AndyMan

I saw your post. Consider councelling. Empthy for serial killers is not healthy. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

This is the one I was thinking of, not Bowling for Columbine. The detachment of the parents was astonishing. They didn't even know what his bedroom looked like, never mind that he was stashing a large arsenal of guns in plain view. Columbine struck a chord with geeks, nerds, and outcasts worldwide, but its a mistake to put blame on the school or the victims. That these kids would feel anger and resentment towards their peers is understandable. That they were allowed to proceed as far as they did is bewildering. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It was really clear in Bowling For Columbine that this guys parents really had no interest in anything he was doing. They put their head in the sand, and kept it there throughout the whole event. The parents really do have something to apologise for, and I am shocked that hindsight is failing to the degree that it is. I wonder if they're making these statements to defend themselves from liability, or something. Yes, school is harsh, and leads many kids down terrible paths. This isn't new, nor is it uncommon. What allowed Columbine to happen is ignorant disconnected parents who kept their heads in the sand while their kids were making wrong choices every day. Parents need to be active in their kids lives so they can intervene when things go wrong. Things always go wrong. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I'm concerned because the letter really does show some of the conflict going on within the company, and it would really be unfortunate if the company folded before their product really got off the ground. I've been pretty critical of the Vigil since it came out because I've always felt that it wasn't quite ready for prime time. I still think that's the case, but I also really was looking forward to seeing some real competion in the AAD market. I hope Vigil has the energy and focus to get things right, and get a good product on the market. I hope its not too late for that, but it seems like it might. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Firewire or USB? What format is the capture file? AVI or MPEG? Roughly how big is the file, in terms of MB/sec? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

How are you capturing the video? Everything I've seen off the IP5 is good quality video... just a pain to get to. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Where you actually caught, tracked down, and warned? Or did you just hear some advice that it could get you in trouble? While its certainly true that you can get in trouble, I've yet to hear from anyone who did have a problem using popular commercial music in simple tandem videos. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I do know SQL... and all my attempts to tweak the jump-track data led me to quite a few hours of frustration trying to "fix" it afterwards. My recomendations are to not try, unless you really know what you're doing. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

In addition to stalling the canopy like Bill says, I've found out (the hard way), that its easy to spin up a canopy if you do an aggresive series of left/right/left/right. Avoiding it is simple - smooth toggle movements. You CAN go from full left toggle to full right toggle if you want to - just do it smoothly and slowly. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Links to mapquest are royalty free. http://www.mapquest.com/solutions/product.adp?page=linkfree edit: One of the restrictions of use is that you can't display the map in a frame or new popup, so maybe that won't work... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Have you tried the Saber 2? You seem to be into high performance, and the Spectre seems like an odd choice for that. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It's not that they're doing reserach.... They've been available and widely used for some years now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAOI _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Nobody uses clip-on lenses. There's a wide variety of screw on lenses available. Do a search. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Demo them both and decide for yourself. Both are very good canopies, but when you ask people whats better 90% of the time they'll answer by telling you that the one they jump is the best. They are both very good, but have some subtle (and some not-so-subtle) differences. It's best to find them out for yourself. Make sure to demo to jump the same sized canopies when you do the demo. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Additionally, if you need to run off your landings, you need to remember that you're going to need to take the crosswind into consideration when you start running. If you run straight ahead, the canopy will continue to be pushed downwind, and you'll get pulled over. When landing downwind, you need to run off your landing at the same angle the canopy was flying - NOT the same angle the canopy was pointing. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Hybrids are not, nor will they ever be "squeaky clean". The best you can hope for out of a hybrid is a two-fold improvement. As for a two-fold improvement in a serious sportscar or truck, I'm sure it'll come. This link shows a hybrid locomotive thats currently on the market. It's being used in railyards to move trains around. It's powered by a (relatively) small diesel engine, and the electrics only kick in when towing trains. http://www.railpower.com/greengoat.php _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

You can buy it new for roughly $6/yard from paragear. www.paragear.com _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I made it down to Tennesee with craichead to visit her parents on the weekend, and we made it briefly into North Carolina, too. Attached is a pic from the weekend. Look closely, and you'll see how I actually chose to walk down this path a few years ago.... __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The bigger issue here is that there's an underlieing expectation that the instructor or staff is expected to somehow diagnose or determine the extent of the depression, something they're entirely ill-equiped to do. That's up to the patient and doctor, IMHO. Every DZ should have the USPA medical statement statment on the waiver. The FAA class-3 medical does prohibit being PIC while on antidepressants, but this is precisely why the USPA recoments DZ's offer the medical statement as an alternative. The USPA acknowledges the class-3 is too strict for most skydiving. There is no reason to think that someone on anti-depressants are risks to themselves, or anyone else. The numbers just don't add up. Tens of millions of american are on anti-depressants, yet only a few thousand commit suicide every year. Being on anti-depressants does affect the probability of suicide, the effect is miniscule and only shows up in statistics. Jennifer: Ron is much easier to take if you simply ignore him. My enjoyment of dz.com increased 5-fold once I started blocking him out. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

From slashdot. "Wired News is running a great little article about how hybrid cars (specifically Honda and Toyota models) do not come anywhere close to living up to their fuel efficiency claims. The article highlights that the EPA tests are more to blame than the car manufactures. Consumer reports has shown that the mileage for these cars can be as low as 60% of the claims. The article also links to a blog authored by hybrid enthusiast Pete Blackshaw detailing his failures getting any real answers on why his Honda Civic Hybrid isn't getting better fuel mileage. It looks like these cars are more hype than help in the battle against pollution and foreign fuel reliance." __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

If we are going to exlude people who show any signs of depression from jumping, I'm fairly certain we'd lose around 75% of skydivers. If we are going to exclude people who are currently medicated for depression from jumping, I suspect we'd lose close to %25. I've noticed that in the skydiving community, the rate of depression FAR exceeds the non-jumper rate. Even here on dz.com, the subject of depression comes up frequently. I know of at least 10 dz.com members who are under treatment for depression, and that number grows to 20 when I think of people who have been at one time. I don't know that many dz.com members, either. If you look at the science behind depression, this isn't terribly surprising. One of the big groups of antidepressants are called monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or MAOIs. As the name suggests, these drugs inhibit the production of monoamine oxidase (MAO), a nurochemical that converts the neurotransmitters adrenaline, nor-adrenaline, and serotonin into inactive molecules. More info on MAO and MAOI's here Conincidentally, risk takers such as skydivers (and entrepreneurs, and many serial killers), often show depleted levels of MAO. "Adrenalin addicts", like skydivers and other extreme sports participants, show many signs associated with depression. This is not terribly surprisingly given the clear scientific connection between Adrenalin, Serotonin, MAO, and the class of anti-depressants known as MAOIs. Skydiving, and indeed anything that produces adrenalyn, is a natural antidepressant. I'm pretty sure this is exactly why it seems to attract so many people showing signs of depression. __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It's going to have to go a lot higher... I know so-cal is getting close to $3.00/gallon, but that high price is caused by a distribution problem, combined with really high demand, and "micro-market" effects of local polution codes. It's similar to Chicago where last weekend I saw $2.30. We drove down south on the weekend (1505 miles... Eeek!), and saw pretty much immediately once we got out of the local micro-market, prices dropped really quickly. Most gas prices in Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee were in the low $1.80's, a full $0.40/gallon cheaper than the Chicago area. I don't think BioDiesel will become affordable in markets like Chicago and so-Cal until they're marketable on a mass scale. Nobody is going to want to buy a gas they can't get when they travel out of state, afterall. When the nationwide price starts to approach $3.00 I think it'll take off... But nationwide prices still haven't yet broken through $2.00. On top of that, So-Cal and Chicago will still be micro-markets, and will still have distribution and capacity issues... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Which part? That they're designed to deploy while unstable? I guess you could argue semantics, but some container manufacters recomend being head high, for example. That sounds to me like being unstable. That reserve canopies are designed to fly straight in line twists? That seems obvious by the choice of a lowered aspect ratio. Should I presume you disagree? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Where are you seeing the Kit for $850? BH has it for $850 without lens....? Kit means with lens, right? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I think that unrated jumpers have a absolutely horrible track-record of teaching good skills to their less-experienced peers. You do not have to look very far at any DZ to hear terrible advice being bandied about by people who simply do not know what their talking about. Often the worst advice comes from people with the most "experience". My favorite was at this and last years safety day, the chief load organizer with 5000+ jumps was recomending the 45 degree rule for separation - a technique that's been proven worthless. I'm not sure that what we have now in the form of the coach rating is very good either, but anything is better than the way that it is right now, and I'm sure the rating will progress into something more useful over time. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.