Andrewwhyte

You are ignoring the fact matter can be converted into energy. I guess he's never heard of a proton smasher either.

That was a great play. I remember as soon as the ball was hit I said "here we go, play at the plate."

No say. I look at the evidence, while recognizing that I really don't understand what the physicists are saying, and come to the conclusion that it is a good question. On the other hand I think that the explanation given by a bunch of bronze age tribesmen sitting in their tents has about as much chance of being correct as any one of the other hundreds of creation myths that have been spun around the camp fire over the centuries; basically zero. The Yaweh myth is on par with the Odin and the Titans myth which is on par with the Algonquin Glooscap myth and Richard Dawkins' "flying teacup" story. Childish foolishness.

Since Massachusetts is more densely populated than Denmark it should be easier to accomplish there as well as a lot of the eastern seaboard. Many environmental solutions tend to be local in nature i.e. more trains will be more effective in Massachusetts than in Wyoming, wind farms probably better solution in Wyoming than Massachusetts. I am pretty sure you have politicians protecting parochial interests and single issue environmentalists and other 'stakeholders' operating in Denmark the same as in US.

Yes, it IS quite simple, actually... Georgia attacked the Ossetians, who defended themselves. At the same time Georgia directly attacked Russian peacekeeping forces in Tshinvali (10 to 15 people were killed in the first night attack). Russia defended their own forces AND Ossetians, most of which are Russian citizens. What other reaction from Russia would you expect? BTW, those forces have been operating there under UN decree since 1992. At least, BBC changed their tune from "Russia attacked Georgia" to "Russia responded to Georgian military action". But they are still feeding the world with complete BS -- how convenient it is to quote Putin, and completely remove the key part of the quote, changing its meaning... Good job, motherf@ckers! If the Ossetians are Russian citizens why are they living in Georgia and fomenting an independence movement? Sounds like invaders to me.

What do you suggest, declare war on Russia? Send in 'advisors' in an undeclared police action? Send them a stern diplomatic note? (I think we did that). I find a lot of Americans have a problem with the concept that they are not omnipotent.

Who are THEY? The South Ossetians who were invaded by the Georgians or the Georgians who were invaded by the Russians? Nothing simple about it really.

It seems to me that it would make sense for dz management to spread whatever work is available around evenly and include the part timers in the fair rotation if they want to keep part time help around. I worked for a little while at a dz that gave priority to their full time guy. When I got tired of watching him get on every load while the rest us part timers split up his left overs, I quit and went to a dz where I could get a fair share of the work when I wanted it. If the part timers can't get any work some of them will leave until the right size staff is the result. If the full timers can't earn enough to live they will leave and replacing them will be tough. It is a small world out there and news about where the work is, and isn't, generally spreads. I constantly get emails from potential TMs for places I used to work asking me what they can expect. Our DZ just went from 2 to 7 TMs. If my workload falls to 29% of what it was last week, I will not be able to pay my bills and they will not have a full timer next year. Remember the part timers are the ones who go to the boogie on the coast or go compete at nationals, the full timer is the guy who stays home and works.

i wouldn't say the equipment promotes the knees down position, but rather it allows it more. When I started using the Vector system I noticed I was much more likely to potato chip if I wasn't arching. With smaller students I find I need to arch harder for the camera flier (especially those without wings grrr). More than anything I just like to arch because I enjoy the skydive more when I feel like I am flying rather than hanging under a drogue waiting to perform my human AAD function.

Yeah, I arch.

THIS is what the Russians warned us about when we stuck our noses into Kosevo. Kosevo was the soereign territory of Serbia, but we enforced their independence. Now Russia is enforcing South Ossetia's independence.

So are you suggesting that seatbelts should not be worn if there is no door? I know the legal answer, I am asking your opinion on safety.

The most distinctive property is that third parties have such a hard time gaining traction. It is not completely impossible (Reform Party Governor Ventura of Minnesota a few years ago) but they really play no part in electoral politics. Canada and UK lean that way with their 'first past the post' elections, but parliamentary systems allow third parties more chance than congressional ones. Once a two party, and only two party, system is entrenched, the parties must adopt a 'big tent' approach. They want to appeal to a wide cross-section of voters and the multi-party aspect of the system is expressed as factions within the big parties. In power the various factions fight for domination, out of power they tone it down for the common goal of gaining power. The two parties present themselves to the barely literate public as the same basic flavours as the Christian Democrats (Republicans) and Social Democrats (Democrats) that you see throughout Europe. To the more sophisticated voter they present themselves as more sophisticated and subtle grades of the economic spectrum. Both parties have tipped their hats to the centre that wants a society that allows the 'American dream' to remain; to reward success and allow failure. Bill Clinton took the Democrat party to the centre the same way Tony Blair took the British Labour party to the centre, with similar results. Right now the Christian right has firm control of the Republicans and is skillfully using the fear of terrorism/war patriotism to broaden their voter appeal. The Democrats are doing their best to keep their hard left faction from showing their cards before the election. The Democrats have lost elections in the past that they should have won because their candidate presented as too far to the left of the population. Just one foreigners view.

Just a couple of points: Tell that to the girl whose face lit up like a Christmas tree last evening when the weather finally cleared and we took off. The girl who was so chatty on the ground but got oh, so quiet as we tightened up and the realization that the time was now, that she really was going to do this. The girl who fell over twice running over to high five her cousin after we landed. She was not at the Olive Garden; she was skydiving. Not sure that's true. There is a lot of retiring going on in the industry. I am still seeing people moving up in the industry. It is probably harder than it has ever been. We are in the midst of a worldwide food crisis. The price of wheat, barley, corn, you name it, is through the roof. Grain land that was worth $100.00/acre twenty years ago is fetching thousands today. I heard of a farm going for $10,000/acre recently. I have seen a few DZs start up with a motif similar to what you are suggesting. The one in northern Washington is sort of like that. I haven't heard if they opened this year. I know it was questionable last year. We had one like that here in Alberta a few years ago. It ended up changing it's style to a student oriented one like the rest of us. The truth is when you look at who wants and will pay for those amenities, it is us.

If you are a journeyman tradesman the going rates are 34-42/hr in Alberta. Skilled labour shortages in virtually every town and city in the province. Work visas are easy to get.

The death penalty is something prosecuted by society, not the functionaries of that society. If the judge and prosecutor are responsible, then all judges, prosecutors and jurors must be personally responsible for all other incorrect convictions. What about the future crimes of the incorrectly acquitted? On the other hand, if a prosecutor or cop can be shown to deliberately present false evidence to the court, I think they should be criminally responsible.

Nuclear energy provides many advantages over current production methods. There is little or no evidence yet the cost will be one of them.

Actually when you look at the size of the enforcement and corrections budget it is a very important issue. Whether or not you agree with the direction the bill proposes to take the country, I don't think you can call the issue insignificant.

The concept that policy makers can choose is what led us to the stagflation period of the 70's. The long term Phillips curve has been shown to be vertical (unemployment is independent of inflation). The first derivative of inflation can affect unemployment. This leads to a Zimbabwe like scenario amazingly quickly.

I did a hop n pop this morning.

You have to burn the rig.

I don't know if things have changed but when UPT announced the licensing of the skyhook, competitors' tandem rigs were specifically excluded.

That bears repeating. On my first malfunction, on my 35th jump, I didn't look and ended up in freefall after cutaway, pulling franticly on my main lift web. I damn near went in.

Yes, It was nice (if nice is really the appropriate word) to see Hans posting the recent fatality at the farm. It set the discussion out on an informed track and set the stage for a good discussion.