andybr6

I have a Mirage [not as flash as yours though i am afraid ]. I jump at headcorn and Pete Sizer the CCI there has always been very helpful with any issues i have had with the container. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Hmmm who really trusts politicians. If that was the question that the article was based around then i would treat it with scepticsm. I do not think we should have gone into the war; but i do not think that it was just Blair. I think it is far too easy to assign blame on just one person; at the end of the day he isnt a dictator, if his ministers did not agree with him [despite waht they might say in public] he would have already been kicked out. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Gorbachev Reagan and Thatcher all die on the same day. As they are VIPs they bypass the pearly gates and go to be judged by God. God says to Gorbachev "why should you be allowed into heaven?" and Gorbachev replies, "i helped bring deomcracy to the east and to bring down the iron curtain. "very well" says God come and sit by my side. Then God turns to Reagan and says "now my son, why do you think you should get into Heaven?". "Well" says Reagan "I helped end the cold war which was threatening your creation". "Very good my son, you may come and sit by my side. Then God says to Thatcher "So my daughter why do you deserve to enter heaven", thatcher replies "I am not your daughter and get out of my chair!" ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

There are not enough Muslim extremists to do that! Extremists by their very nature are a minority. Security forces all over the world are combating these extremists and making significant arrests. I am not saying that it will go away but it is being dealt with. Although the islamic extremism is an old threat and we are learning more and more about the way they operate and so are becoming more able to combat the threat. It is not a war of Christianity vs Islam. What ever happened to the seperation of Church and State? If anything it is democracy vs dictatorship or religous orthadoxy vs capitalism. The whole of the west is not Christian and OBL knows this; religion is once again being used to manipulate the minds of ignorant people to get a higher authority to do what they want. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

First of all: the atomic weapons that we have now are many times more powerful than the ones dropped on Japan. This has significance for the environment on a global scale not to mention the fact that it would give every nation in the world the desire to own nuclear weapons so that they would feel safe. Secondly: here we are not figting a country we are fighting a series of minority groups within many countries. You cant wipe our whole civilisations becasue of the actions of a few. Finaly: it would not work even if the 'offending' countries were attacked with 'unconventional weapons'. You cannot kill an ideal with a bullet or a bomb, by using nuclear weapons you would be proving every single extremist muslim terrorist in every country right! ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Ok. I think i focused on the parts of your post that was a reply to mine and i got the impression that you were in defence of fox hunting. I apologise if i got the wrong impression but i do find fox hunting a pretty horrible sport. As you point out [once i re-read your post] there is actualy no real way of justifying it in conservation terms. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I saw a documentary where the fox was captured the night before and released ahead of the back. I think some rags that were in the cage with the fox were given to the dogs so they could get the scent. The docu' then showed the fox holes being blocked up. I have never been on a fox hunt so maybe what i saw was the exception rather than the rule. Unless fox hounds have no teeth and desire to kill i see no point in quibbling over what breed of hound is used. They could chase after it with a pack of poodles for all i care. Maybe when the fox is finally killed it is quicj and painless but there are far more effective and humane ways than pursuing it for miles before it is too exhausted to run anymore. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I apologise if i have misunderstood; to me it reads as if you believe that those photos were pictures of prisoner interrorgation when in fact they were photos of prisoner abuse. They have had several interrorgation experts on the TV in the UK [Majors in the army] who have discounted the fact that this was any sort of interrogation. Interrogators do not photograph themselves with their victims as a sick memento. They also say that the photographs do not show any kind of effective method of interrorgation, rather what they show is the abuse of authority and power of those put in charge of the prisoners. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I dont think that there has EVER been a purely religious war. Even the crusades of over a thousand years ago were more to do plundering wealth. Religion has however, often been used to justify a war to the protaganists. I believe that for OBL and other 'senior' extremists turning the war into a Jihad is just a means to an end. As TypicalFish said it is more over land and US influence than religion; by turning it into a religoius war poeple like OBl can muster an army of soldiers willing to die for them. When a country such as Britain or the US goes to war it can appeal to nationalism to both justify the war and the deaths of the soldiers. E.g. that we are under threat from WMD's in the possesion of Iraq. OBL cannot appeal to nationalism as his followers are confined within a religiious belief system rather than physical borders. To see the war as simply a few religious extremists trying to destroy christianity is a massive over-simplification; it is how OBL wants his followers to see the war. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

It is normally a lot more complex than that. Much of the English countryside is open to the public due to footpaths that are desiganted for use of the general public. These paths and the laws surrounding them are centuries old; many of them predate the discovery of America. I guess when they were established under the Lords and Barons that owned the land people like Guy Ritchie and Maddona werent around to cause a fuss ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

FYI I think the article relates only to fox hunting. I dont know if you have that in the states so i am sorry if this sounds patronising; basicaly a lot of people on horses chase after a fox that has been released ahead of them. All fox holes are blocked up so the fox cant hide. The horsemen/women then pursue the fox with a pack of bloodhounds. No prizes for guessing what happens to the fox when it gets too tired to outrun a pack of dogs! I am almost certain that this does not relate to the shooting of "fuzzy wittle wabbits" or fuzzy wittle anything for that matter. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

As it is difficult to come up with an analogy to define a complex issue such as foreign policy [i have been racking my brains and cannot think of one], I will try and make a reasonable comparison: Britain has suffered terrorist attacks for the past twenty or so years from the IRA and RIRA ['Real' IRA] Ireland is a small country and it is only a small minority that carried out terrorist attacks on the UK. It would have been well within the British military and intelligence services abilities to 'remove' certain terrorists and the Sinn Fein party. However internationaly we would have been condemed for doing so; delegates discussed the situation with the politcal party who were known to support the IRA and, after much hard work, the situation has improved dramaticaly. I do'nt think that this is a perfect comparison with all US foreign policy but i do think it is an example of a compromise between the [supposedly] most effective way of dealing with these situations, and the diplomatic response. British soldiers have of course not always followed the policies of the government but it was never the policy of Britain to go to war because of a small minority. I object to my own country's sheep like following of America as much as i do to American foreign policy; to that end Britain is far from being free of responsibilty and this is why the topic for me is not a nationalistic or patriotic one. However I do not think that America uses its power wisley, as the saying goes 'with great power comes great responsibilty'; when the US puts pressure on a country it does so as a western super-power and regardless of whether America wants this responsiblity or not, it represents the developed western world. It is the seeming lack of acknowledgment by the US of this international responsibility that concerns me. I hope i have covered the points that you raised, sorry for the delayed response it is a combination of time difference and revision. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Michele, I think you make an excellent point and I will try and answer you question. Taking your analogy: You are of course under no obligation to change your life because of my opinion. However if the way you run your life has a detramental effect on mine then, in my opinion, you have a responsibilty to listen to and take-on-board my idea; by this i mean to discuss this with me and reach a compromise. I refer to the way in which America executes its foreign policy. We all live on a planet that is growing smaller with the advent of modern technology and because of this we should treat our neigbours with respect. I realise 'respect' is an ambiguous term but i think it does inlcude listening to, and occasionly adopting the ideas of your neighbours. I think it also means considering the consequences of your actions on others, not just what possible benefits might be landed on you. I certainly do not wish to isolate America as the only country that does this, it is just that this is the country that the thread is about; though as the worlds only super-power i think it does need special attention. I hope i have answered your question and clarified my position. A ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I meant listening as in taking on board what other people have to say and maybe even learning something from it. The Royal family have no political power so i do not see the relevence to the topic. I am not going to turn this into a petty nationalist argument; there are as many examples of 'questionable' Prime Ministers as there are Presidents. However neither Britain, nor any other country, has as much influence as America on international affairs; this makes the issue of who is president important on a global level. As i said i was simply trying to show why those of us who do not live in America have a right to be concerned. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I am not saying that they need to be perfect; however the qualities, as i hope you will agree, are not found in the majority of American citizens, nor are they found in the majority of American presidents. I only wanted to point out that this is one of the reasons why those of us who do not live in America express concern over who is president. EDIT: to correct HTML thingy ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Considering American foreign policy we have to fret about the US. As you are the only super-power in the world and have a direct influence over global issues; are you suprised that other countries are worried about who becomes president? We will stop being concerned when you get a president who is'nt a criminal, adulterer, alcholic or downright stupid; and when America starts listening to the views of other countries! ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

In that situation what did everyone do? As in how did they exit and when did they deploy? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Talkback is [imho] a very important aspect to this site, it allows us to learn more about each other outside of skydiving. I am more of a lurker than a poster but reading talkback is facinating. I like the political and gun threads not because i have strong feelings either way [i cant remember ever posting on a discussion over politics etc] but because they are very interesting to read. Dropzone.com attracts members from all over the world with the same interest; talkback gives those who read the threads a great insight into peoples perspectives on important issues. Clearly this is a skydiving site but if we just talked about skydiving there will still be fierce arguments, AAD vs no AAD, RSL vs no RSL etc, people like to debate over issues that they have strong opinions on. However some issues will obviously divide people more than others so i would like to make a 'suggestion' which i dont think has already been made. What about another forum under 'talkback' for 'personal politics' by that i mean religious and political affiliation, guns etc. Threads could be deleted after a given length of time; most politcal issues are topical and so by their very nature date very quickly. Lets not ruin a great site by filling up the forum that lets people make friends with highly charged political discussion that has a tendency to make enemies. A ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I was just reading the steel vs stainless steel thread and people were mentioning taking care of steel [as in the non-stainless kind] 3 rings. What is the recomended way to keep them in good condition. My rig has regular steel on the rings and all i do is keep it in a dry place adn dont seem to have any problems. Is there anything else i should be doing to ensure that they wont corrode? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I jump a spectre 210 and experienced the same long snivel. All i can say is that after a few experimental jumps i found the best thing was to not tuck the nose in or roll the tail. In addition while opening i found that EVEN pressure to both of the rear risers speeds up the opening. This is taken purely from my limited personal experience and from advice given to me by more experienced jumpers but i hope it helps. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

Anyone got any pics of the DC-9? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I remember seeing this on the TV as well. I am afraid i dont know about any of the people involved. I think the camera flyer got some kind of medal in the honours list. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

That sounds cool. Being an ignorant Englishmen i am afraid my Russian is pretty much non-existant. Whats the deal with the language barrier and coaching/load organising? ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

I pull between 3'500 and 4'000 under normal circumstances. At my DZ the maximum is a about 5'500 for tandems and aff, for experienced they prefer it if you open at a max on 4'500. We are near London Gatwick Intl' airport so they are pretty keen to keep us out of controlled airspace. I would love to do a hop n pop from altitude one day but i guess i am gonna have to wait till i next come to the USA for that. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"

246 on my first go...if only i was able to do it that well in real life. ------------------------------------------------ "All men can fly, but sadly, only in one direction"