DontPanic

Hhhmmm, makes me wonder what that 10 lbs weight belt I just bought from Mike Brown is made out of.

Sorry I didn't see this until midweek. I was probably going to make it downtown for a beer and burger (or something like that) Thursday night. Let me know if you're still in town.

I've used torrents alot for downloading Linux CDs. Torrents work great for downloading big CD-size chunks of data. However, downloading Linux CDs is a completely legal form of P2P. I'm reluctant to download torrents of copyrighted music or movies. The RIAA and MPAA do watch torrent downloading, and you can get in as much trouble with torrents as with other methods of file-sharing. Also, most torrent applications do not work very well unless you share out the file you are downloading as you are downloading the file. So, while some P2P applications will let you leach and hopefully avoid the attention of the RIAA and MPAA, it is tough to do this with torrents. Also, the torrent you are downloading needs to be popular for the system to work. People don't share out libraries of files with torrents like they can with the other P2P protocols. You typically only share out the file while you are downloading it.

I'm beginning to worry he's healing too fast. His memory will come back before we've had time to come up with any dirty tricks to take advantage of his memory loss.

Just a bit of pop philosophy from "Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy". It's an online name I've used for a couple of years now.

I have been using Sorz while wearing contacts also.

Didn't you know you should separate your white and dark clothes when you wash?

I had a chance to drop by and see William this afternoon. William has showed alot of improvement today, and Laurel and William's family were really happy with the progress that all of the sudden showed up in just one day. William was concious the whole time I was there, and was moving his hands some. He seemed very aware. Laurel said they were able to sit him in a chair for a while earlier today, and he's been awake for a big portion of the day. Talking is still very difficult because of the trach, but he was communicating some with hand gestures. It was very encouraging to see some really solid improvement.

Glad to see alittle good news coming out. I thought I'd cross post this e-mail that came from Mike Igo on the rworg mailing list:

Did you try CTRL-ALT-DEL ?

You are so bad.

Glad to hear the news. I know it's not over yet, but this has to be the most positive news I've heard yet.

All of this is true. Way cool pants. But their website makes me want to smash something. Being a Linux user, I can't even view their web page. I hear some good things about their products, but I always run into a wall whenever I go to check them out.

I've been rolling this topic over in my head while following the discussion with the Perris accident. Part of my attention has been drawn to the people that argue you should jump no "different" with a Cypres than without a Cypres. I understand their argument that there are more Cypress/AAD fires now than there were low/no pulls before AADs became common. Also, as this accident pointed out, AADs can fail from something as simple as turning the device on at home (or from forgetting to turn the device on at all). Besides all that, what can be more fundamental to skydiving than pulling at the right altitude? On the other hand, humans are inherently fallable, and I think most everyone agrees that the widespread use of AADs has saved a lot of lives. I understand your point that skydivers should be able to jump safely without an AAD, or an altimeter, or an audible. But I'm sure I'd jump "differently" without an altimeter, and I think I am many jumps away from being at the point where I can say I'd jump no "differently" without an AAD. I hope this doesn't make me a bad person.

If you get the chance, you should go. I know alot of people (including myself) that were reluctant about going to their 20th, and everyone ends up having a great time. As a matter of fact, I'm catching up with several of my classmates today to talk about our 25th reunion.

It's probably alittle dated now, but I like: Your pants are set on Monica when they should be set on Hillary.

I guess I'm too practical. I'm thinking she needs one of those USB memory key chains.

...

Hhhmmm, how's this for coincidence? I just made my 42'nd jump today. Is that strange or what? I wonder if it's because they're doing engine tests on the improbability drive.

Huh? What? You talkin' to me?

The thread you reference is for Gold Coast Skydivers in Moss Point, Mississippi. I believe the original post was inquiring about a DZ in Thibodaux. FYI, I believe someone is trying to get a new DZ going in Slidell, Skydive N'Awlins http://www.dropzone.com/dropzone/Detailed/990.shtml I noticed some recent activity from them in the Gulf Coast skydiving e-mail group list. I'll be out at Moss Point this weekend, and I'll try to ask some of the guys from Louisianna if they've heard anything about the Thibodaux DZ.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support Gold Coast today. Mike Igo has managed to keep us jumping, at least for a while. The biggest difference today is that they won't let us use our parking lot, we have to park a few yards further away. I'd also like to thank Dropzone.com for providing a means of getting the word out about the problems at Gold Coast. I ran into many people today who have been avidly following this situation during the week via this site. It would be much more difficult to gather support for defending our dropzone without a site like this.

Cool! I'll plan on being there. The airport office parking lot won't be any further than the walk back from one of my normal landings.

I propose we put Chile in charge of this project. Whatever he was eating last weekend was working great.