DSE

I really dont think the GOP chose her to gain acceptance with women. I think it was a very obvious selection to appease the far right conservatives of the party who though McCain was too centrist for them. I think you're right, Remi. That said, she also appeals to 18 year old male voters, too.

I believe in abstinence too. What does that make me? Difference *may* be, that I don't bury my head in the sand and think that it's the _only_ solution, and therefore support other solutions too. Instead of saying 'rational,' don't you mean "someone who thinks like I do?" I suspect *most* rational people would agree with that statement. Palin is better (IMO) than Romney, but not by much. If McCain had chosen Romney, I'd have no choice. Not that there is much of one now.

Jenn says she's organizing a 20 way flock, but it would be nice to know who all is in the flock.

I've heard both as well, but #1 scares me a bit. I want to know where everyone is. If there is someone unaccounted for, it causes that much more concern and I'm gonna take it low at breakoff, most likely, because I want vertical and horizontal separation. We used to have a guy that would half-heartedly attempt to get into formations and then run off/track off when he couldn't. To this day, he makes me take extra care. Stay in the area, on level, keep trying to get back in from the side. Avoid the "danger cone" being too high or too low on the formation. It'll also help improve your relative work to keep working at getting into the formation.

It's already there, log into Vimeo to download the MP4. It's still re-compressed, but it's going to be quite similar. I'm betting Mark used the iPod MP4 output, based on the 21MB file size.

your perception of the size differences is (I think) based on the gunmetal vs stainless. They're same width and only slightly (like .25) different in length. A box for any HC will fit all HC. HC5 has third generation encoder, slightly better image, plus EIS, of course. you're right, the additional resolution at the sensor does nothing to benefit the video quality. Both are discontinued.

I'd like to know as well. Makes it easier to decide about going to the event.

Follow up to the original story... http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080908/GJNEWS_01/709089935/-1/FOSNEWS HAMPTON — Thousands of eyes looked to the skies Sunday afternoon as the 19th annual Hampton Beach Seafood Festival officially came to an end with seven professional skydivers making landings before a busy crowd scattered along the strip. The landing proved difficult for one skydiver, who instead of making a clean landing on the beach, ended up far offshore in the middle of the pounding surf. "It was my first unintentional landing like that," said Fred Cotreau, co-owner of Skydive New England. He said the wind proved to be much more of a factor than he had anticipated, and within minutes of opening his chute, he knew he was going for a swim. "The wind dragged me out further over the water than I expected," said the 18-year skydiving professional. Seconds after landing in the water, he said, he made sure to detach himself from his parachute and wait for the lifeguards who were swimming toward him. Within minutes, the lifeguards pulled Cotreau to shore, and the thousands huddled on the beach applauded. The festival, a three-day event, featured nearly 50 Seacoast restaurants serving seafood and other dishes. About 80 craft vendors were on hand as well, showcasing locally made products. More than 100,000 people showed up the event, according to Jude David, committee chairman. David said even though weather put a damper on things on Saturday, seafood lovers turned out in force Friday and Sunday. "Friday was our best ever," she said. "It was the best Sunday we've seen as well." Those in attendance had their choice of freshly made lobster rolls, shrimp and lobster stew, as well as non-seafood choices such as barbecued ribs, sweet potato fries and a variety of desserts. Carolyn Coppola of Haverhill brought her two children, Kara, 5, and Tommy, 8, to the festival for the first time. She said she attended last year's festival with friends and made sure to bring her children with her this year. "It's really overwhelming how many people are here,"she said. "But it's still a lot of fun for me and my family." ################## Based on this story vs the original, he didn't realize "as soon as he got out of the plane" but rather, when he deployed. Makes more sense now, doesn't it? Still gotta wonder what delayed him vs the other sticks.

Ol' Doctor Doug of the Satan's Barbers MC

nice pic Tony! love that lighting. not as good as most here, but a worthy effort This was the 100th jump for the guy wearing the Talon

Nice post, Stoney. Dno't forget, you can vote again. You might need to clear the cookies from your browser, but you can vote once a day until the 16th of Sept.

They are very different stabilization systems between the HC1 and the HC5. HC1 was an AWESOME camera, although bigger. I still use an A1 regularly.

Obviously your Sony Rep is wrong. The Z5, the Z7, the 270 all came significantly later than the HC9. The FX1000 is also after the HC9, of course. It may be (and likely is) that the HC9 is the last HC series camcorder from Sony that uses tape; chase down some old threads in this forum, and you'll see that I'd suggested this quite a while ago. But...we'll see at least one more generation of HDV (tape) from Sony this year.

http://www.skydivenewengland.com/bAboutUs.html He sure doesn't look light. He's a PRO. Coupla thousand skydives. Wingloading 3 years ago of 1.3, so unless the winds were too high to safely jump, he should have had penetration. Maybe he forgot to unbuckle his seatbelt and lost time dealing w/it and lost the spot? Maybe wife called on cell? Maybe, maybe, maybe. Bottom line is, a skydiver looks bad in the national news (was on CNN last night) and was at serious risk of drowning (assuming he had no flotation device). This doesn't look like "half a mile out" There is no legit explanation I can think of for a PRO rated skydiver missing the target by half a mile when every one else on the load made it to the landing area. But...if you've got " legit explanations," I'd like to hear one. I'm glad it turned out to be a non-incident, however.

maybe you'd best explain this better. We *all* went through what you're going through. Everyone has concerns about money. Everyone has concerns about their safety. Everyone is fearful of various aspects of skydiving when they get started, and some never quite get through it. What _specifically_ are you looking for here? What _specifically_ is giving you trouble? What _specifically_ are you looking to have be different? You haven't said specifically what it is that "isn't working out." Landings? Exits? Freefall? What do you want to achieve in 21 jumps? World-class canopy pilot? VRW Pro? Four way champion? Stand-up landings? What do your instructors specifically tell you about your abilities? they should be writing in your logbook. What are they writing? you continually refer to wanting to "do this." What does "doing this" mean to you? What constitues a "failure?" The risk will *always* be there. Even the best make mis-judgements and are injured or worse. Don't fool yourself into ever thinking this is a safe sport. It's not.

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080907/NEWS/80907011 HAMPTON — Fred Cotreau has been skydiving for 18 years, but Sunday afternoon was the first time he ever had an unintentional water landing. Cotreau, 43, was one of 11 who jumped out of an airplane from 14,000 feet as part of the Skydive New England Demonstration during the 19th annual Hampton Beach Seafood Festival. And while he was supposed to land on the sand with the other skydivers, he instead landed in the ocean, a half-mile away from the shore. The crowd watched in suspense as Hampton Beach lifeguards swam out to make sure he was OK. When the guards returned with Cotreau 20 minutes later, everyone began to cheer. “My plan was to land where everyone else landed,” Cotreau said. Cotreau, who is the co-owner of Skydive New England, said he realized there was a problem as soon as he jumped out of the airplane. “I knew I wasn’t going to make it, and I used my safety training and prepared for a water landing,” Cotreau said. Cotreau said the parachute doubled in weight in the water and that’s why he needed the help from the guards to get back to the shore. “When I hit the water, my plan was to start swimming home and to the nearest bar,” Coutreau said.

luck wished, and congrats! That's pretty darn cool. Remind me to never play against you.

I'm wrong. USAToday is the largest publication in the US, and the largest world-wide English publication. With Metro print editions, USA Today is the largest global publication. It is not the world's largest singly-distributed publication, that award goes to Yomiuri Shimbun. Outside of Japan, only the German paper BILD enjoys a larger circulation than USA Today. Society of Professional Journalists apparently doesn't look at Asia as part of their statistics. Oops. Mea culpa. Next time, Scotty should go for a photo in Japanese or Chinese. He could almost double his circ reach.

USA Today is the world's largest publication.

When the world's largest publication gives me an opportunity to vote for a skydiver baby vs a non-skydiver baby, get back to me with your question. Chances are based on general principles, I'll support a fellow skydiver before I'd support a non-skydiver. Bottom line here is, I know exactly what went into that jump and the practice jumps that occurred beforehand. I know how long the event lasted, I was present for the disappointment that the planned shot didn't occur due to a few factors. I'm bothered that any skydiver would be dim enough to suggest this was just a "go up and shoot whatever you can" sort of event. Were it so, we'd have seen a lot of these sorts of images already.

Coupla things... ~skydiving isn't for everyone. I've met people that really want to do it, but it just isn't part of their life-skillset. They're great people. They're not dumb, clumsy, or incapable. Enjoying the sport simply eludes them. ~It really sounds like you're looking too far forward. Like you want to be able to XXX and XXX, but haven't gained that ability in 20 minutes. Can you point to anything that you've mastered in 20 minutes or less? Tunnel will help with the freefall. You're not alone in being frustrated at the start. Find an instructor that can help you relax. Your post suggests you're really uptight. That's no fun for anyone, not you nor your instructors.

Congrats Anne!! That Intro looks nice on you. You couldn'ta picked a better FFC instructor. With Scott and John to coach you, you'll be a serious flocker in no time. Welcome!

MANY people (saw one just a couple weeks ago) get hurt because they're geeking a camera. Saw an AFF student screw a dive because he was geeking a camera that was there to be used as a training tool. Many people have chowed because they were paying attention to the sidelines rather than to their own business. A few haven't survived. It'll all come in time. Right now, you have what....three minutes in the air? Get past student status before you start "showing off." And leave the distractions at home for now, IMO.

Have you been reading my mind??? Its cool if someone doesnt wanna help, but voting for his competitor? wtf Hey Yeyo...there are guys that would rather sit in front of the 'puter staring at amateur webcam porn and fat naked ladies than skydive, too. I'm too caught up, I guess. When there is no benefit nor detriment to the voter, it seems that one would want to .....never mind. Either you get it or you don't. See you next month!

No, it's not as artistic as some of the others. But the others are all shots that can be set up more than once, fairly easily. They're all shots that can be reproduced, and have been many times. But...this shot has never, ever been taken before, and likely won't be taken again. This shot is a skydiving shot that is now in front of the entire world. Skydivers have the opportunity to support the sport and support a skydiver, and IMO, only an asshole would deliberately support a whuffo over a skydiver when it's this sort of scenario. Voting for Scotty's picture costs none of us anything; if the image wins, it's a huge win and publicity boost for skydiving, and a fellow skydiver walks away with a great prize and a terrific story. One element of a truly great image is the time-capture, because that moment may never be re-lived. Can anyone here assure that they can get a better shot that contains all of the same elements? Of course not. I'd challenge anyone criticizing this photo to present a similar photo that captures the metaphors this image brings forth.