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You should be ashamed of such a sweeping and generalised comment - one of the men was due to be released, i.e. the current administration in the US had PROVEN BEYOND A DOUBT he was not a terrorist threat, but under current policy, they choose not to disclose this to the Guantanamo prisoners. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5070514.stm "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Cheap labour provided by China has been a major factor in the economic growth of the US in the 20th century. Investment from the US and other western countries has POURED into China over the last several decades, and has positioned the country to be placed, economically, where it is today. Viewing it as a threat is bizarre - you and i in the west have enjoyed the fruits of the Chinese (and other less advances nations) for many years. Why should we begrudge them now just because they are suddenly finding themselves in a position to compete with us, or because they - particularly in the case of the US - have developed suddenly an insatiable appetite for our products? As you say - the Chinese love the Western symbols of capitalism - but why is that a bad thing? I guarntee you, many of your good ole US of A companies will be viewing China and the market as their means to continue to grow and remain profitable. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

What's up Lee! Maybe see you there

Thanks - any negative side effects? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I'm thinking of trying the Premium brand, as i want a mid range carbamide peroxide level, not super strong so i minimise sensitivity and negative side effects, and not too light, so that nothing gets done. Has anyone used the Crest White Strips before? How did they work for you? Thoughts on them? Thanks "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Anyone ever shot a gun underwater? Do they work? What happens to the bullet? Just curious really. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

This is what i was getting at... http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1774399,00.html "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Or when you are looking to buy your first property too, surely? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

It seems that property, particualrly in the US and Europe (particularly the UK) has inflated 300% or thereabouts in the last decade. I personally don't recall a bubble of this size occuring ever before. Do you think there will be a housing crash and if so, is this such a bad thing? (it would mean first time buyers could get on the rung, allow 2nd and 3rd timers to move up etc). "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

yep you are absolutely right. I think being on that jury, having to listen to the evidence at hand, seeing his reaction AND on top of all that remaining impartial to the emotion and just going on the facts must be one of the hardest things to experience and go through. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Man i seriously don't think i'd be able to restrain myself from trying to smack him in the face, and i'm generally not in favour of violence so i'm somewhat disturbed by my anger towards him as i try to hate no one, but the way he is reacting to the evidence being played out - smiling as the court is shown burnt bodies, shouting "Burn all Pentagon next time" and so forth, i think if i were a juror i would have a hard time stopping myself leaping over the rail and taking all that shit. Maybe it's because i saw the 9/11 documentary by the French brothers last night for the first time in it's entireity, but i seriously want to strangle that motherfucker right now. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Here is an interesting article on the growing diversity of NASCAR. http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/flowers/wb/wb/xp-37716 Just sort of backs up what you say. At the end of the day it's more inclusive, and makes sound business sense, which is great for everyone. I would personally like to see this news report though, to see just how inclusive the sport is in reality to what we are being told. I see nothing wrong with this and i imagine the only ones that do are worried about what the potential reaction would be. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Civil and human rights are obviously hard won and each and every human deserves certain *basic* freedoms and liberties, and deserves to be treated equally. But does it ever seem we are tipping the balance TOO much towards people who actually do wrong in society? That thread about burglars and other offenders being let off witha caution (i.e. a slap on the wrist and no jail time) is just the sort of thing i'm talking about. Has society strayed too far down the line towards keeping the rights and welfare of those who actually need to be punished - i.e. law breakers - at the forefront of discussions, instead of the victims? I know it differs country to country but i sometimes feel this to be the case here in the UK (and elsewhere for that matter). I've noticed that i have started to almost stare in disbelief and shake my head at times when spokespeople from Liberty (the human rights organisation) http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/ come on tv and tell me how we are impinging on the rights of people by not treating them in a particular way. If Liberty and these sorts of super pro-human rights organisations had their way, i imagine the very stability and fabric of what our society's are based upon would unravel! How is it organisations have sprung up all of a sudden and what has propagated such a rise in them? Is it the global ""war" on terror" that has led to so many people to be up in arms about general rights trampling that these organisations are now looking at domestic as well as international abuses of human rights? I am generalising to an extent - there are some serious miscarriages of justice that we have to look into for sure, yet when i look at youngsters of today (and i'm only 30!) and think back to 10-15 years ago and see how i was, i wasn't going around doing what these kids are doing now, and i fear the reason why is because everyone is so preoccupied with "protecting" the children or protecting the criminals rights, that people are no longer scared of what might happen to them if they do something wrong. Something is happening in society and the only thing i can think of is a polar shift away from the "do something wrong and you will be punished" line of thinking to the "lets wrap everyone in cotton wool and don't punish people because it's an impingement on their human rights!" line of thinking that is seemingly permeating. I'm not talking about going the OTHER way and advocating a draconian punishment system where any crime gets you 5 years in prison, but does anyone know where i'm coming from on this? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Just wondering if anyone was going to this World Championship BBQ Comp I've been wanting to go for a few years but can't afford to fly out this year unfortunately. Anyone been? What's it like? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I have no problem with people owning firearms for protection. What i think is bizarre is a society that will not punish people in the correct manner (by taking away their priviledge to own that firearm) if the priviledge is abused and the person acts irresponsibly. I don't believe just banning all guns is the answer, and i'm not an anti gunner - i used to shoot handguns here before they were banned. As for not having listening to rap/hip hop for the last 15 years - most of my last 15 years has been spent listening to nothing but hip hop actually. But i guess that makes me a gun toting violent thug does it? I guess that makes every kid that listens to it the next Columbine or Kyle Huff waiting to happen? Most of the kids that go on these mad shooting sprees tend to be white and middle class, and part of the "alternative" set - not you average hip hop kid anyway. Why resort to incorrect stereotypes when the problem is so much more apparent? Responsible gun ownership and laws to support and above all, ENSURE responsible gun ownership is weak on the ground and not put into practice as much as it should be. And by that i don't mean "ban all guns tomorrow", i simply mean that society, or rather the powers that be (i.e. the pro gun lobby) refuse to accept that lax laws both legal and moral need to be tighted. And let's face it, when you suppose that the change of those laws, or of societial perception automatically would lead to a curtailment of what you see as your god given right - why WOULD you want a change of those laws, even if this were not the case. It's open and shut to me - society needs to change but it can't and won't because the change needs to come from the inside (i.e. the pro gunners) who see change as a curtailment of rights, and they are too powerful to argue against. While that continues to propagate, you will continue to see people who do show up on the radar, who do hold guns legally, or are able to legally get them, go on shooting sprees. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

It only ceases to become prior restraint if someone does some restraining, surely? How on earth can you call some action a "prior restraint" if nothing is done? This is the whole point of what i'm getting at - make people realise their right is one they have as long as they act responsibily. Once they do not, and/or they abuse that right, it is taken away from them. I refuse to believe this nutter, along with the columbine kids and whichever other people decide to shoot up a bunch of people and then themselves are "violent criminals". They are normally people who have NEVER been in trouble with the law, often using weapons they hold legally. Something within them snaps, and they lose their mental stability - essentially they become psychotically deranged in a snap moment...this is not the same as saying they are consistently violent offenders. I don't know how you help people like this, i'm not a psychologist/psychiatrist, however, what i do know is that, on the occasion people are made aware of the fact that something small could trigger a violent and uncharacteristic action in this normally sane people - for instance, shooting up a piece of public art with your legally owned gun - society needs to make it clear that's unacceptable. For whatever reason that is not happening, and as i already stated, until it does, and laws are brought in to back up that feeling, you will continue to get people who snap, go completely out of chatacter, and go on killing sprees with - most likely - guns they held perfectly legally. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Actually i think it is. Shoot a gun off in public, have your licensed revoked for "irrational and potentially life threatening behaviour". You don't want to play by the rules? Fine, you lose your rights. Just because someone shoots a moose statue does not mean they are going to freak out and go on a killing spree. What it certainly does say, unequivocably, is that this person has abused their right to own a firearm, so now they must be taught a lesson and lose that right. What would you expect be the outcome if you were to get into your car and drive it through the wall of a gallery because you disagreed with what the artist was trying to say? Would it be advisable for you to be allowed to just hop back in another car after receiving a slap on the wrist? I personally don't think so. Talk about wanting to kill yourself at the dz - either intentionally or through radical downsizing for instance - which implies you are endangering yourself and potentially other skydivers in the air around you, and having the CCI/DZO overhear or being made aware of, should result in that person being kicked off the dz/blacklisted at the extreme, or some self regulation at the very least ("you're grounded/you are not going to fly that 97sq ft napkin here with 150 jumps" etc) . It's far from an unheard of practice. Prior restraint and action is the answer here. Why should it be a god given right for people to flgrantly go around and do what they want, to hell with the law/what impact it has on other people? I think most of the anti gunner crowd would lose a lot of the weight of their argument if the often blinkered pro gun crowd took more measures to regulate and make other gun owners aware that if they abuse their right to handle firearms in a safe and responsible manner, they will not stand behind those people, making it socially unacceptable from all fronts to play around with firearms. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

sorry, sweeping aside RIGHTS because it seem convenient to you doesn't solve the problem. There's nothing out of date, or open to interpretation. Unless you have an agenda. A punk kid in the boonies shooting a representation of a moose doesn't really sound off alarms for me. Misdomeanor conviction does seem appropriate. Nothing about the article you cite suggest mental instability. Please tell me what my agenda or issue of "convenience" is, if i already stated i have no problem with the law abiding, sane and rational general Joe Public owning a gun for protection. The problem is that most of the law is based around the fact that each and everyone has the RIGHT to own, and responsibility - be it for safe storage, careful useage and carry AND background checking or assessing if someone is SANE enough to own a weapon, as a result, go out the window quite frankly. How you can classify a kid who takes a shotgun and shoots up a public art exhibit as a "punk kid" messing about, catching kicks is beyond me. I will say it again - when was the last time you, or someone you knew decided for a laugh they would take their gun out in a public place, other than the range, and start shooting at things for no apparent reason? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Apolgies, it was not a felony crime, it was felony criminal mischief. This explains a lot... http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=31346 Even if the jails are bursting at the seams, it beggars the question - how can someone do something like indicate they are mentally unstable, shoot at a public art exhibition, plea bargain their way out of a more serious charge, and be allowed to own guns? This sort of thing won't stop until law makers and the general public are made to realise it's not a given right to own a weapon, but a priviledge, i don't care what the 2nd Amendment says, thats well out of date and open to misinterpretation anyway. Let the Brit bashing begin, you all know this sort of thing will not stop until the culture and law changes. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Is it normal for a guy who has a felony conviction, who decides to do something as rational as shoot up a statue at an art exhibit in his town, be allowed to own firearms? It's no wonder the anti gun lobby get fueled by this sort of behaviour - they have every right to be! What sort of place decides an obviously mentally unstable person should STILL be allowed to own firearms? Everyone is saying "wow this is so unexpected, so out of character". Is it really? When was the last time you or someone you knew decided to go take their guns and shoot at a piece of art? After this offence the guy should unequivocably NOT been allowed to own firearms. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

This is just so, so wrong. How can anyone saying that a gentle nudge with the hand is ok?! Are you people insane? It's quite evident that a swift kick up the ass would have been far more efficient, probably more satisfying, and would have been better for video too. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

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It's FREEZING still. The plane has been back at the dz for 2 weekends and i haven't gone up because of the appalling forecasts i've been seeing. I definitely remember jumping in mid March last year, and it was definitely warmer. Is anyone else feeling me on this? It's like winter never came, and then decided, just as spring was almost here, to turn up or something equally stupid "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

someone has "landed" on a ws jump without a canopy above their heads and only been injured? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Interesting post, thanks. I'm being a little slow though - how did their tone and attitude change exactly? Also, when you say you detected a change that you wouldn't have a year or 2 ago, why would this have been the case? I assumed that what you were referring to was the fact you were talking about this over dinner, and due to the subject matter itself, it wouldn't have been a suitable topic of conversation round the dinner table some years ago because the emotions scars had not healed - is this right or am i totally off on the wrong track here? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts