ChasingBlueSky

I've landed in winds around 30mph, but not by choice - they gusted from 20 to 30mph while in freefall. I've done it once and won't do it again (it wasn't fun). When I am current in a large area, 25mph is something I will consider if the direction and gusts are not a factor. Since I am not current and won't be until the spring, I wouldn't even consider anything over 20mph - one jump just isn't worth the risk. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I watched three episodes of that show - did it really stay that bad? I hear they are going to have a show which explains why the Klingons changed from TOS to what they were in TNG. An episode called "Afflicition." _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I blame it on religious oppression from the conservative zealots currently in power (not just in the gov't) that refuse to allow true religious freedom. At this pace there won't be another civil war but a schism. Anyone care to post a thesis of 99 items on the gates of the White House? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Do you know when it will be on? I set my tivo to record BG on SciFi but it keeps recording the old shows which I have already seen enough times. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=1&u=/ap/20041201/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_us_military And this comes long after the Commander in Chief declared the end of major combat operations. Does anyone else see this as a sign for the shortsighted planning of our President and his war council? We are seeing the same thing in Afghan as we are mounting an offensive against a growing Taliban insurgency in that country (more troops have been requested as well for that conflict). These seems like a pattern to me. I wonder how many of these kids will never come back home? _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Secular vocabulary will be the downfall of this country? I tend to think that is an exaggeration, otherwise our country was never that strong to begin with. Separation of Church and State was mandated by our founders because of what they saw in the old world. They didn't want the same mistakes to happen in the freeworld. Don't confuse "PC" with denial of religious rights. No one is taking away the right to practice or preach your beliefs. However, choosing one god to represent the vast mass of our population is forcing a singular religion down the throats of those that do not worship that deity. That is not what this country is about. Those that are quick to throw out "PC this and PC that" are often closed minded (no personal attack intended), tend to refuse to accept change and progress, or have a very self-centered view of the country. While the collective skin of the American Citizen may have become a bit thin, it's only a side effect of trying to help/defend those that have no voice. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Yes, and you can still get those. You're going to pay $40 - $60 for a good one though - they aren't the $15 things you plug into a cig lighter. That is still cheaper than a good head unit and additional parts needed to make the installation look good. From what I have been told, I would need a double din and even that would still look ugly. Does Crutchfeld sell those units? I know my sister and brother in law were looking for xmas gift ideas - this would be perfect from the two of them. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Just the CD Deck, no casette. Didn't there used to be a better FM transmitter you could get for CD Changers mounted in your trunk? I remember a friend in college had perfect sound with the FM Transmitter/controller that sat between his seats. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I have a stock 2003 Dodge radio in my car and would like to find a better way to play my MP3 player thru it. It came with a Belkin FM Transmitter that only broadcasts at 88.1, 88.3, 88.5 and 88.7 FM. Chicago has most of the FM band taken up so the music is often full of static from the stations in the area - location in the car doesn't seem to matter. I saw Belkin has another one that comes with a car charger and can broadcast on any FM channel, but the reviews on it make it sound like more of the same. Is there anything post-market that I can do with a stock radio (I don't think it has an AUX IN) to connect an MP3 player to my car? Changing the head unit is not an option I want to consider right now. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Not only do some of us know that MP3 sounds bad, we know why it sounds bad. I've done some work in some high end professional sound editting studios where the headphones cost more than most people's sound system, and the speakers were just amazing. I miss having sound that good, and doubt most people have had a chance to experience that. Despite that, I still have an MP3 player (with a crappy FM transmitter) that I use in the car. Why? I don't want to lose any more CD's is my car gets broken into again and I like having access to 20GBs worth of music instead of having to pack an entire bag of CDs for road trips. Then there is the ease of use of the MP3 player over a large amount of CDs in the car which is how I have ruined or lost a good portion of my collection. I've been watching DVD-A and SACD for a few years now and refuse to be an early adopter in this field, esp when another strong format may come out within the next few years. Anybody else remember the 2 inch floppy disk/drive? It was better than the 3.5 inch and came out shortly after it but it never took off. Or sometimes it just takes the right company to back a product - I saw my first optical mouse in 1990 and they didn't get big until almost 10 years later. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Thanks - didn't know that. But those are pretty damn expensive! _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

That's funny! _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Like I said - I don't know much about this reform. I've heard the talking heads on the news networks claim this wasn't a rushed bill, and others are calling for more discussion. I am not against further communication for a bill that would create a bigger gov't. That alone has me thinking the pause is a good thing. Due to all the noise on this, I will have to sit down and read it along with who didn't vote for it and why. I wish this had happened for the PA as well. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

I currently am working with an analyst that was making $3000/week before he was let go. No one will hire him at significant lesser pay because they know he will leave as soon as he gets another job. There isn't a chance I could go back into fulltime IT Admin and ask for the same salary or billing I once demanded. The market has changed over the last two years and my skills are rusty despite the free training classes I have taken. I am still in the IT industry and still know my stuff, but when I was looking for a new job a few months back no one wanted to hire me for a tech spot again - even with the network I have. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

This topic made me remeber this story: http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,11460538%5e15306%5e%5enbv%5e15306,00.html SOUTHERN India's Kerala state plans to create a 400-hectare zone called "Smart City," where technology companies from around the world will be invited to set up operations, an official said. The area, outside Cochin city, would include office space, residences, schools and an entertainment complex, Kerala's Industry Minister P. K. Kunjalikutty said. The zone would include software developers and call centres - two of the Indian economy's fastest growing sectors. "Smart City ... will be an exclusive IT zone where foreign companies can easily set up shop without any stringent formalities of registration and licensing," Mr Kunjalikutty said. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

The PA was a kneejerk reaction. Many people asked to have time to read it and go over it some more, but it was rushed to a vote with very heavy pressure from the White House. Most members voted on it without reading the entire thing. The PA is a combination of several bills that had failed in the past. Those that had an agenda had those measures attached to the PA. I haven't done enough reading on the current reform to have an opinion on it. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

My personal experience on the camera is still limited and tend to use AF alot and have had a few issues when it came to trying to focus. I did a few Google searches on this and found a few articles and reviews that listed this as a weak spot of the 300D and that the D70 and 20D do not have the same issues. I am trying explore the other settings now to ween myself off of AF and the presets. I picked up the 300D due to costs and the rebate - if I had the cash I would have gotten the 20D! I played with it recently and loved it. Also - I was at the store last night and had my eye on a 75-300 Canon Zoom lens! Damn I wish I could afford that right now. I was surprised to see Best Buy had it in stock for $219. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

The 300D seems to have issues with low light situations (ie focus), which are rumored to have been fixed in the 20D. The 20D is meant to takeon the D70 and beyond. I've been told that some simple filters can help with sunset shots. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

It may be legal in some state, but not in Illinois. This was one of the main issues for me when I went to get one, and once I found out about the State policy on it, I picked one up. Check this out: http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040905/NEWS0109/409050311&category=NEWS0109 Roughly the same thing was said in 1999 as well: http://www.elpc.org/lists/iltollways/msg00105.html Another one as well http://www.star.niu.edu/city/articles/101702-ipass.asp This is interesting - in 2001 this was talked about: http://www.isoc.org/internet/issues/privacy/balough.shtml I can also say that I have been in a pickup truck doing well over 100mph in the IPASS lane and the driver never received a ticket (she wanted to prove a point about the speeding). They are making it easier to find the speeders by changing the speed limit within two miles of the plaza: http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=135,62050&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Those are illegal in this state. Having any cover over your plates is good enough to have you pulled over (they make it impossible for a laser speed gun to get a good reading off of you since that is where they aim). Even those license plate holders (like the 800-skydive ones) are illegal sine they impede with proper display...this is something I was informed about in traffic school and verified by a state trooper friend of mine. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

It is illegal for them to hit you with a speeding ticket via the IPASS. This was a huge deal when it first came out and the State Troopers were all for it. However, invasion of privacy individuals went up against it and had the policy changed. What they can do is observe patterns of when you travel and have a trooper waiting at that tollboth at that time of day. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Agreed!!! But I would say he would be the most clueless. SBVFT would get a vote from me. But as Paul mentioned, voting for them actually makes them relevant. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

This country likes to hear the opinions of our celebrities from Hollywood. If they didn't then Regan, Sonny Bono, Arnold, etc would never have been elected into office. _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

Netherlands Hospital Euthanizes Babies By TOBY STERLING, Associated Press Writer AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A hospital in the Netherlands — the first nation to permit euthanasia — recently proposed guidelines for mercy killings of terminally ill newborns, and then made a startling revelation: It has already begun carrying out such procedures, which include administering a lethal dose of sedatives. The announcement by the Groningen Academic Hospital came amid a growing discussion in Holland on whether to legalize euthanasia on people incapable of deciding for themselves whether they want to end their lives — a prospect viewed with horror by euthanasia opponents and as a natural evolution by advocates. In August, the main Dutch doctors' association KNMG urged the Health Ministry to create an independent board to review euthanasia cases for terminally ill people "with no free will," including children, the severely mentally retarded and people left in an irreversible coma after an accident. The Health Ministry is preparing its response, which could come as soon as December, a spokesman said. Three years ago, the Dutch parliament made it legal for doctors to inject a sedative and a lethal dose of muscle relaxant at the request of adult patients suffering great pain with no hope of relief. The Groningen Protocol, as the hospital's guidelines have come to be known, would create a legal framework for permitting doctors to actively end the life of newborns deemed to be in similar pain from incurable disease or extreme deformities. The guideline says euthanasia is acceptable when the child's medical team and independent doctors agree the pain cannot be eased and there is no prospect for improvement, and when parents think it's best. Examples include extremely premature births, where children suffer brain damage from bleeding and convulsions; and diseases where a child could only survive on life support for the rest of its life, such as severe cases of spina bifida and epidermosis bullosa, a rare blistering illness. The hospital revealed last month it carried out four such mercy killings in 2003, and reported all cases to government prosecutors. There have been no legal proceedings against the hospital or the doctors. Roman Catholic organizations and the Vatican have reacted with outrage to the announcement, and U.S. euthanasia opponents contend the proposal shows the Dutch have lost their moral compass. "The slippery slope in the Netherlands has descended already into a vertical cliff," said Wesley J. Smith, a prominent California-based critic, in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Child euthanasia remains illegal everywhere. Experts say doctors outside Holland do not report cases for fear of prosecution. "As things are, people are doing this secretly and that's wrong," said Eduard Verhagen, head of Groningen's children's clinic. "In the Netherlands we want to expose everything, to let everything be subjected to vetting." According to the Justice Ministry, four cases of child euthanasia were reported to prosecutors in 2003. Two were reported in 2002, seven in 2001 and five in 2000. All the cases in 2003 were reported by Groningen, but some of the cases in other years were from other hospitals. Groningen estimated the protocol would be applicable in about 10 cases per year in the Netherlands, a country of 16 million people. Since the introduction of the Dutch law, Belgium has also legalized euthanasia, while in France, legislation to allow doctor-assisted suicide is currently under debate. In the United States, the state of Oregon is alone in allowing physician-assisted suicide, but this is under constant legal challenge. However, experts acknowledge that doctors euthanize routinely in the United States and elsewhere, but that the practice is hidden. "Measures that might marginally extend a child's life by minutes or hours or days or weeks are stopped. This happens routinely, namely, every day," said Lance Stell, professor of medical ethics at Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., and staff ethicist at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C. "Everybody knows that it happens, but there's a lot of hypocrisy. Instead, people talk about things they're not going to do." More than half of all deaths occur under medical supervision, so it's really about management and method of death, Stell said _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....

People do realize why that happens, right? Why these big box stores are bad for the economy in the end? The suppliers want to have their products carried by the largest retail outlets in the country (like Kenmore will want to be with the new Kmart/Sears) but the retailer wants to find a way to draw shoppers away from the competitors. These big box stores have so much leverage due to the amount of yearly sales, that they tell the supplier what they are going to pay per unit instead of the other way around. The supplier has two choices - either lower the price and margin or have their competitor get the contract. To make up for the significant loss in the margin (which makes shareholders panic), the supplier then moves their factory offshore to recoup their loss. Now that they can successfully offer lower cost per unit, their competitor is going to have to do the same to keep in competition and not go out of business. Therefore - while we are saving $20 on a dryer at WalMart, thousands of jobs are being loss and doing even more damage to the economy. These are jobs that can never be found again because they are gone for good. Personally speaking, I would rather spend $20 extra on a product then have the economy stay as low as it is. However, this process is not going to change. Why? The stock market was down yesterday because Wal Mart announced their sales were not as high this holiday weekend as expected. Now Wal Mart expectations are the guidline for the economy? 23 billion was spent over the weekend - I'm thinking more would have been spent if those unemployed manufacturer workers were still collecting paychecks. Thus, WalMart screwed itself and when they let their shareholders know they made less than expected even more people lose money in the market. Big Box stores may be convienent, but they are bad for the economy (I won't even get into their pay practices). _________________________________________ you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me.... I WILL fly again.....