bmcd308

http://www.local6.com/news/2562068/detail.html Grandmother Says Son, Girlfriend Were Mean To Her POSTED: 11:51 a.m. EDT October 17, 2003 READING, Pa. -- A Pennsylvania woman allegedly wanted to get back at her son and his girlfriend -- so she put what turned out to be a deadly dose of salt in their baby's formula. That's according to the woman's confession to police. It was read in court Thursday. Merry Anne Long is being held on $500,000 bail. According to the confession, Long said her son and his girlfriend would "always pick on" her. She says they told her she was mentally retarded. The couple and their baby lived with Long in a trailer about 50 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Authorities say Long poured a quarter-inch of salt into a formula can after an argument with her son in February. According to the confession, Long said she only expected her 5-week-old granddaughter to spit up the salt-laced mixture. Instead, the infant's brain swelled from the extra water her body brought in to flush out the salt. She died within a week. Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

In an effort to provoke conversation, I'm going to relay a little story that happened here in Memphis so everyone can talk about it. It will let people touch on crime, gun control, effectiveness of the police, and all kinds of good stuff. It is probably impossible for me to tell the story without inserting my own value judgments, so I won't try all that hard. Most of you know my views and can filter what you consider bs out of this: There was a string of burglaries in my neighborhood for several weeks. A big string. Five or six a night for four weeks or so. The guy was an apparent professional, entering occupied homes without the knowledge of the residents and quickly getting out with a few valuables at a time - purses off entrance hall tables, jewelry out of bedrooms, etc. Only a couple of people encountered the burglar, and these were all nonviolent confrontations where the burglar fled as quickly as possible. In no case was the homeowner between the burglar and the exit, so the burglar was able to exit quickly as soon as detected. However, people were fairly shaken up. As you might imagine, the police response was large. Multiple patrol cars in the neighborhood at all hours of the day and night, undercover officers walking up and down the sidewalks, etc. This started about three and a half weeks into it and caused a tremendous falloff in the number of burglaries. Across town, in a not so nice area, a homeowner encountered a burglar in his home. The burglar was cornered, the homeowner got scared, and the burglar wound up getting shot and killed. Turns out the burglar that was shot and killed had in his home a large number of items reported missing from my neighborhood. Police concluded it was the same guy. It turns out that there was a big spike in robberies in the burglar's neighborhood right before the burglar was killed. I will speculate that the large police presence in my neighborhood led the burglar to take his activities elsewhere - that he modified his behavior based on a perceived increase in the likelihood of getting caught. So the police presence in my neighborhood actually caused crime to shift out of the area with the increased police presence. The burglaries in both neighborhoods dropped back to normal levels after the burglar was killed. The homeowner who shot ihm was not charged in his death, which was ruled a justifiable homicide. I have no idea what actually happened in that house. Anyone want to begin with social commentary? ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Because your stuff is yours, and ours is ours. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>'ve never heard anyone make a convincing argument as to why we shouldn't.

You're going to have to wait for Kallend. Back when I was a physics major, we still thought the strong force and the weak force were different fundamental forces. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>Just a question-- why have you chosen to do that? Does your DZ ever try to limit what you do there?

I still do not have a license of any flavor, and I have 240 or so jumps. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

If the point of this thread is to get people to come to the boogie, you guys are doing a heck of a job. "Come to West Tennessee Skydiving, where straight guys get naked with not-so-straight guys while the girls watch." That ought to make everybody want to come to the boogie. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

See this post: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=636727#636727 Also search for reserve canopy sizes - this has been discussed a lot in the past, and you should be able to find some useful info. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Have I really spent $170 thousand gettting drunk? ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

I played once - got 12 - never again. That game haunts me from my childhood. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

I don't know either of them. I voted with my gender. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

This was an upgrade I can really feel - much faster. Thanks, man. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Swoopers are a tough subject. Lots of lines on the canopy to confuse AF, since the distance from the subject (typically the swooper's eyes) to various things the camera might pick out as contrasty enough to be the subject (the lines of the canopy, the edge of the canopy against the sky, the horizon, and sadly, the edge of nearby blades of grass) is big enough to make a difference if you are shooting a wide aperture. It is tough to use MF on swoopers, because then you are stuck with only one picture per swoop, and it is pretty much impossible to tell in advance exactly what flight path your subject will follow, so you don't know what distance to prefocus. You pretty much have to commit to one focus point, since the most advanced AI software in the world is contained in that camera for no purpose other than to cause it to focus on things you had no idea were actually even in the frame. I use the inner left one when shooting in portrait orientation and keep it on the swooper's eyes. That way, I can get the canopy in the frame above the center and the swooper's body in the lower third of the frame. If your subject is backlit, you might find that you have better results using +1 or even +2 stops of exposure compensation rather than the fill flash and letting the sky get blown out - the teeninesy onboard flash is not going to do much for you even as a fill flash at any reasonable distance. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>Is it just me, or does this new camera (300D) have a real sensitive focal point when you use the 18-55 lens that comes in the kit?

I have a Hornet 190. I am 6'6" tall, so I have very long risers compared to most folks. My brake lines are a good 6 inches longer than the black dot that came on the brake lines would suggest, and I am very happy with that setup. I can get a full flare (and can collapse my canopy up high if I want), and I really do not get a whole lot of bucking in front risers (although I still do get some). ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

I agree with you. I am just tired of hearing the Cubs fans in my office blame this guy for stuff that happened way after the play in question. When I first heard about it in the morning, I thought that he had caught a grand slam that an outfielder was going to be able to catch and that the Marlins scored 4 runs on that same swing of the bat. That is how far they are taking it - that a person overhearing their conversation would think that it was a grand slam play not a foul ball. Geez. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Best of luck with your recovery. I know you've had a tough run lately, but hang in there. Every tunnel has another end, and you'll come out the other side of this one eventually. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Ron stole my post. Seriously - freefall is way too expensive to learn mechanics there. Get someone to show you what to do, then practice on the floor in front of a mirror or on a beanbag or on a bed. If you can, have someone with more experience watch you to make sure you are doing it right. Also consider ordering the Airspeed Basic Body Flight video. I think it is under $20, and it explains upper and lower body turns well. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>I can just autofocus on somthing at the approx. distance I want, then switch to manual.

I didn't want choppity to show up in Memphis having taken me seriously. His profile does not list his size and temperment, and my 40 yard dash time is not so good. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

Happy Birthday Roy. ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

It is a solid two and a half hours. You would take 40 West past Jackson then cut over to Somerville, so you'd be driving almost all the way to Memphis. The weekend you'll be here Mullins will be in Wichita, so we'll be jumping a Cessna 195. And I was kidding about Atlanta being 20 minutes away. Atlanta is a solid five hours and maybe a little more from here. We'd love to have you, though. Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com

>>The Cubs lost because they got cockey and gave away 8 runs, not cuz of a foul-ball or a long dead goat.

Come down earlier and get your work done so you can come to WTS and jump with me, jlmiracle, chriswelker, drakeshelby, and other Memphis folks on Saturday instead of working. Unfortunately, WTS is the opposite direction to get to Atlanta from Nashville, although there is a big Atlanta dropzone that is only 20 minutes or so from Memphis (directions available on their site). Brent ---------------------------------- www.jumpelvis.com