MikeJD

I think they're all fairly obvious, so I suspect you're not quite seeing the last two properly. Keep looking! By the way, I remember hearing that the principle of stereograms was first noticed by someone gazing at wallpaper (jeez, that guy must have been bored!) Slight imperfections in the repeating pattern gradually gave him the impression that it was 3-dimensional.

By fooling the brain into thinking that your left and right eye, which are actually looking at two different parts of the image, are seeing two 'sides' of the same object. The parts of the pattern that your two eyes are focusing on individually are very similar but just different enough to give a sense of perspective. The most basic stereograms comprise two photographs side by side, each taken from slightly to the left or right of the subject. Once you can get your left and right eye to concentrate on the left and the right image respectively, then it's as if you're seeing a real-world object in 'stereo', like we do in the 3d world.

It's just a knack, like lots of other things. Once you've seen one or two, you should be able to instantly see others. I found the best way was to have the image behind glass or another reflective surface (unfortunately most computer screens are pretty non-reflective these days). If you focus on your own reflection in the glass rather than the image itself, then you're effectively doing what you need to - focusing beyond the image.

I reckon it's 'you and me'. Think about reversing those two - you wouldn't say 'between I and you', but the context is the same.

Yep, what he said. I cringe when I'm introduced to people as 'Mike, he jumps out of aeroplanes'. Honestly! At best it's a conversation starter, but at worst it instantly defines you in that person's eyes. I always get the feeling that the person you've just been introduced to now feels that they have nothing to say that could interest or impress you. Or, if they're the competitive type, then they have to best you in some way...

In general I think we're as different from one another as we are from non-jumpers. It's one of the things I like most about this sport. My skydiving friends come from all kinds of backgrounds, a huge age range, and have wildly different political opinions. Some are well-off, others can only jump once they've done enough pack jobs. Many of them I could never have got to know any other way, just because I think we must move in such different circles away from the dropzone. Two areas where we're badly represented - obviously, we're a disproportionately male community, although to nowhere near the degree that whuffos seem to expect - and ethnicity. For some reason, at least where I've jumped in the UK, Europe and the US, skydiving seems to be a very 'white' sport. Which I think is strange, given that we're such a cross-section of society in many other ways. I certainly don't buy into the theory (which I've heard several times) that we're all missing whatever it is in our brains that allows us to be excited by 'normal' activities...

Your balloon animal looked v cute on your protec

If you want to try something different you could get a Lumie bodyclock (www.lumie.com). It emulates daylight and wakes you up by gradually increasing its brightness. Really sweet on those dark winter mornings. Also doubles as a bedside lamp, obviously, and gradually dims once you activate the alarm. It also has a backup sound alarm that will eventually go off to wake you just in case the light doesn't. I've had one for the last few months and I love it.

120??? belly (fur)ball!!! Thought someone might pick me up on that

Quote b) This research suggests that 95% of cats would survive freefall from altitude... reply] 95% of cats aren't as fat as mine. I wouldn't give him very good odds.

The guy in that diagram is somewhere between a standup and a sit. I reckon his terminal velocity is over 120.

I'd say 120mph, because you'd never be able to get the cat to let go of you.

Well, when we were driving from Michigan down to WV for Bridge Day, we bought a bag of balloons and instructions for making animals. They had been meant for the two passengers, but the driver managed to make just as many as we did and we only came close to crashing about half a dozen times. Funny, but scary as hell. I reckon that's at least as big a challenge as killing a kitten. Not least because you need two hands... Erm. Actually, I wouldn't recommend this.

Agree about Easy for car rental. Another American friend of ours rented from them while she was over here and as I remember found them pretty cheap and hassle-free. Good for you for taking in Scotland and Wales - there are some beautiful places to see and given the time of year you might even get lucky with the weather! Haven't made it on there myself yet, but people say the Millenium Eye is a must-do while you're in London.

Beth, I always used to take mine as carry-on. I had a rig bag custom made that was only just large enough to take the rig and was thus within the dimensions that check-in staff expect to see for cabin baggage. I never got any hassle, but I always half expected to and didn't have any kind of plan B in the case of problems. I've since invested in a hard case and always put it in the hold now. I'm glad I did since now there's no uncertainty and it means I don't have to lug my rig around the airport until it's time to board the flight. The one thing I would say is, if you decide to take your rig as cabin baggage make sure you have a means of packing it securely in case you're refused. I wouldn't say a regular rig bag is sufficient to protect your gear once the baggage handlers decide to drop-kick it into the hold!

Have a good one Adam. And yep, get yourself airworthy soon - I'm keeping an 8-way slot warm for you.

Yep, it's a nice magazine these days, and it has improved loads - although without taking any credit away from the editorial staff, I think a lot of that's down to the quality of the contributions from the community. There are some great articles and photos sent in and the fact that the presentation is so slick is just the icing on the cake. If Vicki's right then the mag (which comes out every two months) works out at less than £3 an issue - not bad for a, ahem, 'specialist publication'. Now if they could just do something about the other 88 quid of the membership fee

Agreed. Which is why, at least at my DZ, we generally try to give the middle group of the load the sweetest spot, all other things being equal (obviously if half your load comprises high-pulling tandems, you can afford a deeper spot). So for example in the event of a nil-wind day your first group will be getting out short of the dropzone. The argument AGAINST this might be that you then get the early group(s) heading back towards the dropzone under canopy from 'downwind' and thus closing the distance between themselves and the next group out, so it becomes even more important to ensure good group separation on exit.

A kitchen ceiling?

Funny, I get claustrophobic pretty easily but I've never felt uncomfortable in my Z1. The last Oxygn I saw, you couldn't open the visor very far, which I think would bother me - with the Z1 they open all the way. The only downside I think is that there's a knack to getting the catch open and it can be difficult if you have thick gloves on.

Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper just to, like, pack carefully? Seriously, though - the way parachute gear is designed and packed now, having just one reserve option has already made us safer in the air than we are on the drive home from the dropzone. I think adding another layer of redundancy would just complicate things. It is fun to think about this kind of thing, though. Who remembers the movie a few years back with Ellen Barkin (Siesta?) in which she was supposed to perform a stunt by freefalling from a plane into a net (I think)? I don't believe she ever does it, so you don't get to see how they thought it was going to work...

And the other thing that really bugs me is having groups getting out too close together, or if they're behind you yelling at your group to get out faster, JUST because they think the spot is getting too long. Having one group take a long time in the door isn't rectifiable by having everyone else get out on top of one another - you're just exchanging a relatively small risk for a much bigger one. At my local DZ we have quite a lot of holds due to commercial air traffic, so you could be circling at the same altitude for minutes at a time. So I guess an occasional go-around on the jump run isn't such a big deal in the scheme of things.

I think people are wise to say you shouldn't invest in a matching suit until you have at least some confidence that the team will be together long enough to justify it. BUT I also think little things that foster a team spirit and identity can help your team enthusiasm. I'd say start with the more affordable stuff, like stickers or maybe tee shirts. Then you can have some common identifiers (at least around the DZ) without spending big bucks. If and when it comes to choosing suit colours, (or even more extreme, rig colours!) it's like your team name - nobody should have to put up with something they hate. There are only four of you, after all, so consensus shouldn't be TOO hard (what am I saying? ). But I have a feeling that if your team's a success and you have good times jumping together, you'l get to love that suit anyway for what it represents. Good luck!

There are quite a few photos on www.steveontheweb.net. From the homepage, just follow the links - Skydiving - Skydive HPC - LAC Meet - Night. For anyone who didn't know Ethan, his is the first picture (extreme close-up!) in that set. Once you've seen that one, you'll be able to recognise him in all the others.

Here's one for ya: where do you go to weigh pies? Somewhere over the rainbow.