jerry81

Oh, it's a real live baby! I thought this was another new rig post. Congratulations!!!

I hate to disagree with you (more so since I'm one of those people with less than 200 jumps), but in certain situations thay may occur when freeflying, the flat stuff just might be the thing that gets you hurt, or worse. Missy is, of course, right when she says that you should have basic belly-flying skills before you try ff, but the dangers of going flat when in a bad ff situation have also been pointed out in this discussion. In general, I think a newbie should get an overall impression on how and when to start with vertical stuf from this thread.

Stephen King EmailER. It was a group of Stephen King freaks with their own newsletter. I'm not really proud of it, but I was an active member a lifetime ago ...

Hey, Michele, were you ever a SKEMER?

The assassination in Sarajevo merely enabled the Austro-Hungarian empire to start a war that had been on their minds long before. A bit like (if you'll excuse the analogy) the 9/11 attacks enabled the US administration to go after Saddam again. Hitler really was a madman (and a bit of a genius, as well), but he would have gone unremembered if it wasn't for the post-wwI circumstances which enabled him to rise to power and manipulate the Germans into fighting for his vision. But the question is; given the circumstances, who is more likely to start a war/cause thousands of deaths- Saddam or George?

I have practically everything he wrote collecting dust on a remote bookshelf somewhere... I was really into his crap in high school, but then I just kinda outgrew it. There are books that are just so more worthy of my time

Same thing happens to me from time to time- someone would come and ask if I wear contacts. Then I'd say "Yes..", and they'd go: "I knew it! Your eyes are just too unnaturally blue." And then I add "...but they're not colored." Gets 'em every time.

Well, you've really already answered your question. As for how it is different from rw; you have two more axis for turns, you're more likely to have fun even if you screw up the formation, it will be a while before a vrw 300-way is attempted and the suits are different

6 years here. I recently switched to one-month disposables, and they feel much better than my old ones. The only problems worth mentioning are my eyes drying out a bit faster (nothing eyedrops couldn't fix), especially if I drink too much or hang around in places full of cigarette smoke (or maybe it's just one of those things, since they usually coincide) and the lenses popping out if I ski or fall too fast without tight goggles (you might want to get new goggles that have as few air vents as possible and are padded with foam all around). And when you get used to it, touching your eyeballs is great for freaking out friends .

This is a bit off-topic, but, living in one of those countries, I just had to reply. While 'outright thrilled' might describe some of these countries, particularly those that have been under Russian occupation, some of us are seriously considering not joining NATO, regardless of all ecstatic statements made by our politicians. Public opinion surveys here show that the support has been dropping for a long time now and if the US should attack Iraq, it just may hit an all-time low (and since this attack just might coincide with a referendum on whether or not we should join, I have every reason to hope that my country will not join that particular alliance. Economically, I think the EU is enough.)

I already pointed this out in another thread, but here it goes again. The people do not hear your warnings. The people only hear what their government wants them to hear. And even if some messages from US do get through, they're less likely to be belived than the messages sent by their own country. If you lived there, (and don't take this too personally, it's just an illustration of circumstances) you would be living in constant fear of what might happen, not really knowing what was going on and your kids would be eating government-issued provisions, not goats. Also, walking away would be less easy than it may seem from our point of view. As for the 500.000 deaths, it's an estimate, and, as I already said, most of those people would die after the war, not in it.

Oh yes, those closer to the probably do have access to western media, but the rest of the nation has been receiving nothing but government propaganda for more than twenty years now. And pamphlets are not very likely to make major changes in Iraqi public opinion, even if they are informative (hey, who would YOU trust- your government or a country that has attacked you in the past and is apparently on the verge of doing it again?)

You know, a thing a lot of us probably don't realize is how very few of those threats, along with other messages about the impending war actually reach the Iraqi military and public. One of the characteristics of a totalitarian regime is the complete control of mass media, which means people in Iraq only hear what their government wants them to hear. I'd say your president's appeal to the commanders not to follow the commands is, in fact, a message aimed at the US and world public rather than the Iraq military.

Hey, d'you know this one; A dog thinks; "Gee, these people share their nice warm house with me, play with me, groom me and feed me. They must be gods!" And a cat thinks; "Gee, these people share their nice warm house with me, play with me, groom me and feed me. I must be god!" And Gawain, I beg to differ; dogs do not rock. Cats do. Period.

Hey, there's not too many people in my country who do ff, but I'm not letting that stop me.

So that's why the Antonov at Lesce has a patch of rubber on the tail! I just couldn't figure out its purpose when I was there this weekend...

Like we're doing in Afghanistan? Nope... Worse. The majority of Iraqi people live in cities and a lot of them live off government support, as opposed to the Afghans who are farmers and are to some extent self-reliant. Bombing cities and destroying Iraq's infrastructure (not to mention their government) will cause widespread famine rather than prosperity (which may or may not follow. In a few decades). If you are really so set on helping them, an operation to overthrow their government from the inside, assassinate Saddam and expose the people to western propaganda/humanitarian aid would be much more efficient.

Such noble cause! Too bad a lot of those Iraqi people will be killed in the event of an attack and even more of them will die in the aftermath of the war. The U.N. estimates the number of direct and indirect casualties of a US attack would be around 500.000. That's half a million people, most of whom are not soldiers, who will die because of bombs, lack of food, lack of water and diseases for which no cures will be available (it is estimated the Iraqi supply of medicines will last for about four months in the event of a war). And more than 20 million people will for more than a year afterwards rely only on humanitarian help. And believe it or not, those millions WILL hate the US for destroying their country, fucked up as it is. If you ask me, any war that could with more time/effort be avoided is rushed. See above. I agree that the military build-up has contributed to Saddam letting the inspectors back in, but further building up might cause him to think the attack will happen regardless of what he allows them to inspect. A 'preemptive strike' by Saddam on the US with womd (if he indeed has any) that might happen in this case would be, in my opinion, an irony par excellence. It would also be stupid, but if he's anything like you picture him (and I do hope he's not entirely like that), well, he just might pull it off. This is a matter of political principles, so I won't try to argue with you on this specific subject. Just remember that by supporting him you will be indirectly responsible for the deaths of half a million people if the war starts.

A physicist, a biologist and a mathematician are standing in sitting in front of a house (no background here, they're just sitting there). Two people come and enter the house. After thirty minutes, three people come out. The physicist says; "Interesting! This must be some kind of optical illusion caused by the size of the door and the angle of light." The biologist says; "Interesting indeed! The two people must have multiplied while inside." And the mathematician says: "Well, if another person enters the house, it will be empty."

Oh man! That must have been absolutely painful! If my fingers almost froze (and it was warmer here and I used gloves), I don't even want to imagine what happened to that guy's privates...

Unless you're open-minded about the usage of soft drugs or can take a joke for what it is. http://privat.bluezone.no/foshaug/ A mild day-brightener!

If looks could kill... (I'd be dead many times over from bathing our feline family members)

As I already said once, I'm supposed to be 21 but I stopped counting at 18.

Wait till you're good enough to do some transitions- like stable sit-backflip-stable sit or stable sit-cartwheel-stable sit. I tried that yesterday and it ROCKS!

You might wanna read this thread; http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=81839;search_string=getting%20started;#81839 I think the general consensus is that it's good to have some rw experiences before trying freeflying. If you're gonna do relative work, I think you should start with two-ways with an experienced skydiver and then work your way up. Of course, you might do like I did; dig up as much information on vertical flight as possible and attempt a vrw stable exit followed by a sit-fly the next time you jump. Discover that it's easy and you love it and never look back. [Disclaimer: Wait for some other opinions on this subject. I really don't have enough jumps for you to listen to my advice before hearing others.]