jerry81

Oh! Okay...um, thanks. I actually thought you were offering us a place to hide while Speakers' Corner boils over and explodes.

They don't as far as we know. When they have an official poll where everyone in the world votes for Kerry/Bush then you can make that claim. I don't like to repeat myself, but perhaps you missed this: Of course this poll falls short of 'official' or including everyone in the world, but perhaps you can at least take it as an indicator of how a few parts of the world feel about America and its (potential) president.

If I understand correctly, jumping is rare and expensive in Greece. Last Greek skydiver I talked to also mentioned just one dropzone in the whole country. Sorry, but I think you'll have to find something else to do while there.

Where is your source?? I just need to know what countries we are talking about. Here's a few articles on the same poll that was conducted in 10 different countries around the world: http://www.sptimes.com/2004/10/20/Columns/Poll__World_s_opinion.shtml http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/111840/1/.html http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/488983.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/viewsofamerica/story/0,15221,1327971,00.html In short, it included Canada, Great Britain, France, Spain, Russia, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, Israel and Japan. Everywhere except Israel and Russia, respondents favour Kerry over Bush. Additionally, the poll showed that while many people don't think fondly GWB, most of them don't extend their dislike to all Americans. BTW, my guess is that these results have less to do with the appeal Kerry's liberal views may hold for 'left-leaning' countries and more with how they feel about GWB's foreign policy so far. Which brings us to this; I find your current situation quite amusing, really- on one hand, who you elect will undoubtedly have a noticeable effect on the rest of the world. And yet it would be absurd to vote based only on what would be better for everyone else and not what you think would benefit your own country.

Sorry PJ, I still think Tuna deserves the award more than you do...

I really think you should get an award or something.

I do apologize if my post implied that tasteless humour equals bad humour...it certainly does not.

Well, to me it seems like tasteless British humour. (No particular surprises there.) But here's another funny story; three years ago, there was a minor affair with some guy who had, in a moment of drunken inspiration, sent a threatening email to GWB's address, just before he was actually supposed to come to Slovenia to meet with Putin. Something to the extent of; 'Dear mr president, save the Earth, you [something], don't come to [our capital], we're gonna fu*king kill you.' Upon sobering up, he realized what he had done and wanted to apologize, but his inbox already contained a form email from the White House thanking him for his message. Well, a few days later, the police came and got him. Seems that they received a copy of the email, along with satellite photos of his house and his address, from America. Saying it was only a drunken joke did not help. He was found guilty of attempting to endanger an 'internationally protected' person and sentenced to two years probation.

Ohhh, I'm sorry, I guess I mistook this: as an attempt to tell me what I should or should not feel free to say and discuss. What on earth was I thinking Harsh words (and cameras) aside, can you try discussing cultural differences? Or perhaps empathy, an element that seems to be missing in most of your posts? Stating your mind is one thing, stating it in a way that suggests all other opinions are faulty or completely wrong is another. I'm sure you can guess which leads to (something resembling) a normal discussion and which just causes a lot of hot blood and no productive outcome whatsoever. Please try to accept that others may have different mindsets and come from different backgrounds than you, that this does not make them automatically wrong and that sometimes they may be better qualified than you to speak on certain topics. Culturally specific ones or matters of taste, for example. In other words; while your ideas may be interesting, you need to try and communicate them in a different way if you expect people to really consider them, unless you simply enjoy getting yourself and others heated up over things you could discuss in a (again, somewhat) normal fashion.

That's just too good to pass! How to tell your school security guard is really a mafia hitman? 1.That gardening class he volunteered to teach is apparently learning nothing except how to dig- and the janitor keeps falling in all the holes in the basement. 2.The last kid who dented a teacher's car in the parking lot had an unfortunate accident involving cut brake cables. 3.Asks the music teacher for 'spare piano wire' when she complains about students causing ruckus outside her classroom. 4.'No running in the halls' rule strictly observed ever since a "How you gonna make me?" reply got that wiseass freshman a pair of broken kneecaps. 5.Brings a piece of tarp along when he's escorting you to the principal's office.

Must be the European influence. Sports fan vandalism is a pretty serious issue over here. And yes, it does not matter whether you win or lose- some extremists don't even go to the game, they just trash stuff up and fight the other teams' fans. You should find plenty of reading material on that if you seriously want to explore 'what is on that fucking moron's mind'. Or you can just call them assholes. No problem with that, either.

Well, camping at the dz is free and the website has info on other accomodations as well. See you there!

You really have to ask that question? Well, yes. You seem to imply that only democrats will be trying to influence the outcome of your elections with such tactics, but you still don't come across as someone so blindly faithful to the GOP to completely dismiss the possibility that they may attempt it as well. So how come?

Man, you people take all the fun out of making fun of PJ... In general, I prefer raw vegetables. Or cooked/fried/steamed fast (with a few exceptions), if that's necessary. There! You happy now? ARE YOU HAPPY NOW!!??

I don't know about the ProTrack, but I remember I once extended the timeline on a Neptune jump graph in Paralog (don't have it on my comp right now) and it showed my vertical speed right down to landing. So yeah, I guess that could work.

Gran Canaria! (Still counts as Spain, so it's not like you have to change your plans or anything...)

I have about 200 jumps on my Peerser goggles. So far, they're holding up good. I haven't had any problems with my contacts that were directly caused by the goggles. (although I occasionally manage to blink a lens out in freefall, but that's happened on the ground as well). If the Cruisers are nearly identical, chances are they're just as good. But in the end, it's only goggles we're talking about, not rigs. You can always buy another pair. (I have four and still feel like buying some new ones whenever I enter a gear store...)

If I was thinking of cauliflower I'd have written 'rotten old socks' and omitted the part about being able to prepare them (the socks) so that they taste OK. On second thought, perhaps just the mention of cauliflower would have caused me to post a furious, half-coherent rant interspeckled with random obscenities. Let's not go there.

I tried broccoli once. I was upset (still am) that I had actually wasted my time lifting that fork to my mouth and spoiled a perfectly good meal by exposing my taste buds to that foul stuff. Incredibly, some people claim they like it. I can not begin to understand how anyone can enjoy squishy food that smells like old socks and probably tastes worse. (I say probably since I've never had the chance to try an old sock, but I'm willing to bet it can be OK if you prepare it right. Sadly, that can not be said of broccoli.) And as if that wasn't bad enough, sometimes people actually come out and publicly state their love of broccoli. Excuse me?! It smells like old socks, tastes foul and feels like you're chewing on a half-congested wad of green snot. Did I mention it smells like old socks? You had that coming dude! I mean- broccoli...

This would be easier to explain with pictures. On some bungee pcs, it's possible to wedge the lower end of the cord in the channel through which it passes into the pilot chute. (Come to think of it, I've seen most of these on PdF rigs.) That way the pc is 'cocked' when you pitch it, but collapses like normal when the canopy's out.

I believe there are specifications for bungee cord length for different pcs that should be followed. Probably best to contact the manufacturer. Besides the possible hesitations at subterminal deployments (if it's possible, I cock the bungee pc if I'm packing a rig with one), my biggest gripe with bungee pcs is that I've seen more than a couple of them (partially) reinflate at high-speed landing maneuvers, which kinda defeats the purpose of a collapsible pilot chute...

Hey dude! Will the Irish contingent be as strong as in Russia?

Are you talking about valves on crossports? I don't know what benefits that would have and it would definitely be quite different than the airlocking system on BigAir canopies and the Vengeance- which is a series of flaps over the nose inlets. Also, the 'crossbracing' Bill is talking about is just the way these flaps are attached to the ribs in the nose, not what you'd find on high (or is it ultra?) performance canopies. It's only the leading edge of the canopy that is reinforced by the flaps, not the whole wing.

Take a look at the Safety&Training section of this site. Among other things, you can find a glossary of skydiving terms there. Have fun!