ZigZagMarquis

Welcome to the 21st century, Nick! If the "computer doesn't say so" folks are becoming more and more brain dead. I guarantee the problems started when she went to the computer and there was no button saying "If personalized plate misspelled, click here" and the person she called had no idea either. Its just like when you try to order something at McDonald's that doesn't correlate to one of the meal pictures or your bill is $6.27 and you hand the kid a 20 a quarter and a nickel and in either case, they're lost and have no idea what to do... because the computer doesn't say so.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/07/04/american-flag-farthest-home-leaving-solar/?test=latestnews American Flag Farthest From Home Is Leaving Solar System Published July 04, 2010 The spaceflying American flag is a not a huge version of Old Glory, but will be the only one flying more than 10.5 billion miles (16.9 billion km) from Earth this Fourth of July. It is riding on Voyager 1, a 33-year-old space probe on the outskirts of our solar system. Another far-flung American flag is flying on Voyager 2, which is about 8.6 billion miles (13.8 billion km) from Earth. Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are on trajectories to leave the solar system behind after passing through a magnetic bubble-like region called the heliosphere. A NASA photo of the Voyager 2 American flag shows it to be a small U.S. standard packed alongside other mementos from Earth, like the iconic golden record that were also launched the spacecraft and contain messages from Earth for any extraterrestrials that may find them. "We were extraordinarily proud of what we were doing as a laboratory, as a part of NASA and as a country and we felt it was important to make a statement to that effect," said Jet Propulsion laboratory scientist John Casani, NASA's Voyager project manager at the time it was launched, in a statement provided to SPACE.com this week. "I'm gratified that Voyager is still sailing out there, bearing America's colors. What it represents to us is an affirmation of the pride we had at that time." Voyager 2's space flag is a 16-inch (40-cm) long version of the Stars and Stripes made of Dacron that engineers painstakingly sewed into the insulating blankets of the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which launched in 1977 on a tour of the solar system's gas giant planets. A similar flag is flying on the Voyager 1 spacecraft, which also launched in 1977 but is not as far from Earth as Voyager 2. [Voyager mission photos.] The American flags riding the Voyager probes are not the only distant U.S. standards out in space. Flags were planted on the moon by American astronauts during the six Apollo lunar landings in the late 1960s and early 1970s. NASA probes to Mars and elsewhere also include the U.S. standard. But the two Voyager probes are currently the farthest human-built objects from Earth, making their American flags the most distance from U.S soil. The probes' signals take nearly 13 hours to travel to NASA's worldwide Deep Space Network of listening antennas and back. NASA launched both spacecraft in the summer of 1977, but only Voyager 2 took a so-called "grand tour" of the solar system when it visited the gas giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in the 1980s by taking advantage of a rare planetary alignment that occurs once every 176 years. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter and Saturn. On June 28, Voyager 2 hit a major milestone when it marked the 12,000th day of its mission. Voyager one, which launched later than its counterpart, will hit the same milestone on July 13. "I'm proud of the people who worked on this and put so much of their life and energy into building, developing and flying that thing," Casani said. "They did it right."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4no8DtXUOY Damn... I did not like seeing the toilet float up above the skydiver. I hope he tracked away! Buzz Kill!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4no8DtXUOY

A happy be-lated Canada Day to all y'all in the Great White North!

Happy 4th of July all.

Remember! Curvy Roads and Straight Roads!!!

Don't worrry about it. We've got Obama Care now in the U.S. If you can't (or don't) pay, the few of us that actually work for a living will.

I had over 1000 skydives when this thread started...

At what point are a lot of welds on a bike frame "too many"?

No way I would do that for just wine and chocolate! So you saying there is a price!!??

* confused look * I thought this (see attached pic) was a Double-Double?

I voted "NO", but do think she should pose for some art-ful black & white nudes... to be posted here... or in a "Hot MILFs of Dropzone Dot Com" calendar or what-not... that's not Porn... right?

Awake and Oriented Times Three

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/29/rescued-teen-sailor-returns-california-home/ Published June 29, 2010 MARINA DEL REY, California -- Abby Sunderland said Tuesday she faced down moments of terror on the high seas when her boat was rolled over by a rogue wave as she tried to sail around the world. Still, the 16-year-old was proud of her effort, hoped it might inspire others and wasn't ready to abandon sailing. "The past few weeks have been really crazy for me," said Sunderland, who looked poised and comfortable as she sat next to her 18-year-old brother Zac at a news conference in Marina del Rey, where she set sail in January. Sunderland flew back home Monday after being rescued from the Indian Ocean by a fishing boat. She was about halfway through her journey when a fierce storm battered her 40-foot boat Wild Eyes. A rogue wave capsized the boat and destroyed its mast. "As you probably all really know, I'd much rather be sailing Wild Eyes back in here. But the plane was really comfortable," she deadpanned. Rescuers searched Thursday for Abby Sunderland, the 16-year-old from Southern California, who was attempting a solo sail around the world and is feared lost in the Indian Ocean. In her first statements since returning home, Sunderland said she was below deck working on her boat as the storm was letting up. "The storm I was in did not roll my boat. I was hit by a rogue wave once the storm was already dying down," she said. "I didn't have a lot of warning." Since her voyage went awry, Sunderland's parents have come under relentless criticism for allowing the teenager to set sail alone. Sunderland once again defended her attempt, saying the question of her age should have been settled after she became the youngest person to sail solo around Cape Horn. "Growing up on boats and feeling, you know, that you know what to do in case of an emergency, it really helps," she said. "I knew when I headed out for this trip that I was gonna be testing myself, and I was gonna have to push myself to my limits." Sunderland acknowledged, however, there were moments when she was terrified. "You get scared and then you have to get over it because being scared, it doesn't do anything good," she said. "It just makes you hesitate and makes more problems start coming." Sunderland's mother is pregnant with her eighth child, and the sailor told reporters she might have a new little brother before the news conference ended. Family spokesman Lyall Mercer said the baby would be named Paul in honor of the captain of the boat that rescued Sunderland. Sunderland's parents were unable to attend the news conference because of the pregnancy. They issued a statement saying they have been subjected to intense personal criticism that has crossed the line of decency. "To hear the intensity of the personal hatred spewed by some in the media and on blogs was shocking to us," Laurence Sunderland said in the statement. "Abby should not be subjected to these hurtful attacks against members of her family, especially as what was being said was based, at best, on twisting facts out of context and, at worst, on total fabricated lies." The statement added, however, that the family was willing to forgive critics who don't know their family or understand the experience and ambition of the two siblings. Zac Sunderland, 18, successfully completed a round-the-world voyage last year, briefly becoming the youngest person to do so. His record has since been broken. Abby Sunderland said she was as prepared as possible for the trip. Every sailor knows there is risk in trying to sail around the world, she added. She said she wasn't "majorly hurt" when the rogue wave hit, but her boat was. She set off her emergency beacons and waited. She was amazed when a plane dispatched from Australia to find her flew overhead the next day. Two days later the fishing boat arrived. Sunderland thanked her rescuers and other people who helped with her trip. She singled out her brother as someone who had helped inspire her. "I'm living proof that things don't always work out the way you plan, but you can only plan so far in an adventure," she said. "You can reduce risk but you can never completely eliminate it." Sunderland plans to keep sailing but for now has other things to do. "I'm just gonna be focusing on school, a driver's license, all that, getting back to a normal life," she said

Once upon a time... at a drop zone far far away... There used to be a gal at Cal City that would give massages for 2 jump tickets... a few more for a "happy ending"...

Remember that old... short lived... T.V. show "Salvage One"??? Maybe your next "Winter Project" could be you and Julia building a spacecraft to go to the moon out of old "stuff" y'all find in a dumpster... maybe even use a dumpster as the body for the capsule!??!

Umm... Rat?

If today is an average day in the USA, some 80 - 100 people will die from gunshots today. Satisfied? And how many more in traffic accidents? My point, "so what"? You obviously won't try to tell any of us that automobiles should be outlawed, but you might say guns should? So give it up with the statistical platitudes. And don't even start in on one is necessary and the other isn't. I'm not going to hear it. I don't try to take away your right to free speech. Would you "anti-gun-nuts" please quit trying to take away my right to own guns. YOU don't get to decide what is good for ME based on YOUR self opinion of moral higher-tude.

I'm not poo-poo-in the M4. Wish I had one. But I live in the People's Republic of Kalifornia... But but I do like my "father's" M-1 Garand. Wish I had a good one of those too. Gotta love 30-06... until you have to carry a bunch of it.

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/scitech/2010/06/02/military-tech-action/?test=latestnews#slide=1 I thought there was talk of going to a 10mm rifle round? I also thought I heard talk of the Army re-issuing more M-14 style rifles at the squad / platoon level to get more 7.62 NATO (.308) lead downrange, with its greater stopping power, in a fire fight? I hadn't heard about this new round for the M-4 / M-16. Hopefully the Army doesn't repeat their mistakes of the early days in Vietnam with the introduction of the M-16 and the "good idea" they had about the same time to tweak the round in use then. Something to do with the type of powder Mcnamera (sp?) and bunch decided to go with vs. what the mfgr recommended? Where's John Rich with the 411 when you need him?

N/A

Baaah! Speakers Corner... Bonfire... same thing!

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/scitech/2010/06/02/military-tech-action/?test=latestnews#slide=1 I thought there was talk of going to a 10mm rifle round? I also thought I heard talk of the Army re-issuing more M-14 style rifles at the squad / platoon level to get more 7.62 NATO (.308) lead downrange, with its greater stopping power, in a fire fight? I hadn't heard about this new round for the M-4 / M-16. Hopefully the Army doesn't repeat their mistakes of the early days in Vietnam with the introduction of the M-16 and the "good idea" they had about the same time to tweak the round in use then. Something to do with the type of powder Mcnamera (sp?) and bunch decided to go with vs. what the mfgr recommended? Where's John Rich with the 411 when you need him?

Here ya go!