mircan

They trashed your store too...? Anyway, blonds didn`t torch embassies. They were "just" stealing. But this video makes my point. It seems that most damage was not made by people protesting, but by thief blonds and alike. Like the real reason for riots was just robbing. Paradox: They are stealing American clothes, against which they protested in the first place. And they steal it from the Serbian stores. Go figure... Hina, are you still up for Sunday? dudeist skydiver #42

Well it seems that we aren`t experts when media relations are in question. Serbs are funny people. They tend to think that there is large world conspiracy against them. TV reports (and current global politics) just fuel that notion. But, I`m not even 100% serbian, I come from mixed family (my folks married when we were all one big happy family). And I have friends in all countries. Second: Serbia and Montenegro split by mutual agreement after referendum. It was a process that took several years. Not rushed. Lots of people here think that Serbs and Montenegros (i don`t know if this the right plural for citizens of Montenegro) are the same nation. But Albanians are majority in some parts of the Montenegro too, and I just hope there is not going to be similar problems over there. Noooooo. I don`t think this scenario is possible. Bulgaria is in the EU now. OTOH, you mentioned Turkey. I find interesting that Turkey accepted Kosovo independence while they not only have very similar situation with Kurds, but they also invaded other country (Iraq) to fight and deal with Kurds. dudeist skydiver #42

It can get dangerous from time to time. About every 50 years we have a war here. But I think it`s far from places like Liberia, Avganistan, Siera Leone... However, my parents say it was a very, very nice place to live during Tito`s reign. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josip_Broz_Tito) dudeist skydiver #42

* I will do my best not to be biased. Well, it goes something like this... ...Through the history Kosovo was (more or less) part of the Serbian state. I think there has always been Albanian population there, but not in vast majority like now. For the Serbs, as you have already heard, Kosovo bears significant "ancestral issuses": the biggest battle between (islamic) Turks and (christian) Serbs was there, numerous churches and monasteries etc... There are also large mineral wealth in that region, so the economic factor is in the game too. Now, as I can recall at the end of the WWII the population ratio was about 50:50. Then, when Albania became part of the Eastern block, and Yugoslavia didn`t, many Albanians fled from Albania to Kosovo (Serbia and Kosovo in it was then in part of Yugoslavia). The regime back then encouraged "deflections" from Albania to Kosovo. That and the large birth rate of the Albanian population made the Albanians majority. As they became majority they were getting more and more rights and share in the government, which culminated in vast autonomy. The confrontations between Serbs and Albanians started some time when Serbs started to feel endangered, and Albanians started to think they need even more power. That was at the 80`s. Then in the 90`s came Milosevic, he backed up the Serbs and ended Kosovo`s autonomy. Then shit hit the fan, as Kosovo became more like Israel (bombs, killings, terrorist acts, attacks on police and army, attacks on civilians...). Of course government tried to enforce the law by sending more and more police and army troops... It culminated in 1999. when Albanians started open armed uprising against the Serbian government. Government, of course send even more troops... I`ll try not to comment what happened next, because some people see it as humanitarian disaster, and some don`t (But you can see that there are numerous trials for war crimes made by the both sides, civil wars are the bloodiest ones). Then NATO came in bombing the sh*t out of Serbia, and as Andrewwhyte said they were not welcomed by the Serbs. Status Quo was on since then. Kosovo was part of the Serbia on the paper, and not in reality. It was colony-like NATO mini state. Attacks on the remaining Serbian minority proceded. The negotiations between Serbs and Albanians were futile, as USA at the very beginning of the negotiations said to ALbanians that they will have their independence no matter what. So you can imagine the farse. Even when Serbian government was ready to give them everything they want, except independence. And now they proclaimed independence and some countries backed them up. OTOH the countries wit minority problems and separatist movements didn`t. And that`s about it. As I see it it`s like you let your friend live in your house and give him a room. Then, as the time pass by he spends more and more time in the living room, holds the TV remote all the time, leave hair in the bath tub... At the end he says I live in this house long enough, I think this room belongs to me and I`m gonna smash the hole in this wall and make my own door. Weather you like it or not. Basically USA came and said: Kosovo is going to be independent weather you like it or not and there is nothing you can do about it. Period. That is why general notion here is thet we`re ass-raped by the USA. Yesterday we went to peaceful protest to state to the world, in dignity, that we disagree with this (like it would do any help...). There were, some say, about 1.2 million people. After this protest couple of friends and me went for a drink. Some time after that I got an SMS from my brother telling me to stay off the streets because he saw on TV that embassies are burning and all hell broke loose. When we got out it was like tornado passed by. Horrible. I said before, i hate drunken-redneck-mob. One girl burned to death in the embassy because she was hit by a torch. Really horrible. That about sums it up. I know Albanians see it differently. They say: we live here, we are majority and we have every right to claim this to be our state... Now try to replace word Kosovo with problem region of your choice (Quebc, Texas, Florida, Baskia...) Correction: Cetniks are Serbian extreme nationalist movement not limited to Croatia. I was in Bosnia during the war. My family still lives there. The Serbs in Bosnia now see it that if the Kosovo got independent, why wouldn`t we be independent too. Bosnia, although one country is made of two "entities": Serbian and Muslim-Croatian. Balkans is one big can of worms and by the day I don`t think situation is improving. That is why a lot of young people (including myself) are thinking of getting the hell away from here. You`re right 100%. The last Balkan war (1991.-1995.) started when Germany (and some other countries) rushed to accept independence of Croatia, Bosnia and Slovenia. Forgetaboutit. We`re used to be the world`s bad guys. But, not everything is black. We get to jump from time to time.

I hope so, because I happen to live in Belgrade. I can`t stand stupid-redneck-drunken-idiots who can do things like that in their own country, to their own city. They sent a nice picture to the world. And the world as I see it (after watching idiot mob in riot), is too fond of putting all the people here in the same basket. I`m just pissed to the max. dudeist skydiver #42

I have a PC-106 which is a PC-109 without video IN capability. Small, lightweight, long battery life. 60 jumps with no problems. Got LANC and good for sidemount. 25mm thread for wide angle lens. Bad thing is a docking station, only way to transfer via firewire. Hope this info is helpfull. blues! dudeist skydiver #42

Considering what I expected after reading earlier posts, delivery time was OK. It fit the 12-16 weeks (including holidays). Not to mention my current "memory reset" caused by joy of having new toy. dudeist skydiver #42

Icarus wait for me is officially over. My new crispy, shiny Safire arrived yesterday. So, total delivery time, for me, was a little under 16 weeks. I can`t wait to jump it! blues! dudeist skydiver #42

For the record, I just want to write here what I got in the end: I just waited for holidays to end... Then I found after-holiday sale and i bought new EOS 400D bundled with an extra battery and 4GB memory card for the price of EOS 350D before holidays. I`m soooo satisfied with it! .....And now I see there is new kid on the block - 450D. Oh, well... dudeist skydiver #42

there was a hot blonde chick sat behind the pilot with startling blue eyes... dudeist skydiver #42

It helps if there is any sticker or something near the door/on wing, just look at it. Look at it when you are at the door, lock your eyes on it when exiting, keep your eyes on it for the first couple of seconds. DON`t look for too long and loose altitude awareness. The best thing is that when you do this for the first time, after that you are going to look at the plane every time (at least I did). Even better is to look at your instructor/jumpmaster. My instructor requested from me when I land to know the number of fingers that he showed me on exit (one - he gave me thumb up . ) dudeist skydiver #42

1. Speaking to your instructor about this is a MUST. And what helped me: 2. As mentioned above, keep your eyes on the plane (as it goes away). Don`t look down. I videoed a lot of student exits, and I noticed that they look down as soon as they exit, thus dearching, thus going unstable. 3. Relax. I know it is difficult at this point, but you can try to relax your hands (and legs) when you arch your body. Then the stream will do the rest. Points 2 and 3 was my way of coping with first stable exits. As I was looking at the plane going away, my body arched by itself, and to me the second great thing was that when I saw my instructor smiling and showing me "thumbs up", the relax part kicked in. And then I pulled my ripcord like I`ve done this hundred of times before.

Skydive limbo champion! dudeist skydiver #42

I started jumping camera at jump 320. and I was very concerned about it (mostly of riser slap/entanglement issues). I did one jump with only helmet (no camera). It was at accuracy competition, and I did 10-12sec delays for the first 8 jumps, so it was an easy start. 9th jump from was from 10k and by that time I was comfortable with camera on my head. I thought it was going to be a bigger distraction regarding accuracy jumps, but we ended 3rd place. I shot 1st tandem, not particularly good, about 40 jumps later (no stills). Somewhere around jump 380 I started jumping with digital still, with hand trigger which proved to be a distraction. So, I made DIY tongue switch which worked fine. Introducing still camera into equation was a bigger issue for me than it was just starting shooting video. But I`m only a beginner. dudeist skydiver #42

I don`t know about jumping the shit of the stiletto, but he didn`t hurt himself either. I have seen him later that year alive and well and i think he still is. dudeist skydiver #42

I`ve searched the web, and like you, found good offers, but... with added customs and taxes price is going back up. Even more than what I can buy in the stores here. On the flipside, there is big photo exchange here tomorrow. I assume there is going to be reasonable amount of good buys. If the Rebel XT can manage to survive yours 10,000 (at least) shots made in skydiving without protection, then I guess it will serve good equipment nazi like me Thanks for the info Scott. dudeist skydiver #42

As I understand (and as I found on some other (photo) forums) eos 300d/350d/400d cameras, are Canon`s entry level pro models. As such there was compromises in manufacturing process (i.e. they put plastic instead of metal etc...) resulting in parts being faster "worn out". Add skydiving to this... Thanks for the info Carlos, it`s good to know that in the end, your camera lasted so long. dudeist skydiver #42

Thanks chuck. Yes, camera will be used 99% for tandem/RW so no fortune planning here. I was interested in what average life span or what problems to expect with used digital? What is the production quality? I`m hearing that new cameras in this price range last for about "warranty period" with high malfunction rate after the warranty has expired. dudeist skydiver #42

Hi, what do you recommend: - buying new DSLR with stock lens or - buying used camera and spending that extra money on better lens? Camera in question is Canon EOS 350D and it will be used mainly for skydiving. What is their life span, do they broke up often etc... I`m on the budget, and that is why I`m considering buying used in the first place. I would appreciate any advice. dudeist skydiver #42

I`m having a problem with this video. I am not sure that he was having trouble with cut-away here. If you look at 1:49 (at the google video, ~6000ft), the cutaway handle is pulled and there is about 15 cm visible cutaway cable. Am I wrong to think that at this point the cutaway is already done, he just has canopy/line/riser snagged to his right hand? How can you pull cutaway handle this much (and more later) and not to cut away? Where is his right hand in the first place, i.e. when he goes for the cutaway handle? Can someone elaborate me on this? dudeist skydiver #42

Maybe it is the hype. What I mean is, maybe TIs think that the working at the known "tandem factory" will have effect on their career-connections in sport-etc... One other thing, what is the working atmosphere on your DZ, inter-staff relations? I left mine DZ because head honchos were giving me hard time. It was no matter that jumps and the rest were OK, when they are bitching all the time... You know, everything you do somehow is not good enough etc... (I was not TI though, just packing, organizing, ground training...). I now have another dz, and im pretty happy with it. my 2c dudeist skydiver #42

I`ll go with the chrisgray: turn the autofocus OFF. Use a simple procedure: 1. Mount the wide-angle, 2. Turn On the autofocus, 3. Zoom to some away object, 4. Let it focus on thet object by itself, 5. When it`s focused turn the autofocus OFF, 6. Zoom out. The focus should stay that way, even if you turn off the camera. Or you can manually focus on some far subject, and just zoom out. my 2c dudeist skydiver #42

My friend went in last june because of PCIT. It was an accuracy jump (no terminal - so he had time, or did he?), normal pull height. He was on his back trying to solve problem for too long. So, maybe you could try to clear PCIT once, but I`ll go with the AggieDave on this one. Please reconsider this technique... dudeist skydiver #42

Just a side note, I`m pretty sure that Panasonic does not have LANC-like port, so what is the situation with camera indicators like cameye/hypeye (and if there is no tally light too...)? How do you handle that? Just go on without it? I did that with my first canon and it was a pain in the a*s. dudeist skydiver #42

I can imagine that in that case the wings would not be necessary at all. It could fly by just hanging from a propeller. dudeist skydiver #42