penniless

I disagree. The brain is a muscle, not a bucket. Our schools are suffering from low expectations, not too high of expectations. I've heard some parents lament to the teachers that they don't want their children to have to do any "hard work or memorization." I'd prefer not to have my childred dumbed down to that level. I was lucky enough to go to a school with a classical curriculum including Latin. Yes, a lot of memorization, but it made English and other languages much simpler to study in the future. I don't feel a moment of it was wasted (until they invented the internet chat room). . I didn't say anything AT ALL about making things easier, just commenting on our priorities. I too took Latin in HS (for 4 years). There are a finite number of hours available in childhood. They should be used for the maximum benefit. Learning long spelling lists of esoteric words that no-one uses is a useless waste of that time. Latin would be better, at least it teaches good grammar and sentence construction. (Not so sure about "ablative absolutes" and "datives of possession"). On the whole I'd like to see better math and science education in schools. USA is falling behind Europe and Asia in math and science.

The GM issue and the Skyride issue are separate. Skyride appears to be operating in a fraudulent manner that damages legitimate dropzones. It thus becomes an issue to skydivers who need access to DZs. It thus becomes USPA business. I am pleased that USPA is following up on this.

Einstein did his early work as a dropout working in as a clerk in a Swiss patent office. This is where he developed the theory of relativity and the theory of the photo electric effect, some of his earliest award winning work. Opportunities abound in the world, if people will take them. As it happens, in the early 1900s a patent office was a perfect place to monitor scientific developments from around the world. Right place, right time. And remember, A.E. already had his Ph.D. from a top university, it wasn't as if he was uneducated.

Gee, I'll bet Ted is crying all the way to the bank. (I met him once, about 15 years ago. I got the impression that he says exactly what he's thinking, and to hell with what anyone else thinks about him).

Spelling Bees should be canceled, but not for the reason stated. Asking kids to memorize a long list of words that no-one ever uses in conversation or normal writing is an absurd waste of time. I'd rather they spent the time learning to use common words properly (like there/their/they're and infer/imply), and learning the meanings of words. I see no value in having grade school kids that know how to spell "epideictic", "kymograph" and "paraheliotropism" when they have no clue what the words mean.

Ahem - what a STUPID(deleted) comparison to make. Care to compare stats on where these individuals lived and worked instead of their ethnicity and religion? (HINT: The overwhelming majority of the Jewish laureates were educated and worked in western nations).

Great logic. Care to apply it to capital punishment? Good data on that from Illinois - murders went down after the governor stopped executions.

It's a pity Americans don't turn out in such large numbers.

USPA. What's your source?

The best WWII recon planes were DH Mosquitos, stripped of all armament and unnecessary hardware, flew very fast and very high. The cameras were heavy. In 1944 the overwhelming preoccupation of the recon squadrons was finding V1 and V2 production sites and launch sites. Photo-recon played a very important and all too frequently overlooked role in winning WWII.

Who's job would that be, and why?

You sure need a license to be in command of one, and a medical exam too.

You have not been around long enough to remember, but the state of California was in the business of regulating some aspects of jumping at that time. By reducing the number of glaring fatalities from low pulls or no pulls we were able to get that changed. If we continue to have people die under good canopies, without making an effort as a group to control it, some mid level bureaucrat will see a way that he can make his bones by "putting a stop to this silliness". You just keep your head in the sand pretending there is not a problem and you won't even see it coming. Do you really feel there is not a problem? Do you feel 10 to 15 deaths a year under good canopies is an acceptable lose? Do you feel changing this does not rate an effort? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, I feel sorry for you. Very good diversion. Now, about MY response concerning FAA's inaction over dozens of no-pull fatalities. You haven't disputed that. The title of this thread is P-e-r-s-p-e-c-t-i-v-e. I'm trying to give some.

But... but... but.... how can this be? Bush is a conservative.

I recall once seeing a plot on Barry Brumitt's site of fatality rate against year for around 25 - 30 years. I thought maybe I imagined it so I searched the archives, and found it is referenced in this post: www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=420234#420234 Unfortunately that site no longer exists except as advertizing. Does anyone know if the data are still accessible anywhere? The DZ.com database doesn't have it, neither (as far as I can see) does cpoxon's site.

According to the data I saw, there were 25 NOPs in 1989, 14 in 1991, and 11 in 1994. And your point is? Follow the "in reply to" links back and you will see.

Relativistic contraction? Must have been VERY fast.

Perhaps it's "the culture". After all, you always blame "the culture" for the US having the highest murder rate among leading industrial nations. Gotta be consistent there, John.

If you quote someone at least get it right. FDR said "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" If you're going to be a smartass when you correct someone, at least make sure you get it right. I expect you're right, but McMillan's Book of Quotations gives "that", as does the DoD www.defense.gov/news/Nov2001/n11292001_200111291.html and the US Navy in Pearl Harbor http://www.hnn.navy.mil/archives/010525/review_movie_052501.htm Interesting that FDR would have chosen a typical British English usage ("which") rather than typical American English ("that").

According to the data I saw, there were 25 NOPs in 1989, 14 in 1991, and 11 in 1994.

Are you outraged that women live longer than men, or don't you consider that an advantage?

If Lindsey estimated 100-200B, and the actual cost is 300B, how was he right? He was fired for overestimating the cost.

White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey was fired in 2002 for estimating the cost of the Iraq war "very very high" at $100 - 200 billion. I see that today the cost reaches $300 Billion.

FAA took no action when dozens burned in each year due to low or no pulls. Although landing fatalities are now the largest category, there aren't as many as there were low/no pull fatalities 15 years ago. The overall rate of skydiving fatalities is way lower than it was 15 - 25 years ago. FAA is primarily interested in protecting passengers, other users of the airspace, and people on the ground. I seriously doubt they care very much if a few skydivers kill themselves each year when landing.

I didn't miss your point at all. I just emphasized a different point that you seem to have missed.