay Thai Kick Boxing about 4 months ago. It's been one of the best things I've done for myself. Great workout. I've lost 5 pounds and a couple of inches off my waist. I really notice the increased flexibility moving around in the aircraft (C182 - small dz) and my general fitness level is way up. The classes I go to really rock...music blasting, warm-ups, skipping, stretching, heavy bag or pad work with another student followed by push-ups, ab work, more stretching to warm down. Eventually I plan to learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu to have the combination of ground fighting and stand-up fighting. Having lots of fun and feeling good! -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

A while back I pointed people to a utility that switched iMovie3 between NTSC and PAL so I don't think it was there before. Now that I've updated I can't check.

Install went great. After downloading it took about 2 - 3 minutes to complete the install. Starting the program seemed slower than I'd like...so no change. But, I can now preview transitions and effects and they happen NOW. Moving clips around seems good. Haven't had time to do a dvd and see if the audio/video sync has been fixed. The Quicktime update says that this should be improved in iMovie so hopefully it will be better. I just took a look at the preferences and noticed that you can now select "New Projects Are: NTSC or PAL" This wasn't there before was it? If it was, we wouldn't need that little utility to switch...god my memory is getting bad. This should make it totally easy for anybody (in North America) to get firewire off a PAL recorder...just change the preference and start a new project...import the PAL footage and export it to Quicktime in DV/DVC Pro - NTSC. Then, change the preferences back and import the Quicktime back into an NTSC project. Turf the PAL project. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

So, I just noticed that iMovie 3.03 has been released...hopefully it fixes most of the problems that the previous two updates didn't. Edited to add that Quicktime 6.3 was also released today and the iMovie 3.03 update requires QT 6.3. The Quicktime update is available in Software Update. The iMovie 3.03 Updater is available here. It requires iMovie 3.0. I just downloaded it and will install it and get back to the faithful (and patient) Mac users out there. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Rob, Well, there's a Canadian skydiving myth blown to bits! You're not disagreeing with me...you're correcting me :-) I have always been of the understanding that this was something Tom had come up with....and I know I am not alone in that belief. Interesting....thanks for the history lesson. Speaking of the hanging exit....I agree that it is much better than the dynamic exit...better stability and less chance of a tail strike. Speaking of a CAPS DZ...I showed up at Westlock in about 1986 wanting to skydive. The FJC was just getting out and the woman at manifest told me I wouldn't be able to jump and then asked me if I was an instructor. I told her I was and Jim Mercier went over how they did the hanging exit with me and I out out 25 or 30 students before I left. I was greatly impressed with how much better their exits were...compared to the dynamic exit being used everywhere else I'd been jumping. I later mentioned this to a very well known CSPA Course Conductor and was told that what Mercier was doing was all wrong...blah, blah, blah. I laugh my ass off now that the hanging exit has become the norm...Thanks to TK Hayes work (correct me if I'm wrong on that one) -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Specifically, IAD was the brainchild of Tom McCarthy, the owner/operator of Skydive Gananoque near Kingston, Ontario. Tom started doing IAD in 1979 or 1980, shortly after he became the first Canadian dz to start putting students out with piggyback containers rather than front-mounts. Tom no longer does IAD as he has converted completely to tandem followed by one-on-one AFF/PFF style progression. Tom is an innovative DZO that has always been in the forefront of change. Skydive Gananoque is a great place to skydive...if any of you are ever in the neighbourhood, drop in and make some skydives. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

It looks like it is only for iMovie 3 ,,, I went to the developer's website to see if there were versions available for any earlier versions. I have been waiting for another update to iMovie 3 that I saw rumors about over a month ago.....but nothing yet. I think you could change it (in iMovie2) by editing the preferences file? I hate doing things like that (because it reminds me of editing win.ini and system.ini files in Windows) but it might be possible to do the same thing manually. I think that this is all that this little utility does in iMovie 3. I took a look at the com.apple.iMovie3.plist (using text edit) file located in the preferences folder in my user directory....There is a paragraph right at the very bottom .... VideoStandard NTSC I think that if you changed the NTSC to PAL you would switch the standard. I am pretty sure that you can delete these files safely...the next time you start the program you just have to reset yourpreferences from the defaults. Hope this is helpful. If you have someone more familiar with mac technical stuff to run this by first it might be advisable. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Yes, you're correct. You should always pull both handles...you never know if the RSL has gotten disconnected. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Ripcord was the show....I remember watching it when I was a kid as well. You can buy Carl Boenish's videos in PAL from an outfit in Germany called www.Skydivingvideos.de Quite a good selection! Let us know how the quality is...I've been thinking of buying them and converting them to NTSC. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Orian, I think there are quite a few of us that would love to help preserve Carl's work. Do you know if the rights are owned by anybody? -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I found Skies Call 1 and 2 available from some eBay booksellers, used copies for a fairly reasonable price. (I already had 3 but had lost 2 somewhere in my travels.) As you point out, 2 covers a transition period when many new things started happening...1 is the end of the beginning...S&A, rounds being replaced by RW and squares. They are all great books. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

True story....but I think it happened before the 80's as I saw stills from the movie in a book about the time I started jumping in 1980 so I think it happened earlier. Good thing the spot was right overhead!! -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Mike, I don't remember if Sport was ever into doing CReW...I don't think we could ever get him to grab nylon. For everybody else, Sport is a Canadian skydiver that likely had one of the wildest PFF experiences of all time...so this Scary Stories thread is maybe a good place to share it. This happened in the mid-80's. Sport and his fellow dz owner, John Addison (who was just killed in a motor vehicle accident a few weeks ago) took this guy up for his first PFF jump. (Cessna 182) Sport was secondary, John primary. They launched off the plane...Sport told me, "You know, he was kind of a big guy, but it seemed we really had to give him a jerk to get him off the airplane...then we realized why...." One of the student's risers had snagged the jump door handle and ripped the door off the aircraft. It immediately started beating John and Sport as it whipped around above the student. Sport let go and dove to opening altitude so that he could order the ambulance as he figured this was going to have a very bad outcome. I believe John then dumped the student out. The main opened and started spinning. The student tried to cutaway but the cables were impossible to budge because the riser had a zillion twists in it. He eventually pulled his reserve...a round reserve....which snaked out and opened. He landed under the round reserve towing his main and the aircraft door. Aside from some bruises and minor cuts he was fine. Get Sport to tell you the story this summer...it'll be much better than my description. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

It would also give you a bit more head room under the wing ... which would be nice. How tight are these when closed? Are they drafty? Just wondering how they'd be in colder weather. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Rob, If you are wanting to use the camera handheld...to do tandems is my guess....take the above advice and take a look at a TRV-19. I just took a look at one again over lunch and at $999 CDN it would only require a bit of bending of your budget. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Skies Call 2, photograph number 31. I wonder who the dude inside the bottom canopy is? I believe that photograph 105 is the first 8-stack and the same guy docked last on it. Obviously an early CReW dog guru. Anybody know? His canopy is a 5 cell, Star most likely, ans is orange and black. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I've always thought that a good pack job on a Racer is the mark of a good rigger....if you can do a good job and make a Racer look good...then you're good, damn good. I've jumped Racers for 21 years now. I like the pin protection of the reserve and the excellent pilot chute launch. I've never had a problem with the velcro riser covers coming undone when doing stand-ups and freestyle stuff but haven't done any head down in one. I have to say that I am hesitant to do so because of the potential for problems. But, for a starter rig for somebody who is planning on flat-flying in it...I think it would be fine. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Just getting started on the tutorials Scotty

Hey Scotty, QT starts right up, quality is v.good, controls work, links work! Good vid. I'm using Safari, QT 6.2 on an 800 mhz iMac. What did you use for the title? -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

This works on Macs only. I just came across a handy little utility called DVDxDV that allows you to extract the video and sound from DVDs made with iDVD or DVD Studio Pro on Macs. You need Quicktime 6 Pro and the Quicktime MPEG-2 plug-in installed for DVDxDV to be able to extract video. Very easy to use..it exports the video and sound together in a Quicktime self-contained file which you can then import into iMovie to edit again. You can choose the file you want to export and also set in and out points if you just want part of the clip. I have always been hesitant to delete the source files for DVDs..in case I want to burn another for someone, in case the DVD gets wrecked, etc, etc. This little utility allows me to back up by burning an extra copy of a DVD which can be stored away and not used. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Lori, The best vehicles I've owned have been Toyotas...followed by our Nissan minivan and my 1993 Honda Civic. The Toyotas were reliable and trouble free...my definition of good. Our Nissan Quest minivan has given us 7 trouble free years so far. The Civic I just bought for commuting is a great little car...excellent mileage, terrific suspension and more zip than I'd have ever expected from a 1.3 l power plant. Cruises at 75 mph on the highway very nicely. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Sport and my lovely wife, Patty? Help yourself Mike