mr2mk1g

Anything. This is not a law saying what they can do, but exemption from a law which would say what they can't do. The position would be that the CIA is beyond the reach of the law - so yes bamboo and electrodes all round (at least as far as this law is concerned anyway).

No you don't really. The proposition is that the CIA should be free from regulation by this law. It would have no influence on what they are permitted to do to detainees so it's definition of torture is irrelevant. No definition of anything required - if the White House gets its way it will be perfectly legal to do anything they want to detainees. Be that pissing on the Quoran or flaying them alive: anything could be on the cards because nothing would be illegal.

Bjork!

Yes the Govt. is currently arguing that they should be allowed to make use of evidence in court which may have been obtained through torture by third party states. There was a ruling last year by the Court of Appeal which effectively allowed the admissibility of such evidence. The finding was that there was no duty on the prosecution to look into how the evidence was obtained. This seemed to go against the normal rules of evidence. Generally speaking the fruit of the poisoned tree remains poisoned. The case has been appealed and is currently before the House of Lords. Submissions finished only 2 weeks ago and judgment was reserved while the Lords consider the position. We'll find out what the true state of affairs are when we hear the judgment... that's still not for a few weeks yet. There aren't many in the profession who think they'll actually allow it though and it’s predicted to be another bloody nose for Tony. Nice - don't worry though - threads still exist in fear of the sight of the Crimson Permanent Assurance on the horizon.

Take a look at the economics on something like a PAC750 xl. It supposedly runs almost as cheap as a Cessna (especially empty on those trips between DZ's). Down side is it's not "BIG"... but it would still be a welcome visitor for jumpers at most Cessna DZ's (also being a new plane there's a little novelty factor to them still). The DZ themselves might make about as much out of it as they would a Cessna too so there might be less objection to one visiting (I say "might" because I'm going off the advertising blurb). They're all new with financing available on them and things are presumably less likely to go wrong on them. Of course you will have to go to the back of a queue to get one.

I can hear the tannoy now: "bing-bong if anyone would like to manifest for a dick-head load please come to manifest now... C-licence or above only please".

I've no idea as to the exact text. The majority of news reports use terminology referring to a ban of torture by U.S. personnel or of those held in U.S. custody so at first glance it does not appear to extend to alleged situations where individuals have been passed to other nations for the purposes of torture. Torture's illegal under international law anyway. If any world leader were shown to have given it the go ahead they could theoretically be arrested and tried virtually anywhere in the world once they stepped down from office. It really wouldn't matter what their domestic laws said about the legality of torture by a specific branch of security services.

Yeah it does seem rather Orwellian. "Torture is bad and illegal and we don't condone it and certainly don't do it because it's bad... but we should have the power to will do it if we need to and it's not bad if we do do it... which we don't cos it's bad... OK?" Agree with torture or not... there's just something odd about such a dichotomous stance. Hows it going anyway Nac, back from looking for more black stuff?

Should the CIA be exempt from US laws prohibiting the use of torture? (The question obviously being generated by today's reports that it is the wish of the current administration that the CIA is exempt and thus permitted to torture people - at least under US law in any case).

My thoughs on why I think he feels as he does here: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1873574#1873574

Your best bet is probably Peterlee then: http://www.skydiveacademy.org.uk/ just up the A1 by Durham... in fact talk to Trickydicky above - IIRC he's in the Durham Uni skydiving club.

That's what I was going to say.

What you've seen is something called a "cameye" (or cameyeII). It is available for DV cameras (ie video not stills) fitted with a LANC port. Generally that means Sony. It's actually a wire with a couple of coloured LED's on the end. The wire also contols a couple of features on the camera via a button mounted half way along the cable. I don't know of any similar product for stills cameras although no doubt you could bodge one in many instances.

I think the likelihood is that it'll be quite evident that my main is caught on my helmet before I have to start down the decision tree. If it isn't evident then personally I've chosen to take the chances of having a main in tow via my head over the chances of faffing around with different cutaways before pulling that stop handle unless it's absolutely necessary. I agree there's not exactly a perfect solution - it simply comes down to a balance of risk decision for each jumper.

How does that account for the prison guard half way across the country?

What troubles me the most is that to so many people this seems to come as news.

"Dave".

In the UK the answer is: the moment their foot leaves the step of the aircraft. BPA ops manual requires that DZ control "ensure(s) that the descents of all parachutists are monitored from the ground." DZ control is also under a duty to report all malfunctions to the CCI. Technically not the DZO or S&TA (CCI) but certainly the DZ will (should) become involved almost instantly if any jumpers experience problems which have them landing off the DZ by any significant margin. The ops manual does not dictate that the DZ ought to take any specific action on observing/being informed of a malfunction as you describe (other than reporting it to the BPA) but I have never seen a DZ not react straight away to any kind of off landing and or malfunction where they could be of assistance.

Where abouts in the UK are you? There are two main ways to get into skydiving in the UK. 'RAPS' and 'AFF'. First lets cover a 'RAPS' course. This costs about £175 for a the first jump course (although prices can vary significantly by say £50 each way). This is the most expensive part of the course. It's expensive because it encompasses a full day long training course in everything you need to know to do your first jump. You also get all your kit in the price (a short skydiving career otherwise would be predicted) and a ticket in the plane up to about 3,500ft. It also includes your provisional BPA student licence including third party liability insurance. Once there you are invited to get the hell out of their plane. Your first jump will be a static line jump. That is to say a solo jump where you have a rope going from your parachute to the plane. As you fall away from the plane the rope pulls the parachute out of its container and deploys you (just like you see military jumpers do except you have a rectangular parachute you can fly like a wing as opposed to the round parachutes the army guys use). You then fly the parachute down to the landing area using the skills you learned in your day long jump course. You are also fitted with a radio for further assistance. Subsequent jumps generally cost around £30 or so and again includes gear and instructor time. RAPS is a stage based learning system so each new jump you do you have something new to learn. Your first 5 jumps are static line jumps as your first one. Your sixth you're on your own and you will have to deploy your own parachute with your own ripcord. This jump is 'free' though as you have to buy your full skydiver licence at this point. I think this is like £50 or £75 – I completely forget. After this the fun really starts. There's no set limit to how many jumps it requires to become qualified through RAPS. You have to demonstrate a set list of skills. Each jump you learn and demonstrate one of those skills. If you fail to demonstrate a particular skill to your instructors satisfaction you have to re-do the jump. Generally a good number to think about is about 20 jumps although you may well require more if you have to repeat jumps. A rough guess at prices would therefore be 20x£30+£150=£750. Remember each trip to the DZ takes petrol money, a whole weekend of your life, food etc. so put this bill well above that figure. The great thing about RAPS is that you can spend what you have when you have it. So long as you never go more than 3 months between trips to the DZ your licence doesn't go stale. It may be far from the best way to learn (with weeks between jumps) but at least you keep ticking over. If money is a problem this could be the way to go. You only have to find £30 every couple of weekends or so. It could end up taking a while to get qualified though. Then there is AFF. Here you pay up front. It costs something like £1400 (again prices vary greatly and check what you get for your money – some courses also include basic gear or other perks). You again get a full days training, gear and plane tickets etc. This time though you get taken all the way up to 12,000ft and exit the plane with two instructors hanging on to you. Over the course of just 7 jumps you demonstrate the basic skills you need to learn. As with RASP before each jump you learn all about what you're about to do with an instructor and then get de-briefed afterwards. Then you have to do a further 10 jumps on your own to practice what you've learned. One last jump – this time a low exit at 3,500 (same as you would do on your first RAPS jump) and you have your full skydiving licence. (note that there are various new training methods creeping in here where your first jump is a tandem where you are strapped to the front of an experienced jumper – these have obvious advantages but also obvious costs implications). Once you have an 'A' Licence you are qualified to jump anywhere in the world. You may encounter problems however as an under 18 in a number of countries however.

I don't.

Personally cost and turn around time. Jumping a vintage plane or warbird is all about the ride in the plane and the exit. I don't care if that exit is at 2000ft or 10000ft (although high enough for me to sit back and watch it fly off would be nice). The likelihood is most of these planes would only permit solo's or very small groups to exit - the jump really is all about the plane not what you do once you're out of it. As such I personally think a low-medium height would be best. High enough to be casual about things and not scare the AFF babies but low enough to keep fuel costs down helping ticket prices just a little. Plus it would keep the turn around down ensuring people don't spend all their day waiting for their turn at the top of the list. As I said – what you do after the exit is all just gravy by comparison to the experience of being in and getting out of the plane in the first place.

Comfortable but really really slow to altitude. The engines on it are the same as those commonly run on a plane about half it's size called an Islander so it's pretty underpowered. But as I said it's comfortable enough and the one I jumped a couple of winters ago had a nice heating system. At least that was true of the one's I've jumped anyway.

Evidence that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.

You guys just can't take a joke.

Lots of games you start with a given small quantity of $$$ to spend right at the get go. This you can spend how you like at the very beginning of the game on whatever’s in this limited budget. You could have the option of paying for a FJC which shows you some basic skills and controls etc (as well as significantly increasing your skill stats to make sure it continues to remain relevant after you first learn the keys). Greater skills allow better control or something. I presume building skill sets will be pretty integral to the game. Of course having paid for the FJC you’re only going to be able to afford an old racer and a crapped out old main for your first few jump… but those are your choices. On the other hand you could always go down the route of simply buying some BASE gear and mushing random buttons in freefall... you’d have nicer gear but your characters skill stats would not be as great. Perhaps also have the option of meeting a guy in a bar and being hucked off a bridge the next morning with some last minute advice about “yonkles” ringing in your ears. As you earn money (however you work that) of course you buy more gear, nicer gear, battle gear etc. Perhaps there could also be the option to spend a block of your earned cash on an overseas trip. Take a trip to bridge day for example. Cue flight/trip sequence and you now have a totally new area to play in – although it could be extremely limited in size by comparison to the main game area. This would be Bridge day – you could do some bridge jumps against new scenery and dramatically increase your bridge jump skills in only a couple of jumps (to represent learning from all those around you). You could allow similar trips to big walls in Europe – maybe increase your tracking skills in Norway or maybe a wingsuit camp in Italy for example.