jdfreefly

I always thought not doing those things was conduct unbecoming a skydiver Methane Freefly - got stink?

Which part? Just got back from my honeymoon/wedding there. If you go to Arenal, which I strongly recommend, things to see: hot springs the volcano (although its hard to miss) the waterfall there is a swimming hole where the locals go on the way out of town...real local flavor there. Vendado caverns tour...really cool if you're not afraid of tight spaces. I've been to both Baldi and Tabacon and my experience was that I would choose Tabacon over Baldi seven days a week and twice on Sunday. If you're going to the Guanacaste peninsula there are a lot of really cool towns. Tamarindo - used to be an isolated surf town but its gotten kind of built up. Still a really cool friendly town. I highly recommend villas mcandos, cheap and friendly. Get surf lessons in town from iguana or witches rock and drink in the bar once your exhausted. Montezuma - feels like a boogie. Lots of younger people selling shit they made. Seemed like a really cool town but we only spent one night there. Be sure to hike the cabo blanco nature preserve while you are there. Manuel Antonio - Stay at Costa Verde, more monkeys than people and a C-123 turned into a bar. We did a jetski snorkling tour set up by the hotel that was a lot of fun...saw more stuff doing that then we did doing scuba. If you're used to the crystal clear water of the carribean, you won't find it on the pacific side. You can be 15 feet down and not able to see the surface. Not for the claustrophobic. I would encourage you to go for the less resort type places and eat at the road side restaurants. It's an amazingly friendly country and you'll experience more of it if you stay away from the resorts. I've done 2 trips there, one where we spent 2 weeks and our wedding where we spent 3 and I felt like I barely scratched the surface of what the country has to offer. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Buy the flex goggles that "suck" and stop worrying about looking cool. Methane Freefly - got stink?

My last thoughts would be... "And wow! Hey! What's this thing coming towards me very fast? Very very fast. So big and flat and round, it needs a big wide sounding word like... ow... ound... round... ground! That's it! That's a good name - ground! I wonder if it will be friends with me?" Methane Freefly - got stink?

I would refer you to incident 10 on this page: http://www.poxon.org/Craig/Skydive/Fatalities/search.asp?MinDate=1%2F1%2F2002&MaxDate=31%2F12%2F2002&Country=US&CountryOp=%3D Methane Freefly - got stink?

I hear your point about the gov. not being involved in marriage, but as long as they are, and as long as marriage continues to be touted as a religious institution by those opposed to this...making it officially part of a religion and suing for religious discrimination really seems like a good idea to me. Let us now read from the book of Carlin: http://www.geocities.com/bobmelzer/gc10cx.html Methane Freefly - got stink?

(OMFG! Not another gay marriage thread) Had a couple of gay house guests last weekend out here in beautiful San Francisco. They've been in a serious long term committed relationship for about as long as me and the wife have. As you can guess, they are not happy about the current state of affairs here in Cali wrt gay marriage. After a few drinks I came up with the idea of a new religion that specifically calls out marriage between a man and a man, or marriage between a woman and a woman, or even in rare cases between a man and a woman to be allowed in the church. You can harvest some of the finer points of all the major religions of the world: Stop killing each other Love those that would do you harm Don't cheat and lie Take care of the down trodden all that touchy feely jesus shit... Then you file a lawsuit that under the constitutional right to freedom of religion the US government must recognize marriages from this church if they are to recognize marriages from other churches. Seems like a bit of a slam dunk. If Hubbard can create a bullshit cult like his and get all the upside of being a church, why can't this work too? Who wants to join the church of daless? Methane Freefly - got stink?

I think this can be a great training tool. I really don't understand the negative comments that have been given, other than attributing it to internet + human = asshole Methane Freefly - got stink?

Actually, Tiller was famous for being part of a clinic that was one of only three in the nation to offer late term abortions so this statement is not far from truth. The statement does not take into account the circumstances of the individual incidences. It also doesn't take in to account the insanity of the act of Tiller's murderer. Methane Freefly - got stink?

If I was dzo, I would never run jump run this way...that said I have a question for our lawyer in skydiver's clothing: Your profile says you have about 50 jumps and an A license...a potential tail striker in the making. You're on a load doing a hop and pop. The plane gets over the DZ, and the pilot turns on the green light...no cut, no flaps and you are clearly still in a full climb...what do you do? Methane Freefly - got stink?

Whether or not I'm willing to accept it has little to do with it being fair. I accept things every day that I deem to be unfair (generally from my government), but since I have little control over it, I bend over and take it and nicely ask if they wouldn't mind using some lube this time around. Also, when I relocated to SF from philly, I was given a cost of living adjustment that, at the time, seemed fantastic. A month after living here I began to realize that I had still taken a rather large pay cut to make the move. That said, I won't go back for all the cheese steaks in south philly, so I guess your point is valid. Methane Freefly - got stink?

It's not just with the vat. Even if you remove mortgage/rent from the VAT, I'm still in a situation where the income tax is taking much more of my disposable income than the guy in Detroit. EX: (Based just on rent/mortgage alone) Assume we both make $150. Incomes of $150 get a 13% income tax. Both me and the dude in Detroit owe $19,500 at the end of the year. A 2 bedroom apartment in Detroit will cost about $7,200 year. A 2 bedroom apartment in the bay area can cost $36,000. So in SF, after rent I have 114K in income left and the guy in detroit has 142,800...but we both pay the same tax. Start factoring in the other ways in which my income gets degraded, like more expensive food, clothing and transportation costs and it could quickly look very unfair to me. I'm not saying this plan isn't better than the one we have, I'm just pointing out that when you bring up the subject of taking money from people you are never going to succeed in making everyone happy with the way you do it. The best solution is to try and keep the price tag as low as possible. Also, in response to Tom's post about the tax supposed to be "temporary"...yeah, how many real world examples do we have of the government giving up power/control over the populace? It is very easy to give more power to the government, but it's incredibly hard, once given, to take it back. Methane Freefly - got stink?

All of these reasons...plus factor in the fact that buying things in the bay area usually costs more since store owners are passing along the higher cost of rent and salaries to the consumer. Higher cost of goods and services in the area leads to a larger impact from the VAT. So...that tax plan once enacted would seem very unfair to a person living in San Francisco....cost of living is crazy here. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Just going to paly devil's advocate: This plan could still be perceived as unfair by some. For example, a person living in Detroit is going to have a much different base cost of living than a person living in, say San Francisco. A tax system such as you have described would put significantly more burden on someone in San Francisco making 100K per year, both in the income tax and VAT tax, than it would on the person in Detroit with the same income. It is virtually impossible to create a tax system that seems fair to all involved. That is one of the reason that government spending (which is the real cause of taxation) needs to be curbed. If we could curb the spending, it would be easier to come up with a tax system that was more palatable. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I'd like more info on this...any idea on: Loading Approach Height of manuever It looks like he was hanging on fronts from up high, then into a 360. Is that correct? Methane Freefly - got stink?

Dude, it was "conduct unbecoming a skydiver". The hilariousness of that on a hungover friday morning at 8:30 AM, after being out drinking with a bunch of skydivers in SF last night, is hard for me to describe. What defines conduct unbecoming a skydiver? Respecting authority, being a responsible adult and acting your age? Oh, I'll be using this phrase at boogies all year. I might even have to start issuing citations. Dweeb - "Maybe we shouldn't load the porta-poty into the skyvan..." Me - "You sir are guilty of behavior unbecoming a skydiver! I should revoke your license, but I need your help getting this damn thing through the door, now shut up and lift" Methane Freefly - got stink?

Shit...if you change D to, "Fart every thousand feet and take credit for it while laughing hysterically as the guy from Mandrin hurls in his helmet." I can definitely claim all of the above. Also, I should add that if it weren't for Selwyn Facey we would all still be doing baton passes and thinking we were hot shit. He's taught me everything I know. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Great post. Blue Skies Sam. Methane Freefly - got stink?

Does your response mean that if it were proved to you that these gaps existed you would be fore either: Supporting marriages between same sex couples OR Expanding the definition of civil unions to cover the gaps between it and marriage? Methane Freefly - got stink?

I'll jump during a student or A license hold, but will usually sit out if they raise it to a B(or B-jump number equivalent). I will then sit on the ground drink my beer and tell the dudes with 300 Jumps, "You guys are lucky, there's a 1000 jump maximum hold in effect, so I'm grounded!" Methane Freefly - got stink?

I didn't think that footage looked too great. Maybe it was user error, maybe it was the camera... I'll wait to see DSE post some footage before I write it off, but if it was the camera I'll stick with my HC5. Methane Freefly - got stink?

A possible good option for you bargain shoppers out there: http://stores.ebay.com/2ndTurn-electronics I was looking to replace my HC5 that was stolen a few months ago and ended up buying from these guys. End result was $250 for a used hc5 with only the battery, no other accessories..which was perfect since the thieves had not stolen any of those. Overall I would say it was a pretty good experience. Two words of caution: 1 - The items they sell generally have something missing or imperfect. They will be very honest about this but it is up to you to read the description carefully. 2 - They will put cali sales tax on the item. My final bid was about $230. They covered shipping but after tax it drove the final price up to about $250. Upside - I paid through paypal the day the auction ended and had the camera in hand in three days. Methane Freefly - got stink?

How does it score on this: http://www.walkscore.com/ Methane Freefly - got stink?

I think that any record, current or historical, of skydiving and life flight/business jet traffic is a useful data point. The fact is they managed to co-exist. Methane Freefly - got stink?

I hope when your overconfidence tries to bite you in the ass, one of your friends is watching your back and catches it. Methane Freefly - got stink?