MikeJD

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Everything posted by MikeJD

  1. I think it's worth pointing out that the rate of fatalities (and even of serious accidents) in skydiving is actually very low - so statistically it's difficult to rate one school over another in those terms. A couple of accidents will very quickly skew the curve, and those can happen at any school. There's also the 'shit happens' factor - students can often break themselves regardless of how well they'e been taught or looked after by their instructors. Bottom line is, I doubt any of the UK-based AFF schools could be called 'unsafe'.
  2. That's what I thought while I was watching it, and it made me suspect that this is staged and all the 'bystanders' are in on it. If they weren't, then the 'assailant' could easily have been attacked and seriously hurt by someone before they could explain that it wasn't real. Less seriously, there's a good chance that someone would have called the police. And that would have been regrettable too!
  3. Well, what do you call a hangar or even covered parking for airplanes? Good point! Conceivably, you could park one in a cave, too. I guess you could park one under the guy wires for an antenna.
  4. Building Antenna Span Earth Which one of those are we putting 'parked plane' under?
  5. Nice story, but surely apocryphal. A couple of speeding offences would look pretty insignificant compared to driving around in a car with false plates copied from a police vehicle!
  6. MikeJD

    Yay

    Cool that your viola still works, although I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. How did your Pro Dytter fare?
  7. Interesting - this is something you should do from time to time, but it's never occurred to me to do it while I'm under canopy. I think I'd sooner be watching for traffic - but without seeing the original video it's hard to tell how much of a distraction it would be. It's still a mystery to me how those twists get in there in the first place though - I'd swear my toggles don't leave my hands from the moment I unstow the brakes after opening to the moment I re-stow them after landing. Presumably I must be actively putting those twists in there as I set the brakes, and if I could break the habit then I'd never have twisted lines!
  8. It makes me chuckle what a low profile Gary Connery has. Jeb Corliss is a household name, even in non-jumper households. The guy who went ahead and did what Jeb was trying to achieve is 'the Brit wing suiter'.
  9. MikeJD

    Meteor?

    I think you're all being a bit hard on the people who went to look out of their windows. That's a natural human reaction, and I bet most would have followed suit. It's been a very long time since we were taught to duck and cover!
  10. At the zoo? Because otherwise, erm... never mind.
  11. Well, you could have had: - Smiley Cypres - Skydiving ready blow up girl
  12. Good plan. You could even get her into a stable position because they're pretty posable. Erm, so I hear...
  13. Who knew? The web really is good for more than porn.
  14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9lmCpIzhFo Yes, that's Mr Bean/ Johnny English. From before you were born.
  15. Actually I have to say that I've read far worse reports than that one. The headline and the assertion that the industry has 'almost no regulations' are indefensible, of course - but at least the reporter spoke to several parties, and included a response from the DZ. Contrary to one or two of the comments on that thread, the FAA report does refer to issues with the gear, and it's not helpful to attack people who are only quoting from it. But of course Flores was extremely foolish, and unfortunately it's his perspective that colours the article. Hopefully his foolishness is abundantly clear from the number of people who've pointed it out!
  16. My one and only 'friend' on here is someone I don't think I've ever talked to - I just got the request pretty much as soon as the option had been added to the site, and it seemed rude to refuse! People send out friend requests for different reasons. Maybe they do want to express a liking for or solidarity with you. Maybe they want to get in your pants. Maybe they want to get themselves (or their product) on as many people's radars as possible. Maybe they just want to bolster their friends list to appear popular (and let's face it, the internet is gradually becoming one big popularity contest!)
  17. Had she not flipped him off, not much. Had she flipped the bird while saying "avoir" then something would be done. I've seen summary contempt remands before. What the heck is 'avoir' in this context anyway? Do we mean 'au revoir'?
  18. They're not - I think he means (rightly or wrongly) that some cultures might be more risk-averse than others.
  19. Twin Udder. Yes, I know we've done the udder thing already - but it's all I've got.
  20. Amazing talent - but I'd have to ask why anyone would bother to make a drawing as photorealistic as possible, except as an exercise. I find these a bit soulless. For me the pleasure in looking at drawings is that they look like drawings - and in fact the less fussy the better. The art I most admire is much more economical. If you can create a powerful suggestion of something with just a few perfectly judged lines and blocks of colour, then I think it's much more affecting.
  21. MikeJD

    The Louvre

    If you can avoid the Inuit. Rude buggers.
  22. MikeJD

    Erotica

    Does sexting count?