NWFlyer

3 months? I think it's Dear Abby who says "no one can take advantage of you unless you let them." Give her a deadline (

Well, if you don't have Facebook then it probably won't be much fun. Ditto on Twitterberry - if you don't tweet ... kinda useless. Those are the four I use most often besides (work) mail, calendar, and contacts. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Google maps Gmail Facebook Twitterberry "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I was very impressed with the quotes they put in there from Pat. Not surprised at all that Pat would be that articulate and gracious about it, but that he and the DZ were presented in such a positive light by the reporter. Pat's working awfully hard to be a good neighbor, a good airport citizen, and local citizen and it's disappointing to me to see these neighbors so unwilling to even have a discussion with him. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

How in the hell do you get to a "35% responsible" number, anyway? Obviously I don't know all the facts of this case, but if you've got a .18 BAC you probably ought not to be anywhere you can get in the path of moving trains unsupervised. http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/18/drunk.amputee.payout/index.html?iref=mpstoryview From another article: "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I dunno - the IRS site said my refund would be deposited on 2/17 and it showed up in my account that day... it was a pleasant surprise as I expected a delay.

Agreed - there's plenty of people on here with whom I may disagree on one, many, or most political viewpoints, but we can still hang out and have an interesting, intelligent (or mindless) conversation around a bonfire and have a great time jumping together. But that's because behind their viewpoints, there stands a real, living, breathing human being because they're willing to say "this is me and this is what I stand for." I can't do that with anonymous posters. Believe me, there's been times (often in the topical forums, not here) where I've wanted to make a point so badly that I thought about creating a fake screen name to do it ... and then I thought ... nope. If I can't stand behind my point with my own name, then I've no business getting into the discussion online. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Not to generalize too much but it seems that very often the people who get screwed are brand-new jumpers who want very very very much to get their first set of gear, and are sometimes sooooo excited to do that they overlook rather obvious signs that something's not right with the transaction. New jumpers are also the least likely to have connections within the sport that can be used to validate a seller's credentials, so they just hope that the person is legit. There's been some great advice on how to avoid scammers, here - the big thing to remember is don't let your excitement about what seems like the perfect rig for you blind you to common sense. That goes farther than scams, though - make sure that you're consulting with people you trust locally (instructors, riggers, senior jumpers at your DZ) when you evaluate a piece of gear and whether it's right for you. When I bought my first rig 4 years ago I had people looking at the classifieds with me to say "nope, move on from that one" and "yeah, that does look like a great deal." It made me more comfortable moving forward with my purchase. So be patient and be smart and ask the right questions. I put my first rig together largely through the dropzone.com classifieds - container and reserve from an individual jumper, used main from a dealer (but I did put out a "wanted" classified here that prompted the gear store to contact me), and my AAD new from another dealer. I've since made several other purchases here on DZ.com from individual jumpers - my second main, an altimeter, an audible, and pilot chutes. All transactions have gone smoothly. I've also sold my original main on here and the transaction couldn't have been easier - the jumper arranged for his rigger to play middleman (and it was really easy for me to agree to that since I knew the rigger myself). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Interesting premise (and some of the comments following the article are hilarious in a "missed the point" kind of way). I'm not sure that the Internet has made us meaner, but it certainly provides a venue for an awful lot of ugliness. You only need to read the Incidents forum here to see that. The full article is pretty long (but a worthwhile read, I think) - here's a few snippets. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/02/13/notes021309.DTL "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

That wasn't the welfare - the food stamps she got for her kids was welfare, though. Plus, Social Security disability payments for three of the kids. But she's going back to school so everything will be okay. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/11/national/a152036S19.DTL&feed=rss.bayarea For all the hand-wringing her mother does, it's obvious she's been enabling her daughter's choices for a long damn time. I can understand a mother not wanting to abandon her child or grandchildren, but not setting some boundaries on the amount of assistance you'll give an ADULT child sets them up for these types of situations. "Mom will always be there to bail me out." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

They're all on my iGoogle homepage. And I have all the AWOS numbers saved in my phone. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Well, we're a little more functional than that. I asked nicely, he said yes. It's that we both think of it as just another day and it was a convenient weekend for me to go see some friends. I dunno, some people find our lack of drama boring. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I'm making my boyfriend drop me off at the airport for a 6:40 a.m. flight on Valentine's Day so I can go out of town for the long weekend (while he has to work on Monday since it's not a holiday for him). Should be a terribly romantic day. We did decide to go out for a nice dinner on Thursday, though. I expect it'll be a lot less crowded.

He planned ahead and had the law passed back in 1974, knowing that 35 years later, his plan would all come together. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

http://www.eightmaps.com/ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/business/08stream.html?_r=1&ref=technology eightmaps is a new web site that plots donors supporting California Prop 8 onto google maps. Using publicly-available data, it's able to show name, donation amount (only donations over $100 have to be publicly-disclosed), employer (if the donor provided it) and their approximate location. I gotta say I'm really torn on this one. As someone who did not support Prop 8, part of me says "so what if these people are getting harassed - it's just a small taste of the harassment most gays have gone through in their lifetimes." But the other part of me is more than a little creeped out by how invasive this seems. On this issue, the people being "outed" are people whose viewpoints I disagree with - but what if I were on the "wrong" side of an issue? I don't agree with Prop 8 supporters, but I'm also uncomfortable with the fact that because this information is out there, people are getting death threats, fake (?) anthrax mailings, and harassing e-mails. My bigger concern is that this type of activity is going to discourage individual participation in the political process. We talk a lot about how we need to take politics out of the hands of big business and put it back in the hands of the individual voters - but this type of use of technology has the potential to cause an individual voter to keep their money in their wallets. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

1. Skydive Alabama, Cullman AL. 2. Start Skydiving, Lebanon Oh. 3. The Parachute Center, Lodi, CA "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Not necessarily. I was unconscious under canopy a few years ago (fairly lightly loaded Spectre) and flew in a straight line (away from the regular landing area, but according to eyewitnesses, totally straight). More about it here if you're interested. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

I think you're on the thank you list as Orly. Squeakers never could spell well. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Playmobil's come a long way since I was a kid. Look, they have a Police Checkpoint, too! http://www.amazon.com/Playmobil-3906-Police-Checkpoint/dp/B0002YM16U/ref=pd_sbs_t_1 And a "Rebel Leader." http://www.amazon.com/Playmobil-7663-Rebel-Leader/dp/B000GFDM7M/ref=sr_1_132?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1233956254&sr=1-132 "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Just you. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/05/1549.voice.recorder.tape/index.html?eref=rss_topstories Link for those who haven't heard the tapes yet. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

When selling, I quickly learned that the first person to make arrangements and show up got the goods. If I had a bunch of other people interested and you weren't willing to set something up quickly, I didn't bother waiting. I had too many times where one buyer would say they wanted the item but wouldn't make arrangements to actually buy it ... if you price things right and have interest, you can just move on quickly to the next potential buyer. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Economic Left/Right: -3.12 Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.13 "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

The fact that they had to create a *rule* that you can't shave in the steam room is evidence of that. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Yes, but then again I think Valentine's Day is kinda silly anyway and have never exchanged anything more than silly novelty gifts with my S/O (and this year I'm even going to be traveling that weekend without him). We're going out for a nice dinner a couple nights before ... win win so we won't have to deal with the crowds. YMMV and I'm not responsible for any breakups caused by ridiculous clinging to the tradition of a Hallmark holiday. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke