rhaig

I remember spotting a particularly hairy jumprun at SUSA out of the porter. flying into nasty headwinds at exit altitude trying to get past a storm cloud. barely got past it when the pilot tapped me on the shoulders and pointed at the fuel gauges. time to go!! :) we got pushed right back over the DZ and got the hell beat out of us in freefall by the rain. but we didn't land off! I also remember vaguely spotting the load that heather's first AFF jump was on first thing in the morning and putting everyone out long. (the wind reports were off and I'm sticking to that story) -- Rob

And MY post disappears? What post? Are you suggesting you've been censored here? it happens. I've had posts edited without explaination and had them deleted. No complaints as it's not a public forum. -- Rob

yet another reason to use PGP -- Rob

funny... the tech writers in our group have all referred to themselves as interpreters as well. -- Rob

I believe I've posted before about someone in my family who refuses to get a job (that's basically been handed to her) because it would mean they lost most of their welfare. So rather than take a job and get off her ass and on her feet, she chooses to suck on the public teat. I'm not saying all welfare recipients are living inside the system when they could get on their own, but you post as if you believe none are. perception means a lot. it's not objective data, but when I see a Boston PD officer sitting in a chair at an intersection reading a paper I wonder why. When I ask friends whom I'm visiting, they explain that certain intersections have officers posted at them during certain parts of the day. Now perhaps that's to increase awareness of drivers, or public safety issues, but it comes across locally (and in local press too apparently) as a prime example of how BPD is a union shop -- a cop sitting on his ass reading a paper. Perception is truth in the eye of the beholder. for the record, I thank unions for my vacation, weekends off, and benefits. I also found it humorous that the pot growers in CA are teamsters now -- Rob

I'd say that the tech writers take the process from the engineers (or the mechanics that worked with the engineers) and put it in terms that normal English speaking people can understand. -- Rob

fair enough. It's not for everyone. I don't know of any place that is. And the long-time Austin residents thank you for not staying. It seems like everyone here is from somewhere else. (one of the reasons our highways suck. the other is poor planning) -- Rob

Ewww, gross, you have Texan friends? You should go check out Austin. I believe the only city that might be more liberal than Austin is San Fran. It's a little blue dot in the middle of the state in the county or precinct voting maps. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/countymap.htm (yeah, not recent but indicative, and was near the top of the google search results). -- Rob

wow... that was quite a book you posted. I won't to pretend to have read it all. But I believe I got the gist of it though from the first few lines. Yeah, saw that story a few weeks ago. Any religious bias in a history text is misplaced. Unfortunately, knowing the absolute truth isn't possible. And we can only put the best (most agreed upon) version of history in the books if we want to serve our children well. And I'm curious about your use of "Texas Bloc"... I'm assuming it's a play on "Eastern Bloc" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Bloc) which is odd because I don't see the similarities between Texas and the Eastern Bloc that you apparently do. -- Rob

How about this: If anyone comes over to the German forum and tries to correct your German and in the process makes a grammatical full of themselves while doing so, then you feel free to ridicule them there. Ok? Until then, put on your big girl panties and deal with it. Same question to you: "Would YOU be capable to correct my German?" No. But that doesn't really pertain to this matter. If I came to the German forum and tried to (poorly) correct your German I'd expect some ridicule. however, I did not. So put on your big girl panties and deal with it. Anyway, spelling and grammar flames are the lowest form of argument. If that's all you've got, just go home. -- Rob

How about this: If anyone comes over to the German forum and tries to correct your German and in the process makes a grammatical full of themselves while doing so, then you feel free to ridicule them there. Ok? Until then, put on your big girl panties and deal with it. -- Rob

so what I see you saying is that your point in asking, but not wanting context is to generate propaganda. -- Rob

Want to make any long term bets? I'd go as far as to put $100 (year 2010 valued dollars) on "after Obama, we have a 2-term conservative" feel free to ping me in 10 or 14 years to collect if I'm wrong. I'll pay you in beer and jumps (in adjusted dollars of course) assuming beer and jumps are still legal. -- Rob

$50 for a quickie? does that include a shower after? -- Rob

I wonder how anyone could make that assessment if they weren't right there within a couple feet. But I like your post. any time someone says "a bit more", "a bit less", etc - I always feel like they are just staying on the safe, but uninformed, side of positions. You see it a ton with very conservative engineers. A little bit more safety margin is always good, right? Until the design doesn't work. Then just a bit more, I mean, really, just in case..... well we can't really say it was just the right amount of response or action since we weren't there. At least with safety margin on an engineering project, you have design and function specs and know where too little and too much safety is, and you split the difference based on budget (that's all based off engineering classes from college, so I may be full of shit) How about "it's a shame anyone was injured, but I'm glad everyone is alive." -- Rob

what's funny was I crossed wires typing that and typed slepping errors -- Rob

Every single person? Convicted felons? The mentally insane? Aren't there some logical limits? Have you seen ONE post from me saying the insane or convicted criminals should be able to legally purchase? But that IS the crux of the matter. Now that we've accepted that there are in fact reasonable limits the question becomes, what is reasonable and to whom? It's a matter of opinion and degrees, but we do agree on this. start with enforcing what laws we have. you can't know if the plan sucks until it's executed 100% to plan. Then if you fail, the plan sucked. -- Rob

hot topic in Austin right now is the cop who ran a red light while looking at his dispatch system and ended up injuring a 74yo man in an accident. Can't find the link yet. -- Rob

Can we diverge for a second and talk about spell checkers and capitalization as well as some semblance of proper useage of the English language? I love it when people complain about spelling and make spelling mistakes in their post. -- Rob

my PSL is on a UPS truck in Mesquite, TX. should be delivered tomorrow. -- Rob

Blah blah blah. The stats come from the FBI and BJS. Not the NRA. I presented a graph showing the trend over decades. What more do you need to realize that this isn't just a one-time thing? Now that we've reached the point of insults once again, another thread is shot to heck. he won't get called on it though. -- Rob

tolerance with an open mind can lead to acceptance. I've seen it first hand. -- Rob

the process/debates/laws/marches are all about votes. that's about it. -- Rob

actually, if the seller online is not an FFL, and it's inside state lines, they can legally ship direct and not go through an FFL. if it's a different state, then it MUST go through an FFL. see http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5300-4.pdf which says the seller may choose to ship through an FFL, but it's not required by the ATF. -- Rob

People get the government they deserve. She'll get elected. are we sure she wasn't just explaining her own existence? -- Rob