DSE

Hopefully, if it's a *man* washed onto an island, he's already raised. That said, I feel it's fair to say that the problem lies not with the faith, but with the faithful.

I got a tough talking from the S&TA at Perris my first time there. Mike Swanson was first canopy down, and he'd landed downwind with a light breeze blowing. I landed opposite (3rd jumper down) and most everyone else followed me, excepting a swooper who was right behind Mike. When I pointed out to the S&TA that I'd landed into the wind and the other two had landed downwind, his exact words were "Sometimes you gotta take one for the team, or else land way away from the grass." He was mostly chewing my ass because according to him, I set the wrong landing direction for everyone else. He was right, the rule is first canopy down, so I guess I should have landed farther out. Frankly, I wasn't prepared for the first canopy to be a downwinder due to my jump experience at the time. Now I know better. Anyway, I was told if I did it again, I'd be grounded for the day. [edited to add:] At our DZ, we had a swooper run into another skydiver in the D-license area/south area, and so the DZO sent him home for the day. Our DZ restricts swooping to one area only (same area the tandems land, but no one is landing after the tandems).

since your home DZ is Skydive Mesquite, I'd buy a 6 pack and sit down with Lance. Tell him the story the same way you posted it, and ask for his input. He's a great instructor, and has quite a few reserve rides. As MB indicated, you might want to rethink the process, but at the end of the day, it went great, so congrats!

Yeah, looks like they moved the page to their index. As far as long term, it's like the rest of Panasonic's concept; the HDD is for everything. Dump from the static mem of the cam to an HDD. As far as transferable outside the cam, in the next year, you'll see every NLE and media player on both platforms supporting AVCHD. It's just another flava of MPEG 4 Pt. 10

Steve, you didn't quote shit. Stand by whatever you think you're standing by, it doesn't hold water. You took a concept and viewpoint completely out of context, and you know you did. Without reading the editorials, others here pointed that out to you as well. Anyone who reads the editorial that does so without agenda and a modicum of objectivity, will see exactly that. For those interested in two very dry reads, both with censorship as small components in a larger context, http://dvinfo.net/articles/business/copyrightfaq1.php http://www.spottedeagle.com/editorial.htm Steve could have been twisting either article. Either way, it's an obfuscation of the point of both editorials.

Our DZO won't allow anyone with low jump numbers to wear a cam for many reasons, including those commonly cited. I was allowed to start a bit early, as I'd been taken on a few "can you do this/that/other thing" jumps tht included RW work and landing tests. Even then, wasn't allowed until 100 jumps. All that aside, even though some say "start whenever," as hard as it is to wait, do you *really* want to risk yourself and others this early on? Waiting sucks, it's hard, been there and done that. But...it makes that first jump with a cam that much more sweet, and more likely that you'll get good vid.

Might be worth checking out. http://www.simplydv.co.uk/Reviews/pa...c_hdc-sd1.html It *is* AVCHD, which no NLE currently supports, but it also is static memory, so no parts to be concerned about air pressure. If nothing else, it does indicate where we're heading. I've asked Panny's consumer division to send me a review unit, and was told they're not in quantity yet. However, I'll see one at CES next week if anyone has questions they'd like asked.

Again, I was speaking to the third person, (which means I wasn't speaking to any one person, I was speaking to the evangelical Christian. The entire tone of my post is to the evangelical group as a whole, not to any one person.) But you knew that already, didn't you? It's understandable, the need to divert discussion from the product to the personal. At the end of my post, where you personally(emphasis mine) took something I wrote and twisted it's context to suit your own needs; that is my only personal comment to you, and still is. So no...you personally haven't crammed jesus down my throat, and I didn't mean to intimate that you, personally, had done so. But just like you knew what you were doing when you twisted my editorial's meaning, I believe you knew I wasn't speaking to you too. It's clear that like the bible and other historical facts, Christians are not only willing, but of a mindset that makes acceptable, the tweaking and churning of words to suit an agenda. While this surprised me at first glance, it shouldn't have. Christians have been doing so for nearly 2000 years, nevermoreso than today. In the words of jesus, "For as much as you’ve (I think he means this generally) done it to the least of my brethren, you have done it unto me."Matthew 25:40. Well... I'd consider myself "least" when compared to your jesus. But I'm quite certain that like many other Christian positions, there is failure to see the hypocrisy in this scenario. Happy 2007 to all.

Ouch. Here I thought I was a manly man...and while I could be wrong, i think I jumped the first production-line Zeus ever. Chris sent me one to display at an Xtreme Sports show. I enjoyed jumping it, but the lip on the front takes a little to get used to. But I also only had around 80 jumps at the time. I kinda thought it made me look like Brad Pitt in "Troy."

If read his blog then his posts he obviously wants freedom of speech for himself, but wishes Paj would just "shut up" on a publc forum about Christianity. Very telling I would say. If you take it that my comments are directed towards Paj alone, you're grossly mistaken. __________________________________________________ Censorship According to Brittanica Act of changing or suppressing speech or writing that is considered subversive of the common good. In the past, most governments believed it their duty to regulate the morals of their people; only with the rise in the status of the individual and individual rights did censorship come to seem objectionable. __________________________________________________ I'm not trying to change what anyone is saying, nor ask them to even not say it. I don't think anyone else is doing so either. The problem is that the venue of jesus-screamers has changed from rational and reasonable to unrational and unreasonable. They believe that the last days are coming so they are obligated to cause misery for the rest of us due to their own insecurities. Put in another context: You-Dude, you have to jump XYZ canopy!! It'll save your life!!" Me-"thanks, but no thanks, already jumped one, and it wasn't for me." You-But DSE, You're gonna DIE painfully and miserably if you don't jump XYZ canopy! I swear to Bill Booth, this book written by daVinci proves that you'll die painfully and horribly if you don't jump XYZ." Me-"I don't believe that Bill Booth knew daVinci, and I don't believe daVinci had all the facts regarding skydiving. After all, he died nearly 6 centuries ago, science hadn't discovered nylon yet, and airplanes were a distant dream. Plus, daVinci wrote that book in a secret language, the decoder has been lost, and besides, we can see from the writing styles that daVinci couldn't have written the entire book." You-"DSE, XYZ loves you! Science and archeology don't matter! Just believe in XYZ!! If you jump XYZ, you'll never have to suffer again. No more hard openings, no more line twists, no more stuck sliders, they promise!! You'll know for sure your life will go on, and happiness will be yours." Me-I appreciate your enthusiasm. In fact, the mere word 'enthus' means "God within." Ironically the "IASM" at the end of Enthusiasm" means 'I Am Sold Myself.' But I'm not sold on XYZ, and not interested. Thank you, you've made your pitch, can we move on and remain friends? Or do I have to stuff a dirty sock in your mouth to get you to be quiet?" And you and I could probably move on. Yet outside the skydiving community, some misguided robot is screaming on the street corners and tossing out pamphets proclaiming "Fly XYZ canopies and your life will be saved!!!" and it becomes not only tiresome, but offensive when constantly and consistently told that my life, and the lives of others that don't live as you do, is shitty, bad, morally fraudulent, deceitful, and just plain wrong. Why is it that the beauty of choice doesn't include religions when it comes to Christian viewpoints? (I know...Christians believe in free agency. I'm free to not be Christian, and they're free to browbeat me until I accept their drivel merely to have some silence) All I'm asking/demanding with no less a voice nor passion than those that violate my space, is that they keep their religion where it belongs; in homes and churches. Keep it away from my children and my business, even though you believe you hold moral superiority and obligation to subjugate my wishes and decisions as an adult and parent. Isn't that a fair request? I promise not to tell you that I think your life is pathetic, ignorant, and hollow if you promise not to force the jesus product down my throat promising eternal happiness and salvation from my "sins." We heard you the first 50 or 60 times. Really. We did. Having heard you, I'm like nearly two-thirds of the world, I resent having this product of Jesus rammed down my throat at every turn. Jesus freaks have been able to work towards passing laws that limit offensive material in public places such as porn and other material of adult nature or moral question. Why is it that the scales are not balanced in a society of fairness, justice, and equality for all? In closing, for you to take one smaller aspect of an editorial I wrote on one subject and present it in a diametric context and deliberately obfuscate the wholly different voice of the editorial....Man... I just never would have guessed you were that sort of person. I wouldn't have thought that dignity is yet another lost value in the Christian war on non-Christians. That's just plain vicious and wrong. If you're the guy I believe you are, you already knew that.

I'll try again, because I don't believe anyone could possibly be this "dim" as you suggest. So...for many years, people revered, trusted, looked up to...(we'll choose Jim Bakker but we all know the list is long and growing daily). People asserted he was a man of god. His words were inspired, yadayadayada. Then he's caught out. Now along comes you and those like you, who purport that person XXXX is inspired, a man of god, yadayadayada. To the rest of us, he's just another hawker of an "AS SEEN ON TV!!!" product called "Jesus." How, in any rationally approached thought process, can you know that the man leading you to your saviour now, is any different than Jim Bakker? Or any of the other charlatans that have been exposed. I'll further as you this; have you walked where Jesus walked? Experienced the culture of the region? Read actual world history of the time vs the drivel that is printed in the bible? Are you aware of how the bible truthfully came about? It's no different than the Ronco "Hits of the 60's and 70's" that we see advertised at Xmas. It's a "best-of" and nothing more. I've walked where Jesus walked, been most everywhere he went. Because instead of believing in bullshit that was handed to me by my adoptive family, I sought the truth. Not in books, but with my works. I didn't see any Jim Bakker's there, didn't see any Ted Haggard's there. Just people that look nothing like the moronic, dead-eyed Caucasian dude that lip-dripping rednecks in the USA have assigned as the character of Jesus. Bottom line? Believe in whatever you want to believe. I've got no problem with that. I just wish you all would keep your mouth's shut, and keep your nonsense to yourselves. Stay away from our lives, stay away from our deaths, stay away from the streets with your bullshit "jesus loves you" pamphlets, just "do unto others." You don't like me or anyone else getting in your face for your ignorant, uneducated beliefs in marketing managers for Jesus, right? So, quit selling to us, and we'll quit bashing the product. It's a simple, but universal concept. And the only real truth in this entire thread.

Skydive Utah... Acres and acres of airport, plus more acres and acres off. KingAir and 2 Cessna's.

Are you truly this ignorant and blind to intelligent, reasonable, rational thought? Thom Robb preaches from the bible, he's a Baptist minister, and studied in a seminary in Tucson, AZ. So you trust him? I'd like to meet him in an aircraft or dark alley. Mark Foley preached from the pulpit in his church. Ted Haggard did the same. So did Jim Bakker. Troy Taylor Paul Williams Dennis Bowling Dennis Champagne Timothy Rademacher Aaron D. Rediger All clergy of the Baptist, Assembly of God, Lutheran, or Presbyterian faiths. Each and every one of them are people of the cloth in their religion and have a pro-biblical agenda. Having a pro- biblical agenda doesn't mean squat. It just means that the preacher knows where his bread is buttered and how to grasp the most power via sales in the most successful multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme ever devised. it also goes to show that PT Barnum is right..."There's a sucker born every minute." Some of them are even born again. Too bad they didn't learn anything the first time.

Raghad is a fairly common name in Iraq and surrounding areas. Having been there on assignment, I can tell you they look at some of our names with humor too. In Dine (Navajo to most folks) "Aziz" means "Foreskin." It's a common middle eastern name for males. I feel worse for Barack Obama, whose middle name is "Hussein."

Henry Rollins skydives. Dave Mustaine (former metallica) skydived until his son was born a couple years back. Travis Pastrana Kenny Bartam Anthony Hopkins did a tandem during the filming of "The World's Fastest Indian" I'm sure there are lots of skydiving celebs out there, super active lives need infusions of adrenaline...

Why? Because you have an expert opinion and you've said it is so? Pardon me for questioning. You kill me Kallend. There is a good point....Kallend is commenting at the time, on a subject of this time, not commenting on something that happened four hundred years ago and asking you to accept it as truth without evidence. I think I'll take Kallend's version of the truth on this particular matter. If I have a question, I can ask him as opposed to not being able to ask Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. BTW, the Christians on the CNN report? They're the Sunday morning televangelists, they're the local minister, they're the guy that takes food to the needy, they're 'everyman.' It's the attitude, much like Pajarito's that scares me. It's like listening to Castro, Hitler, or other fruitcake. "You *need* to hear what I say." "You need this or that." What I need is to not be forced to hear this bullshit at every turn. People get offended at gay men walking down the street proclaiming "we deserve equal rights." But very few get pissed off when evangelical Christians prevent you from crossing the street safely as they thrust a pamphlet at you uttering moronic platitudes such as "Jesus loves you" or "Get off the road to hell" or "I love you brother, let me save you." Save me from what? The *only* thing I want to be saved from is hypocritical self-righteous pricks that continually split our culture/society/government. Which is worse, a self-promoting, Bible thumping asshole like Archbishop Sanchez who has sex with little boys, or a hypocritical Congressman who speaks against homosexuality while having sex with little boys? Both go to church, both quote the Bible, both have publically accepted Jesus as their Savior. Both hid their sexual proclivity for little boys for many, many years, during which time they asked their congregations to "have faith in them, God leads my path." It's reprehensible. It's horrible. It's worthy of the death penalty, IMO. But many mentally-challenged Americans believe that God "put these guys in office." God exists, I don't doubt that. But like every other product fad, Jesus has once again gotten old. I believe in the teachings of Bob Dylan. Maybe you should give his words a close look. They're actually from him, and exceptionally relevant to God, life, death, pain, and joy (Just like the Bible) Maybe in a couple hundred years, whatever remains of a fragmented society following the split caused by Christianity, will deify Dylan! That would be cool. We could start all over again with nothing but the 10 commandments and the golden rule. Cuz that's all we need, and it's all we ever needed. The morally andspiritually bankrupt creeps like Kenneth Cope, Benny Hinn, Reg Dunlap, Jackie Kay,...they're just distributors of the product called "Jesus." We don't *need* him, we don't *need* them. All we need is love and failing that, tolerance. Something typical Christians spout off about ad nauseum but are actually clueless with regard to the subject. Back to the point of this thread as well... "God, if you love your children so much, why in the universe did you create this bullshit that causes them to kill each other and continually fight like this over whether you said 'yes' or 'no' to movies on Sunday?"

To glorify God. AMEN !! never stop doing what you are doing brother I agree. God is glorified when His kids love people enough to tell them what they need to hear, regardless of the criticism they might invoke. I agree, but it seems people don't want to hear me. On the serious, why is it that WE need to hear YOU speaking for SOMONE ELSE that you've never met, spoken with an a format that all humans would consider "conversant" as opposed to interpreting what you *think* is being said to you by diety, or perhaps the anti-diety, but you, a fallable person get to decide whether you're hearing the voice of deity or non-deity. For some reason, there are a majority of you who believe you're capable of choosing which voice you're hearing or obeying. What about those of us that hear no voices? I realize that there are those of you with the audacity to respond that "we're going to hell..." but according to whom? To youhm? Who grants you the authority to speak on behalf of God, Jesus, or Nelson Mandela? (that's a rhetorical question) "No man speaketh but that he do so in mine name..." King Edward (he was a tyrannical bastard) I'd *love* to make this deal with Christians.... I'll quit making fun of your beliefs and quit telling the world that you're all nuts, if you'll stop telling me that I'm going to hell for not believing what you believe, and that you quit forcing your morals and beliefs regardless of how right or misguided they may be, upon my life and lifestyle. In other words, tolerate me, so I can tolerate you. I think they refer to that as "Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you." Right?

And riggers outside of the US do not? I'll venture to submit he means that in the US, reserve pins must be sealed. I don't know about everywhere else, but I've jumped in some countries where the reserve seal isn't required. In the US, if you don't have a seal, you don't jump. Twice I've been at different DZ's with a two different friends, both riggers, and neither had their seal on the pin, and in both cases, they had to run back out to the car and "make amends" before they could get past manifest. I don't think anyone is suggesting riggers in the US are superior to non-US riggers.

Well....I can't really say if there is any point in HD DVD, I'm a believer in the BluRay camp. We'll see multilayered BD on the shelves in 2007. Where it gets interesting is that HD DVD and BD were both delayed due to copy protection. Just yesterday, the crack for HD DVD was announced, and you can watch a vid on YouTube that demonstrates exactly how to bypass the encryption. That may or may not affect BD. I'll have a better idea after attending the BD conference next month during CES. I truly don't believe HD DVD will make too big a wave in the biz, but I could easily be wrong on this one. I thought Beta would beat VHS, just because of size and quality. I backed that horse wrong. Rather than say "it's not worth it to buy HD DVD" I'd prefer to say..."It's better to wait and see." The success of BluRay is already evident. The question remains as to whether HD DVD can come along and topple it. If Toshiba is willing to bleed $$ in the short run, they could very well wrest the crown from BD. In the end, consumers (us) will be the losers if that happens. If Micro$oft hadn't gotten mad at the BD consortium, HD DVD would have been dead 18 months ago.

Search the forum....lots of discussion on this. Aside from the fact that the head can't cleanly write, other than XDCAM (and you surely aren't strapping one of those to your head), there is no DVD camcorder that will provide you with great quality. If you're just shooting friends then quality might not matter to you.

That would be a jump to remember! I'm impressed that this 40 year veteran choose to jump the 60 for his 60th.Says he's going to do 61 on his 61st, too. It's fun to go to Eloy or Perris with Jack and see so many big-name skydivers, instructors, whatever...come up and say "remember when you were teaching me thus and such all those years ago?"

I guess "irrational" depends on where you stand. Christian religion is almost entirely responsible for the divided nation in which we now live. Christian religion is almost entirely responsible for the war in which we now fight. Fear of misplaced/misguided Christian superiority is responsible for the founding of this country, and is now a significant part of the destruction of this country. Christianity has bred a false sense of entitlement amonst many Americans. On a personal note, Christianity drove many of my culture to their death. When I drive through the various Pueblo reservations down home, it sickens me to see all the various churches that have been built on top of holy places. Only the Hopi have stayed immune from Christianity building their monuments on top of sacred ground. In the Four Corners, Mormons and Catholics killed our people 100 years ago. Now, they just pluck children from their homes and place them with foster families so "they can get an education." Children only have to deny their cultural religion, quit speaking Dine', and they're handed their "God-instructed right" of education. The way I see it, there would be nothing wrong with Christianity, excepting that the *majority* of evangelicals have crowned themselves with a mantle of entitlement and God-induced narcissism. It is mindful of a 5 year old sticking out his tongue and saying "I'm going to heaven and you're not, nanner nanner, nanner." Look at this thread? People asking for not "proof" but rather evidence of Jesus' actual power. Not existence, but that he was a son of God in a literal, not figurative sense. Virtually everyone with half a brain and a few hours of study know that his deification came at the hands of a group of politically-savvy men that needed an anchor to their mall of retail dissembly of human dissention. They needed a man that didn't merely speak to god, there were lots of those at the time, so they created the "New! Improved!, All-powerful, All knowing, SON OF GOD!" Look at virtually any marketing campaign of today, or attend Marketing 101. Christ was bound to become a product regardless of who he was. But rather than getting answers about the integrity of the product, we get "faith proclamations" rather than intelligent responses to questions. Quotes from books, statements from men who play with harlots, drugs, and whatever. Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, Haggard, etc...all once proclaimed great men (of hypocrisy) and shoulder-rubbers with the men quoted in this thread. Eventually, these quoted men too, shall be proclaimed as false prophets, you can bet on that. Christ is a product, no different than Elvis. Except Elvis' fan base built while he was alive. I wouldn't be surprised if some messed up Elvis freak makes it to a position of authority someday, and the world has to contend with "In this corner, we have Jesus Christ weighing in with 10% of the world loving him and proclaiming salvation! In this corner, weighing in with 20 platinum records, we have Elvis, bringing us eternal melody...." Except today, you don't have freaks and nutjobs walking around the planet telling you that you're going to have an afterlife of misery if you don't buy the new Brittney Spears cologne or the new Ford Explorer. Face it, your brand isn't better than my brand, and to say so merely makes you look silly and ridiculous. No wonder Christianity is so ridiculed, it deserves to be. Not so deep inside, I can't help but wonder if the Rapture is so late in coming, that Christians of today are bent on hastening hell to the rest of us just to support their cause. It wouldn't be so hard if they'd just shut the hell up and let the rest of us live. No one would feel the need to stand so hard on their position if twe didn't have bible-thumping, adrenaline-induced whackos proclaiming moral superiority (while they screw young women, steal from poor people, and have gold-plated dog houses) sleeping in the White House as guests of our president, all the while whispering in his ear that "God elected him" and that "Jesus is standing with him." One doesn't have to lean into the wind if there is no wind blowing their way, so if Christians don't like the "liberal bent" then maybe they should tone down the rhetoric and dial down the wind they're blowing. If that is any indication of what heaven will be like, I'm looking forward to hell.

You're kidding, right? Mormonism has nothing to do with Christianity. Mormonism was (and still somewhat is) a front for having sex with little girls and marrying them. Joseph Smith and the famous "tar and feather" story that Mormons tell, conveniently leaves out the fact that he was to be tarred and feathered for having sex with a 13 year old girl. He hired a doctor to castrate Smith, but at the moment of truth, the doctor felt it was a violation of his Hippocratic oath. So Smith was tarred and feathered instead. Islam has nothing to do with Christianity. Islam doesn't claim to have a Son of God in it's origins. Only that a man (a MAN, not a diety) talked to God. Judaism founded on Christianity? Who have you been talking to? That's insane. Bhuddism, Hindu, Druidism have nothing to do with Christianity either. Nor does traditional religions of most non-white cultures. Christianity runs a far, far distant third in the world religions. Christianity is screwed. It's screwed our country as well. Anyone of any reasonable intelligence knows that a goodly portion of the bible is false/fiction. But it can never be proven so, because politically, it would end the life of the US as we know it. All great Empires fall, just as Greece, Rome, Ottoman Empire, etc have done. But imagine Christianity being truly exposed for what it is... The rest of the world gets to then say "We've been saying this for centuries, and you're just now getting it..." Politically it would destroy us, because it automatically gives the upper hand morally, religiously, and socially to every non-Christian religion. Therefore it is in the best interests of the US in terms of economics, politics, and military posture to maintain the fact or fiction of Christianity. Watching Anderson Cooper's "What is a Christian" on CNN tonight, I'm more scared of the Christian faith than I ever before. The gall, the arrogance, the attitude these people portray is truly something everyone should be frightened of. If nothing else, the mere amount of money that flows into but not out of these various Christian faiths should be illegal.

60 skydives, 60 years old...impressed me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-1tSZiyO3E

Typo? 240GB seem a bit too much for a pastic disc (at least in this decade...) No. Not a typo. It's expected that both TDK and Samsung will announce yet ONE MORE layer (8 layers) on BD, allowing it to have over 270GB, but the question will be the seek time. TDK claims that they believe they can develop layering structure of BD to hold two terrabytes but that this development won't happen soon ('ll wager never). Note that on the BD FAQ, they only point to 200GB capacity, but that page isn't updated to Samsung's layered announcement of October 2006, adding 40GB more space. http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#bluray_capacity_data