peacefuljeffrey

Far worse things have happened in Europe. And you can't judge an entire country on the basis of one stupid incident. I guess the original poster here hasn't read about what just happened in France. They banned religious garb of various types in schools -- particularly muslim head scarves, jewish yarmulkes, and any prominent crucifixes. The rule goes into effect next year, according to what I read. So what was that about never happening in Europe? And we're talking about RELIGIOUS items, not just some stupid baseball cap or something. Yeah, Europe has its shit together... suuuure. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I have always thought it odd that people contrive silly reasons to feel offended, i.e. by "bad manners." Isn't it only by definition or convention that we consider wearing a hat indoors "bad manners"? I mean, what is it, really, at the core, that makes wearing a hat indoors bad manners -- and also makes it perfectly fine to wear the same hat in the same manner outdoors? I think it's absurd to say that a person who otherwise behaves perfectly fine is displaying "bad manners" just because he's wearing a hat. That's just stupid, in my opinion. Throughout history, people have contrived all sorts of modes of dress that are supposed to be symbolic of this or that. We've had those idiotic powdered wigs, and hoop skirts, and those dresses where the ass part is all pushed out, and those big-ass harlequin collars, and those pointy-tipped shoes where the height of the points indicated your "station." And now we are really no different, except now the order of the day is "business suits" with their stupid uncomfortable confinement (not to mention the useless, uncomfortable and dangerous necktie). We say that unless you're wearing that, you're not respectful of business. And we also apparently still attribute "bad manners" to wearing something like a baseball cap indoors -- potentially even despite a proper display of otherwise perfect manners. Can't we get beyond this stupid shit? i -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I'm just gonna assume you meant to credit me with that analogy, which I've been using for years. I can't say that I've seen you use it, but since you say you have, that just means that brilliant minds think alike. There was never a doubt. -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I guess I would have to see a seminar on this to properly grasp what you're saying doesn't work about the "45 Degree Rule." I have been told to use exactly that on several occasions, mostly from experienced jumpers who still view me (with 79 jumps) as someone who should still be watched and reminded about various safety concerns (and I like that and I have no problem with it). So now and then someone will remind me about not getting too far downwind when the wind is blowing out to the lake, or to exercise caution on landing, or to keep on the lookout for alternate landing fields, etc. I'd rather have people treating me like I don't know enough than to assume I know stuff I may not know, if the up-side of it is they'll keep coming at me with good knowledge to share. But I can't yet visualize what you are saying would not work with the 45 second rule. When I saw the table about there being like .2 seconds between groups, I found myself saying, "Well, if 45 seconds really dictated such a paltry amount of time, I would think normal people would not actually exit that quickly. It's like if a light turned green but there were still cars screaming by across an intersection, I would not just jet out into them simply because green told me to go." Likewise, I think that there is some intuition and observation that must go into separating groups. I usually do a combination of looking at the previous group/individual, counting a good five seconds at least, THEN getting up in the door and within a second or two releasing. I have not had any issues with proximity to other freefallers nor openings. Is it luck or prudence? - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Attached. Dude, those birds are creepy, if you've ever watched Firefly. The Men with Blue Hands... and that evil little brain-popping device they had... Kurt Vonnegut Jr. had much to say about Blue-footed Boobies in Galapagos. Cute post. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Why? Would you have a problem if someone blew that shithole to smithereens? I know I wouldn't shed a tear. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

LOL! She didn't like hearing that she was not injured, so she went shopping for someone to tell her that she was injured?! Jesus Christ some people are pathetic! I don't watch the show -- I eschew this morbid bullshit fascination we have with contrived shows that do anything but portray "reality" (do you really believe this shit is not largely staged?!). I wonder, if this dumb bitch cannot capitalize on her claim of racism (and when did it become illegal for someone to call someone an "N" anyway? It may not be nice, but we're still free to say the word!) -- she can still stick a syringe into a Coke bottle and try her luck at getting rich that way... - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I sometimes think that Jim took the bullet, but Sarah suffered the brain damage. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I'm just gonna assume you meant to credit me with that analogy, which I've been using for years. It's a good one, isn't it? Rock on! - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Higher up I explained how they get the money. State and Feds. I also stated I have no idea how to solve this problem. The problems are sundry. I admit that I bitch about it and have no solution. All I know is that the way we've been doing it absolutely sucks. And the policies forwarded seem to be, "Do the same, but throw more money at it." It has not worked. And, I fear, we cannot legislate around it. I agree. I got to thinking just now about what is said above regarding the 2:1 ratio of school funding in IL (and probably elsewhere). There is no causation established when one discovers that crappy schools that churn out undereducated kids have much less money. It is not enough to correlate money with intelligence/test scores/good grades/success/arrest rates, etc. Let's say you observe that white suburban schools have more money and then you observe that the kids are smarter, do better on tests, get into college, get good, high-paying jobs... You could be simplistic about it and say that it's all because there is more money in the schools and that extra spending made all the good things happen. Why, though, couldn't you say that because the people living in that area care about education and learning,and come from that kind of tradition and background, they worked hard to learn, got educated, got good jobs, and now own property that is highly taxed and therefore more money goes into their schools? The money that is poured into the "good" schools, which is often alleged to be the reason the kids do well (as opposed to learning good habits and values from educated, intelligent parents) had to get earned and cultivated somehow, before it got put into the schools. That means that before there was ever a lot of money from expensive, taxable real estate, there were people who were educated and well-employed who had to first make that money, buy the property, pay the taxes that then went into the schools. If you put an inner city kid into a good, well-funded school but he goes home to drug-dealing parents or something crappy like an inner-city environment, he is not going to suddenly do well in school just because the textbooks are new and they have Apple G-5s in the computer lab. If a kid is still surrounded by the environment of pants-around-the-ass, low-rider cars with bass thudding making the trunk lid vibrate, gang-sign flashing, gun-toting, killing-for-expensive-sneakers-and-other-stupidass-status-symbols, he is still going to value that and not value what is truly important, which is getting a good education. That's just how I see it. And it seems to me that modern "Liberals" patronize the inner city dwellers with promises that tax money pumped into their schools will make everything all right. In fact, they offer that as pollyanna for all the ills they see everywhere -- FUND FUND FUND and the problem will right itself. If the typical liberal skydived, he'd throw money at a bag-lock to try to resolve it, and if he reached 2,500' he'd start throwing hundreds instead of twenties. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

40 years ago conservatives said African Americans and Hispanics SHOULDN'T make it, and did everything in their power to prevent them making it. Now they have changed their tune to "let them make it but without any help from my taxes". Gee, you mean the same way I am supposed to make it? What a rough row to hoe! I feel so BAD for them! - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

There's that old riddle about asking someone who always lies to answer a question. I think it goes something like there are two doors in a room, and one leads to certain death and one is an escape. There are two people in the room, one always lies and one always tells the truth, and you don't know which does which. You have to ask them which door leads to safety. What do you ask them that will indicate who is the liar and who is the truth-teller, so you can get the safe answer? Thanks in advance for the help. Someone told me the answer to this a while back and I promptly forgot it, simple though I remember it being. Ugh! - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

This, to me, is just representative of the insanity that is passing for crime control in the U.K., and the lengths to which idiot government officials will go to do nothing more than LOOK like they're trying to protect the public. I pity those people who live in the U.K. and can see reason, and know that shit is all upside down over there. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I vote for the red-headed chick in the '80s remake of Night of the Living Dead. She was hot, she was self-sufficient, she kicked ass and looked good doin' it! - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

k^ 't think cleanliness is really an issue anymore, is it? My understanding is that most of the nerve endings in the penis are in the foreskin, you lose that, you lose a whole lot of sensation. Wish I knew what I was missing out on I have never heard what you said about "most of the nerve endings" being in the foreskin. Actually, though I am not sure, that sounds apocryphal. I have always heard that the glans of the penis and the clitoris are the closest analogues between thegenitalia ofboth sexes. And I do know that MY 32-year-old circumcised penis feels no shortage of pleasure. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Well, the truth or falsehood of all the cleanliness/health/hygiene claims notwithstanding, I was circumcised and for me it is just the "right" look for a penis. Not that I go looking at penises. I just am very used to mine and so that is what looks "right" to me. It sure as hell is a strange fuckin' thing to ever have become traditional and common. I mean, WTF?! Cutting skin off a penis?! What IS the Jewish religious rationale for it?? - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I'm glad to have helped in some small way. Me, I actually do really well remembering my dreams. Sometimes they please or interest me enough that I write them down in a dedicated book. I wouldn't say that all dreams have meaning, but some of them do compel me to think about various subjects. Sometimes they are just good entertainment, and I get to marvel at what my subconscious mind can come up with. In one recent dream, I was on a big tower for a BASE jump (I've never done any BASE jumping), and I was pretty scared. Even more scared when I saw and noticed that my rig was NOT ON ME, but on the platform of this tower, leaning up against a big support girder, on the opposite side of the girder on which I had a death-grip. I realized that I'd have to let go and put the thing on, and the thought of that terrified me. (I'm not real keen on edges, particularly not without a parachute rig on.) In an instant, though, I somehow realized that I could fly and I didn't even need the rig. When everyone else there jumped, I did too, and I freefell for a while, doing some solo maneuvers, and just as I saw the ground-rush, I swung my feet under me into a stand and did this beautiful swan-like feather-touch landing. In the dream I felt great, and then when I woke up I did, too. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Cute fairy! And in bondage, too! RrrrOWWRrrrrr! She looks amenable to what some horny Wood Elf might wish to do with her... Heh heh... "Wood Elf!" I crack me up! - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Maybe it's not old-fashioned to object to suicide. Maybe it's new. Remember, some other cultures regard suicide as a very viable option. Think about Japan's history. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

"Too many greedy doctors and others who would take advantage..." I think this implies that there is not such a situation already. I don't see how legalized suicide would make a difference. We already have people of all professions willing -- indeed eager -- to take advantage of us. Look at what the lying sons of bitches do to people who have the misfortune of being overweight! There is a TRILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY for weight-loss "products" many of which are outright frauds. Doctors are, in some cases, party to this. Or how about how doctors have put a generationor two on behavior-control drugs like Ritalin. Cripes, a few years back there was no such thing as ADHD until the medical profession realized they could sell pills and consultations with it! I think that people deserve to right to end their lives when they have reached that reasoned decision. We are free to choose how to live, and we all must die, but must we accept the notion of death taking us in unchosen and possibly painful, protracted, or unexpected ways? I would rather be free to at some point say, "I've had enough," and end my own life in grace and dignity and a clear mind than to have to wait for pneumonia to claim me in a hospital bed while morphine turns my mind into mush and my relatives don't recognize me because I can't even see them let alone recognize them... Dying is about the most personal thing in the world, and yet we allow governments to tell us we're not allowed to do it until we've exhausted all the so-called life left in us as we wither indisease and pain? Nuh-uh. The time to die is when you feel right with your end, and at peace; not when you are out of your mind with discomfort, sadness, misery. - - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I think I agree with you, though I had not thought of it til you mentioned it. The only thing is, the cop would probably catch shit for doing nothing, even if he were truly "respecting the wishes" of the couple. For crying out loud, though, does anyone really think that the poor guy is going to want to be alive NOW, with his wife dead? I mean, they loved each other enough to go into death together. I think they deserved that peace. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I don't think it would hurt if onto the agenda we could also sneak some POO-SAYYYYY!!! - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

You're lucky! Lately, we've been having to listen to the same dance/rave/something-or-other mixes over and over at my DZ. I tried to sneak a mix of my own (mostly rock) into the CD changer and before it had finished playing the dance stuff had been put back on. Really, I can't think of music less appropriate to skydiving than what we've been hearing. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

altitude: 4,000' aircraft: Twin Super Otter maneuver: solo Hop-n-Pop (due to 5,000' ceilings) description: rear-facing sit exit, held sit for about 1,000 feet, went to belly, pulled. It was fun even though it was my only jump of the day and not at full altitude. I love the sit exit lately. It is really interesting to feel myself gradually decelerate from forward travel with my back to the relative wind and eventually fall vertically, remaining in the same position the whole time. I could barely believe it when I tried the sit-exit for the first time on someone else's recommendation and it took absolutely zero-practice to get it to work right!

Yes, that has happened to me. Around 1998-2001 I had a number of dreams that involved being in airliners that crashed. I began to wonder after several of them whether I might actually develop, based on these dreams, a fear of flying. (I had/have never had a fear of flying.) I ended up answering the question by happening to go on some flights. No problems. Then in 2002 I resumed taking flying lessons (which I had done in 1991 but stopped before getting my pilot's license.) Those dreams have not had a bearing on my eagerness to fly. I have also had a good number of dreams about skydiving since I got into it in August 2003. Even last night I had a skydiving dream in which I exited in a sit, stood up to try to get down to the guy I was supposed to be in a 2-way with, and then realized I'd gotten down to about 3,000' and pulled (I usually pull no lower than 4,500). I have fortunately never had a malfunction in real life. I have had several in dreams. In each of these dreams, I have cut-away and always landed safely under a reserve. Weird, since I have never done that in real life. But just as it is reassuring to me that I have acted properly in my dreams, I understand your apprehension about what your dreams mean to you. My proposed solution: TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN. If you fear making mistakes when dealing with a malfunction, maybe your dreams are telling you that you don't really have a solid handle on the subject, and you should get instruction to put your mind and safety at ease. Good luck.