3ringheathen

Cool jump. A word of caution though for anyone considering a similar jump: You said your alti read 253'. I'm guessing you were using a paragliding altimeter, and I'm also guessing that they are more precise than a typical skydiving alti. However, skydiving altimeters aren't too precise, some have margins of error as high as a 100'. This could be bad juju on a jump that's low to begin with! -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I've got a mix of ZP and F111 BASE pilot chutes. All of my unvented BASE PCs are F111. One reason is that, all other things being equal, F111 PCs are less likely to cause an off heading opening in the *BASE* environment. As far as skydiving goes, I'm generally ok with either. ZP lasts a little longer, but the kill line shrinks and wears at the same rate, and F111 is less likely to slip out of the pocket. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Funny. I was looking for the "blowhard" option on the poll. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I always understood that a major reason free speech is so valuable is that it allows individuals to decide for themselves which ideas are extreme or hurtful. Once restrictions on free speech are allowed, someone else does your thinking for you. That's far scarier to me than anything I read in his article or his follow up rebuttal. 1) College students are not kids, they are adults. As such, they are assumed to be generally capable of critical and independent thought. 2) His opinions are clearly unpalatable to many, but nothing I read incites or condones violence, and therefore is not at all comparable to advocating nuking all Muslims. That'd make teaching subjects such as oh, I don't know...political science, history, ethnic studies, sociology, geography, and so on, pretty damned difficult. You're certainly welcome to disagree, (free speech!), but I for one, am glad Einstein wasn't prohibited from commenting on politics. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

In my experience, top mounts expose you to significantly more risk as far as neck strain on a hard opening. The leverage issue seems to far outway the right to left balance issue. On the other hand, riser strike on a side mount, while rare, can be bad news on a base jump. Jumping camera on a base jump is particularly dangerous, and I'm not solidly convinced that either option is clearly better. I lean slightly towards top mount, but wouldn't want to jump camera slider down/3 second delays too frequently! Ouch. If your risers are long enough, your camera shouldn't be a problem top mounted, because the slider should still be sufficiently above the camera to avoid snagging. Lots of variables. Good look sorting out what's right for your situation. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

The HC series is small enough for either. The type of planes you jump out of, and whether or not/where you'll mount a still camera might tip the scales one way or the other. If you're always jumping larger airplanes, topmounts are nice. If you have to jump 182's, 206's and the like with any frequency, you'll dislike the top mount. My HC30 is top mounted right now, but I'm probably going to switch it to the side like my old PC7, and mount a still on top. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

CPC = Canopy Pilot Competition? I've been a bit pre occupied lately...is there a website or something? -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

It's a far more reliable way to alienate one's friends than it is to make money. It's basically a pyramid scheme. Of course they'll tell you that it's not, but they are either lying to you, wrong, or splitting hairs. Ultimately, it's BS. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

The issues you bring up are controlled for in the experiments. All possible pairings and the order in which the tests are administered to the subjects are randomized. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

A few tidbits: The first time I found myself around a bonfire at a boogie, I overheard Bryan Burke talking about landings. He said simply "If you're stabbing your toggles, you're f***ing up." That was probably nine years ago. I still remember it, and it has for the most part kept me out of the corner ever since. I printed and saved Bill Vons treatise on flat turns off of wreck dot. Eventually, I overlooked a set of power lines at an unfamiliar dz. I realized a little too late that they were there, and had to turn. In large part due to reading Bill Von, I knew enough to do a flat turn, and only broke my ankle, when I otherwise would have been killed. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

They're what you get from a productive fart. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I'm ugly. At least tomorrow, you'll be sober. Apologies to Winston Churchill. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

If it were legal, people could probably afford to ingest it in safer ways. Brownies anyone? However, I won't go so far as to call it completely safe, no matter how ingested. That's hardly a compelling argument for maintaining the status quo. Just think of all the terrible things that similar logic has been applied to in the past. We should be considering the pros and cons of legalization on there own merit, not on how well they conform to historical practices. So cigarettes should be illegal, too? Driving under the influence would still be illegal, even if general use was permitted. Stoned steering isn't safe, but I'd prefer to be on the highway surrounded by stoned drivers rather than drunk ones. At least the collisions would be at lower speeds. This could well be an argument for legalization. Are you suggesting that pot made the suspect violent? I'd suggest that it's fear of a ridiculously long prison sentence or money that motivates someone in that situation. People are already using, at least there would be tax revenue. Let's not forget the obscene amounts of money currently spent fighting the drug war, and incarcerating productive members of society. People who, for the most part would be paying taxes if they weren't in jail for pot use. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

There's some truth to that statement. The extreme working conditions and exploitation that gave rise to unions has been dramatically improved. Largely due to unions. There are definitely drawbacks to unions, and the cost/benefit analysis isn't as crystal clear as it once was. Eliminate all unions and get back to me in ten years. A whole lot of people will miss them far more than they can presently imagine. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I'm opting not to vote in the poll. Bill's post sums it up nicely, particularly the examples at the bottom. In my opinion, liberals *tend* to have more pragmatic approaches to issues, and conservatives *tend* to be more short sighted. There are, of course, exceptions. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Regarding the poll itself: It's clear from the results that it wasn't written very well. That's not meant as an attack , writing a truly useful multiple choice poll is difficult to say the least. However as of this writing, 19% approve of legalization for recreational use, but only 15% for medicinal, and 13% for recreational use. That's got to be wrong. Why would someone approve of recreational use, but not industrial? Common sense tells us that the percentages should trend in the opposite direction. It's likely that roughly 50% approve of at least industrial use. Given that cannabis which is suitable for industrial use has no recreational value, the percentage ought to be much closer to 100. I suspect that the reason it's not is because there's so much bad information confusing people. I recently read a book by Michael Pollan (sp?) called The Botany of Desire. One section discusses marijuana. Lots of really interesting insights throughout the book. The section on marijuana struck a couple of nerves with me: 1) According to the book, the average THC content of marijuana was roughly 4% until about 1980, when Reagan started aggressively fighting the war on drugs. This drove production indoors, which in turn, drove the potency up to an average of roughly 25%. the percentages are from memory, you get the idea Thanks to the war on drugs, it's 6 times as strong now. One of many reasons that the war on drugs is worse than ineffective. side note: there was also some really cool discussion of the mental state it evokes. It was extremely reminiscent of what BASE and skydiving do for me. I'll scrounge up some quotes and post them later. Pollan also revealed that Carl Sagan was the author of a famous letter espousing the virtues of marijuana, and cited historical evidence that all sorts of brilliant historical figures engaged in the use of psychoactive drugs of one sort or another. My final answer is that I prefer Scotch, but think the current system is horribly unjust and foolish. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

It's definitely a two way street. However, I don't think the left has been nearly as effective at it of late. Whether it's due to a desire to take the high road or lack of political savy probably depends upon one's perspective. Yeah, that's why we make a distinction between subjective opinions, and objective facts. It's human nature and difficult to overcome. I know that my views on average, fall well to the left of center, yet I don't consider myself to be an extremist. Catch 22? -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Zen, JCD: Thank you gentlemen. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Obviously, this is only my opinion, but the fact that his case did not win supports it. Actually, his case did win when reviewed on it's merits by the lower court. It was then kicked up to the supreme court and dismissed on a technicality that has nothing whatsoever to do with the merits of the case. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

You're correct that the dictionary meaning isn't negative at all. It's been morphed and spoken with a derisive tone by some long enough that it's taking on a negative connotation. The shortened "libs" is a sure sign that the speaker is listening to the worst right wing tripe out there. The way it's sometimes used now has some parallels with negro and n***er. The former wasn't originally derogatory at all. On a related note, this was on a day by day calendar I just read: Right/left - most people are right handed, and traditionaly, the right side has represented the correct or straight position among philosophers, politicians, and the general public. This was true even with the Romans, who used the Latin term rectus, meaning "straight". This ended up in Old English as riht meaning the same, and is the origin of the directional term because the right side was the "correct" side. "Left" arose from the old english lyft, meaning "weak or useless". -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

It's got to depend on the car. In my old Honda, front passenger seat reclined all the way, missionary was about all that could be managed. Who wants to experiment in my supercab? Two things that completely kill the mood: Jamming your knee on the E-brake, and cop spotlights. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

It depends upon the context. Sometimes it's appropriate and constructive, other times it's not. I particularly dislike it when a bible passage is used to support the bible. It's a circular argument and rarely if ever aids the discussion. Having said that, there are parables and quotes that even I, a godless heathen, think are full of wisdom. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I don't see it as a personal attack, it's just not a particularly constructive post. Other than stating an opinion that is clearly open to debate, it does nothing. There's no supporting argument, the basis for the statement is left to speculation. Those that agree already agree, and those that don't have been given no reason to reconsider. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Living with the knowledge that I'm innocent is a tough cross to bear, but I think I'll manage. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

You would know all about it. Ron: You continue to state that I've plagiarized, but haven't cited any particular passage from the book. It's time to put up or shut up. What specifically did I plagiarize? Go get your copy of the book and look it up. Then post the quote and the page number so that everyone can see. You can't do it because it's not in the book. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.