SniperCJ

Its hard to break yourself of the habit of looking around during freefall. My first videos were crappy too because of that. I use my peripheral vision a LOT. I also cut my eyes left and right without taking the ring sight off the target. Takes practice but youll get the hang of it. And yes, sometimes I jump with one eye closed. Sometimes with BOTH eyes closed!! Jumping is SCARY!! JC

Oh I just LOVE those guys. Anybody that calls me has like 2 seconds to answer me when I say 'hello'. After that they get hung up on. Ive hung up on quite a few slow friends before....

de-neutered?? You glued them back ON?? Haaaaaaaa, no wonder he's pissed!! JC

Ditto what ltdiver said on the new tongue switch. I tried the bite switch too and got too much movement when I bite. The new tongue switch is great! Good positive feedback. JC

Most excellent news!!

Surprisingly I have some Kid Rock that keeps a pretty good running beat. Its the Devil Without a Cause CD. JC

Man, finding him like that would have tore me up. Kudos to you for keeping your head in a crisis and getting him to the vet. Good vibes coming Mister Kitty's way!

When I started looking at bikes again a couple years ago (before I bought the Kawi ZX12R I have now) Honda let me test ride the BlackBird and one of the other sportbikes a couple of times. Maybe the other makers wont let you, but Honda did. My opinion is all the big makers are going to be pretty reliable and all, it get down to styling, fit, and personal preference. JC

SONY Baybee! Theres a buncha Sony camcorders on Ebay right now. I got my PC9 last year for $800. Theres a PC5 on there now for $280 with no bids and I saw a PC7 at $400.

Ma, we need multiple responses on this one. I like doing tandems for the money, but I also really like being part of that person's first jump and giving them something to remember it by. Im all pumped when I get a roll of film back and Ive gotten a really good shot. And jumping with my 4-way team gives me the competition part of it. You gotta do you job or the team might as well not have been there. Ill take the first 4 also! JC

Sucks in more ways than one. Does red still mean "recording" or does green mean "Go"? Hmmmm JC

Oh Zinger, I spelled it ASS-inine in your honor. And Lisa, I cant help but note that you made no comment when Zinger accused me of being corrupt with THIS comment: "What's wrong?, Mad you where not there to plant a extra gun under the dogs collar to help out a buddy?" Dont worry, I'm signing off this debate... JC

QuoteEven ignoring the dog, why did they handcuff them at gunpoint if they were not resisting? Having trouble coming up with a good reason for thatQuote Because they were reported to be CARJACKING SUSPECTS. Handcuff first, sort it out afterwards. How long does it take for an unhandcuffed person to pull out a gun? I suspect that YOU wouldnt know. I however, DO know by first hand experience, and it doesnt take long. The ONLY reason that particular guy is still alive is because he put the gun to his own head instead of turning it in MY direction. I can no more explain to you what it feels like to do this job than you can explain to a non-jumper what it feels like to jump. Non-jumper: Gosh it looks so easy. All you have to do is pull that little string thingy! Non-cop: Gosh, all he had to do was ask them if they were the car-jackers! Ya, thats it...

Zinger, That whole post of yours was so assinine, I wont even dignify most of it with a response. The fact that the family was wrongly stopped and pulled out of their (not 'there', you little spelling wizard you) car at gunpoint was based, let us not forget, on a witness/citizen at the gas station. THIS was the witness I was referring to, not the video. I'm sure everybody but you figured that out. You want to blame somebody for this fiasco, blame the citizen. Maybe they should have minded their own business. The only procedural issue I have a problem with is not closing the car door and keeping the dog inside. The stop, the gunpoint, the handcuffs are all good in my book for a car stop on a possible car jacking suspect. Unfortunately that one miscue precipitated the rest of this deal. Otherwise its a non-issue. Get a grip on yourself. JC

First, ditch the 28-80 lens and get a fixed 28. Its shorter and will more closely approximate what you see thru your video camera. Second, burn some film with different settings, recording the settings you used and see what you get. Full auto mode will work. I tried it out the other day and got some really good shots. One guy at our DZ uses full manuel, 500 at 5.6 and he gets some great exposures. I usually use 350 at 11 and set the focus for about 4 ft (for tandem shooting). 11 gives me a pretty wide range of focus. Ive also used the Av and Tv modes letting the camera set either the shutter speed or the aperature. Give it a whirl and have fun. JC

Im just curious... Why is it that whenever a skydiving fatality happens and someone posts a story the FIRST thing that people reply is "lets wait for the official report before we jump to any conclusions". But, by God when a cop story comes out and it looks bad, the cops sure fucked that up! You know what? I wasnt out there. I dont know what happened. The cops might have fucked up. And they might not have. He had a split second to make a decision and maybe he made the wrong one. YOU have the luxury to armchair quarterback it to death from the comfort of your computer chair. The whole situation sounds like it was screwed up. Not enough information to go on, bad witnesses, etc, but the stop had to be made and the report investigated. Soundslike it went downhill from there. Best case scenario, is they STILL made a stop based on crappy information, the dog tried to protect his family and STILL got killed. Either way the dog is dead and the cops look like shit. This stuff just pisses me off.

Cant comment directly on the Bonehead (yet) but as far as front / brow mounting a still camera, I have my Canon Rebel mounted on a Pro-Tek based helmet on a Z-bracket type mount. Its not exceptionally front heavy and you get used to it pretty fast. It was easier for me to get used to that than a side mount, because its located down your centerline as opposed to the side mount. Although I will say, in the air it doesnt make too much difference. JC

Well, I HAPPEN to have my uniform handy...

Thats hard to go thru. Had to do that to my old cat Bob 2 years ago. Had him since he was little also. I'm sure Jackson had a great home with you and your family for his 12 years. You showed a lot of love for him by letting him go with dignity. Blue Skies and Soft Grass to roll in Jacjson

My Dad's kinda the same way. Cant really blame him for all of it because my Grandfather was a HUGE bigot. Dad (and Mom) now live in East Texas in a small town. If you know anything about small east Texas towns, theres a large black population down there. Dad has a lot of black neighbors and a lot of them help him out with stuff: work around the house, feeding his animals when Mom and Dad are away, etc. Still when he talks in casual conversation he says "ya, that old ni&&#r down the street...". Its sad to hear it said so casually when you know he is talking about someone, who if he was white, would be called a friend. Im glad I didnt inherit THAT from Dad. JC

Heeeee, you cant beat the dress code in this division!!

If the weather holds I'll be there later Friday or Saturday for sure. Tall guy, ponytail, grey goatee...

I dont do online games but I was stuck on Fallout Tactics for a long time. Great game.

Pinnacle Studio for just playing around, not professionally. Its easy to capture, edit and download. Easy is Good!

I have a Civilian that I use as a "carry" knife. Fortunately I got mine as a birthday present so I didnt have to spend the bucks theyre asking for em. Also, thanks Ramon.