redtwiga

And Jen on the right?

One other thing to keep in mind here: You're only hearing from those people who stayed in the sport or came back to the sport. You probably won't find many people on dropzone.com who left as a compromise with a loved one and "lived happily ever after". Just a thought. As for giving up skydiving for a relationship? EWWWW GROSS!!

Yeah, that was really effective. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3134217.stm

Did anyone check out wwww.wordsontheleft.com? It's a great closer to the experience of the show...

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/06/bishop/index.html here's that page on cnn with the poll. Scroll down to the box titled "quick vote".

What's even more appalling is that there is a poll on cnn.com where people can vote on whether the decision made was right or not. 61% say no. Sigh.

My favorite: Sobe Adrenaline. It tastes like grapefruit soda (better than Red Bull in my opinion) and keeps the energy level spiked.

Right, complicated problem, simple solution. You've figured it out. The conquest of the west has nothing to do with our music, clothing, culture, sexual freedom, entertainment or choice of religion. If we stop giving money to Israel, everything will work itself out.

Watch it. Are you aware how much help the US receives from the Israeli secret service? Are you educating yourself on how many American lives the Mossad has helped save from terrorists, not just since 9/11, but historically, too? Do you really think the Arab world will start to really like and support America if America stops supporting Israel?

Broken toe, messed up knee, something's wrong with my shoulder. Worst of all, I was running down the gravel runway a few weeks ago to talk to someone, tripped and REALLY took the skin off my knees and hands so I haven't been able to pack for myself. This is why I skydive. It's safer than staying on the ground.

Sorry, didn't see the last thread. I'm just so happy he chose to fry it. Raw penis is just uncivilized (but newly legal in some states!)

Poor, poor trippin dude... http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6745540%255E1702,00.html Man cuts off penis, eats it July 13, 2003 A MALAYSIAN man sliced off his own penis, then fried and ate it after taking hallucinatory pills that caused him to hear voices urging him to mutilate himself, police said today. The 34-year-old man claimed he only realised what he had done when he saw blood oozing from his crotch, said a police spokesman in the town of Sitiawan, 300km north of Kuala Lumpur. The man had taken hallucinatory pills before sleeping on Friday and awoke hearing voices telling him to chop off his penis and devour it, the spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity. He was hospitalised in stable condition, the national news agency Bernama reported. The man had recently been released from a drug rehabilitation centre, Bernama said.

"I didn't even know there was a river there until I crashed through the trees..." note: student was wet, but fine. First jump off radio.

From Joe Conason today...I guess the Prez's handlers let him get a liiiittle off-message yesterday. "We gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't let them in." George W. Bush uttered that amazing sentence yesterday to justify the war in Iraq, according to the Washington Post. What? Yes, I promise that's what the man said. (And by "him," the president clearly meant Saddam Hussein -- not Kim Jong-Il, who actually has refused to let international inspectors into North Korea.) Now a presidential statement so frontally at variance with the universally acknowledged facts obviously presents a problem for the White House press corps. He wasn't joking, and he didn't sound disoriented or unwell. Although Dana Priest and Dana Milbank wrote the story as delicately as they possibly could, they couldn't make it seem less weird: "The president's assertion that the war began because Iraq did not admit inspectors appeared to contradict the events leading up to war this spring: Hussein had, in fact, admitted the inspectors and Bush had opposed extending their work because he did not believe them effective." Appeared to contradict the events leading up to war? Indeed, that's an exceedingly mild description of what Bush said. There's no plausible explanation, unless the president suddenly flashed back to his Yale sophomore philosophy seminar, grappling with the argument that everything we perceive is mere illusion. For the moment, however, let's just assume reality does exist. What possessed the president to make an assertion that everyone on the planet knows to be untrue? And who is going to take the responsibility for this one? Did George Tenet vet Bush's statement? Do the British have a secret dossier proving that Saddam never actually admitted Hans Blix and the UNMOVIC teams? Will Condi Rice or Donald Rumsfeld show up on Fox News next weekend to explain why Bush's statement is "technically accurate," even though he shouldn't have said it? As hard to explain as what Bush said is the press corps' failure to report his stunning gaffe. The sentence quoted above doesn't appear in today's New York Times report, for example. Yet there is no question about what he said -- undoubtedly to the amazement of both Kofi Annan, who was sitting beside him at the time, and the dozens of reporters who were present during their brief joint press conference. Anyone who doesn't believe me (or the Post) can watch Bush say the exact words quoted above here, toward the end of the White House's own videotape of his remarks, under the headline "President Reaffirms Strong Position on Liberia." Another recent president once said something that was blatantly untrue, if fairly trivial, and the videotape of his statement was replayed again, and again, and again, and again…

Why Boston?

There are many "One"s, not just one. If that were the case, what would happen if you spoke different languages and never crossed paths? With the size of the world population your chances of finding your One would be very slim indeed. The concept of The One is a cop out. It lets us believe that if we are not getting along with someone, they are not The One. It lets us blame not finding happiness on lack of The One. Individual happiness and successful relationships take a hell of a lot of work. No one is going to be The One all the time. If that were the case we'd be living in a really tacky 80s song, or a Disney movie. My $0.02

Woohoo! Sounds interesting (and makes me miss school). Where's the rest of the paper?

I think you're mixing apples and oranges here. I'm redheaded, my brother's lefthanded, Dave is tall, Sarah's black, Ozzy's gay, Melanie has blue eyes, Mohammed is a Moslem. Which of these things is not like the others? Being gay is not a belief or a religion. It's not something chosen or changeable. Therefore it should not even be an issue of morals. Any person who believes it is is ignoring science and denegrating a person for one of their physical traits. That's bigotted and discriminatory. Period. ---------------

That's not a funny story at all. You stole my happy place! ---------------------

Strap a hundred balloons to yourself and fly into eletrical wires and you're good to go. See? And you thought it involved emotional maturity. Our culture teaches us the weirdest things... ------------------------------------------

Did anyone see the "incident" thread? High larious. Whoever wrote that... God I'm bored. -----------------------------

Personal Ad: Feathery, short biped, recently learned to fly, electric personality, many say I am sweet and friendly. I am ready for a relationship. Please, only cocks need reply.

The press is always messing these things up. I'll bet the chicken had a perfectly good rig on under the balloons but either experienced problems in freefall or encountered a dust devil. We'll just have to wait for the official report to come out; please, let's not speculate. Blue skies and good vibes, Amelia. U.S. National - AP SAN FRANCISCO - A chicken that was strapped to 100 helium balloons and sent skyward last weekend in a stunt is resting these days at the city's animal shelter as people vie to adopt it. The chicken, nicknamed Amelia, was rescued Saturday after getting tangled in power lines. A police marksman shot the balloons with a pellet gun to bring Amelia down to safety. Authorities said they have yet to identify the prankster, who was apparently imitating an ad that recently aired on a local TV station. The ad has since been pulled. "This is a great chicken, a friendly chicken, a chicken that is ready for a relationship," said Kat Brown, deputy director of the shelter.

Technically speaking, wouldn't the plural of WMD be WsMD? WMD's refers to something belonging to Weapon of Mass Destruction, i.e. Would you like to go see Weapon of Mass Destruction's coin collection this afternoon?

Hey Jen. I'm a baby of static line, but I know what you're talking about. Around my 10th jump the fear set in. Until then it had been pure, adrenalized excitement and I couldn't believe the pleasure I got from each jump. Ecstasy. Then I got afraid. Driving to the DZ made my stomach hurt. The reality set in because jumping was no longer a new novelty, a passing phase. I think I realized that I was jumping out of an airplane from 2 miles up and plumetting to earth. I questioned my motives for being in the sport. Each jump I decided to give it one more chance and I'd stop if I didn't enjoy it. The fear lasted for about 4 more jumps. I still get scared sometimes, about more specific things like a weird flare, an off heading opening, a midair collision. Each of these things I work through by learning and learning and learning. It's that first fear that I think has nothing to do with learning. You just have to go through it. Basically, what I'd say is keep jumping. This fear is instinctive. There's nothing you can do but get through it. It does NOT mean you don't like skydiving. You won't know the answer to that unless you move past this first. Whatever you decide, always enjoy the sky, be it from up there or down here.