nigel99

I really don't know what you're getting at? My point is that the USA suffers from these policies. I live and work in Australia for an Australian company. We don't lose out if it is easier for us to move international business meetings from the USA to another country or continent 'you' do. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Well it will be interesting to see how the balance of "America First" and job creation goes along with the decrease in foreign money flowing into the USA. Under the VISA waiver program, overnight the questions just became so insane that it is extremely difficult for a world traveler to answer. Example one of the guys at work needs the passport number from his expired British passport from over 10 years ago (that he no longer has). From my relatively small company alone, we have just had 6 people decide it is simply too difficult to travel to the USA and so 3 trips cancelled and one meeting involving the other 3 moved to Canada. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I agree, it was just an interesting outlook from a kid. Have you taught him how to think critically? Critical thinking isn't always intuitive or natural. It's a skill that has to be learned and refined and honed. Same thing with objectivity. Evaluating sources, comparing differing views, looking at situations without allowing your own prejudices too much influence (that's the hard one). There are sources out there that are reasonably objective and trustworthy. Many agree that NPR (US) BBC (Britain) and Al Jazeera (UAE) are at or near the top of that list. Yet when you read the same story on each of them, there's a slightly different spin. So they aren't perfect, and I don't know anyone who claims they are. Yet many of the detractors claim that their follower claim that. The problem is that there are people out there who don't want the truth to be told. So they spread plausible lies. Partly to get their version of the story out there, but largely to make it harder and harder to ascertain the actual truth. It's a work in progress. He's pretty good hence the kind of discussion we were having. Totally agree on different news sources and BBC is my goto. But I still find they have a slant on things. Most vividly for me I remember the dodgy dossier saga. All the UK media outlets put a spin on it, the government at the time clearly let them or even encouraged that spin, but when you read the report it was a huge stretch to see Iraq as a threat to the UK. That taught me to go to the source whenever possible, the gap between reporting and fact was quite big. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I agree, it was just an interesting outlook from a kid. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Interesting discussion with my teenage son. We were discussing a few issues and I was getting frustrated that he gets sucked in by armchair experts over career experts. In his defence he does research extensively. He came out with an interesting comment that 'there are no facts anymore', experts contradict each other and you just don't know what is true. Bearing in mind his main interest is nutrition and health I can see that for youngsters it must be truly confusing. Of course I know my views are right and so he should listen to me Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

How hard can it possibly be? Wendy P. I have a friend who is arguing with me on the point that at the executive level there's no difference between running McDonalds or IBM or a Branch of the Government. Yeah, sure, if you're talking about going from McDonald's to Wendy's, McDonald's to IBM might be a stretch. I tend to agree with your friend. At executive level you are all about strategy and vision along with legal compliance and getting the most out of staff. A good leader draws on his team to get the right solution. I don't know anything about the individual who Trump put in place, but if he has a truly successful career running large organisations it could be a good choice. Similarly often Professors and 'experts' have very narrow skill sets that don't really qualify them for executive roles. Again all down to the individual and hopefully proven track record. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Well don't be so shy. brenthutch needs all the help he can get and seems to have missed this thread entirely. "The line between hard news and editorialists has been blurred and news guys have been injecting them selves into the story either because of narcissism, ratings, or both." We need some examples and elaboration on how the "main stream" is not laying out all the facts. Fire away the beer is in hand. Sorry but regardless of sides, you've got to be pretty blind to not see that the news media no longer 'report' but inject opinion and helpful 'interpretation'. It's a global problem Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Why is it that looney people are so often religious? The correlation is surprisingly high... 'Christian Times' written for those unable to think rationally? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Except Fox news were. 8 years ago, Infowars agreed with you: Imagine if CNN pundits had joked about Bush being assassinated during the 2004 presidential campaign – they would have been booted off the air and interrogated by the secret service. Damn you Jakee!! You've just highlighted the fact that Bush became president 16 years ago... I feel very old now! Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Nobody is paying anyone to do anything, "inherently illegal." It is not "inherently illegal" to be in a protest nor be the first people between a crowd and police. I'll admit the last time I personally witnessed this in DC was decades ago (just a geography situation, I don't live in DC but was covering a few things going on back then). My understanding is it predated that time and continues to this day though. I've witnessed it more recently at other demonstrations in other cities with people being designated arrestees (usually trained for that specific task). In the USA it's the black guy that gets arrested right? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I know what you're saying. But I think you have to be in control of the media, like Trump's hero Vlad is to get away with that. At least that's what I'm hoping. Well, one problem is that Trump's supporters don't seem to care what the media says. If they don't like it, they ignore it. Either claim it's "Fake News", the source is biased, or simply refuse to believe it. And the flip side is that they also seem to believe anything they "like". That is, if they want it to be true, they believe it. Look at the whole campaign. Legit questions about Trump and his behavior were ignored. Yet any rumor, suggestion or innuendo about Clinton were accepted as gospel. You only have to read some posts by the 'usual suspects' here in SC to see what I mean. I agree with you. Also the world has changed and probably fair to say most people over about 25 have a different view of what 'media' is. Provided Trump can engage sufficient people through social media then he controls the media Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I don't know, I hope that is true but I believe you guys are entering a new era. People's lives won't improve under Trump and he will blame the establishment - it will be everyone but his fault and the supporters will rally behind him. Unfortunately I've seen it played out in Zimbabwe, crazy policies that decimated the country, but it was Tony Blairs fault and the general populace rallied against 'the enemy' Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Having been to many nudist beaches/colonies, I can tell you that once you are used to people not wearing clothes, it is no more "psychologically traumatising" to see all shapes and sizes naked as it is to see them with clothes. In fact, in my opinion, there is a beauty to walking around care-free and not being subjected to constant branding and advertising and displays of wealth and/or other fashion "musts"... I agree, nudity is awesome Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

So surprised that people are answering this seriously. It has all the hallmarks of trolling, just surprised it's a xfire 1 and not 3. How many people with 26 jumps use 'fully elliptical' etc. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Yes that's why the less than 1 gram rule applies and the PI for battery contained in equipment. Honestly good luck getting it all sorted, from experience once you get stuck in the DG rabbit hole with freight people nobody wants to be the person that says yes. It's easier and less risk to just say no . Marair do stuff for us when we occasionally get stuck and I do recommend them. The fact of it is that most small operations get away with ignoring the rules. Part of my day job is looking after global operations doing 500+ shipments per month containing lithium batteries. We obey the rules (listed company that values reputation). For a while I was going rigging and shipping Cypres's back and forth for service and not once were the rules complied with. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

https://www.iata.org/whatwedo/cargo/dgr/Documents/lithium-battery-guidance-document-2015-en.pdf This document is a year out of date, each year the regs on batteries change. It is actually Packing Instruction 970, not 968 that applies (batteries with less than a gram of lithium) Check the flowchart on page 10 of the guidance document. Not that it helps your situation, but something I'd overlooked is that there are exemptions for checked baggage containing equipment for personal use. So in theory traveling with an AAD is fine, but shipping it is not. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Hi The statement about the Lithium battery is not true. I have confirmation from IATA, issued two days ago :- "The explosive content is excepted from the regulations and the lithium metal battery is within the allowable limits for passenger checked or carry-on baggage" IATA also supplied the relevent certifiation. Furthermore, I am sure Airtec would be up in arms should your assertion be correct. Honestly I don't know anything at all about the explosives part, but I do a bucket load of stuff with shipping lithium metal batteries contained I. Equipment and an AA cell isn't exempt. We use exactly the same battery as the Vigil (the tadiran pulses plus) and can't ship on passenger aircraft. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Under the latest IATA regulations the lithium cells are classed as Dangerous Goods that are restricted for air travel on passenger aircraft. Whoever did that classification was correct and well within their rights. It is only lucky that most airlines are not as aware of the battery issues within an AAD. From memory it is Packing Instruction 968. I don't have my copy of the DG regulations on hand to be certain. Honestly shipping batteries legally is a pain in the arse. Your rig technically needs to be packaged according to the instruction in approved packaging and labelled properly. Then you need to have a copy of the battery manufacturers compliance certificate for UN38.3 (Vigil uses Tadiran batteries so that is easy, no idea what Cupres uses) A company called Marair can help you get it shipped. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

You know what is scary is how close all of this is to Atlas Shrugged! Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/lone-fisherman-dragged-overboard-by-marlin-rescued-after-six-hours-at-sea-20170104-gtlodg.html Lucky guy Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x15afsr_south-park-alec-baldwin-shitter-commercial_fun Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

I'm going to sound like a right wing gun nut saying this but generally guns don't just 'go off' I wonder if the US will ever mature to the point that the gun debate could be held rationally? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

https://youtu.be/ZPOYn9GFzfo I think this is a pretty interesting viewpoint. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Right. But we've known that for several years now. Words (promises, vows, claims) don't mean specific things to him; they are mere tools used to accomplish a given goal. It's a really sad indightment of the state of western countries. Sadly I believe Trump is just the first across the line and UK and Australia (being the two countries I care about most) will be following behind. I think we are witnessing the demise of democracy as we cater to stupid people with the loudest voices. The media are as much to blame as anyone else, but it is enevitable that politics is going to become a reality TV show, lets just hope that the people (countries) we piss off don't take us seriously and see us as clowns and not a real threat. Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

Stupid or cunning? Seriously I read a very interesting article in Time about why the electoral college vote should prevent Trump getting in. Could this be a pre emotive strike on the risk the college don't put him through? Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.