KerMor

yes

Very special indeed Names miss liz, I want names ... You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

Very serious question ... I am not a beer drinker (prefer more radical stuff ) and I owe a few to the dz. What should I buy ? (N Cal) Please categorize it: good to spill over new grad drinkable by the end of the night ok beer good very good special occasion special present

I suppose the H-Town crowd won't have much to say as we are all (most) down for the night jump tonight ... hence not stuck in-front of the computer I hope I'll see you on Sunday

I have no worries about that ... biotech and other novel industries will soon take over. Some of the best research center are still here, they will drive things forward and that cannot be taken away from the US before a long time. And industries in the US are ultra flexible, if there is an opportunity, it will be taken. You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

Great idea

I thought I might share that one as it might be of interest to lot of us ... www.washingtonpost.com Intel Chairman Says U.S. Is Losing Edge By Jonathan Krim Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, October 10, 2003; Page E01 One of the founding fathers of the nation's high-technology industry warned in dire terms yesterday that U.S. dominance in key tech sectors is in jeopardy, threatening the country's economic recovery and growth. Speaking via satellite to a global technology summit in Washington, Intel Corp. co-founder and chairman Andrew S. Grove said that the software and technology service businesses are under siege by countries taking advantage of cheap labor costs and strong incentives for new financial investment. "I'm here to be the skunk at your garden party," Grove said, noting wryly that his remarks coincidentally fell on the same day as one devoted to promoting nationwide screening for psychological depression. Grove, 67, singled out China and India as key threats. India's booming software industry, which is increasingly doing work for U.S. companies, could surpass the United States in software and tech service jobs by 2010, he said. More ominously, Grove said, the software and services industries -- strong drivers of U.S. economic growth for nearly two decades -- show signs of emulating the struggles of the U.S. steel and semiconductor industries. In the case of steel, U.S. companies never recovered, dropping from nearly 90 percent of worldwide market share to roughly 10 percent. The semiconductor industry, Intel's core business, faced similar challenges in the 1980s, when it began its drop from 90 percent to 40 percent of the world market, Grove said, before aggressive trade and other U.S. policies helped it recover and stabilize at about 50 percent. Grove said that even as the U.S. economy is improving, tech employment is not. According to industry data, more than 500,000 technology jobs were lost between mid-2001 and mid-2003. Many of these were due to a contraction of the tech sector in the wake of the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000. But Grove acknowledged under questioning that the tech industry itself is responsible for numerous jobs leaving the United States, as firms take advantage of considerably cheaper labor costs in India and elsewhere. Grove said he is torn between his responsibility to shareholders to cut costs and improve profits, and to U.S. workers who helped build the nation's technology industry but who are now being replaced by cheaper labor. Grove did not offer a solution, saying only that the government needs to help decide the proper balance between the two. Otherwise, he said, companies will revert to their obligation to increasing shareholder value. Recent estimates from financial consulting firms paint a stark picture of "offshoring," which allows companies to get software development and other services at one-third to one-sixth the cost. The Gartner Group, a market research firm, estimates that 10 percent of jobs at U.S. information technology vendors will move offshore by next year. Throughout all U.S. companies, Forrester Research predicts the loss of roughly 3.3 million jobs by 2015. Grove said that the move offshore has been aided by the telecommunications bubble of the late 1990s. So much infrastructure for high-speed Internet connections was laid, much of it never used, that the cost of achieving high-speed communication plummeted. As a result, Grove said, "the engineer sitting 6,000 miles away might as well be in the next cubicle." Grove chided U.S. policymakers for all but ignoring the problem. "What is the U.S. public policy?" he asked. "I am hard put to find a document" outlining a policy strategy. He said he had detected no recognition of the problem from any of the presidential candidates. Grove also criticized the nation's overburdened patent system, which he said is causing an abundance of innovation-slowing litigation. He said that the inability of patent examiners to handle the workload has led to a backlog of important applications, but also less than thorough vetting of patents that perhaps should not be granted. Grove also said the country lags dangerously behind in popular use of high-speed Internet connections, funding for science and technology research, and education. You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

My perspective on the question … (sorry it is long) One thing that have influenced me a lot in my training and my ‘philosophy’ about skydiving is that at the dropzone I was in, there was a Center Chief Instructor (DZO+STA) that was really experienced, RESPECTED by ALL and available for questions / training. He influenced all of us. That meant that when you infringed the rules (open low, went on a formation too big for your experience, did not respect the landing pattern…), you could be almost sure to have a one-to-one meeting with him in a closed room, either for training or request of explanation. It was not rare to see jumpers been grounded for the remaining of the weekend. Other aspect of that: every time we wanted to get new gear or get into a bigger formation, it had to be cleared by the CCI. I personally had to clear the use of my new rig because it did not have a standard cut-away pad. We all had lot of fun there (between the clouds) but we knew we had to stay within the boundaries of the well understood rules (because repeated so often). And in my 4 years been a regular at that dropzone, I never witnessed life threatening injuries (this must mean something). But I have seen people been told that skydiving was not for them. Ok, things are much bigger in the US, and supervising all jumpers would take huge efforts (from manifest, DZO, STA and fellow jumpers), and would be against the capitalist spirit that exists here (every one is responsible in looking after himself, no one else is responsible for your well being –waiver philosophy-) But I think every skydiver has a ‘home’ DZ, and this is where these things could –should- happen. Any thought on that? You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

I come from a very regulated dropzone in Ireland where wing loading is regulated the same way skydiving licenses is: http://indigo.ie/~pai/ratings.htm. I would like to read what our fellow jumpers from the other side of the Atlantic have to say about this as everything is regulated down there. e.g. waivers have no legal values in France –and do not exist: DZO and instructor are legally responsible for their jumpers and students. You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

Blue Skies forever, Paul. May your time up there be as nice as your time down here. We won't forget you. My condolences to his family and friends. You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

I am sure that Paul has more than enough will power to go through this hard moment, he has already demonstrated it to us in his amazing progression acquiring skydiving skill. Get on well quickly Paul, I still have to do that sit fly with you.

I am more and more into that idea of going. I had so much fun last week-end that I can't wait to go to my next REAL boogie. So now I have a 75% chance of going Would be great if we could carpool

When the weather is not good or during the week (in order of interest): Swimming Surfing Freediving Scuba Diving You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

Thanks Tim, I'll show you that on Friday You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

Does anyone has some tricks to avoid getting your finger squashed by the front riser loop (when doing front riser hook turns) ? How do you hold your loop ? full hand in ? few fingers and a lot of weight lifting at home ? I am jumping a fairly big canopy (electra 190 = 1.2wl) and I really want to get a bit more swoop out of it ... I don't want to downsize for many other reasons. You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

Count me in ... always here for a zoo load Can't believe that, go away and do some work (...) for a few hours and when I come back, it takes me a few hours to catch-up with dz.com You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

I have 4 more I jumped from : Turbolet (best one up to now) Glider (jump from the wing) Wolga (spl ?) WW1 plane Islander You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

When I read you letter, I feel a kind of menace from you. I read: "I am not happy with my salary, please increase it or I am out of here." To which a boss can only react on the defensive. It very hard to get a agreement when there is an attack against a defense side, there is always one looser (or two ...) So with that letter, be ready to leave or get that 'look' from your boss... I have been in a similar situation and here is what I did. I took an appointment with my supervisor. I made sure he knew my achievements for the year as per a review. He then explained me that he could not raised me directly but that he was in favor of it. We then looked at different options and what he did was to write a recommendation letter for a promotion to his manager (our boss). This got agreed and I got the normal pay increase and the promotion. Situation might be different in your case, but I hope this will help a bit... btw: some very good advise in previous posts. Good luck

Pay money to Micro$oft, buy Nero or Easy CD Creator or move away from windows all together You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

I'll bring my smoke as well, but i'll keep it for a sunset tracking dive You is on for that ? You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

I'll be there around 12 on Friday, wait for me please

I think I know you pain ... been there as well. For me too, the sport helped me a lot: took back swimming. But the best think I did was to find this great Chiropractor. I made up my mind to see one after one morning I was totally blocked in my bed, I could get to the phone to call for help ... I have seen her 6 times 30 min, finished a few weeks back and since then, everything seems to be back to normal. On saturday I got a very bad opening on a canopy I was demoing, the pain was back for a few hour and I though I was back to square one, but to my surprise, the pain faded away. I think I am cured now

Bienvenue sur ce merveilleux monde de fous, Kira

Every time I meet my parents, I make sure to have one of my skydiving video ... this way, they see how enthusiastic I am about the sport (I can speak a full evening about 2 minutes of tape) and I can show them what I do, how safe it is and how much fun and cool friends I have. And they accepted it because they like seeing me be happy ... And it is after one of these video that I learned that my father was professionally videoing skydivers in the 70s (strapped at the door of a plane) You can't determine the length of your life - but you can control its height and depth.

That is it, I managed to dodge the Friday night thing at work and take Friday off ... So I will be there from Friday late morning till Sunday late evening