warpedskydiver

Bear Grylls Adventurer Age: 30 Occupation: Writer and mountaineer In a few short years Bear Grylls has earned himself a reputation for being one of Britain’s most notable, and youngest, adventurers. In 1998, at the age of 23, he became the youngest British climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest and return alive. He braved Arctic conditions and icebergs when he led an expedition across the North Atlantic Ocean in a small open inflatable boat and he led the first attempt to fly motorised parachutes over Angel Falls in Venezuela. What makes his achievements so remarkable is that just a few years before climbing the world's highest mountain, he was hospitalised with a back broken in three places. Bear had spent three years with the SAS when a routine parachute exercise in southern Africa went terribly wrong. His canopy ripped in two and he fell 500 metres, smashing into the desert at tremendous speed and leaving him unable to feel his legs. 'For me it was the darkest time, I should really be paralysed,' he says. 'But if this taught me anything it was not to listen too hard to what doctors tell you.' He spent the next year in rehabilitation, but it was not until about nine months into his recovery that he found his focus. With his military career effectively over, Bear directed his efforts on trying to get well enough to fulfil his childhood dream of climbing Everest. After achieving this goal, Bear didn’t stop there and quickly totted up an outstanding list of achievements. And he’s always thinking ahead to the next one. Surprisingly, Bear still skydives. In fact, over a few weeks in May and June 2005 he made more than 200 parachute jumps as part of the training for his next feat – to enter The Guinness Book of Records for holding the highest formal dinner party. So what made Bear want to take a band of merry men into the desert to join the Foreign Legion? Nobody really knows much about the Legion, so Bear thought it would be an interesting challenge to lift the lid on this mysterious outfit by showing the training regime. And what better way to do this than by signing up himself. It was an extremely tough and arduous process of attrition, says Bear. It wasn’t the physical demands that he found so hard; he is after all extremely fit and compared to the SAS the standard of fitness and training of the Legion was relatively low, he says. It was, rather, the sheer brutality of the training methods and the level of control over the legionnaires that made it so gruelling and so much harder than the SAS. 'You get no sleep and spend your day doing meaningless tasks, like breaking rocks in the desert,' he says. Despite having to be there to help encourage the other legionnaires not to quit, Bear found himself doubting on a daily basis whether he would be able to complete the training himself. Being the presenter of the programme, this could have posed a problem, especially since there was no contingency plan for him dropping out. But at the time this was the least of his worries. 'You are continuously shouted and screamed at, you are allowed no possessions, not even a watch. It’s all about control,' he says. Each day you get weaker and weaker. 'You’re whole life is ruled by a whistle. What made you join the Legion? Channel 4 asked me to come up with an idea for a new series. I chose a series about the Foreign Legion because I have always been fascinated by its mystique, ever since reading Beau Geste as a child. What was good about the experience? The real bonds of friendship that developed between some of the recruits. I genuinely hadn’t expected to make proper friends, but ended up meeting some lovely, gorgeous people. What was bad about the experience? It was physically and mentally exhausting. I hadn’t expected it to be so tough, having spent several years in the SAS. Nobody shouted at you in the SAS – this was far worse. What did you learn from the experience? It reinforced a lot of lessons I had learnt in the army and while out on various expeditions. I learnt how much we need other people and how OK it is to be intimate with others and display vulnerability in front of others. Any regrets? No. What would you do differently? I wouldn’t do it again. It was a very high risk for me, for a number of reasons and I feel that I put myself on the line, both physically and mentally. Sometimes, though, you have to go out on a limb. What do you think of the Legion's approach to team-building? I hated it. I hate the whole approach of breaking people down to build them back up. It might make sense in the Legion, where they’re a bunch of reprobates, but the approach I experienced in the British Army was totally different. Any advice for anyone thinking of joining the Legion? Don’t do it – however miserable your life might seem. Did you get a sense of achievement from taking part and has it lasted? Massively – I’m genuinely proud of the achievement and feel that the right people made it through to the end of the challenge. What makes a survivor? I used a psychometric questionnaire to ascertain how team members typically behave towards others and how they like others to behave towards them. The questionnaire was developed by a US Navy psychologist to analyse what made some submarine crews perform so much better than others. Results from the questionnaire provide some useful clues as to whether team members are social animals or loners, whether they want to engage in deep and meaningful relationships with others and whether they prefer to take orders or give them. There was no neat, clear, pattern running through the answers. The recruits, both survivors and those that left early, had a range of scores relating to sociability and emotional involvement. True, most of the recruits had very high scores on leadership behaviour, and those who survived had particularly high scores on controlling behaviour, suggesting a real need to make decisions and call the shots. Based on my observations, interviews and psychometric profiling, I think three main factors marked out the survivors from the non-survivors. First, the survivors were all highly controlled (and controlling) individuals, even if their previous life experiences hadn’t brought out their innate self-discipline. Second, the survivors were generally adept at stepping out of their immediate situation, however horrible, and remembering that the experience was finite and time-bound. If they occasionally lost it, they were resilient enough to bounce back. Third, the survivors had a highly positive outlook. They sought to learn from the experience rather than focus, like Terry, on the absent girlfriend or, like Lee, on the meagre rations. Overall then, it wasn’t the physical challenge that marked out the winners from the losers. Everyone I spoke to said that the challenge was won or lost on the mental battleground. And on that front the key weapons were mental toughness, resilience and self-discipline. http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/E/escape_to_the_legion/bear.html Quote Just thought some of you may know him or at least interested in reading this. I found it very interesting.

Ann Rule is so clairvoyant in hindsight

Bill alot of these statements are time sensitive.

Quote Exactly!!! The first thing the prosecuters and police do to make the entire public turn their backs, is to claim that someone was a child pornagrapher, or drug dealer. I am in favor of killing true pedophiles, I am also in favor of killing people for some other haneous crimes.

1 would be a pilot there would be 5 passengers 1 of whom would jump out wearing a rig and the other 99 would think that is crazy 2 would be young anarchists that are against everything and would still believe the rest think as they do

Maybe it's her age but all she ever does these days is keep harping on the same subject. That the US has attacked a foreign nation without being attacked first. That is not the long standing US defense policy of the last 5 presidents and also is a defeatest policy. Any country or entity that would want to attack the US would love to have the assurance of a first strike capability

it's a governmental conspiracy and they have been altering the weather for years now...every winter it gets cold up north

it's all about the MONEY the government wants all of it... if there were no drug laws that would cause billions to go out of their pockets Industrialists would have to admit their products are inferior to natural substances and that would affect their MONEY Also the people of the US are so used to being bullshitted they actually belive it. I had a female friend who once said "if marijuana makes you grow breasts why did I have to get implants?"

QuoteMaybe cause it's still cold out? I know I dont like to shower then run out the door to class cause it's a good way to get sick. Quote being wet or damp does not get you sick, it can only cause hypothermia in severe circumstances

Quote please pull your head out of the sand, do you believe that life is even worth a plugged nickel in those countries?... do you think it would be safe to travel there?.... do you think they are on the USDOS travel advisory list?... there are many reasons these countries governments are now hostile to the entire world and what would you do about it?...NOTHING?

Car Veers Onto So. Calif. Sidewalk; 1 Dead By DAISY NGUYEN, Associated Press Writer 3 hours ago LOS ANGELES - Police said the driver of a vehicle that barreled onto a sidewalk, killing a teacher and injuring eight students, told them the crash in suburban Culver City was caused when her boyfriend grabbed the steering wheel during an argument. An attorney for Reynaldo Cruz said Wednesday his client told him he never grabbed the wheel. "He feels terrible about what happened, and wishes that they had never gotten in her car," attorney Peter Navarro told The Associated Press. Laura Samayoa, 20, of Los Angeles, was arrested Wednesday and booked for investigation of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and hit-and-run collision involving a fatality, police Sgt. Brian Fitzpatrick said. Cruz, 19, who turned himself in late Wednesday, was booked on the same charges, said police Lt. Chris Maddox. Both were being held on $400,000 bail. Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. John Kades identified the teacher as Carrie Philips. He declined to release her age or other information. The students, whose ages ranged from 10 to 13, had just left a nearby school when the car veered onto the sidewalk about 3 p.m., Maddox said. Three children were in good condition at UCLA Medical Center and two were in fair condition, a hospital spokeswoman said. Two other children were in stable condition at Brotman Medical Center, and one who had been admitted there in stable condition was later transferred to another facility, a spokeswoman said. A witness said he was leaving work in the suburb just southwest of Los Angeles when he heard screeching tires. He said a woman he believed to be the driver tried to leave the scene but he stopped her. "At first she said, 'I wasn't the driver.' And I said, 'You were in the car. You need to come back as a witness,'" Tennyson Collins told KCAL-TV. Navarro said Cruz told him he fled because he feared he'd be blamed for the accident. "He used poor judgment and wasn't thinking," the attorney said. Police said the teacher worked at Turning Point School, a private school that enrolls students from kindergarten through eighth grade. A woman who answered the phone at the school declined to discuss the accident.Quote At the school up the street from my house we have a problem with very recent immigrants (not sure of legal status) not obeying the vehicular code nor showing any reasonable safe driving behavior. This morning I witnessed and undercover Police Officer whom I know, giving out citations. I watched as he handed a woman a ticket, she was blocking the drop off lane with her dodge durango and when she was handed the ticket she tore it up and spat at the officer. OUT COME THE HANDCUFFS! I want to know why people who live here and take their kids to that school do not behave responsibly and why the do not show more common sense. I would wager that by tommorrow there will be a protest at city hall and charges of RACISM will be shouted. I would also wager that this mornings actions by the police will not stop the unsafe and illegal acts by drivers, some of which most likely do not have legal status in this country.

ummm this IS SPEAKERS CORNER

Because the police do not prevent crimes, they only show up to do the investigation afterwards.

Oh and Monica was a hottie?

Get well soon Max I didn't know you yet but I want to wish you a speedy recovery and a long healthy life. From one Disabled Veteran to another... Thank You for your Service and Bravery.

Hmm, never had that... Does it taste like sauerkraut? NOOOOOO

So you are saying that if one becomes too focused on something they can actually think the worst into existence?

11 Killed in U.S. Raid South of Samarra By ZIAD KHALAF, Associated Press Writer 2 hours ago ISAHAQI, Iraq - Eleven people _ most women and children _ were killed when a house was bombed during a U.S. raid north of Baghdad early Wednesday, police and relatives said. The U.S. military acknowledged four deaths _ a man, two women and a child _ in the raid that they said netted an insurgent suspect in the rural Isahaqi area, about 50 miles north of the capital. The victims, some wrapped in blankets, were driven in the back of three pickup trucks to the Tikrit General Hospital, about 45 miles to the north, relatives said. Associated Pres photographs showed the bodies of two men, five children and four other covered figures arriving at the hospital accompanied by grief-stricken relatives. Riyadh Majid, who identified himself as the nephew of the killed head of the family _ Faez Khalaf _ told AP at the hospital that U.S. forces landed in helicopters and raided the home early Wednesday. Khalaf's brother, Ahmed, said nine of the victims were family members who lived at the house and two were unidentified visitors. "The killed family was not part of the resistance; they were women and children," Ahmed Khalaf said. "The Americans have promised us a better life, but we get only death." The U.S. military said it was targeting and captured an individual suspected of supporting foreign fighters for al-Qaida in Iraq. "Troops were engaged by enemy fire as they approached the building," said Tech. Sgt. Stacy Simon, a military spokeswoman. "Coalition forces returned fire utilizing both air and ground assets. The targeted individual was detained during this raid." The building and a vehicle were destroyed, the military said. Police Capt. Laith Mohammed, in nearby Samarra, said American warplanes and armor were used in the strike, which destroyed the house. The 11 people inside were killed, he said. An AP reporter at the scene said the roof of the house collapsed, three cars were destroyed and two cows were killed.

Yeah, I have a very hard time believing that as well.... Too much smoke, lethal force for a 'stolen vehicle'. and too 'clean' of a take down.... Quote if it was real that was probably a kidnapper or worse

and tha police edition will not come with aluminum rims they break when the strike a curb or anything else...can you say fatal car wreck?

with all the weight they will add to that car and the crap in the trunk the car will be lucky to do more than 125MPH top speed and with a 15 second quarter mile time I can outrun that in an economy car

Probably not much!

find out where DKW is. The last letters (JTF) is most likely Joint Task Force... the cop firing was wearing black kit and body armor...the make of car was either aussie or brit looked like warm weather climate decidous trees etc. South Africa? ask the boss man (Sangiro)

yeah it's like when Dr,. Evil got all bummed and shouted...."but I'm evil!" didn't want other people to be more evil than he was

you would be correct....if that were 00 shot aimed at the rear window even near the drivers head he wouldn't need to be tossed out of the car....he would have needed a body bag