DSE

Both Stella and Dolly are outstanding people, IMO, that do a lot of good in the world, and I can't think of anything either has done that could be considered "bad." Plastic surgery or not, Dolly is a beautiful person.

Probably the most astute comment on this topic that has ever been written.

Ahh...B&H. They are a brothel for the electronics addict. If you've never visited the store, it's worth the time, even only once. Especially when they ring a bell and gear comes up through the floor, or you see a high end camera floating in the bin trolly overhead.

I don't know. A the plant I visited, the Sony AMEII tapes were in one of the rooms, and yes, they're all dust free, anti-stat, etc. and were being sliced/spooled there. But that is just one of several plants they operate, so I have no clue what it's like in other facilities. However...bear in mind that these places also manufacture library archive-grade DLT and military grade tape etc on the same machines, and by law, they have to observe and maintain specific tolerances.

I agree, that something there is a stigma that because Liberals are for abortion {or pick your issue} you can't be a good Mormon and Democrate. However your statement is false - There are, and have been prominent leaders in the church and in government who are Democrats. If what you say is true, then they would have been released, excommunicated, disfellowshipped, et cetera for their political beliefs. Many of these men hold High positions in the church and they are good members, and they serve their country according to the dictates of their own conscience and not what Salt Lake tells them. Only if you take it to an extreme view would it result in excommunications. The mere fact that Utah Dems have to ADVERTISE who famous mormon Dems are, speaks more loudly than anything I can say. BTW, my sister in law, a Mormon, is the chairperson of the Democratic Women of Utah. Yeah, I'm aware. Note that there are no Mormon republican apologist sites. Note that there are hundreds of "can I be mormon and Democrat" articles, posts, discussions all over the web. Face it, the very teachings of the LDS faith make it very, very difficult to be anything but a conservative. I read with great humor, the quote that LDS church president Gordon B. Hinckley (quote)"even wrote a sympathetic biography of James Moyle, a prominent Mormon Democrat, thus signaling the tolerance of Liberals within the LDS faith..." The point is, the Dems in the LDS faith are few and defensive. The LDS faith feels compelled to let the Dems know that they are "tolerated" or "accepted." Hardly a balanced state of affairs, wouldn't you agree? Notice that the GREAT majority of those on your list were in politics before the church changed it's public status in the mid 60's? Notice that almost *none* of them were raised in the LDS faith, but were converts to the church in later years? Notice how desperate they are to put their position forward by showing Ken Jennings, the nearly-forgotten "Jeopardy" winner? Have you read any of Harry Reid's post-campaign speeches, wherein he often says that being a Mormon Democrat is an oxymoron? What part of what I said isn't true? ~there are very few Dems in the LDS faith-fact ~the LDS leadership recently acknowledged that there is nothing wrong with being Mormon and Democrat-fact (I read that as granting permission, if you read it any other way...) Yeah, there are mormons who are liberal. And there are openly practicing Christians in Iran, too. And I submit you don't have a clue about whether the few that are still in office follow the dictates of their own minds vs the leadership of the church. I do know that the one member of my family who is reasonably high in state politics and a Dem, is contacted very often by various church leaders to "ask" his opinion about certain issues while sharing their viewpoint with him. I can see President Hinckley "asking" Pres Romney about his position on something like ERA while sharing his views on the subject with POTUS. BTW, all of my life, I've heard the bullshit phrase "he/she's a good member of the church." Does anyone ever say he/she is a bad member? I always wondered what might happen if I didn't raise my hand to sustain someone.

You miss two salient points; a) If the presidential candidate had a sworn oath (on a monthly basis) to obey Hagee (as one example) would you find that acceptable? b) The prophecy itself may have been made in the last century, but the LDS leadership have sustained that prophecy publically even in this decade. Additionally, Kem Gardner (who was a huge public supporter of Romney til censured for violating campaign laws) is still touting that line. Should also add, in Utah, it is widely believed that Romney hired an old college buddy's phone-survey firm to generate anti-mormon/romney polls. The opinion is that Romney was trying to discredit McCain. Original story: http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695228105,00.html Followups: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Y2ZkMWNkZDkzOTk1YTM0NTNkNmJlZThmYjJmM2ZmOGE=

I agree, the Velcro on my FTP isn't backed on so well either, but I used some tacky glue and it's on good. FWIW, I also end up removing my liner fairly often, because i'm often taking my protrack out and putting it in my fun-jump helmet. Camera box...I don't like the Bonehead HC3 box either, so I bought a couple from Cookie. The lacquer fell apart in a couple jumps, so I ended up gaffing all the edges after painting them with more laquer. Haven't seen an HC3 box I've liked yet, other than a couple home-built jobs.

Further more the intellectual property law varys very much internationally. US differs from European significantly... Please cite specifics. Having shot, released, edited, produced, and broadcast in virtually every EU country, I've yet to see a significant difference in the past 10 years. Saw them early on, can specifically recall when I was recording for Virgin, copyright on the master had to be spelled out in all of the languages of the EU and Scandinavia. Netherlands, Finland, have unique laws regarding software copyrights, which in most countries is considered to be IP, but in other areas, falls into a variety of categories. The Netherlands also offer authors of work greater authority in works for hire, but "auteursrechten" is not very far off the map as Berne applies. Berne does far more than "clarify the problems of choosing wich national law should apply to a certain international situation." As one example, Berne immediately grants copyright to all authors of all works in all signatory and observing countries, at the time of the authorship of the work. All of the add-ons to Berne, which most countries have also endorsed (such as WIPO, UCC, WCT, IPPT, and a few others I can't recall from memory) have only served as structural support for Berne. There is no such concept as "international copyright" and Berne does attempt to address that issue as a separate entity, however. There is a list on the LOC.gov site showing who unilaterally and bilaterally supports copyright relationships with the US, and for better or for worse, the world predominantly follows the lead of the US in this particular area. The last amendment to Berne served to effectively set this position in stone for a long while. No one else wants to spend the $$ doing their own thing. I'm not a lawyer, I just play one on the internet. As a musician, composer, DP, and all the related avenues, this has become a passion for me over the past 25 years, when I first entered into a copyright lawsuit against Disney (and prevailed). FWIW, I also produced a DVD that folks should see (if you're interested in the minutiae of copyright. Dragon, that *really* sucks about the shop. That's one of those situations where they're in violation, but you're in-country for a short time and to prosecute in a small area would not only be costly, but potentially impossible for an outsider to achieve.

For skydiving, I use the Maxell Red Label; from Mediaright in lots of 250, they sell for 2.72 per tape. For the work for hire in the field, we use AME II tape, typically Sony tape, but on occasion, we'll also use the JVC-branded Maxell's. Sony's tape comes from Maxell anyway. Saying "Sony tapes are the best" is somewhat like saying that "Ford is the best." Ford makes shit Jags and excellent tractors, and a lot of in-between products too. Sony doesn't make tape, but they do pay Maxell (as one of their OEM's) a fair amount of money for OEM'ing their high grade. I think that their shit tape comes from the lowest bidder in China.

What someone (or a newspaper) may have done and what the laws are are obviously two very different things. Am I sure? I'm sure only that there are few countries that didn't sign Berne and Berne is where the "rules of the universe" were set. Thailand is a signator. China regularly allows violations, and they're a signatory too. Not knowing the specifics, maybe Bruno gave them a release? How did they get a printable copy if it didn't come from him? Dunno...either way...there are laws, and then there are what people do and often get away with. you can find a list of signatories to the Berne here

I have three Bonehead helmets, 1 Cookie, they're all good helmets. Dunno who is bad-mouthing Bonehead anywhere, but Chris and Linda offer some of the best customer service I've ever seen. They have the most advanced manufacturing (AFAIK) in the skydiving helmet world. My other positive experiences regarding helmets and skydiving are with Skysystems. I'm very impressed with the folks there, and they respond to emails very quickly, but I'd also say any negative commentary about Bonehead is BS. My first experience to my most recent (a new FTP) have all been great. I've also toured their factory. On the other hand, a first post with no profile...

yup, I read what you pasted from camcorderinfo.com. I was responding to your first para, which is incorrect;

Actually, the copyright laws are virtually identical in all but two countries. Berne Convention set most of the standards in place around the world. Release requirements vary (AFAIK) slightly, but not by much. What you describe as the laws in the Netherlands are identical to most laws around the world. As an example however, if I took a photo of Joe Blow coming out of a brothel in Amsterdam, tough luck, unless I intend on selling the photo to a magazine, and in that event, even in the Netherlands, the publisher requires a release. Matt had all of his release etc information in order, based on the conversations I had with him. Tandem videos may be published from our DZ, because part of the waiver waives the owners right to copyright on the jump. We (the DZ) owns all copyrights with regards to any tandem jump. One of our guys had a slot on Oprah recently, had we not had that waiver, it could have been a mess. Additionally, we are required (as are the Netherlands) to place a notice of filming in a public place, at all reasonable entrances to the area being filmed, notifying the general public that we're filming in that area, and by entering the area, they are implying consent to be filmed. Celebrities, politicians, sports icons are fair game anywhere in the world.

The issue of lubricated vs non-lubed tapes died a few years ago. Sticking with one brand still isn't a bad idea, simply because of design, but the dry vs wet is a gone issue for new cameras and new shooters. If you've got shelves of archives, it's quite possible and even likely you've got wet tape, but the new electrolayering processes at manufacturing have done away with wet vs dry application. At one time, it was a huge issue.

This is not quite accurate; it was only very recently (less than a year ago) that the Deseret News published a story quoting leadership of the LDS faith saying "it is acceptable to be a Democrat and still be LDS." There are fewer Dem's in Utah than any other state. Yes, you can be Mormon and be a Democrat; the LDS church has recently given permission to Mormons to be Dems. Prior to permission, Mormon Dems were 'in the closet.' Why Romney's speech is very important to him winning the election? Unlike Kennedy's Catholicism, members of the LDS faith swear blinding allegience to the President of the Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and to the leadership of the Prophet of the church. No matter how one cuts it up, if Romney is true to his temple ordinances and coventants, he must put the desires of the Prophet ahead of anything else. He has no choice. Romney wins the election, he's "called of man." Prophet trumps that, because he's "called of God." Catholics haven't baptized former presidents of the USA into their church after they were dead, either. Mormons believe that unless one is Mormon, he cannot enter into God's kingdom. Wilford Woodruff wrote an accounting of a "personal visitation from George Washington," said visitation having taken place in St. George, Utah on April 10, 1898, in which visitation Washington, and later Thomas Jefferson "begged Woodruff to do the various temple ordinances that would assure their entry into the Kingdom of God." Later, according to Woodruff, "All signers of the Declaration of Independence made the same request, "coming to him in person, within the halls of the St. George temple." A BYU survey a few years back demonstrated that: )98% of the members of the church believe that Joseph Smith (convicted pedophile, polygamist, charlatan) is a true prophet of God. )96% believe that the LDS faith is the only true church on earth, and the only church truthfully guided by God. )88% believe that they "place obedience to church authority over personal preferences." Historical scholars, including the LDS members of the Sunstone, predominantly agree that the LDS faith is intent on taking all powers of mankind upon themselves and the president/prophet of the church being ruler over the world (Joseph Smith prophesied as much). Armand Mauss, former Mormon and professor at Washington State University wrote that he was "exceptionally bothered by the LDS leadership pronouncing from the pulpit that when the prophet speaks, the thinking has been done for you." In other words, never question what the prophet says. Is this a proper concept for a potential presidential candidate?? Mormonism does not accept pluralism; thinking outside the box is not permitted, period. It's absolute bullshit to suggest the "LDS Church takes very few political stands." Off hand and at 4:00 a.m. I can think of at least 30 instances, the biggest being that the LDS Church single-handedly defeated ERA. Additionally, the single largest owner of media outlets in the world, is the LDS faith. The single largest group of privately-owned satellites is the LDS faith. The largest missionary force in the world? LDS faith. Although this sounds like an anti-Mormon rant, bear in mind that the subject is Romney. He is part of an LDS prophecy that a Mormon must be president of the USA by the end of the last century. Orrin Hatch tried, Romney's father tried, Robert Bennett tried, Gordon Smith is grooming as a hopeful, and here is Romney, very much poised to walk with it. For me, the sole reason (aside from the fact that I worked at two arm lengths from Romney during the Olympics and think he's a terrible human being), that I would not vote for him, is that he is a Mormon. I've never heard of a Catholic, Christian, Muslim, Bhuddist, Druid, Hindu or other religion prophesying that their religion demanded the president of the US be of their faith, and that their "faith would save the world from utter chaos." Only Mormonism makes that claim, and it's a scary thought that a half-senile old man like Gordon B. Hinkley would be running this country by proxy. One can't accurately compare the Romney-Mormon issue to Kennedy-Catholic issue. Catholics do not believe that the Pope is a living, breathing prophet of god, they do not believe that the pope receives physical, visual visitations from God or Christ on a daily basis, and they do not believe that the New Zion will be built in the USA after a nuclear holocaust. Conversely, the LDS faith believes that their prophet is a living prophet who has physically touched the hand of Christ, has personally met/walked with God in a physical (not meta-physical) sense, who speaks on behalf of God. No religion, including Islam, offers up so tremendous a power to one man, and one individual who is running for president, takes a verbal oath at least once a month, to uphold, sustain, and obey the Prophet of the LDS faith. Doesn't that scare the hell out of anyone capable of logical thought?

I'm not sure if I should be happy or depressed; I knew em' all at first glance.

I assume by "pixle" you mean that it displays blocks at times. These are dropouts or errors. All digital media has errors. How the camcorder/format/tape deals with the errors is the real question. Tape is made in monster-wide 12' rolls. It's then sliced and re-spooled on 4' rolls. Product that comes from the center of the rolls is "premium" and the product that comes from the very outter edges is "budget/low grade." The 4' rolls are then spliced to 2' rolls after cross-band testing, and the rolls that come from the center most of the original 12' rolls is the very best stuff, has a better carrier, and better error track control due to greater saturation of particulates. It's then sliced into 1/8" or whatever size it's supposed to be, and spooled onto the small spools we see in the housing. BTW, there are only effectively two manufacturers of tape in the world, Fuji and Maxell. Maxell makes Sony's tape. Fuji makes Panasonic's tape. BASF was the big player for a long, long time, until they sold out to Emtec, who bit the dust along with Ampex. I get a chuckle when folks tell me how much they hate Sony but love Maxell. Bear in mind that there are good Sony tapes (can't buy them at Walmart) and shit Sony tapes (they're colored, and you can buy them at Walmart). Just as there are shit Panasonic, Maxell, Fuji, TDK, etc tapes, and there are good ones. If they cost less than 3.00 each, they're probably crap. Shorter answer, some tape loses signal because it's cheaply made and other tape doesn't because very close attentions are paid to it in the manufacturing process. BTW, some tapes are more prone to gunking up heads than others, simply because of how the substrate in the tape lies on the tape itself. If it's linear vs "splattered" it will gunk up heads more quickly. Use mid-grade tape and never reuse tape for best results.

So very, very sweet, my friend. I know you worked hard to see this through, and you should be damned proud. Heck, I'm damned proud for you!

Can't agree w/you. Skyride is unethical. Skyride runs a dirty business. Skyride gives our sport a bad name by their actions within the public view of our sport. However, that's subjective. A convincing objective argument vs the emotional opinion however, would be a difficult task, IMO, and is the reason that the USPA was wise enough to walk away from a battle that would be costly, and even if they won, would drain the coffers of the organization. Most anyone of intelligence agrees that Skyride is a bad apple in the skydiving barrel. However, how does the USPA convince anyone (objectively) that Skyride is unsafe, doesn't follow USPA rules, or is not promoting the sport? I don't think they can, not reasonably nor efficiently, IMO. The cost of convincing a court or even a mediator would (on the surface) appear to be astronomical. Dave, I actually spoke to a few agencies that specialize in unique insurance policies. None of them would touch it for the mentioned 30k members at 10.00 each per year. I'd be surprised if that much of the membership due goes to insurance, but used that as the benchmark value. One guy that I deal w/ regularly on multi-million $$ coverages commented that "you've got a 'what-a-guy-I-trust-you-with-my-wife deal." It's quite possible the USPA has reserves that may not even use claimant monies, or that they underwrite claims to keep the rates down, with escrow funds.

If you're a fit, handsome guy, it's a good looking helmet. If you have a fat face, it'll only make you look more fat/chubby-cheeked. I had one of the first prototypes which was used for a sports show display, and it looked very bad on me, but I'm not fit nor handsome. A guy at our DZ bought one, he's an MP, and it looked great on him.

Find one. I tried.

Mad at USPA for doing what they needed to survive? Faced with a lawsuit that they couldn't possibly win, losing the organization vs allowing crooks be members when (outside of ethics) they never should have been booted in the first place? Every rose has its thorn. I agree, no DZO should every be allowed on the board, ever. But to be angry at USPA for being in survival mode? Any intelligent business would do the same thing.

You know neither one can be used for skydiving, yes? I prefer the 7, has a mic input, etc.

Y'all might find this page from Schneider to be of use in your quest for filter knowledge. Click the pix for some fun vids/tutorials. Only lightly related to skydiving, but the principles are all the same, and might benefit you in other endeavors.

Perhaps it's that I'm attuned to it; I listen to DVDs at 1.5X and my edits at 2X, and have no problems at all understanding every word. If I identify an anomoly, then I deal with it then. JKL are my friends.