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That's pretty extreme so take that with a barrel load of salt, but seriously, don't we make our own luck and good/bad fortune? I firmly believe that there is no such thing as a fatalistic outlook on life and that we are masters of our own destiny....up until mother nature or human error decides to enter into things, in which instance we usually don't stand a chance and are whisked away into the next lifetime whatever that may be (examples might be an air crash or natural disaster, you know, things you get caught up in, but have no control over). So - do you believe in fate? If so, why? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Bear in mind the IPCC investigation must start within 4 days. It is true that they usually start straight away but the fact that this one only started after 3 days is not of itself instantly an issue. In circumstances where the police are investigating what they may well have initially believed was a terrorist attempt to blow up a tube and latterly thought the deceased could have been linked to active terrorists then I can imagine it being important that the police retain control of the situation initially... Then again I can see that there is the possibility for this delay to have been an attempt to derail an enquiry which would otherwise have gone on to expose serious police and or security services bungling for which heads would have rolled. The important thing is that we realize that a delay in the commencement of the investigation on its own is not actually indicative of anything thus it is essential that we don't allow our objectivity to be swayed by it until we know more about the story. Good points. I wonder if the IPCC starts its investigations "days" rather than "hours" into fatal shooting incidents though? I would assume the latter but i don't want to make an ass out of myself (do you have any clue?). Also, we knew within 24 hours of him being killed that Menezes was unconnected to the attempted bombing the previous day. Why then, did it still take so long for the investigation to begin? I know what you are saying, about it not being "out of the ordinary" but when the police admit the guy was innocent, why did it take another 48 hours after he was dead for the IPCC to get on scene? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

No i hear what you are saying, and agree. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Nah i agree, i'm totally saying this with the benefit of doing so with hindsight and being behind my desk as i type, not walking around with a gun, making split second life or death decisions. I agree - mistakes happen, but for a mistake of this gravity to happen means something went seriously wrong somewhere up the line, and to me that mistake needs to be corrected in the only one possible, by at the very least, removing from power, those people who: a) didn't have the full facts, knew this, but greenlit the go command b) Ian Blair, who tried to stop an independent investigation when he knew they had done something terribly wrong. I know we live in tough times (the shooting of this guy is 10 mins from my front door, it's about as close to home as you get) and i think Operation Kratos has a role to play. That doesn't mean when mistakes are made, things should be covered up and swept under the rug. Quite the opposite infact. Some may say you can't have one (head shots to kill) and not the other (innocents dying), but i beg to differ. This is a prime example of a policy being put into action under the wrong circumstances, and we have to ensure this doesn't happen again. Someone somewhere along the way was careless in this operation and i want that person(s) removed from their place of power so we limit this happening again. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

There is no getting away from the horrible mess of an operation that happened (the original surveillance guy was taking a piss when Menezes came out of his flat for godssakes so there was never a positive ID in the first instance). He was a suspected terrorist who was allowed to get on a bus. He was identified as an IC1 male (white) when they knew they were looking for non-white suspects in the flat under surveillance. As has been said, worst of all, Ian Blair tried to block the investigation, and IPCC weren't allowed on scene for 3 DAYS, when usually they are on scene within hours. For once i would like to see the higer level management heads roll. I assume it will all come down to the guy who shot him, who was probably just following orders that had been given to him by incompetent pen pushers. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Just wondering, why not save all the time money and effort it takes to accumulate all that, just keep some spare gas and if it goes out again, drive somewhere warmer with lots of electricity and stay in a hotel? After all, if the power is out, chances are work and school will be shut, right? You could even make a holiday trip of it. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Thanks mate, this is all really helpful. Don't worry, i would never stop a bunch of yellow cabs and ask them to take us all the way to Mineola - the idea was going to be to pre book a shuttle, agree a price with someone in charge, and have it set in stone. The more i think about it though, the more i like the idea of catching the train. How far is it the other end, once we hop off at Mineloa? Like how much could we expect to pay for cabs? How long would the whole journey take, do you think? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Thanks Dave, yeah i know it's not an indicator of ability - i was just curious to see the range, i'm not thinking about shooting tandem videos anytime soon, i'm still learning to fly my slot and not compromise safety doing so. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Thanks Kenz, the only problem is i have maybe 15-20 friends coming over to the US, all in varying parts of Manhattan and i thought if i hired a shuttle it would mean i could just tell them all to be in one place at one time, once they were ready, and it would pick them up. It's going to cost a couple of hundred bucks by the looks of things, but to trust my friends who don't know New York to navigate their way out to some place in LI on a train would be tempting fate, so we are trying to make it as easy on them as possible. Many thanks for the help though, i didn't even know about the LIRR, not being a native New Yorker. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Deluxe Stainless Steel, Articulated, cut in lat's, hackey and collapsible PC, but i forgot to add $250 for full articulation on the Jav, so yeah, i can see cost being fairly significant in the difference now. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Just curious - what jump numbers for both total jumps and number of jumps with video did you have? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Completely off topic here, but i was just cycling past Liverpool Street station and some guy in a black 4x4 truck pulled up next to me...with a freaking Bodyflight sticker stuck in the back window of his cab! I pulled up next to the truck but it had blacked out windows and i couldn't see in easily but i didn't recognise the guy from what little i saw. Just thought iwould let you know the marketing campaign appears to be working! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I'm curious - i was looking in the gear review section and out of 25 reviews, it averages 5 out of 5 stars! That's pretty good going. I'm curious - looking at the container, it doesn't seem too disimilar from my rig which is a TS Superfly (aside from the obvious reserve pin being seated against my back). The main pin flap is just a tuck tab, there are secure riser covers - i guess you get free riser inserts and it appears customer service is very good, but i'm curious to know why they seem to be rated so highly. I can't see how it's cost, because when i costed one up against an Odessey, with the same options, it was coming out at a similar sort of price. Can anyone enlighten me? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

LOL! Thanks for the detailed and helpful answer Kim. The venue is in Mineola, so i would assume this is out side of city limits right? It's just some of the Manhattan based shuttle/limo companies do minimum hourly charge thing, unless it's "outside NYC city limits" so that got me wondering. Thanks again "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Same, and i'm over the ocean in the UK. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I'm trying to get a limo/shuttle service to pick up 20 wedding guests next month from Manhattan and shuttle them out to Long Island but i'm wondering if LI is still within NYC city limits? I think it probably is right? Does anyone have any good experience with any NYC limo/shuttle service? I know that's a long shot, but what they hey. Thanks if anyone can help. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Thanks for the quick reply. Do you know if there is any degradation or what the minus points are to capturing via USB over firewire? Thanks "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

So i edit my stuff on a Apple with Final Cut Pro, but was looking just to do some simpler stuff on the PC, which would be easier if i wanted to share smaller projects quickly. Problem is, i had the motherboard replaced a few months back and the new one was not compatible with my firewire port so i told the guy just to leave the firewire port off as i would never need it. Well that was dumb as now im thinking i would like to capture to the home PC but don't think i can just via USB can i? I think i need the firewire port right? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Wow that's a cool idea, thanks, i'm going to listen to the shows when i get back home. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3735826.stm That place sounds horrific - i would love to know what the reoffending numbers are for those coming out of Tent City. I personally think prison, for all sane people, should be just over the borderline of humane, but should also offer them a chance to improve themselves should they really want it. After all, you have to aloow them to reform their behaviour if they want to better themselves, study etc. I think it's naive to think that just by working them like slaves and putting them in awful conditions, it will eradicate crime because it makes them scared to return to those conditions. It will just most likely transfer it elsewhere. Sure it's then "not your problem", but it's not a great long term solution. If prisoners don't care, and don't want to assimilate away from a life of crime into a normal society, or better themselves, then i think prisons more along these lines are the way to go. What do you guys think? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Relates to this story from last week, name of object removed... Parachutist jumps from ********* A parachutist broke through security at ***********landmark ******** Tower to "base jump" 350ft (107m) from a platform, it has been revealed. The jumper is thought to have forced a door and made his way to a viewing platform in the early hours of Tuesday. Security is now to be reviewed at the landmark, which has been beset by problems since it was first proposed to mark the millennium. The incident has been reported to ******** police. CCTV footage does not show him jumping but we believe he landed in the service yard where he picked up his chute and ran to a waiting car David Greenhalgh, project manager David Greenhalgh, project manager for the tower, said, "Following a review of CCTV footage, I can confirm that a base jumper gained access to the ******* ***** site in the early hours of Tuesday morning. "It appears he accessed the site by climbing over a balcony in ******* ***** and sliding down a column onto the ground. "This action appeared to be timed to coincide with the movements of the security guard. "He then ran onto the podium and forced the door at the base of the staircase and was then seen on the staircase heading towards the top viewing platform. "CCTV footage does not show him jumping but we believe he landed in the service yard where he picked up his chute and ran to a waiting car. "The registration number of this car was picked up on CCTV." A spokeswoman for Hampshire Constabulary said the jump had been reported to them but added: "It is not a crime to jump off a tower." _________________________ So i was wondering, if this comment is correct, does that mean base jumping in the UK is not illegal, only the trespass/breaking and entering element of it (if that is involved on a given jump) is? Is that the case in other countries too, i'm just curious? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Thanks, that's useful stuff "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I'm just trying to work out what sort of range more experienced flyers work in because right now im comfortable around the near-on 200mph mark and need to put the brakes on. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

when flying in a hd group. What sort of range do you have in your fall rate when flying with non HD flyers/mixed ways? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

http://www.aironaut.ch/albums/1jump/aaf.jpg "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts