peacefuljeffrey

I'd go with A. Enjoy. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I got myself a cat in October, a year after my other cat died. (I'd had the first one since 10th grade! -- 15+ years!) I had to consider the fact that I work full time and would have to leave the cat alone from 17:30 til 02:30. I even was told I should get TWO cats so they could be company for each other... but I didn't want the responsibility and additional expense of a second cat. I got my cat from a shelter. I looked at the kittens, and considered taking a brother-sister pair home. On a whim I checked the "cat" room (more grown-up than in the kitten room) and found my sweetie. She's silver-gray and white, and I named her Feather. She apparently does fine when I'm at work (she does get into some shit though), and when I come home she's affectionate and she sleeps on my bed with me, too. Okay, she's no substitute for a woman, but I'm workin' on that, okay?! I say, get the cat. Be good to her and she'll enjoy her life. Pick up one that would be destroyed if you didn't. [edited: see the piccy piccies!] -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

~~~vibes for Paige~~~

No, seriously now Kris, do you wanna get married? I could easily love a woman who thinks like you do! Plus, the gun laws in FL are more lax than those in CA! And dropzones? We got dropzones!! Can ya learn to love my cat?... - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

You must be new. "They don't just come and take away your [insert civil right here]?!" How far is YOUR head into the sand? That is EXACTLY what these laws are set up to do. Oh, in a literal sense, you're right -- they don't do it for "no" reason. The "reason" they use in these cases is the bullshit story from some psycho-bitch with a chip on her shoulder. You obviously have no idea of what the law does allow in this kind of ridiculous case. Kev, I'm sorry to hear this happened to you. Good luck in getting it resolved. Make sure a judge hears those recordings -- and get more if you can. See if you can bait her into saying "Nah nahh, I got them to take your guns away!" It's absolutely fucking moronic that they will take away a person's guns if there's an order of protection, but they don't take away your baseball bats, your kitchen knives, your gas can, your car... It's as if they're fuckin' pretending that taking away but ONE of the things you could use to kill somebody is gonna prevent you from murdering them. Just asinine. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

No ... So, you're saying that making love is not considered sex? I think sex is sex and making love is also sex++. So, really, you're getting more outta the deal, right? Angela. Nah, I think that there are forms of making love that don't include "sex" in the standard definition. I think you can be giving/getting a massage and that can, if done right, be a form of making love. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I guess I can logically ask whether wanking is better than skydiving. My Logical Proof 1) I think nothing is better than sex. 2) But, wanking is better than nothing. 3) Therefore, wanking is better than sex. 4) Thus, the question should be whether wanking is better than skydiving. 5) I think skydiving is better than wanking. 6) Therefore, I should think skydiving is better than sex. Conclusion: I was wrong. Skydiving wins. Oooh, he used a logic proof! Did that one employ syllo-jism?! - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

That's a picture of you, and you weren't getting any?! Geez, where do you live, in a monastery?! I answered "sex" because I hadn't thought about er, onanism. But even that would mean missing the actual sensations of the opposite sex... Too much of a loss. It's true, skydiving is irreplaceable, but one is more primal, and hey, I could still fly Cessnas, right? I'm sure glad this is just a hypothetical question! - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Don't you worry. I'm new to packing, myself, relatively. It's not nearly as scary or hard to jump your own as it might seem. Some people told me that it made them very nervous, but I had a lot of good people helping me out, and I took it slow and methodically. If you do the same, you'll have confidence in it. Use the knowledge of those around you. And remember, A) you have a reserve, and B) unless you pack screwed-up lines and get a lineover, you can virtually kick the canopy into the bag and it'll still open eventually. (That's what they keep telling me, anyway.) Have fun. It's a cool feeling to have that canopy open and realize you put it there and made it happen! ---Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I'm planning on going out to jump at SoBe. I did jump once before on Friday the 13th. I was in college, had done two static lines, and my AFF-I was on Friday the 13th. It was my first stand-up landing, too! So for me, it's a LUCKY day!

Clone of the Phantom The Menacing Clones Moaning Phantom Does it matter? Lucas has turned into a simpering twit with shit for ideas. WHAT THE FUCK WAS JAR-JAR BINKS?! WHAT THE FUCK?!?! WHOSE IDEA WAS THAT SHIT?!?! AND WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO HAVE KEYSTONE COPS FOR BATTLE DROIDS?! "ROGER-ROGER"?! COULD YOU BELIEVE THAT IDIOTIC COMIC-BOOK BANTER BETWEEN DROIDS?! WHY DO DROIDS EVEN HAVE TO [I]SPEAK[/I] TO EACH OTHER? THEY WOULDN'T COMMUNICATE WIRELESSLY?!?! WHY DOES AN ASTROMECH DROID NEED A FUCKING [I]INTERPRETER[/I] BECAUSE IT CAN SPEAK ONLY IN BLIPS AND BEEPS?!! THIS IS ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY?! Jesus, a seventh grader could write better science fiction. And these are the all-time biggest motion pictures?! - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

lol! Sorry to laugh at your misfortune,... but you had to go and make it funny Sorry for all those who have to pay:( I've been there. That's why I claim 0 all year now. I know that they're holding it and i'm not getting interest, but, they do a better job of keeping it than I would so I don't mind. skymama, that's good you are paying your credit cards. I have about 7k in debt, so I figure have fun instead since i'd barely dent it I know, not the smartest idea... but, i'm having fun so what the hell! ? Angela. Angela, you are SO right! Have fun with it -- you never know what the future's bringing you so you owe it to yourself to live in the now! That's what I'M doing. I will owe a LOT this year -- but it's because I inherited money after my mom's death. I am using what she left me to enjoy my life, and I think she'd smile on that. (It's what she would have done -- Mom knew how to spend for pleasure, she sure did.) On the other hand, my sister owes me about $1400 that I believe she's forgotten (It's a three-year old debt almost). I'm soon to write her a letter asking for it. I'll use that for a Spyderco ATR http://www.spyderco.com/online_product_info.asp?sts=2%2F12%2F2004+2%3A08%3A59+AM&pfid=SP+C70&deptId=1010&mscssid=1NKV0CM9FGL78HEK1LVK42CXBBJ1BK58, a ProTrack, and an Ouragan jumpsuit. ---Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

All the time! I have had LOADS of skydiving dreams. My first jumps were back in '91 (2 static lines and one AFF - I) and then 2 static lines in '96 -- then 55 more jumps in this year. So way back in '91 soon after my first static line, I began having VIVID dreams of skydiving. Most recently, I dreamed I was on a platform atop a tower, readying with a bunch of friends to do a BASE jump. I was holding (clutching) a girder on the tower and realized that I had no rig on! I saw the rig on the platform on the opposite side of the girder from me, and now I was nearly paralyzed with fear, knowing that I'd have to let go of the girder to put on the rig (afraid of losing my balance). But some time before I put the rig on, I made some sort of dream-realization that I didn't need a parachute to get to the ground safely. I realized I could FLY. So I jumped off the platform with nothing on, and freefell for a while. when I got a ground-rush, I rotated to my feet very gently and gracefully, and mentally willed myself to slow my descent, and I touched down nice and gently. It was an awesome feeling. It was like power and freedom and indestructibility! I took that feeling out of the dream with me! That was less than a month ago. A few nights ago, I dreamed I looked up after deployment at a tangled mass or bubbling canopy wrapped in all sorts of line-overs. Looked like chewing gum wrapped in string. So I distinctly looked down at my chest, saw my green cutaway handle and my blue reserve handle, pulled one then the other, and I remember hoping that nothing would get messed up with the reserve. Moments later it was open and inflated and happy, and I did an off landing at SoBe -- just beyond the fence as the crow flies toward the old Skydive America hangar! There was a gate in the fence (not in real life, though) and a bunch of old Skydive Palm Beach regulars -- Lisa, Dave, Steve, Kim, Rob -- all came out to see me after my reserve ride and I started walking toward them. I said something witty or funny that I simply can't remember and I remember that I raised my arms, palms-up, like a "what are ya gonna do?" gesture. I am constantly amazed at how seemingly accurate my dreams that involve skydiving are. A lot of true-to-life stuff happens in them. I swear, it feels like PRACTICE. ---Jeffrey -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Hey, anyone ever tell you that you look like Scott Evil? I just saw a news blurb in the paper about the release of Star Wars IV - VI. The idiots who wrote the blurb said that these episodes are "NOW called IV-VI because of the prequels. What morons. You can watch an ollllld videotape of the first ones, and there in the scrolling words is "Episode IV: A New Hope." The "original" Star Wars was called IV from the beginning. I don't know why reporters, when told by their editors to write about something they have no knowledge of, dont't speak up and say, "Hey, boss, give me an assignment I'm not totally clueless about!" I'll get the originals, but I don't give a flying shit about those abysmal recent episodes. Phantom Menace sucked balls, and whatever they called the next one, that one sucked too. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Attacked by a question. I think you're sensitive. (* Latin removed - I don't understand it) Yes. I went about my day armed to the teeth for nearly 2 decades. One day I killed two men. It was a profoundly violent act that would not have occured had I not been armed, prepaired and willing to take such action. You are as peaceful as a trap, carefully camoflaged in a forest. It makes no sound, and waits patiently to be sprung. A human land mine, waiting to be stepped on. I've been you. This is not peaceful, as the very preparation for your peace is steeped in violence. I still train - I still condition - as I'm unable to extinguish the mindset, but I don't carry anymore, and I walk away a lot. I cannot unset the trap - but I can take the edge off the blade. I admire the fact that you strive for peace while being armed to the teeth, although experience has taught me that if violence is an option, you are more likely to choose that option, whether your action is justified or not. If you meet your mindset in another body one day - the likelyhood of conflict is high. I don't question your enthusiasm for guns or knives, as I share them with you. I do strive to preserve life. I'm trying to do better than I was. t I've gotten quite used to being a living paradox. I make no pretense that some things about me don't necessarily jibe with other things about me. I guess my interest in guns and knives was a "nurture v. nature" thing: if my brother weren't around with said interest to pass it along to me (he is 9 years my senior) who knows if I would have developed these interests. I do not consider it an oxymoron to be peaceful and prepared. It is the difference in INTENT. I do not go around victimizing anyone. I live my life peacefully, keeping to myself and doing no harm -- in fact, helping when and where I can. To say, though, that I am not peaceful just because I remain ready to do harm to those who come to me seeking to do me harm, is not accurate. I don't know anything about you, your past, or the reason you said you killed two people. Frankly, you are the only person I know who has killed people. (Granted, I may easily know someone who's done so but I simply don't know it.) I understand what you're saying about having the means to kill at hand making it easier to kill -- I just don't agree that I am as susceptible to having that happen as you imply. In fact, I have faced situations where, if I were that hotheaded, I could have escalated the matter to violence simply because I did have a gun on me. I chose to evade and flee, and I lived and they lived and neither had to face deadly violence. I favor discretion over valor. I also understand my legal obligations regarding use of deadly force. Further, I also have no great wish to kill anyone. I strongly disagree, however, with the notion of blaming the availability of a weapon for a killing. There is a complex issue of causation, there. Those predisposed to kill will avail themselves of weapons. It is not necessarily true that a weapon at hand induces a desire to kill. Besides which, there are many things besides guns and knives that can be used to kill, and they cannot be kept from being available at all times. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Specious. Completely specious. The "1 in a 1000" figure is not to say that we'd immediately kill one in a thousand people in the population! It means that for every thousand people executed, one of them was not actually guilty! Come on, stay with us, Kev. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Some have jumped on my answer to the question about letting 100 guilty men go free or killing one innocent man... Let's be realistic, people... That's a hypothetical question and it's not as though we could really ever make that "trade." There's no way to go to some casino clerk and cash-in 100 guilty men and buy yourself the life of an innocent man, so the question amounts to just so much mental masturbation. I'm just saying that if it comes down to a cost-benefit analysis, I think that if you let 100 guilty murderers out free, they're probably gonna kill at least a handful of innocent people. Isn't that worse than the one guy that you had the state execute mistakenly -- especially if the state wasn't doing so with malfeasance or corruption as the reason? (You know, like when a prosecutor knows there's excupatory evidence and suppresses it.) I don't think that the death penalty is supposed to be vengeance, and it's not supposed to be a deterrent, either. It's punishment. And it's a way for society to know that this particular murderer will never kill again. (*That is, unless his evil soul inhabits computers and electrical devices and kills people from beyond the grave that way, like in "Ghost in the Machine"!*) I also have a problem with certain crime victims fighting AGAINST punishing those who attacked them. I've seen stories in the news where victims argued for mercy for their attackers. I say NO; the courts and the prisons have to keep this criminal away from the REST of us. Jsut because YOU forgave the guy who attacked you does not mean that you have the right to put him back out on the street to endanger any of US, when his proper place is in prison. This misguided policy of asking the victim how severe or lenient a sentence should be is pretty stupid. Besides, it's "the People" who bring a criminal case against a suspect, not "the Victim." WE are supposed to be represented (and PROTECTED) by the prosecution. Anything else is a perversion. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Don't know why I'm gonna dignify that with a response, since I consider it an ad hominem attack, but anyway... I don't agree that what I've said means I'm not "peaceful." And there are varying degrees of peaceful. AND, "peacefuljeffrey" is no more a binding monicker than any other username. Some people use things like "Flailer." Does that mean they're not allowed to do a smooth, controlled skydive? I strive to be peaceful. And I'm not perfect, I'm human. So I'm not 100% peaceful 100% of the time. I go about my day armed to the teeth, in most people's view (if they only knew it). Does that mean I'm not peaceful? After all, I'm not using the weapons I carry to harm anyone, and I never have. I do keep them at hand in case I have to use them defensively. So, does being prepared to do violence if necessary mean that one is not peaceful? I don't believe so. Anyway, who are you to question other people in such a condescending way? Are you one of those anti-death-penalty liberals who likes freedom of speech and freedom of thought as long as everyone speaks and thinks like you do? I already sense a disapproval of my views on the death penalty... What else about me don't you like? My interest in knives and guns? More? - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Why don't we see brown and grey and day-glo yellow and orange and green in the rainbow? If they're not actual colors in the visible spectrum, how do we ever see them, then? If mankind has truly existed for such a relatively short period of time compared to the universe and even to the earth, isn't it really foolish of us to think we matter one whit to the overall reality in which we find ourselves? I mean, forget about ONE person dying tragically: if the whole PLANET got obliterated right now, the universe wouldn't care, we wouldn't even be a memory, and it wouldn't really matter at all. So when I pare this down to my day-to-day, I find it odd that I or anybody else cares what happens here on earth, because when it's done, it's still so meaningless. Your hugest fit of destructive rage, pounding walls, even driving a truck into a building, doesn't budge the earth a noticeable amount. We are so small, yet our minds make us feel so huge. Is that right? - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Those are perfectly cromulent words... I don't see why they're not listed. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Mine is a picture of me taken on a vacation from Florida to New York, on a visit to my old university at Albany. I'm sitting on the edge of the fountain in front of the campus center. My old avatar was a decorative knot: a 4 lead, 5 bight Turk's Head, tripled, in blue-dyed camping cord. I also sometimes use a cool pic my sister took of our old dog as he looked out my parents' 2nd floor bedroom window in fading, shadowy daylight. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

The more I skydive, the more about the skydive I become aware of. I remember that after my two tandems and then the first few solos, I was noticing a dramatic widening of the tunnel-vision that I'd had on the prior jumps. At 60 jumps, I have much greater awareness than I used to -- and a realization that there will be a greater-still awareness in the future as I progress and learn. During my last ten jumps or so, with a new-used rig of my own, I'd been sufferering occasional sorta-hard openings. I was opening on my belly (no high-speed deployments or anything) and stable, but I guess my packing skills are still developing because I had some neck-shockers. As a result of a few hardish openings, I had begun to feel some conditioning... Like Pavlov's dog, I had begun to get apprehensive about opening shock and spent the skydives (and time on the ground) kinda dreading it. But since my last few openings were not as bad (and I had prepared by putting both palms on the brow of my helmet to keep my head from snapping down), some of that dread has abated. So lately when I reach pull-time, I'm back to concentrating on keeping my heading steady, making a deliberate and focused reach, grabbing my Monkey's Fist and holding just a moment (keep that heading despite the arm movement), and pulling. I'm also thinking about wind direction, who's around me (usually no one, since I'm solo most of the time and often last-out), distance and direction to the LZ, and handling spin or twist or malfunction if they should occur. Fortunately, I have a pretty docile Lotus 170 loaded 1.18:1, because I've been experiencing some off-heading openings, often with a good bit of turn to them. Still not sure if it's the packing (mine) or the body position. I love flying and landing the canopy, so I don't hold with those "aww, the skydive's over" people: the skydive's only HALF-over at pull time. There's more fun to be had just cruising that canopy.

Weird. I was originally kinda creeped out, but then I realized that the guy's story was exactly like the old Twilight Zone episode that starred Telly Savalas as a mean stepfather who is threatened and then killed by his stepdaughter's evil, indestructible talking doll. (They used that as the basis of the Simpsons Halloween episode segment, "Clown Without Pity.") Also, Stephen King's "The Monkey" is very similar. I couldn't believe that the seller lists $10 as the starting price... but there's a reserve. Why does someone set both a starting price and a reserve on the same item? Isn't the starting price moot? Did you see, there have been TWENTY NINE BIDS, and the thing is currently listed for $49 with the reserve not yet met!? I'll bet I could destroy it. I just don't wanna blow that kinda money to prove it. - -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

Oooh...here's an opportunity to give a clue about my sig line. According to the same source as my sig line, Albert Einstein has had someone touch his butthole, along with Isaac Newton and Abraham Lincoln. I'm gonna guess that it's a headline from The Onion. -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

I didn't vote, since I'm not against the activity but haven't done it, myself. I suppose I like Astroglide, though. I've encountered it elsewise. You did forget Loc-tite. -Jeffrey "With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"