mr2mk1g

Yup - per year. It's the third party liability insurance that's killing us, driven up by skydiver v. skydiver lawsuits. Helpfully the BPA tip for how to help reduce this figure was... get this... "don't fuck up" (paraphrased).

I would put an awful lot of money on saying that Bush would be going it alone on such a move. I wouldn't put money on Blair pulling out of Iraq altogether over it... but that would be a possible outcome of such action.

I personally think the above, together with the rise of China, will end the US's position as the only superpower before we see another 50 years. The worrying thing is that a lot of people agree with us, the only dispute being how long it's gonna take. In our live times we're gonna see some pretty major shifts in world power. Shifts of such magnitude rarely go completely without incident.

One of my friends told someone he met in the bar that he thought they had "gay blond hair". Both were very very drunk. This chap was evidently so annoyed with the comment that he threw his Jack D and coke over himself… then fell over. I think the argument ended there. My door was knocked loudly upon at 8am. On opening it I was greeted by one friend passed out on the floor while another with a large lump on his forehead presented me with a disheveled croissant. After being kicked back to life the unconscious friend crawled to my sofa giggling where he proceeded to snore loudly. When my attempts to stop this noise failed, I resorted to drawing on his face with a biro. Evidently my penis/testicle combo on his cheek was scaled too large, as the left nut extended into his eye... where I poked him rather hard with the pen. He still didn't stir. It's always amusing to see the number of people asleep on sofa's in the Rotunda sweet in the morning. Oh yes... and another two friends got engaged.

Is a spin still likely to start if the jumper just starts tracking and doesn't stop? Or are there other reasons why that's impractical?

Unless there's a reason why you shouldnt (eg linked exit with instructor, gear considerations, just plain told not to) how about deliberately going out unstable. Just flop out, kick out, tumble, tuck up, whatever. Go have a ball, spinning through the sky. Most students say their unstable exits are the most fun they've had so far. Doing this will help your confidence in being in odd orientations during the exit. Unstability is nothing to fear at exit on most skydives. Accept it, have a fun with it, then go back to figuring out how to not go unstable. Could do wonders for your confidence... just as I indicated clear it with your instructors first.

Speed skydivers put their protracks on their laterals. I don't know if L&B have a specific way of attaching them or not but that's where they go. Still... seems like you're over complicating things when you can just stick it in a pocket.

Says it all.

I got the UK equivalent of my Pro-rating on a ZP170 (Sabre clone). Accuracy on a Sabre 170 is more than possible and should be far more of a useful skill to you in ordinary day-to-day jumping. Then again if you're actually asking about learning accuracy as a discipline... we've all ignored your actual question. Sorry

get away cheaply with a minimac

The one I always used to get from my father was "on the way back". ie we could go in the toy shop "on the way back". Or that we could get an ice cream "on the way back". Then we'd just happen walk a different way back. That way it was never his fault when I didn't get what I wanted.

Actually no - it's a US thing. RU21 is a pill you take which supposedly prevents a hangover.... they didn't bother re-branding it to RU18 - the drinking age in the UK when they launched it over here.

hehe - I always wanted to find a reason to do a scientific test which involved consuming alcohol You at the agm this year?

This comes under the "other solution" bracket. This has worked for all my friends who need condoms for their DV camera... some more than once. 1) Go to your local scuba dive shop 2) Act poor and be polite 3) Receive free large piece of neoprene from scrap wetsuit 4) Get your needle out 5) Keep leftovers for spair or offer to friends. I guess working out where to cut and sew is probably the biggest pain for you with a stills camera. Sorry - don't know anything about purchasing one.

Building on the success of your "A Rabbit" thread are we?

imagine a hard opening!

from http://www.wavescape.co.za/bot_bar/surfrikan/slang.html Reminds me of other translational booboo's such as Coca-Cola marketing it's product to China with the slogan "brings your dead relatives back from the grave" (supposed to be "brings your soul alive") and marketing the Fiat Pinto in South America where "Pinto" is slang for small male genitalia. Still to taste some Canadian "Bollocks Beer" though which is rumored to exist.

Zeemax did some semi "scientific" tests with RU21 last year and posted them here. My conclusion about it after reading up on the stuff was that it simply slows down and delays the break down of alcohol in your system. This way your body is not flooded in the toxic by-products of the break down process and since it is these toxins which produce the worst hangover effects you avoid a hangover. The disadvantage is that since it's delaying the break down you remain intoxicated for longer. Therefore if you're planning on driving home from the AGM on Sunday you may want to think again or risk getting pulled for drunk in charge. That's merely my non-medical take on what I read about it though.

For me it depends completely on where I'm jumping and what I'm flying over/going to be flying over. I can't think of one DZ I've jumped at which is not surrounded by good outs. In the UK at least it's a simple fact that nearly every DZ is in the countryside... so there's always fields everywhere. In the case of a DZ surrounded by nothing but open fields I have no problem with flying as far towards the DZ as I can before initiating a normal, into wind landing patern... but simply in an adjoining field. On the one or two occations where I've found obsticals on the ground between me and the DZ, I've flown round them or only over them where I'm sure I can easily make it to the other side of them. Answer is... know thine DZ. If you know there's nothing but green fields between you and the DZ... whats there to stop you shortening your walk? If you know there are or may be anything in between you and the DZ such as power lines or woods etc - make alternative plans with altitude to spare. Thus for me there is no "decision altitude" set in stone... it will always depend on where I am in realation to the DZ what's in between me and the DZ, what outs there are and what the wind's doing.

C'mon John... you've totally missed the point of this thread. You're supposed to be arguing the other side.

nah, she didn't talk about Nazi's... you gotta talk about Nazi's to kill a thread.

if you're buying it you can't guarantee the real stuff has been rinsed out since it was last used though.

hehe, and thus we have the S.C.

The Fallout Shelter

Yup I agree. It's always good to hear other people's ideas... even if it is that Jesus is coming and that he's carrying a machine gun. The sad thing about my rain forest debate was that people really were convinced by it. They asked me afterwards if the statistics and systems I'd described were true and what they should do about it. Yes everything I'd said was true... but it was what I didn't tell them that would have more than balanced out the argument in favor of my opponent. Things are never one sided. It's difficult to believe someone who vehemently only provides one side of the argument. That's what I see on here aaaallllllllll the time. Someone puts all the points which help their position and totally ignore other very relevant points which don't sit well with their hard line stance on the issue. That's certainly a good way to start an argument.... but it's not really a way to help someone understand the issue your discussing... and more worryingly, if the poster truly believes that what they wrote was the whole story... then more often than not they're hopelessly misinformed about the topic and should simply shut up for a while and listen some more. Misinformed people don’t have any place trying to educate others about the issue.