bmcd308

Often the discount tickets are not transferable, so if you quit or something you can't sell them to anyone else. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Judy - You know which one of the choices I picked ... do you have time to sign about 200 jumps this weekend? Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

IAS will stay the same. TAS will go up. EDITED to add: At least that's my guess. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>.1. Who and how many people should I talk to about finding gear for me? >2. I weigh 190 and I'm 5'7, would a J5 be too big for my body, and what is the best way to estimate that a rig will fit me well. >3. I have been advised to get a Spectre and thats sounds good I have read that they are really docile, and that is what I need. Does anyone have any other suggestions. I just want something that will just get me on the ground. >4. What websites are reputable? I am constantly searching dropzone. com. Are there any other places I can look.

Even if we assume that the failure rate of AADs is 0.000%, there is still the possibility that you will not have turned it on. Weekend before last I got a repack when the rigger arrived Friday evening. The rig went in my locker until Saturday afternoon, when the weather cleared up enough to jump. I checked my rig before I put it on the first time, and then I got a gear check. The checker asked me if I knew my Cypres was on. I told him to pull the rig away from my back and look at it. He did, and verified that it was on. I landed, repacked, and checked my gear before going again. Once again, Cypres on verified by me and by the person who gave me the gear check. After landing and packing, I checked my gear before putting it back on. Cypres off. Apparently my rigger had turned it on to watch it self test as part of the repack, and I had never looked at it before putting my rig on the first time. Subsequent gear checks by me and by other people verified that it was on, but we never realized it had been on for 12 hours. It might still have been on if I had waited for it to fire on the last jump, but it might not. I have no idea when its 14 hours were up. Good thing I pulled. Oh, and I DO have a procedure that I follow for checking my gear before I jump it, and a very thorough one for the first jump of the day. Every day. Every time. Without fail. With no room for error. Without complacency. With careful attention to detail. With the realization that I might die if I do not do it right. However, I am human, and I fvcked it up this time. Hope you don't. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Most folks here are going to tell you that if at all possible, you should not skip sizes, even if you only do a few jumps on the intermediate sizes. It keeps the incremental speed differences smaller. That said, you are looking to downsize to a 1.0wl, which is not horrible for someone with 60 jumps. Get advice from folks who have seen you fly. You might have good canopy skills and good judgment, and you might not. I really don't know. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

You just have to buy student jumpsuits that are 18% grey. ;) ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>Like I said in my post, I don't use the infinity setting, but instead my lens is set at a little below infinity.. About 6 / 7 feet out.. For my lens (28 mm) that's a little below the hyperfocal point is what I find from that spreadsheet..

See this thread ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>> i asked for some advice, i dont wanna hear your prejudices!

This is an article by Vin Suprynowicz on the 419 scam. I think it is hilarious. YMMV. >> "Even someone suffering from end-stage syphilis-induced insanity would not fall for such a transparent scam. Right?" asks Morrock News columnist John David Powell (http://morrock.com/powell2.htm.) "Wrong. The U.S. Secret Service says hundreds of millions of dollars are lost each year to this scheme, and the toll is mounting. ... "It's called the Advance Fee Fraud, or the 4-1-9 scheme, named for the section in the Nigerian penal code that addresses fraud scams. The 4-1-9 is so widespread and successful that the Secret Service has set up 'Operation 4-1-9' within its Financial Crimes Division. Each day they receive about 100 telephone calls from victims or potentia victims and as many as 500 letters or faxes. Agents have been assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Laos to address the problem and to help larcenous and stupid U.S. businessmen get out of the country. ... An American participant was murdered in 1995," Powell reports. You get an e-mail from someone in Africa, proposing to defraud the local authorities of their share of millions of dollars. They just need an overseas co-conspirator with a bank account into which they can shovel the loot by international wire transfer. But they don't know any foreigners, so they got your name from the "Chamber of Commerce." For a 30 or 35 percent share, all you have to do is send them your bank account number, name, address, phone ... Personally, I've received so many of the offers I now have a separate e-mailbox named "African Opportunities." An early one came from one Fatima Dengo, "the daughter of Dr. S.J. Dengo, who was the director, International Remittance Central Bank of Sierra-Leone until he was assassinated by the rebel junta. ..." Ms. Dengo had $35 million which she needed to my help to get out of the Republic of Togo. Then came Mrs. Mariam Abacha (impressively introduced by her attorney, "Mike Ugboma.") The "widow of the late Gen. Sanni Abacha former Nigerian Military Head of State who died mysteriously as a result of Cardiac Arrest," Mrs. Abacha had "US $41.5 Million Dollars" which was "sealed in two Metal Boxes In Nigeria." And nobody but me could help her get them out, of course. I started filing the offers based on creativity and literary merit, and noticed patterns emerging. A recurring theme involves a late, lamented mining engineer by the name of "Smith B. Andreas." "Dear sir," wrote Mr. Mudy Edger, purportedly of Louis Botha Crescent, Sadton, South Africa, back on June 26, "In order to transfer out 126 million United States Dollars from African Development Bank, I have the courage to ask you to look for a reliable and honest person who will be capable for this important business. ... "I am Mr Mudy edger, the Chief auditor of African Development Bank." (Do you suppose he'd mind if I borrowed his name for the protagonist of an existential detective novel?) "There is an account opened in this bank in 1980 and since 1990 nobody has operated on this account again. after going through some old files in the records I discovered that if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing. the owner of this account is Mr. Smith B. Andreas, a foreigner and a miner at kruger gold co. an he died since 1990. no other person knows about this account. ..." (Do these people really speak English that way, or is it just part of the act?) All I have to do is send "full details of the account to be used for the deposit," and I'll end up with one third. But my Uncle Smith's plane crash had mysteriously shifted from 1990 to 1997 by the time I heard from Dr. Koffi Kaku, of the Auditing and Accounting Unit, Foreign Remittance Department, International Bank of Africa, Lome-Togo: "During our investigation and auditing in this bank, my department came across a very huge sum of money belonging to a deceased person who died on November 1997 in a plane crash and the fund has been dormant in his account ..." $14 million this time. I replied: Dear Dr. Kaku -- Wow! Upon his demise in the tragic accident in which his Ford Tri-motor encountered that massive swarm of tsetse flies over Lake Victoria, my beloved uncle Smith Andreas, noted hydrologist, veterinary researcher, and palladium magnate, left me ANOTHER bank account -- this one valued at U.S. $14 million -- and this time in Lome-Togo? I didn't know he'd even BEEN to Lome-Togo. For that matter, I didn't even know they'd added the "Lome." I thought that was some kind of traditional Hawaiian dish. But now, looking at the map, I see it's actually the CAPITAL of Togo. Live and learn! Thanks for the news. I'll be sure to make a stop and claim these funds in between closing down Uncle Smith's equally moribund accounts in Nigeria and South Africa. (I'm amazed -- and gratified -- at how helpful all you African bank officers have been in contacting me about these misplaced funds.) I fear I will need some help with the international air fare, however, so please send me a bank "cashier's" or "treasurer's" check for U.S. $1,840 to: Vin Suprynowicz, c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1111 W. Bonanza Road, Las Vegas, Nev. 89106, U.S.A., to facilitate my travel and further research. (We're planning a memorial sculpture of my Uncle Smith, depicting his final moments --wiping the swarms of flies from the goggles of his leather flying cap, his white scarf streaming out behind as he plunged into the crocodile-infested waters. If you like, feel free to add a little something extra to help fund this endeavor. The full-size Tri-motor is going to take a lot of bronze. Not to mention the swarm of bronze tsetse flies. ...) An apparently somewhat confused Dr. Kaku wrote back on July 24: "Dear Vin Suprynowicz, How are you? Hope good. "Please can you put me through because I don't understand what you are talking about in your mail send to me. Are you interested in the deal or not tell me so that I can go ahead and do the deal with you.Or you can tell me so that I can go ahead and look for bodyelse who can help me champion this deal. ..." So I wrote back again: Hi, Koffi -- It sounds like a WONDERFUL deal! Just send me that bank "cashier's" or "treasurer's" check for U.S. $1,840 and we'll get started! This is a pittance, Koffi, compared to that $14 million we're going to split. I'm sure you don't want to let your share slip through your fingers, for the lack of a mere $1,840! Meantime, feel free to add a little something extra for Uncle Smith's memorial sculpture, if you like. We're arranging to give it a place of honor on the ceiling of the cocktail lounge of the "Reserve" casino in Henderson ... or possibly next to Howard Hughes' old flight jacket at McCarran International Airport. ... Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Subscribe to his monthly newsletter by sending $72 to Privacy Alert, 561 Keystone Ave., Suite 684, Reno, NV 89503 -- or dialing 775-348-8591. His book, "Send in the Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998," is available at 1-800-244-2224, or via web site www.thespiritof76.com/wacokillers.html

http://www.vividlight.com/articles/2314.htm Setting the camera at infinity "wastes" a good bit of depth of field. Pulling the focus closer to the hyperfocal distance gives you a similar level of sharpness at infinity and allows you to achieve sharper images at closer distances. BMcD... ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

You can still use stop down metering and let the camera pick the shutter speed based on the aperture you pre-select. http://photonotes.org/articles/eos-manual-lenses/#what ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>i could bet the lines were on the bottom of the container. why? well first the jumper is experienced and a rigger. and – afaik – he knows for shure that placing excess lines close to the reserve container can put heavy stress on stitchings and the rest of the container during deployment... well at least thats what we teach our students on our small dz...

>> infinity on the focus.

That is just a little back and forth comaraderie thing. Like when someone says "Who are the Rodriguez Brothers?" or "Rangers lead the way!" you yell back "FVCK the Rodriguez Brothers!" or "All the way!" The response to "GO!" is "FVCK YOU!" At least that's what I always say. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>When you have high winds at jump run altitude, but lower wind speeds at pull altitude, wouldn't that tend to compress the jump groups?

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/lenses/Canon-10-22mm-test.shtml http://194.100.88.243/petteri/pont/Reviews/a_Sigma_12-24_f4.5-5.6/a_Sigma_EX_12-24_f4.5-5.6.html http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00A32G ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

You are in a system, then. Try searching here: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-one-category?topic_id=1781&category=35mm+Autofocus+SLR ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

I would enjoy the heck out of it wit a 20 or 24 mm lens. Out of deference to the folks who are trading it in, I would be careful about acquiring a lot of brand specific photo gear at this point, since Minolta is not the most popular "system" out there. Your Maxxum is a GREAT body, but Minolta can be a bit pricey on lenses, and their lineup is not as complete as those of Canon and Nikon. Remember that when you buy a camera, you are buying into a whole system. Choose the system you want, then pick the gear you can afford from that system. You may well pick the Minolta system once all your research is done, but it would suck to have several grand in Maxxum mount lenses and flash units that you had to sell at a loss when you decide that the Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Leica, Contax, or some other system better meets your needs. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

http://www.photo.net/equipment/filters/ ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>I am keen on the 10 - 22mm cannon digital offering

I think there will be a lot less debate about the survivability of an impact by one of those. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Over 71 thousand posts since I was there last. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Good telephotos cost big bucks. You want a Canon. You probably want IS. You need a fast lens so that AF works. You'll probably need a 400mm, 600 mm or even longer lens to get the field of view you want. You better be prepared to pay. Macro is a little less expensive - the Tamron 90mm macro typically rates very high. For wide angle - depends on how wide you want to go. For general use, the 17-40 f4L. Not really all that wide on a 20D, but nothing is. For a specialty wide angle, search for Kiev Camera on e-bay. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com