murrays

-27 Celsius here (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, The Great White North) and going to -31 tonight...But it's a "dry cold" -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I've searched through old threads and haven't come up with opinions on this but I'm sure it has been discussed. I've got a PC-1 that I will be mounting to a Bonehead Optik in the spring. I plan on putting it in a D-Box. I have tracked down some PC-1 boxes (that are no longer made) and am wondering if they are better that the one-size fits all box now available from Bonehead. What are the pros and cons? I plan on using the larger battery NP-FS21 (1 1/2 hours), not the small one. Will this battery fit in either without modification? TIA -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Here is a photo of a cameraman named Robin Sutherland taken in 1986 or so. Robin had a ringsight as well as a viewer that showed him what the camera was seeing. I don't know if he had partially disassembled his camera and moved the viewfinder into that housing over his left eye. He also had a huge deck on his chest...the stuff on his helmet was only the camera and that was state of the art back then. Jumping camera these days seems a whole lot easier and possibly safer with the smaller more easily jettisonible cameras most people use. Robin went in at the Ranch in 1989 or so with a main/camera/reserve entanglement. He was a great guy. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I guess I look at the huge number of choices available for pc's in a different light... As a person who has been caught a couple of times in the hell of the software vendor blaming the operating system (Windows) who is blaming the hardware maker who is blaming everybody else for a problem I think that a person buying a Mac for the purpose of video editing is in a much more comfortable position for getting good tech support because: Apple sells the hardware, writes the operating system and writes the software. There is only one place to call. Apple's tech support is good, evidenced by the fact that in the most recent PC World magazine Service and Reliability survey Apple got the best marks in the desktop category.(No rating in the Notebook category...no reasons given.) Still need more convincing? Blue skies, -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

If you would like a turn-key solution with Firewire built-in, software for editing dv footage, software for creating DVDs and a drive to burn them on..take a look at one of the Apple Powerbooks with a Superdrive. Available with 12, 15 and 17 {drool} inch screens. Take a look at the iLife suite of software that Apple is releasing this Saturday. This software is all free with a new Mac. (You may have to pay $20 for a CD with this software if the Mac you buy doesn't have the new versions already installed) Everything you need to combine music, stills and dv on DVD. Obviously, I'm a happy Mac user. I think it's a pretty painless route to DV editing and DVD creation. (I am just about to pop a DVD in my Superdrive and burn a DVD of old footage for a friend.) My burned DVDs have all worked perfectly on my year old Sony DVD player....but I know that quite a few players won't read burned discs. newer is better in this regard I think. Good luck with your decision. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Even though Apple just released their new Powerbook with Firewire800 which I believe is twice as fast as existing Firewire isn't the limiting factor how fast your hard drive can write data? I don't think hard drives can keep up with Firewire let alone anything faster....so I guess I don't fully understand the present need for a faster connection standard Right now I'm using my iPod to store video and make room while I create projects. I just finished a large project last night so when I finish burning everybody's DVDs I'll be able to free up some more room. Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences with external drives. I think I'll sit tight for a little while and snag an external 120gb 7200 rpm drive with Oxford 911 chipset when they have their end of life price drop. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

good deals are like buses..if you miss one, another one will come along shortly.... You've gotten lots of good advice on downsizing safely, don't let a "good deal" cloud your judgment. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Controlling flare gets into designing lens elements, multicoating of lens surfaces, number of air/glass surfaces in the lens, type of glass in the elements (low dispersion glass) etc. Is the front of the .45 somewhat shielded compared to the .5...like a built-in lens hood? Are you sure they have been compared in identical lighting circumstances? Are they from the same manufacturer? Are they sort of in the same price range? It could be due to any number of reasons.... -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Skratch, This is totally off topic but inspired by your skydance comments. Do you feel that freeflying is closer to your concepts for Skydance? I really don't know anything about freeflying as I'm re-inserting myself into jumping after nearly ten years of very few jumps but the videos that I watch I find very exciting...partly because of the three dimensionality and partly because of the improvisation that I think I see and partly because it seems to me that some dives are done purely for the visuals or the joy of just flying. Just thought I'd toss that out and see what you think. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

But can you build snowforts with your kids in the front yard? Huh, can ya? Hope all of you in warmer climes are making the most of it! Actually, I love the snow and playing with the kids in it (see photo)....but some skydives would be nice! -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Are either of these the ones that you can swap drives out of by buying a few extra carriers? -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I believe Roger Ponce was on Mirror Image at some point in time as well as Mitch Decoteau. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I AM an old bastard! My other favourite quote is... "I hate to recommend alcohol, drugs and violence to anybody else, but they've always worked for me." ... Don't know where that one came from exactly. The movie, "Where the Buffalo Roam" starring Bill Murray has some good moments but overall isn't great. I love the opening where Murray, as HST, is walking back and forth in his cabin in Colorado, in front of a mannequin wearing a Nixon mask, drinking and muttering to himself while the "mojo wire" beeps incessantly in the background (the mojo wire was a primitive precursor of a fax machine) as the editors at Rolling Stone are waiting for copy and the deadline is already past. His dobermans pad back and forth beside him. Suddenly he drops to one knee and shouts "Down Rocko she's mine!!" as he pulls out a very large handgun and blasts the mojo wire several times. It's worth renting if you can find it in a video store if you've read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and On the Campaign Trail. I really should get some work done but HST is such a long-time favourite.. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

When it is warmer, make a trip down to Gananoque and make some leaps at Tom McCarthy's place. After you have talked to Tom and he walks away, say, "Who was that old guy?" .... just about the oldest joke on the dz. You can tell him who put you up to it.

My favourite HST quote from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the one about journalism...(from memory as I'm at work) Journalism is not a profession. It's catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits....etc,etc. Remember it when reading reporting on skydiving accidents. Murray (Who is old enough to have read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas when it was serialized in Rolling Stone magazine, before the book was released.) We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold......

Here's one Canuck's opinion: I think they should be at most reprimanded and nothing more. The Canadians weren't displaying a flashing red light during the training exercise as required by US procedures...this is a failure at a higher level to communicate safeguards that should be in place. I'm really sorry some of our guys lost their lives but I also feel for the pilots who have this on their consciences. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Yeah baby!!! Too expensive right now but one of those would certainly be nice! How long before ordinary systems are sold with terabytes of storage? I'm gonna say 2 years....and that might be conservative. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I have my instructions written in my will..some cash is left to buy the load and fund a party....a small party.;-) My cremated remains are to be taken aloft on a warm summer evening...preferably on a day after we've had a thunderstorm the sun has come out and the meadowlarks are singing...and then released on a skydive by the one person I have given the job to and whoever else he decides to bring along on the jump. And that's it. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Paris, France to Lidkoping, Sweden for the Hercules Boogie. I don't know how far it was. It took us a couple of days of pretty hard driving. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Several years ago...17 maybe? I saw a National Phantom 28 being examined by CSPA's technical Director at the time, Duncan Grant. This was one of the reserves without the kevlar reinforcing bands...and likely one of the reasons they added the bands. The reserve had been deployed by a student at Morden, Manitoba. One of the grommets on the diaper wasn't properly seated and it somehow grabbed the canopy and started tearing it. The tear went from the lower lateral band to the apex...you could literally drive a truck through it. I started jumping at Morden some time after I saw this parachute and the guy jumping it was very lucky to have survived. Apparently, the reserve was streamering, everybody on the ground thought he was toast, then it inflated when he was just off the deck and then collapsed. Had it inflated momentarily higher he likely would have died, according to the description I heard. My first reserve, a 26' Navy Conical that still had the sea pockets on it didn't have a diaper. I used it on my first reserve ride. Cutaway from a crw wrap. I remember a sound almost like a rifle "crack" when it opened but I don't remember it as being a hard opening even though it was fast. Saved my life but I bought a new set of gear with a square reserve the next year. I've never jumped a round since. I am certain that people had more reserve rides when jumping rounds. Tom McCathy from Gananoque had I don't know how many reserve rides in his first 2000 round jumps and then went several thousand when he started jumping squares. He had a complete inversion on a round reserve once. he told me he opened his reserve, checked it...something seemed wrong but he couldn't figure out what it was in his adrenaline charged state. Then, when he picked up his reserve he realized that his reserve pilot chute was inside the canopy and not outside. His reserve had turned itself completely inside out! What had looked odd was the pilot chute dangling from the apex inside the canopy...it just hadn't registered. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Is anybody using external Firewire drives for storing video? What brand/capacity are you using? Any problems editing video stored on the external drive? What speed are you using - 5400 or 7200 rpm? Any problems with noise, power supplies, etc? I am thinking that the 120gb models are about to be end of life'd and some good deals should be available. I need some more hd space, I spend way too much time archiving stuff to make room for more video projects. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Sunny Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where it is clear and cold. -30 Celsius this morning. No jumps planned -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I think there is more to your decision than just the processor...video processor and memory, bluetooth, S-Video and VGA out on the G4....how much hard drive and ram do each come with, etc. That being said, I moved from a iMac G3 400 to a flatpanel iMac G4 800 and noticed quite a bit of difference but in your case, the processors speeds aren't really much different. I'd take a close look at what each model offers and see if that is something you could use. be sure to get lots of hard drive space my - 60 gb drive is always nearly full - and lots of RAM. 512mb at a minimum. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Fuzzy mailed me some old video footage taken about 15-17 years ago by the late Robin Sutherland of Montreal. It included some footage of my Ka-Ching dive with my old buddy Angus. I'd only seen his video once and never thought I'd see it again. I put together a little QT vid tonight using the stills I took with my fisheye lens taped to my running shoe and Robin's video. Thanks Fuzzy, you are a great guy!! Here it is...Have some laughs!! -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I'm glad to see so many people are happy with their Optiks as I bought "Bone Bonds" to buy one in May (snow might just be melted up here by then). Bonehead is supposed to give excellent service if you need it and their product was well regarded by everyone I asked. I'm expecting a good experience come springtime. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey