MikeJD

752 and counting. What about this one? 65536. It bugs me on a regular basis. ? another hint ? Sure - I blame Bill Gates.

Nope....do tell.... We used to have a genius and controversial spoof news show over here called Brass Eye. This is from its Wikipedia entry: ********************************** Brass Eye aroused considerable controversy when it was first broadcast, primarily because prominent public figures were fooled into pledging onscreen support for fictitious, and often plainly absurd, charities and causes. The second episode was called "Drugs", and is one of the most successful of the series. In the opening scene, a voiceover tells viewers that there are so many drugs on the streets of Britain that "not even the dealers know them all". An undercover reporter ([the show's creator, Chris] Morris) asks a purportedly real-life drug dealer in London for various fictitious drugs, including "Triple-sod", "Yellow Bentines" and "Clarky Cat", leaving the dealer puzzled and increasingly irritated until he tells the reporter to leave. He also asks the dealer if he is the "Boz-Boz", and claims that he doesn't want his arm to feel "like a couple of fortnights in a bad balloon". Later in the episode, in the same area, Morris, dressed as a baby with a nappy on and a red balloon-like hat on his head, again asks for "Triple-sod" and then says "last time I came here a friend of mine just got triple-jacked over a steeplehammer and jessop jessop jessop jessop jessop". He also explained that possession of drugs without physical contact and the exchange of drugs through a mandrill were perfectly legal in English law. The British MP- David Amess MP, the Conservative Member of Parliament for Basildon, was fooled into filming an elaborate video warning against the dangers of a fictional Eastern European drug called Cake, and went as far as to ask a question about it in Parliament. The drug purportedly affected an area of the brain called "Shatner's Bassoon" (altering your perception of time), can give you a bloated neck due to "massive water retention" (allegedly known in the then non-existent Czechoslovakia as "Czech Neck") and was frequently referred to as "a made-up drug" (a drug, they were told, not made from plants but made up from chemicals). Other celebrities such as Sir Bernard Ingham, Noel Edmonds and Rolf Harris were shown holding the bright-yellow cake-sized pill as they talked, with Bernard Manning telling viewers that "One kiddy on Cake cried all the water out of his body. Just imagine how his mother felt. It's a f***ing disgrace" and that "…you can puke yourself to death on this stuff — one girl threw up her own pelvis-bone… What a f***ing disgrace". Manning, along with other participants, told the public that Cake was known on the street as "loonytoad quack", "Joss Ackland's spunky backpack", "ponce on the heath", "rustledust" or "Hattie Jacques pretentious cheese wog", and then informed anyone offered it to "chuck it back in their face and tell them to f*** off". *********************************** When you mentioned 'window pane' - which I'd never heard before, but have now thanks to Google - it just reminded me of Brass Eye.

Tony? Cake? Ring any bells?

You ever try 'cake'?

752 and counting. What about this one? 65536. It bugs me on a regular basis.

No connection, I hope!

Patrick de Gayardon (RIP) did both at the same time! A bit more awkward than skysurfing,but he made it look pretty good. When I used to jump at Gap-Tallard (at the foot of the French Alps), early in the season there'd still be plenty of snow on the slopes and we'd fly over skiers on our way to altitude. That was pretty cool, and an ideal DZ if you wanted to do both activities in the same trip.

And I do like to round off a day's jumping with a kebab.

Yep, dogs are cool. But the reason cats don't belong in this thread is that they all do parkour as a matter of course. It comes with the territory. Literally.

Apparently the crocodile survived the crash but somebody macheted it immediately afterwards. The plane was indeed a Let-410. They were popular as jumpships a few years ago in the UK - we used to bring them over for the summer from the Ukraine and Czech Republic, where they flew cargo or passengers during the winter months. They came with their own crews, who really used to throw them around! Really nice aircraft, actually - a bit like a wide-bodied Otter.

Depends how popular your username is with other people - or if it's something like, let's say, 'Turtle'. I Googled mine and discovered only that there are a lot of other MikeJDs in the world.

Before I read the article, I could see that it made everything look like a toy but I couldn't quite figure out why. Funny what simple mechanisms the brain uses to determine this stuff.

Am I the only one who read this the first time as crotch? We know he made a typo - don't be a grammar nazi. Yeah, a Freudian typo.

Yeah, also useful in the case of total malfunctions. Actually, didn't we see that in the last Star Trek movie?

Am I the only one who read this the first time as crotch?

You're assuming the servicemen in all the other photos are men. Well, ok. All the servicewomen whose faces you can see. The point remains the same.

Yeah, I thought it was ironic as well that the 'away team' has the better 'home strip' (God forbid there should be any terms in there that can be misconstrued ). They should swap when the Brits come home! Also, notice that the only servicewomen you ever see in pictures are the really pretty ones.

No doubt. This whole amazing episode has a real Apollo 13 feel to it - one of the great ordeal/ rescue stories of recent history. They'll want some Latin American stars - my money's on Benicio del Toro. Maybe Rosie Perez as a wife (or mistress!)

Good for you. Too many people these days 'experiencing' stuff through a viewfinder. Too many people acting like if they didn't get it on video, they weren't really there!

I think the whole Geocities domain has been gone for about a year, hasn't it?

Wow, those are freaky looking. Can you get them flesh coloured and covered in hair? If not, why not?

Wow. If you're going to do something like that, you really want something like this. Similar incident, but in a machine equippped for it.

You see, everyone? He's new and keen! Brian, there's a useful page here showing BPA-affiliated DZs. From Canary Wharf you should be able to reach quite a few without too much trouble: Headcorn is something of a tandem factory and can be slow, but it's a good place if you're not driving since there's easy rail access from central London. Weston is great - my team trains there. Kind of the wrong side of London for you, but worth the trip if you have a car. Sibson is also good, and again if you can get a car it should be quite a reasonable trip from there. I would offer to lend you a rig, but at 72 jumps I think my Katana 107 might not be the canopy for you.

Hang on, you lot. It is perfectly possible to jump in the UK during November and December - it might not be fun, but it can be done. Brian, which part of London will you be in? Makes a difference as to which DZs will be most accessible. Oh, and will you have access to a car?

Maybe not, but it's cheaper than a replacement Vigil cutter and reserve repack.