blueshrew

Oh boy, I see you jump at ZHills, poor them Hope you don't take that too seriously. (added that to make sure)

I agree, it does sound like that, but maybe it's just how you wrote it. I know a lot of skydivers who also BASE jump. In Germany it has been legalized. The best and most innovative BASE jumper I have heard of is the CI of my DZ. But he will only train certain people, who he knows will really take the risks seriously. There are more fatalities than anyone would want in skydiving, but percentage wise compared to most other extreme sports and traffic, it's low. With BASE, that is different. Don't get me wrong, the reason I got into this sport was because there was a cliff that I wanted to jump off every time I was on it. But I see from a lot of others how normal jump numbers matter there, and so I am waiting a while first. The only common thing between BASE and planes is that jumping involves a parachute and a rig. But even there the similarity in equipment is small. I do not know where you have been jumping to accuse someone of being an arrogant geek, the only time I was in the US (ZHills) with only 40 jumps or so, I got loads of good advice and packing tricks, without anyone treating me like I was a stupid newbie. So you know, if you have a chip on your shoulder, don't make a fool of yourself here for having it.

You have attracted a lot of attention with your writing in this forum. If you decide to contact a daily paper say about a weekly article, I am sure a lot of people here will back you up by sending recommendation letters and emails. So get that courage up, and we'll be behind you all the way. Just let us know where to send the letters

I still jump at the DZ where I did my AFF. It has THE best chief instructor I have ever seen in this world. And it's a friendly and cosy DZ.

I was so touched by the way wrote this. I think such things happen to the people who deserve them the most, and when they need them the most. And you really should try to publish some of your stories, everyone here loves your writing, maybe that's your ticket to fame and fortune

I am getting the feeling that the general opinion here is: F*** the rest of world, they're all minions that have to abide by the rules, and we will as hell make sure of it, but are ourselves above those rules, and will not be asked to abide by them. And I am not trying to tread on anyone's toes. Maybe you all are just joking, and I don't get the humor?

My first canopy is a 120sqf Sabre2 (yes, I am very light). I am taking Rickster Powell as an example and will only downsize when there's nothing more to learn on that size canopy. It's better to eventually make my first swooping mistakes on that canopy before I downsize.

I met a girl that has been in the sport 7 years, has about 100 jumps, and doesn't know shit about anything skydiving related. I guess you can't make a general rule. When I started out, I spent the whole winter looking for information, reading it and asking the more experienced skydivers until they shooed me away, and watching landings. So after that winter, I had 6 years less in the sport but a whole lot more knowledge. I've met people with 500 jumps over a few years' time, that never really cared about looking up information. But, I do agree that a jumper with more jumps, who is also current will have better freefall skills.

Seems like your visits were mostly service visits judging from the locations. I will not post where I have been, though the list is deffinitely longer. But the difference is that I speak English, German and Arabic fluently/natively, and that makes me a non-tourist to most eyes. Let's take the Arab countries for example, you will not know the culture and will never be able to pronounce the language properly. Given that, you will always be a stranger, no matter how at home you feel. And you can argue that as much as you want, you cannot know it unless you don't have those barriers. And given that, you will always get a guarded opinion from people in that country, because they cannot communicate with you on the same cultural/mental level. So that list has just reduced itself to a couple :) Now before you give your next huge post, think

You do not know the meaning of war, there never has been a war IN the US, that involved another country, so an US civilian will never have known those horrors. It is an entirely different thing to send off troops, or to have bombs falling all around you. I suppose they get a video of Bush then, and alter it for the news to have him say that a big reason for his war is access to Iraqi oil. But it is so far away from home, that in the end you won't really care what happens, as it will not affect your LAND. So I suppose after another world war, the US will shower everyone with funds to make it better again. Well then let's hope we survive that possible war. And by the way, if the A-bomb saved a lot of lives, you're forgetting the people who are still dying of the long term effects. You may want to inform yourself more, before you write another humongous post without thinking.

I doubt that you have it, you are only very good at showing the good, and trying to hide the bad. But you have never seen it from the eyes of the other side. So basically that give you not an advantage, but a disadvantage. If you take history books from two different countries about an event involving both, be sure that the outcome is different most of the time. Being there give you your military's viewpoint and nothing else. Althoug the US has been involved in a lot of good, it has stuck its nose in a loooot of places that it should not have, in providing weapons, or training, or or or. A time later they are complaining that those people are turning against them. Well go figure. If you give a child a weapon and tell them how to use it, they will probably listen to you at first, but when they get used to the idea of killing, then run and hide. It's human nature. It's like a military with even less rules.

It's like trying to explain to people who share that belief, that they were trained to see things in a different way, whether it is correct or not. Otherwise the whole military concept would not work, I suppose.

Well, it's a great way to get the hours in at work, when I don't want to do anything productive

If I wanted to read all posts that interest me here, I'd go blind . The posts come in faster than I can click.

Haaaa.......find ANYONE that does.... Good point!

Same goes for a lot of countries that are called terrorists, because some terrorists happened to be born there. Well it deffinitely was not by Egypt, more like Israel attacked Egypt, occupied Sinai, then was later defeated by Egypt in most of Sinai, and the last part of Sinai was ordered back to Egypt by the UN. But while it's a subject, have you checked the Jewish/Palestinian regions in Israel in 1967 and compared that to the map today? Now why does the US jump in everywhere except there? I have always wondered about that.

I think billvon and chachi have already given excellent replies to your post. I am not trying to offend you, but everyone is entitled to their opinion, however uninformed it may be. Your claim of jealousy is just rediculous. As many good things as the US was involved in, they have f***ed up at least as much (only country to ever use an A-bomb, to mention the least). And this is what is making the US increasingly unpopular even in Europe. Like the German or French government, the Saudi Arabian govt is an ally to the US govt. I have not heard one person praise the US in a loooong time now, so the people's opinion does differ a lot from the govts'. As for freedom in the US, I think European citizens have way more freedom than they can ever wish for, and are not really bound by social barriers. Next, you have obviously never been to Saudi Arabia, and only see and believe the parazzi shit. Altough women don't have many rights, all the ones I've seen like the way they live, and have little to complain about. (What I'd give, to not have to work ) Now getting to Iraq, and now that the UN inspectors are allowed in, the US still want to attack Iraq, and this time it's for access to Iraqi oil, as it is in the news anyway. When Iraq attacked Kuwait for the same reason, the US stepped in, which was a good thing, since Iraq was deffinitely at fault then. But now the US wants to do the same thing??? I am terrified of a third ww right now. What if Saddam is just waiting to be provoked? My family is divided between Egypt, Germany and France, and basically we're all probably dead meat if the guy gets angry. The chances of a ww reaching the US is pretty slim, though, as they were in ww2. It is a huge difference if a country sends its troops to fight, or if bombs are falling all around you. I just hope that if I live to see the next US election, a wiser president gets voted.

A pwetty little monkey I am

My 100th, wrapped arround my b/f kinda like a chimp , with him getting us headdown. It was faaast.

Agreed, but on the other hand, I don't think that anyone who is familiar with the culture and religion in that region would see the Iraqi government as an extremist islamic government. I think Saddam is seen more as an extreme capitalist (sounds weird, I know). And believe me, he's not a popular man in neighbouring countries, but I guess no one would dare mess with him.

No, Islam is not what you heard it is. It is and stays a religion. Al-Qaida is a fundamentalist organization whose acts oppose to everything in that religion. As much as the media loves to say this is the core of Islam, it is everything but. Maybe the "little ones" have been brainwashed to think they are acting for their religion, but the big fish will certainly have other things on their mind. As for Iraq, it is a dictatorship whose politics don't really associate with any religion.

Celeste, Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends. I assume that this refers mainly to 9/11. What many fail to see is that many Middle Eastern countries are or were affected by acts of terrorism as well. I originally come from Egypt, and my country has suffered a few attacks in the past that threatened to kill the only significant source of income it has, which is tourism. It was believed that the terrorists were trained in the Sudan (and by whom, I will tell you in a moment). You may not believe most of this, but after 9/11 almost everybody I spoke to back home was very angry at the Arab leaders for ignoring the threat that terrorist groups pose to the whole world. It is a shame that those leaders don't use their resources to uncover such groups, when they would probably be better at it than others (e.g. the US). A lot of the oil money that you think goes to "people who are trying to kill you", in fact goes to foreign companies. A lot of the companies that dig up there aren't local. Blaming a mass of innocent people for the acts of f***ed up maniacs doesn't get anyone anywhere. I know it is hard not to hate the countries that those terrorists were born in, but the believed to be Sudan trained terrorists that attacked Egypt, were also believed to be trained by Americans. I hope you see the irony here.

When I was in Florida last February, I couldn't help but notice that practically everywhere I looked, was an American flag in some form (bumper stickers, plaques stuck in the ground, to name a few). That seems to be something everyone here disapproves of, and as a non-American, I am now confused. I thought that was a sign of patriotism (which I've never seen elsewhere), but you seem to be implying the opposite. I'd be grateful for some clarification. As far as I am aware, flags in many other countries are used as a form of identification, as a symbol for that country, and are not really an issue otherwise.

Me me me, can I have #23 OK, apparentley 23 is gone, can I have 77?

I had the exact same problem when I started out, and it was driving me nuts. Along the way I realized that if I could track away on separation, that's the key. Just a mini bump/impulse, the same way I would separate, did the trick. It sounded very weird to everyone who heard it, but it worked. maybe it'll work for you, too. I never had the problem again :)