metalslug

Blackle Source I'm no engineer. Is "750 Megawatt hours a year" a realistic estimate ? Is there any real-world advantage to this "saving"? It really seems to be a drop in the ocean compared to the global carbon footprint of everything else.

No, the question remains extremely simple when you think about it. Word definitions are everything; spades are not shovels and whuffos are not skydivers. I am also sure that billvon is making an oblique reference to something else; ...perhaps that non-religious people need to truly experience religion in order to have a valid opinion on religion, in the same way that whuffos need a few jumps before any notice is taken of their skydiving opinions. If this is the intended analogy, then it's also obviously a horribly flawed one, for reasons that I will not elaborate on unless asked to.

It's called hair. As long as you have it, you'll never be bald. If the hair comes back, you are cured. For baldness, one can have tattoos of small rabbits created on the scalp. Because, from a distance, rabbits look like hares.

In my country; minorities are white people. During my 3 active skydiving years I've known 3 skydivers of color, only one of which had more than 100 jumps and he is exclusively a military jumper. I doubt there are many countries where skydiving demographics can be accurately scaled to population demographics. Economics and culture play a larger part.

A bit of Google-ing revealed that it stops in Dakar, Senegal. Probably not specified on the itinerary because it's only a fuel stop. They wouldn't want to scare the passengers either, knowing how much Islamic-African countries love all things American. No wonder it's the best ticket price.

Ah yes, almost missed that, because it does not specify the actual stop location. I am not familiar with refuelling stops over the Atlantic so I'm quite curious as to where that stop might be. Lots of water to cross.

I will probably be visiting Miami, FL in Feb 2009. A good ticket right now is Delta Air Lines, from Johannesburg, South Africa via Atlanta, GA. Here's the curious thing though; Delta's website lists the aircraft used for the JNB-ATL flight as a Boeing 767-400ER. Boeing's website indicates the maximum range of this aircraft as "approximately 5,635 nautical miles or 10,415 km". The straight line distance from Johannesburg, SA to Atlanta, GA is approx. 8972 miles (14439 km) So... how is this aircraft able to make this flight? I realize that there are many variables in aviation fuel efficiency, but this is a fully loaded aircraft flying into a headwind (east to west trans-atlantic). Should I be taking my rig onboard... just in case?

This one is easier on the eye.

A furry animal ?

I thought the recent Indiana Jones movie might have been an X-files sequel. It also has aliens and UFO's, and "Mutt.. I am your father" ..ah, but that was Star Wars. I get sooo confused with these plots.

It has often been suggested by some writers and politicians that European colonials are partly, or entirely, to blame for problems in Africa. A common accusation is that Africans were, or are, denied proper (1st world) education, which has prevented them from prospering independently as 1st world countries. Robert Mugabe is amongst the most educated politicians in the world, seven degrees from various institutions and he is certainly not the only educated African leader. IMO, democracy fails in parts of Africa because of culture issues, a type of greed for individual wealth and power, to hold the top of the economic food chain by whatever means necessary. The tragedy is that this is not necessarily related to ignorance and so it might never be possible to "teach" a better way to Africa. There is definitely a limit to what outside influences can achieve and this is why so many agree that African problems need to be resolved by Africa itself. Not everyone will agree that change can come from within, only that change must come from within. No 'mericans were harmed during the making of this post.

In my company, and in many others, co-workers lack the authority to push their work to other co-workers. Likewise, co-workers lack the authority to accept work from other co-workers, and if they do then they are as much to blame for accepting it as they are for pushing it. That's what management positions are for, to supervise human resources. I receive a daily updated "to do" list of tasks that are compiled and prioritised by one of the directors and it works a treat. I do what's on the list, nothing more and nothing less. You're working at the wrong place, it seems. No 'mericans were harmed during the making of this post.

Save yourself for marriage? You're supposed to save yourself from marriage.

Hah, I can do one better ! Here in darkest Africa, we'll fine your speeding ass even if your car is towed too fast. Seriously, check it out....

A nice little Italian restaurant near me serves Amaretto cheescake. No idea what the recipe is, but it's good stuff.

In Tonto's 20 year thread, I used this quote to mark the occasion: "He rides the wild October sky. He shall not die, he shall not die." - Robert Westall. It's still October, it's my sincere wish that his good friends will still feel him riding the sky.

Perhaps not an entirely new type of incident; I recall reading an article some years ago regarding Russian cosmonauts enjoying small amounts of vodka on MIR when it still existed. I also recall reading somewhere that it is (or was) a cosmonaut tradition to have a single shot of vodka on launch day, barely a few hours prior to launch of the Soyuz. Although, I cannot find any online references at the moment to support this.

The MIO has little real power and may regard your incident as isolated and possibly even frivolous. Even if the MIO find in your favour, FIAT can still appeal, tie things up in legal paperwork and make you wait for years. Many other people, especialy in this country, have had similar problems without such happy endings. IMO, take the offer from Fiat and consider yourself fortunate to get it.

...and obesity is caused by the glorification of food on the BBC food channel ? Well, in some small way, it probably is. . But, of course, it would help if more citizens were strong-minded enough to resist undesirable influences. In my pre-teen youth, I had every conceivable toy weapon I could get my hands on; from plastic viking weapons to 'cap' guns, bows & arrows, water pistols and even a plastic AK47 with a very authentic sound. I would secretly stay awake in my room after 'bedtime' to watch the first seasons of Miami Vice on a portable TV with headphones. Today, I'm a successful professional with no history of violence or crime. I own one firearm but have never drawn the weapon on anyone in the 10 years that I've owned it, even in a country with a high crime rate. So then, how do I show such restraint after all those youthful influences? Am I somehow "better" than other people? I sincerely hope not, I would prefer to believe that everyone is capable of wisdom. I do agree that some entertainment sources can, and do, influence some people in bad ways, but I do not fault the source for that, I fault those affected by it. Approx. 7 billion people on the planet; Hollywood movies and rap music are distributed globally. It would be unfortunate to implement mass censorship to account for a small percentage who's violent behavior could be linked to entertainment. No 'mericans were harmed during the making of this post.

Chief cook and bottle washer.

As a skydiving community that's frequently online and mobile, maybe somebody knows..... Using a USB bluetooth dongle and the BlueSoleil software from my desktop PC I can easily get a GPRS internet connection via a Samsung D500 cellphone without problems. However... Using the same USB bluetooth dongle, BlueSoleil software and connection settings on my HP nx9420 laptop, I cannot establish a GPRS connection. I have also attempted a GPRS dialup connection via the HP onboard bluetooth device and Windows XP bluetooth software - "My Bluetooth Places". (Both machines have Windows XP pro SP2). In both cases; the devices can see each other, can pair successfully and the Dialup Networking Service is shown as available but dialup connection attempts from the laptop are met with: Error 777: The connection attempt failed because the modem (or other connecting device) on the remote computer is out of order. The only difference I am aware of between the desktop envionment and the laptop environment is the internal laptop hardware. Can anyone suggest what the problem may be? No 'mericans were harmed during the making of this post.

I would be OK with it, so long as these were rare and special occasions. It is a perspective amongst some, mostly males, that sexuality is not as tightly bound to true love as some others may feel about it. What makes my SO 'significant' to me is how I feel about her emotionally, not how many naked bodies we've both seen. My SO and I have both had other partners before we met and modern society, TV, movies exposes us to sexual imagery in certain circumstances. We neither seek it out nor do we fear it. My SO and I recently visited a sex shop together to find a 'toy' and quite obviously this was a place with images of naked bodies almost everywhere and neither of us were particularly concerned about that. Some may say that live strippers are very different from movies and images. I trust my SO to neither touch nor taste, so sight and sound are the same and scent I can live with. My SO may even on occasion comment to me about other men and women and point them out; "Oh, that woman/guy is gorgeous...". We both understand that it's in our nature to have a superficial curiosity towards other attractive people, naked or not, but ultimately we are true to each other and that allows our relationship to work. We don't cheat on each other and the security of that knowledge works well enough for us. No 'mericans were harmed during the making of this post.

24... Agreed.

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." -- James Davis Nicoll