Anta

ah cool! I was a bit worried i'd turn up there wanting to rent somewhere to sleep, and they'd be like "so where's your rv that you wanted to hookup" :D hmm hmm hmm, ill see what i'll do, still one day 'til D-day!

I didn't know about that, but I guess I'd fall under that category too. Do they say why? I think it might be because of BSE beef. Wasn't it around 1996 when the brits finally got a hold of it? Maybe you can have those prion thingies in your blood. Dunno, just guessing here. I guess you have heard of CJD (creutzfeldt jakob disease for humans, mad cow disease in cows, or scrapie in sheep). This disease basically kills of the nerve cells in your brain. This happens because some of your brain proteins, called prions, reshape themselves. And when they don't look like they should, they cant work like they should (i guess most people think of proteins as something dietary, but your bodys own proteins are actually more like working machines, going around your body doing stuff).Whats more, one screwed up prion protein will help convert another healthy prion into an unhealthy state. There are a couple of different ways in which you can get CJD. You can eat mad cows, it can be hereditary, or sporadic, or you can possibly get it from another human being. The theory goes that a protein called human growth factor, which is found in blood, can "carry" the disease. It's guesstimated that the onset of the disease can be delayed by several decades (from when you are first infected). Thus, alot of people may be infected without knowing it. There is also no good way of testing blood for the presence of unhealthy proteins. Therefore, there's a possibility that people who were happily munching away on these poor mad cows back in the 90's, could be infected with the disease without knowing it. Therefore if they donate blood to another person, there's again a possibility that they will infect the recipient. ---- btw, i dont work with this sort of stuff, but a colleague of mine does, so this is what ive learnt during coffee breaks, it may or may not be correct! :p It's also debated theory, i.e. it's not really hard facts, so im sure you can dig out papers arguing points one way or the other).

:p i'm sure i'll be just fine anyway, just 2 more quick questions; 1. I called and asked about the rv camping thingy, and was told it was 25/day, however it completely slipped my mind to ask is it $25 for renting a space in a camper van, or is that the price for hooking up your own van? (maybe thats a retarded question, but hey im foreign ) 2. Any suggestions as to where you can buy cheapskate tents? (i.e. can you get them in any of the big department stores etc?) cheers!

already had two offers, from karl and rick! orlando seems to be the easiest to get to (tampa is a whooping 8 hours on the bus), but im eager and easy! But if anyone sees this from the west palm area, and would want to share some fuel costs, id be well up for that as well ;) this holiday really made me realise im too old for family holidays :p

oooh sounds like fun. I guess this will be a stupid question this being the states and all, but is it possible to get to zhills by public transport (could only find trains to orlando, but hey, might have missed something)? Im in florida on family holiday (wbp), and the pool area was sort of fully explored by day one would be awesome to get a day or so at a dz, and a scrambles comp would be a huge bonus! :) (and yeah, i dont have a car nor a driver's license, hence the question about public transport)

cheers again for the reply and for the sizing link. Of course the gut feeling is to go with what the manufacturer says, but since I heard from so many people that you can go up/down a size no problems I wanted some more input. And yeah, it sounds sensible that the stress wears it out over time. Anyway, I'll jump our university kit then until I feel current enough/ready for my own gear

Thanks for the fast replys =). I think I'll go with your advice. I'm not too bad off either as I can borrow a 190 rig from our university club, it's just convenient and fancy to have your own stuff . But I obviously don't want to damage my gear.

Hello, I have an Icon I5, which is built to fit a 170 (and my 170 does indeed fit tightly into it), however for various reasons I would like to upsize to a 190 for a (probably fairly long) while. I'd keep the same reserve in the rig (smart 160, and yes I'm happy with it etc). I emailed Aerodyne about it, and the reply I got was: "The largest canopy the I5 is built for is a 170. A 190 will be a very tight fit and could over time cause permanent damage to the plastic stiffeners in the main flaps. We do not recommend putting a 190 in the I5." Now, I'm not sure if that's the sort of response they "have" to give (they are based in the states after all :D and I've heard that generally u can up/down size one canopy size for a given container), or is there really a high risk that my container would get damaged? I also heard that some canopies tend to pack a bit smaller, for instance the safire or 7 celled canopies; would that make a difference? I would just appreciate some input from other people who's got experience with this sort of stuff. Thanks.

Me too! and I didnt even see it coming!

How about 5 continents in 5 weeks and take me with ya . Also, do you think it would be possible time-wise with check in at airports, timing of flights, going to/and from dropzones, and if you arrive late at night you cant jump that day.

what if the weather sucks on day 5?

This sounds like a whole lotta BS to me. Surely expressions on the line of "going weak in the knees" etc has to do with society, do other non-victorian cultures have such expressions? And surely, if men would have the "urge to rape" (I assume you mean being with as many women as possible), they would not produce that much offspring anyway because: 1) Spontaneous abortion rate is quite high, 2) you have to rape the woman at the right time of the month, 3) you may rape someone who's already pregnant 4) The survival rate of the babies is likely to decrease significantly if the father isn't around to "provide". It seems as though the success rate is likely to increase with a lower number of partners during a males life-time, especially since human women are not designed to have lots and lots of babies during their life-time (in comparison to mice, cats, etc). To comment on the whole orgasm thing, it seems as though a lot of species have sex for pleasure: dolphins with each other, I read some article about female lions going down on each other, and apes masturbating (this was all on an evolution course I did that included the evolution of sex). Don't you think females would have less sex if it wasnt pleasurable?

I think I'll go with simply logging my jumps w/out numbering them for "type". My only point was that then i'd know exactly how many RW/FF jumps I have (well, not that I freefly to data but....). However, I suppose that you can always make a rough estimate of jump-type numbers, and when the day comes when you have so many jumps you can't keep track of 'em, well, I suppose you're pretty much qualified for most things then

Clearly, more guys should join the sport ;)

Yeah, it's just the definition of "flying relative" I'm after. And *l*, The Herc boogie was just an example, I wont be ready for that in a long time, at the moment I like being able to count the people around me

I've seen that some events require you to have a certain number of a certain type of jumps (eg. I think they want you to have at least 300 RW jumps to participate in the Herc boogie). I thought that I'd start logging my RW jump numbers as well, to keep track. Just a stupid question: what exactly would count as an RW jump? Do two-ways count? Do "fun jumps" count eg. you're not doing formations but you're still doing stuff "relative" to others (for example playing tag, tracking dives etc). thanks

Hey there, does anyone have any experience of the digitude? Pros and cons? Am thinking of switching but I'd like to hear what people who have used them thinks. I've heard that you can use the neptune for that too,but I dont really fancy buying one as I already have a pro-track. cheers

Hey Paul! dz.com has a description of the audible, reviews from other people and a link to the manufacturer at http://www.dropzone.com/gear/Detailed/143.html Am I so beautiful in freefall that you forget about altitude??