ahegeman

Because you know that someone, somewhere, is making a joke about women drivers. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

You didn't read the whole post, didja? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

If they really wanted security on airlines they'd hand every passenger a 12-inch Bowie knife on the way up the jetway. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

The Washington Times? Isn't that the newspaper owned by that Moonie guy? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Are you sure it would have been done in a few months? After 12+ years of fooling around with desert hide-and-go-seek for weapons? What makes you so sure that it was near any sort of conclusion? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Heh. Thanks for interpreting it that way, but I meant I was done before they could even start acting. I saw so many of the guys talking all Rico Suave, I figured I should take it in the other direction. Hence the "I may be the worst . . ." line. Nobody laughs when we talk about how good we are. How bad we are though, that's funny. Of course, I am kidding. Just to make sure there's no confusion. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

No woman has ever faked it with me.

A bigger blunder than Vietnam? No shit? I'd like to hear from some of the anti-Iraq war folks here what they think we should have done with Iraq instead of invading. "Nothing" is not a realistic answer as we have been heavily involved with Iraq since the first Gulf War, what with the embargo, the no-fly zones, etc. I hear complaints about the cost of the war, but how many billions would we have spent maintaining the embargo, keeping our troops in Saudi Arabia, and enforcing the no-fly-zones for another 12 years? I hear complaints about how we are killing innocent Iraqis, but the UN estimates that over 1M Iraqis died from malnutrition, dirty water, and disease during the embargo. I hear that we are encouraging terrorists, but Osama said one of his main complaints about the US was the very presence of our troops in Saudi Arabia. With Saddam gone, we don't need them there any longer. Or should we have dropped the embargo and pulled our troops out of the region? Do you really believe Saddam would have kept behaving himself? Or would he have simply fired up those "dormant programs he hoped to revive" and got back to work? Would it have been OK with you for us to invade then, after his military had rebuilt and even more US soldiers would have had to die? So what do you think? Say we didn't fight the war. Should we have maintained the embargo or not? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Since I started jumping in July I've learned a bunch and had a ton of fun. I'd like to keep that up with the ultimate newbie skydiver vacation sometime next year (after my finances recover from AFF, SDU, and buying JRock's rig). I want it to be a combination of fun and learning. I've been poking around, and I'm beginning to lean towards heading down to DeLand, getting some tunnel time at SkyVenture, taking the Scott Miller Canopy Control courses, and visiting a few manufacturers. Of course, this assumes that Florida hasn't been flooded back into the stone age by then. Anybody got any other ideas? Is there another skydiving mecca to consider? If DeLand is it, is there anything else you'd recommend doing while I'm there? Are there any other manufacturers besides RWS and PD to check out? When's the best time to go? Do they have a good boogie? Any skybabes out there want to go with me? I see Laidlaw banging around SD Dallas every so often, I'll ask him, too. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks! --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Yeah, definitely. As he put it, it was "the most fun you ever had strapped to a man." The dancing monkey was hilarious on the video. Best way to do a tandem, too - pay a Cessna DZ price jumping out of a CASA. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

I did my tandem (and first ever skydive) at this year's Boogie on the Brazos. I had the time of my life, man - after I got over the fact I was trusting my life to a guy with a monkey on his head. Not indicative, I promise. Good bunch of folks. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Sweet - that's close to me. Are they doing anything special for opening weekend? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Don't hold your breath. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

The Peregrine Falcon, definitely. Best estimates are in the low 200s mph in a head down stoop. Some have said 300+ mph, but those are based on visual measurements and geometric calculations. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Oh no, you got me! I've been found out as simple-minded liberal sheep. Oh, the shame. I don't watch Fox News anymore, but I used to watch it quite a bit. My statement to billvon was just to point out that CNN is biased too, just in the other direction. In their pure news segments, Fox is pretty good, but the editorializing still sneaks in there every so often. No, I don't have any data, but I know what I see. What I was mostly referring to is the opinion shows, which are supposed to be biased. A conservative is more likely to enjoy watching the opinion shows on Fox than on any other network, but a liberal has a much wider variety of liberal commentators to choose from across many networks, so Fox enjoys the benefits of a less fractured market. That was my point. That is all. Good grief. Given that I donated $500 to Bush/Cheney in April that would be an odd "party line" for me to choose to "spew". --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

And that's even without FOX being on in many markets. The reason is simple. People watch the news that reflects their beliefs. This country is about half "liberal" and half "conservative", using the modern definitions of the words. ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNBC, MSNBC, and CNN all have to fight over the liberal half, and they cater to that market with their consistent liberal bias. FOX caters to the other half with its consistent conservative bias, and has it all to itself. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Sure, some say that, but that's hardly what I posted. If Kerry wins and the economy keeps moving in its current direction I'm sure some will be saying that its the "Kerry Recovery" and others will be saying it was because of Bush. And no, I don't watch Fox News. I've been watching CNN where we're in the "Bush Recession" and all the good jobs are being lost to overseas slave labor. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Not to mention how helpful it would be for everyone to actually see how much of their money is being hoovered up by the government. Income tax withholding makes it too easy to ignore. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Of course it is, to some extent. But there are many other factors. Mr. Bo's field, IT sales, got hit because the bubble popped. Bush had been president for all of a couple months when the NASDAQ collapsed, and IT spending along with it. His statement was trying to draw a specious parallel between Republican administrations and his own fortunes. Can we then say that the current recovery and rapid growth in GDP is all Bush's doing as well? Maybe a bit, but certainly not entirely. The (very large) company I work for is investing like crazy right now to take advantage of the bonus depreciation that Bush pushed through Congress. Don't get me wrong - I think Bush has made some mistakes with the economy, most notably the deficit. Not because of the tax cut, but because of increased spending. The Republicans are exploiting a flaw in our system, trying to buy their way to continued power with handouts to anyone who can round up a few lobbyists. I'd have a lot more respect for Bush if he'd maybe veto a spending bill or two. I like tax cuts, but tax cuts with increased spending at the same time is moronic, and worse than no tax cuts at all. Any boost to the economy from the tax cuts may have been offset by uncertainly about what effects the deficit will have. Both parties need to grow up about spending and realize that robbing Peter to pay Paul is not a sustainable policy. As much as I hate to admit it, Kerry just might be better for the economy, but not because his ideas are better. The children that always seem to be running our government don't have the discipline to keep spending in check on their own. The programs Kerry has promised would make the deficit even worse, even if the tax cuts expire. However, the Republicans in Congress would ensure that'll never happen, and Kerry's vetoes would ensure that none of the Republicans' pet projects get funding. Deadlock works. Sad though, that the best that we can hope for is deadlock, rather than an influential political philosophy that is actually good for the economy. Sorry for the thread drift. edited for a spelling boo-boo --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Of course that is all because of who's president. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with normal business cycles. --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

No, I'm pretty sure he meant "posting", not "osting". --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

I love seeing liberals go gaa-gaa for the former soldier and blasting the draft-dodger almost as much as I love seeing conservatives trying to defend a spoiled rich boy who used family connections to let others go die in a war he surely supported. I thought liberals admired people who avoided the draft. You should be giving props to Bush for keeping himself out of a situation where he would have had to have "personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot civilians, razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Kahn, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the country side". He was just a peace lovin' flower child, dude! War would have really harshed his mellow! Its irrelevant. I had no idea that you had to fulfill your commitments during Vietnam to be fit to be President *cough*Clinton*cough*. Perhaps Kerry said it best in 1992, "What saddens me most is that Democrats, above all those who shared the agonies of that generation, should now be refighting the many conflicts of Vietnam in order to win the current political conflict of a Presidential primary". Or Presidential election. Whatever. Its all part of the same farce. The comparisons between Bush's and Kerry's war records would also be a lot more interesting if Kerry would release his records for public review. What's he afraid of, anyway? He claimed he couldn't release them because of "contractual obligations" to his biographer, David Brinkley. Brinkley says there are no such contractual obligations. Vietnam tells us nothing about these guys. Who it does tell us a lot about is both Republicans and Democrats in general. For both camps, intellectual consistency is a non-essential luxury compared to the need to win an election. Both these doofusses are power-hungry jackasses who feel that the helm of the flagship of liberty is an entitlement stemming from their breeding. Never mind that the flagship floats on the blood of millions of TRUE patriots, while these assholes both just piss over the side*. A pox on both their houses. You'll be much happier and far less stressed if you resign yourself right now to the fact that no matter who wins, we are all screwed. Both of them are owned by interests that only care about their own ability to use the power of the state to take money from those of us who actually earn it, and neither of them gives two shits about us peasants. Unfortunately, all the other options are unelectable wackos. Fuck it, lets go skydiving. *Sorry, I just don't know when to stop a good metaphor --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Wouldn't showing the movie on TV within 60 days of the election violate the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act? Sounds like an "issue ad" to me. I'm not saying that's right, I think McCain-Feingold was a free-speech travesty, but if no one else is allowed to make public statements on TV about the candidates right before the election, why should Michael Moore? --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

I like looking at it this way - rather than trying to compare across an arbitrary metric such as "exposure hours", use whatever metric is most appropriate for each activity, and see how they compare to each other per fatality. In other words, look at the proportions. In 2003, the fatality rate for automobiles was 1.48 per 100M vehicle miles traveled (reference here), or 1 fatality per 67.57 MVMT . I always hear that the fatality rate for skydiving is about 1 in every 100,000 jumps. So, 100,000 jumps is as likely to result in a fatality as 67.57 MVMT. Do the division, and each skydive is, on average, as likely to result in a fatality as 676 miles in an automobile. 200 jumps = 135K miles. Advantage: driving (depending on your perspective, I guess). Incidentally, in 2002 the motorcycling fatality rate was 33.96 per 100M miles traveled (here). Going through the same math, a skydive is as likely to kill you as 29.5 miles on a motorcycle. A motorcyclist doing around 5900 miles/year on the roads would have the same risk of dying in a motorcycle accident as a skydiver doing 200 jumps in that same year has of dying on a skydive. Seems pretty comparable to me. For the record, all of you skydivers who ride motorcycles are officially crazy --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry

Tom, you are absolutely right. Here's a good example. In addition to the loopholes and shelters, the wealthy derive much of their income from capital gains, which are generally taxed at 15%, vs the 25% to 33% incremental rate most of us are at. Even better is income from muni bonds, which is tax free. Also, props to you for making the commonly missed distinction between "wealth" and "income". --------------------------------------------------------------- There is a fine line between 'hobby' and 'mental illness'. --Dave Barry