nigel99

You mean that JAG is a lie? He HAS to lie. a) he's in the Army b) he has a clearance c) that Army/Intelligence thing should be a clue d) it's the only requirement for XOs. That is nasty. Now I have visions of HIM dancing around a strippers pole for his commanding officers Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Absolutely. But dem knitting needles are very dangerous. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

You mean that JAG is a lie? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Flame baiting, forum baiting, etc. I think that he gets off on peoples reactions. Along with Jo he is the centre of attention on the largest thread, on the biggest skydiving website in world, perhaps that equates to fame and fortune? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Not really because he'd already shown that any bozo (even Lazarus) could come back from the dead. Face it--scripture provides very clear job reqs for the Jewish Moshiach--things like rebuilding the Temple and establishing world peace. Jesus wouldn't have even gotten a phone interview for that job. I think that there is more than enough evidence in history to show that Jesus was a remarkable person. Face it he has had a bigger impact on the world than virtually anyone else. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Live and learn, very interesting. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Don't forget businessmen do it too. http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/27/segway-inc-owner-rides-over-cliff-to-his-death/ Funny but harsh. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I guess that is a difference between the USA and the UK. In the UK you can't be convicted on the "uncorroborated evidence of a police officer". In my wifes case the letters have always stated that you can request copies of the photographic evidence. I believe the hand-held devices give a printout maybe someone who has been caught by one in the UK has a better idea though. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

At least the Lord only takes 10% of your paycheck Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

The biggest problem with speed limits is the generic nature and the way people seem to be unable to use rational thought. On a sunny day at 11am I am pretty sure that 85MPh+ is safe on a UK motorway but in heavy rain 50Mph can be dangerous. The law is a blunt instrument. That Alabama law is crazy and really opens the system up for abuse. At the very least bright red cars will attract more attention Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

At least you have the excuse of sorry officer I didn't hear the sirens Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I came across this old news report... WTF http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2005-07-08-sheep-suicide_x.htm Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

There are indeed but nonsense, no matter how well articulated, or how well hidden beneath layers of psuedo-philosophical waffle, remains nonsense. You can't argue with belief. I grew up in a Christian family. My step-father was a minister in a born again modern church for much of my life. My biological father is a "free thinker" and while I have never lived with him (he left when I was 4 years old) I am very similar to him. At the age of about 14 or 15 I was told that I had just enough christianity to make me unhappy by someone. I have actually come to highly respect that person because while I now have diametrically opposing views, he was honest enough state the truth. To be truly christian, muslim, hindu etc you have to disregard rational thought and have blind faith. I could never do that and after 10 or 15 years of deeply questioning my faith I came to the ultimate realisation that I simply cannot accept that there is a god. I am profoundly amazed by the wonders of the universe and feel that there is alot we don't understand, but having childlike faith in "Father Christmas for grown-ups" is not my way of dealing with it. My hardened views have alienated my from every single member of my mothers side of the family (it is them, not me who have set the distance), my wife is an ardent believer and with each passing year the gap between our ideologies grows. Try bringing kids up with THAT difference! One thing that I will not do is to try and make christians "see the light" as I strongly believe that some people need to believe in a god. I know for me the act of letting god go was extremely challenging, at some points in the journey. My mother became religious/converted when my kid sister was dying of cancer and a priest prayed for her. She recovered with no relapse and my mother gives the credit to god, personally it falls into the category of the wonders of the universe and shows just how much we still have to learn. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

So the conundrum is: Is Iran a US ally now with Iraq the common enemy? If Iran is part of the axis of evil where does that place the US? Interestingly enough the democratic freedom that was wished upon the middle east superficially at least appears to be starting with Egypt. Time will tell though. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

John is correct on his assertion that it is the culture and not the weapon that is the problem. Where people feel that violence is an acceptable solution if you take away guns they will use knives, if you take away knives they will use screwdrivers etc. I am not sure how you fix the root of the problems that exist in modern society, but one consideration is that in general a gun is possibly the easiest way to kill someone. That does need to be taken into consideration as part of the decision making process. Personally I am an advocate of licensing in the form that if a person is trained in the use they are then able to use and own a weapon. No different to a drivers license in principle with the same constraints that if you abuse your weapon you lose it. In the same way that drivers licenses do not stop unlicensed drivers driving it would not criminals, but it does give law enforcement a few more tools. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Not that I disagree with you but Can you expand? I am not sure I see the relationship I think I do. I again resort to one of my favorite quotations: The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. H. L. Mencken In both cases, the wars on "terror" and drugs, we have become inured to cures that are worse than the diseases. To assuage our fears of attacks by people whose goal is for us to fear attack, we spend staggering sums and relinquish fundamental freedoms. To address the issue of people taking proscribed psychoactive substances, we spend staggering sums and relinquish fundamental freedoms. With the excuse of avoiding blown-up airplanes or blown minds, we unleash a swarm of mindless drones without accountability, and accept whatever damage they when trying to keep us "safe." A key parameter I use when evaluating credibility is Conflict of Interest (COI). If the source of the claim owes their plush lifestyle on the quixotic battle against a perceived evil, I am skeptical regarding the motivation of the source. If "racism" goes away entirely, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are out of business. If people quit using dope, the DEA and all the drug cartels are finished. If people quit being freaked out by murderous assholes with the deity du jour on their side, TSA is history. The key to both wars - terror and drugs, is hysteria. Yeah, speed, coke and smack are bad for you. Yeah, the schmuck wanting to turn a bunch of infidels into burger is a major annoyance. In the grand scheme of things, neither dope nor terrorists are anywhere near as big of a problem as are the forces doing battle with either drugs or terrorists. If I never had to deal with a drugged-up or drunk person again, or if anyone even thinking hard about performing a terrorist act was to sleep with his ancestors immediately, I would be cool with that. OTOH, using these "problems" to empower an endless series of totalitarian bureaucracies is worse than the problems themselves. Walt Kelly, as "Pogo Possum," observed: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." BSBD, Winsor Very nice post. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Honestly people are sheep and CHOSE to believe the lies. Going back to the year or so prior to the war, in Speakers Corner there was alot of debate on the justification for war. Many of the posters here were against the war BEFORE it happened. I am not even sure how many current posters were pro-war as I only remember Rhino's outspoken posts on the subject. I don't believe that the US or UK governments were so naive that they believed that nonsense. I have no idea on what basis they really went to war other than some misguided belief that it would write their names in history. Upon checking the archives, I see that exactly 8 years ago today I wrote of Powell's presentation at the UN: Unfortunately the stuff that Secretary Powell showed last week was not very convincing, not remotely as convincing as the presentation made by Adlai Stevenson during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In fact, some of it was so unconvincing that some people are suggesting the CIA set him up to look bad. I agree it is interesting reading looking at the archives. A couple of people thought that the war would be over in 3 weeks or less. A poster mentioned that we the west "could never lose in Iraq" I am not so sure that statement would be accepted so easily today. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

That is politicians for you. I completely agree regarding the hypocrisy. In the UK the Liberal Democrats (who are normally idiots) called it right everyone else screwed up. A large number of the general population was questioning the decision with LESS information than any high ranking politician. The bigger picture though is that probably throughout history governments have chosen which way they look. For example look at Robert Mugabe, Britain gave him a Knighthood the same year that he killed 50 000+ of the other major tribe. Now he is out of favour and they regret it. The US and UK supplied Iraq with many of their biological and chemical weapons and then used that as a justification for war. To quote the late foreign secretary Robin Cook "We know exactly what WMD Iraq have as we still have the receipts" Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

SEE...that's what I'm thinking. Any one will fly once...so why come back? Why spend 25 min and $300+ on tunnel time if you don't skydive? SO YOU CAN FLY WITH A FRIEND! It's all about getting people to experience something new from the same investment. Lots of great data out there, lot of amazing people. My team is always amazed at what level of data skydivers and tunnel operators can bring to the table. This may work. This may fly. Crossing fingers and toes. BUT......I just have to be more down to earth. As sexy as a 4M tunnel is....and it is sexy....a 3m tunnel may be more affordable. But the thought of a 4-5m tunnel, wall to wall....5m....oh that so sexy! any one know how big the Montreal tunnel is Not certain what you mean by fly with a friend but you aren't going to "fly" with a friend on your 2nd attempt unless you are very gifted. After about 15 lessons my wife and I were doing 2 ways at Bedford and she is a quick learner. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Where you live you don't need an engine to go fasthttp://il.youtube.com/watch?v=PrDqYlCWr_k Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I don't think you have been to the UK? In general on the motorways people travel much faster than in the US. I think the generally accepted view is that you are unlucky to be pulled for speeding at less than 85MPH in many parts of the country (on motorways of course). Also spending time in the US we tend to bitch about how badly your cars handle! They "float" around corners and it is all about power/weight ratio. Our typical cars probably have half the HP but a quarter of the weight of an american car. Also detectors are legal and not a problem. Only devices that attempt to fool or trick the camera's or radar guns are illegal. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Honestly people are sheep and CHOSE to believe the lies. Going back to the year or so prior to the war, in Speakers Corner there was alot of debate on the justification for war. Many of the posters here were against the war BEFORE it happened. I am not even sure how many current posters were pro-war as I only remember Rhino's outspoken posts on the subject. I don't believe that the US or UK governments were so naive that they believed that nonsense. I have no idea on what basis they really went to war other than some misguided belief that it would write their names in history. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

+1 If she REALLY likes to go fast, she should learn to do it right with real training on a course and in controlled conditions. Unsafe driving is selfish and stupid and can affect a lot of innocent people in an unsafe fashion. Preaching to the converted here I generally don't speed as it just isn't worth it. You save very little time, the chances of an accident go up and you use more fuel. She won't admit it but more than simply speeding she is a careless driver. She has the attention span of a lightning bolt and will get involved talking or listening to music and "forget" that she is driving and stops giving the road full attention. You see alot of moms driving forwards and looking over their shoulder dealing with kids Generally speaking if I see drivers on their phone, texting, eating, putting on makeup, dealing with kids I will give them a wide berth. I have seen a guy having a wank while driving who I also gave a very wide berth once I realised what the heck was going on. The only exception to the above was just past Heathrow some good looking girl stripped off in the passenger seat and proceeded to give the driver a blow job in rush hour traffic - that was to entertaining to miss Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I'm surprised they let her do the course twice - I'd always assumed that was a one-shot deal, and after that you wouldn't be able to avoid the points. Did she also say she got caught a second time because the first course wasn't any good?

Ok I stand corrected, although I am sure if you were unstable/not ready they wouldn't double things up. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.