Erroll

Looks remarkably similar to what we know as the Parktown Prawn. Many folks make paper weights and other ornaments by encasing one of these crickets in resin. They are very, very ugly bugs.

It would surely still be preemptive force.

Quoting Tonto in another thread :- Chris's only injury was to his right thumb, which was badly cut when his little plastic orange "zak" knife broke in use. Lesson here is if you're in so much shit you need a hook knife to save you, carry one which stands a good chance of working when you need it. If you have a "zak" knife, give it to someone you really don't like.

Precisely. And the theme of the party was "Out of Africa". In my opinion he showed some initiative by dressing up (albeit somewhat unsuccessfully) as a member of the Afrika Korps rather than the usual boring fare. As someone once said:- Much ado about nothing.

Having the right to do something doesn't make it the right thing to do. The previous poster didn't suggest that it was the right thing to do. He was merely (correctly) refuting someones's assertion that this was a war crime.

Yep. My son did his entire S/L to freefall progression over a 4-day long-weekend at your DZ - He was 16 at the time. Alas, I had to ground him soon afterwards because his school-work was suffering.

Accountability for negligence yes. Insurance against no. Negligence is not a random event.... In SA, I ,as a private individual, get one million Rands worth of personal liability cover by just buying a standard life & disability insurance policy. Surely that does not suggest that I intend being negligent. I'd be surprised if the terminology in the US is that different from that in SA. Personal liability cover is not insurance against negligence, is it? Clearly it would serve that purpose should one be found to have been negligent, but the purpose of the cover is liability.

OD'd on the little purple, diamond-shaped pill?

Exactly my point. I was simply questioning whether all instructors do this? Below are qoutes from the Downwind landing thread:- How can one expect a student to ask questions about something he does not even know exists? From the same thread:- (emphasis mine)

Dune-7 is too underhung?

No explanation as to the other three rockets that supposedly fell short?

Okay, but a country that doesn't listen to the rest of the world because they're scared of them is paranoia. You can throw a thousand "becauses" after that statement and come up with many other things of what it is. Okey dokey. No because. Arrogance is often born out of ignorance?

A country that doesn't listen to the rest of the world because it thinks they are ignorant, is indeed arrogant.

I suspect that when suggesting someone is 'second best', neither your good looks nor your sparkling personality is likely to impress him.

While I agree in principle, I believe one should draw a clear distinction between a student and the guy with 100 jumps. The student frequently doesn't even know what question to ask, let alone who to ask and how to evaluate the answer. Ignorance means that one doesn't know. It does not mean one does not want to know, nor does it mean one is unwilling to learn. I sometimes wonder if all the instructors and coaches out there realise the huge responsibility they have.

I always find this kind of response to be so incredibily insincere! As if any woman ever deserves to have her baby cut out of her!

Only until London experiences it's own 9/11?

Not so easy! As it happens Belgium has three official langauges:- Dutch (Flemish), French and German, each with their own very distinct accents. I speak both English and Afrikaans, the latter having its roots in Dutch. However, whenever I travel abroad I am asked if I am an Australian or a Kiwi. That is when I suppose I should say: "Neither. I am a Franco-African".

Especially if, as someone else pointed out, they have never set foot on the continent, nor do they know anything at all about being African (or Irish).

Exactly. I am a caucasian of French origin - but I too was born in Africa, as were my previous 7 or 8 generations. Does this make me a Franco-African? If I were to join your move to the States, would I be a French-African-American? Quite silly, methinks.

Your paper certainly makes for interesting reading. However, perceptions, opinions and feelings do not equate to facts. You state several times that most crimes are racially motivated. This simply is not true. 70 -80% of violent crime (as opposed to so-called white-collar crime) in this country is 'black on black', and is 'economics' driven. I agree that our crime rates are of the highest in the world, but by suggesting crime is racially motivated one would deduce that the solution is also a racial one, and with that I strongly disagree. In my opinion the solution is two-fold (at the risk of over-simplification):- 1. Spreading the wealth. Start by the lifting of our draconian labour laws, which are harming the very people they were intended to help. Get people working and earning money. Stop government spending on ridiculously expensive arms-deals, presidential aircraft, cronyism, corruption etc and get that money to the people in the form of jobs, social grants, reduced taxes and so on. 2. Get our judicial system working properly at all levels. Follow the 'zero tollerance' policy. Root out corruption. Pay the cops real money. Train more policeman. Use them properly. Streamline the courts. As a matter of interest, in yesterday's The Citizen I read an article on how the SA Police Service has spent R45 million rand on security companies - FOR PROTECTING POLICE STATIONS AND BUILDINGS. In today's edition there is an article about a R30 million rand medical aid fraud scam by prison officials.

Whatever happened to: "You have the right to freedom of speach, and however much I might disagree with you, I will defend your right to the death" ?

I believe he was. ltdiver Indeed. From the article:- Mr Rogoff, a veteran of nearly 6,000 jumps, was leading the RAF Hawks Display Team on the jump into the Aston Villa ground when a gust of wind seemed to push him on to the stand.

Like calling them "you fucking dipshits" perhaps????

According to CNN : But Vang, a Laotian-born U.S. citizen, told investigators that he was subjected to ethnic slurs and was fired on first before he shot back...