Iflyme

Speaking of bathtubs... http://bathtub.island.net/ We race them on the high seas!

A little on the privliged side, were we?

Speedy, I hope your brother will recover fully from his injuries... news like this really puts things into perspective. Family is so important, and when we come close to losing a family member, everything else seems so unimportant. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Frank

Well, since you asked... in 1957 Lester B Pearson, then Minister of External Affairs, won the Nobel Prize for Peace for a plan he presented to the United Nations the year before to help bring lasting peace to the Suez Canal region. He is the person responsible for the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. Canada has been involved in 53 missions since then, with over 125,000 of our soldiers seeing duty. 35 of those world-wide missions since 1990. Places like The Golan Heights (in the middle east), Bosnia-Herzgovina, Somalia, East Timor, etc (have you ever even heard of East Timor Mark?). 107 of our soldiers have died on those missions. And just a couple of weeks ago, Canadians rescued two of your helicopter crews who got lost in a sandstorm near the airfield in Kandahar. The only -- ONLY "world conflicts" America gets involved in is where American interests are threatened. Like Kuwait. Where were you in Rawanda? Considering Canada has just 10% the population of the US, you can imagine our military forces are much smaller. But we are there in Afghanistan, capturing Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters, and turning them over to American forces. Our Navy vessles are patrolling the Gulf, boarding and searching suspicious ships. We are there helping as best we can because Canada and the US are allies... Our military is certainly underfunded by our government, but our soldiers are among the best trained in the world. But how could you be expected to know any of this? Most Americans are rather ignorant about Canada, as you so clearly demonstrated. Do you know what city is our seat of government? Do you know who our Prime Minister is Mark? How many of the provinces in this wonderful country can you name Mark? Obviously you don't know what Canada is doing to make the world a better place. Hey, this is a debate worthy of the RSL or CYPRES debates we've had in the past! I miss the boobie talk, though... Frank.

Ya! I saw that in the movie -- John Candy is their coach! Wait a sec ... he's Canadian, too! Or was... oh, how I miss him... I liked "Eddie the Eagle" ... remember him? British Ski Jumper. Lotsa guts, no talent ... but he represented his country, and did his best! Kinda like Screamer going head down!

Hmmm ... I vote no on that one... they count as "tandems" -- not skydives, but I guess that is up for interpertation... kinda like figure skating

About 130 jumps since May '98 ... 55 last year, and none for almost a month!!! (Weather and the Olympics) Gotta get high this weekend (altitude, of course)...

Let's see ... $1500 US ... that's about ... hmm, carry the 5, add 10, divide the square by the root ... about a zillion $ Canadian! But for the one of the best games ever in the greatest sport of all time (IMHO) -- it'd be well worth it!!! Hockey -- the fastest game on ice! I haven't played for over a year, but when I was playing with the guys from work, my defence partner was an x-NHLer (he played in the LA Kings farm system, and played a couple of games in the net for the Kings about 2 decades ago) ... we had such a hoot, and the hockey was a pretty good level!

eewwwww

I agree with this advice, Viking. jtval must be speaking from experience... and I've had a wee bit of experience, too. Go with a glass - no, forget the glass, you'd probably just break it - go with a plastic bottle of water and drink a bunch between beers. You'll piss alot more, but your head will thank you for it in the morning, the afternoon, the late afternoon...early evening... then you'll be asleep again.

Mine did not come with any reference to maximum altitude.

I wouldn't feel comfortable going to a restaurant with you... or a corner store!

Does this have anything to do with Aussie rugby players sticking their fingers in each other's bums? Skyhawk???

That's not true at all. I was on the phone with my good friend who used to work in the financial district, and had spent alot of time in those buildings as soon as I got home from work... in fact his sister had an appointment in one of the buildings at 2pm that afternoon. As a tv news producer, I spent countless hours over the next days and weeks making sure my viewers were informed about what had happened. I wept when my country held 3 minutes of silence for the victims of that attack. Perhaps because it all happened in a very brief period of time it had more impact on us... but the fact is Americans used guns to kill 10 times as many Americans last year as terrorists did. That's bad. And yes Marc, people can use any weapon to committ a crime -- why, there are people here on these forums who brag they can kill a man with their bare hands in seconds! But a gun is a weapon designed for one purpose, and one purpose only -- killing. Baseball bats are made for baseball. Anyway, enough said. Terrorists, murders, they are all scum of the earth. Yes, cloud9, that's right. I don't believe in murder. By anyone. Me too.. except substitute "Canadian" for American... and we're better at hockey! Men's and women[trophy]! nya nya, na nya nya!

Well, Mark, you opened up this can of worms, not me... but tell me this -- if you are at war with Afghanistan because someone killed 3000 people in your country, what the hell do you say about the 40,000 Americans who were killed by other Americans with guns last year??? Huh?????? And what about that little 6 year old girl who was shot dead in Detroit today??? What do you tell her family? Do you really believe that people who support strong gun controls can't maintain an intelligent conversation? Is it an your perspective that only you can be right about this issue??? If you had a different approach to gun control, maybe you wouldn't have 40,000 Americans dieing each year at the hand of other Americans. Now save your flames everyone, because I know lots of people in the US love their guns and carry them everywhere and sleep with them. It just seems crazy to declare a war over the murder of 3000 people when ten times that number are murdered by your own citizens. Nothing personal... just my observations.

Ya, that dinosaur thing did suck a bit... Scott Hamilton is the guy going over backward... more KISS, please...

We call it BC Bud up here, where the best on the planet is grown... why - what have you been smokin'? Your are right on, Marc! Science is cool! So is astronomy... Anyway, we were talkin' bout the moon, weren't we?

A very popular saying ... in fact I said it just yesterday in another thread... Pammi, I agree that we all must have the freedom here to speak our minds (thanks, Bossman), but we must also be careful in how we interpert the information we gather here... People can manipulate the truth, provide mis-information, lie, and even attack others for the sole purpose of personal gain, or revenge, or intimidation. But knowledge is power, and the more we know, the better informed we are to find our own truths. I've learned more here than I have on my own DZ, and I'm very glad to have the guidance of the hig-timers here. Thanks to you all.

Well I didn't jump - despite a beautiful, if a bit cold day on Sunday - because the Olympics were on tv! Doh!!!

When the moon is low on the horizon, we are looking at it thru lots of atmosphere ... that MAY magnify the image slightly, but the the juxtaposition of earth bound objects (trees, buildings, etc) gives us a frame of reference that makes the moon APPEAR larger than normal ... and dust in our atmosphere scatters light in the reddish wavelength which gives the moon that lovely orangey glow. Eyes to the Skies!

While it's about 15 minutes or so drive on a light traffic day, I often hear/see the jump plane over my house at about 4500 ft...

It'd be awful to waste those J/Ts on the officers ... After 3 FREE jumps a couple of years back, I got clocked going a little fast on the way home, and ended up getting a $126 ticket. So much for the free jumps...

shithawks - I mean seagulls, too! Hey, I'm really disappointed that nobody said BOOBIES yet...

Will, head up to Belfast (if you are brave/stoopid enough

I'd say two GOLD for Oz isn't too bad!