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I am seeking contact information for Peanut of rec.skydiving lore. If anyone knows this, please contact me at [email protected], or ask Peanut to do so. I regret that I have forgotten his actual name. Thanks.

Thanks Ian. That thought had not even crossed my mind. :) Tom B

I need a bezel for a Falgayras altimeter. The back is etched with the following: 1740 N 9602-97. The dial face only has Electro Precis. Does anyone know of a domestic US source for one? Thanks, Tom Birdwell Tom B

I dropped my laptop and destroyed its hard drive. Even worse, somehow my backup didn't capture several things. Among the many things I lost are the digital photographs I had of the Fort Hood Skydiving Club in the mid-1970's. My originals were lost in one of our many PCS's and moves in the 40 years since. If anyone has photos or other memories of the Fort Hood Skydiving Club, please send them to my account here, or to [email protected]. Thanks all. Tom B

Thank you ever so much! It has been a long time since you and I exchanged greetings. Tom B

I am seeking contact information for a long lost poster from the Rec.Skydiving days, Espen. If anyone here knows how to contact him, please let me know, or get word to him to contact me please at [email protected] Thanks, Tom B

Freakyrat wrote: "On the bright side, Remember our pilot Gary Lash. Gary flys Boeing 737-800's for American Airlines. " Gary Lash was considered unflappable. One day about 10,000 ft, he suddenly turned ashen, turned to us and screamed "Get the fuck out NOW". Most of us didn't understand what had happened, but Don McGillicuty later explained to us that the transmission oil pressure suddenly went to zero, and when this happens they have precious little time to land before the transmission freezes up, a bad thing. That ended that weekend's jumping. Tom B

I remember when Don McGillicuty spent a considerable sum equipping his helmet with an SLR camera. He thought it was hot stuff, till a low-time jumper picked up a Super8 camera and had MOVIES!!! Don was some kind of angry that he didn't think of it. Sadly, Bruce Funk's wife Marlice told me that Don is no longer with is. Spotting was an iffy situation, depending on who spotted of course. One load we exited right over the Ammo Dump. I remember thinking, all the way down, that I was going to die, shot by some private on guard duty, who thought the Russians were invading, using Red White and Blue ParaCommanders. Also, remember how incredible it was to see the book "Skies Call" In this age where every second jumper has a video camera or cameras plural, it hardly seems possible that a simple book could seem so incredible. That was Andy Keech's masterpiece. Hell I just got so nostalgic, that I bought a copy on Amazon.com Tom B

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I was going through some old logbooks from Ft Hood Parachute Club from the mid-70's, and can't read a lot of signatures. Does anyone who did Army sport skydiving during the period have one of General John Singlaub that I could compare to? How many from Ft Hood then are still in the sport? If anyone jumped there then, or knows someone you think may have, please give them my email address, or send theirs to me please. Tom Birdwell

My father and several uncles worked in CCC. One huge difference is all they needed was cash and a supervisior, and they just went and did things. Here isn one HUGE difference. In my little town they plan to build another exit off I75. They expect the environmental and all the other planning, and the project, to take 15 years. In the 30's they would have just established camp and started shoveling. And in so doing they build some of our nation's most beautiful and lasting resources. Tom B

He is still answerable to his wife. I hear she can be like Hillary at times in their early administration, although I haven't heard of any lamp throwing or SS agents having to restrain our present first lady. Tom B

Indeed. But there are ways around it. Israel will give you a temporary and separate document to be stamped so that their stamp is not on your passport if you request it just for that reason. I think you have to ask in advance now, but am not sure. My former employer instructed us exactly how to do it on our visits to Israel. I think the smarter among us blately ignored that, and had their passports stamped so they could not be quickly sent to some other not so nice nations we serviced. Not so nice being defined as no booze, bars, etc. Tom B

Of the names you listed, I believe Robertson comes the closest to actually believing what he says. By that I mean that he really believes the outragious things he says. Who knows. Tom B

Israel's greatest error of all time was not making Egypt take the Gaza strip when they gave them back the Sini. Tom B

I support reasonable protections for the environment, plants and animals alike. But sometimes it get totally absurd. Several years ago several forest fire fighters died because their supporting aircraft were denied permission to pick up water from a nearby lake that contained an endangered fish. The impact on the lake would have been negligible, but zealots make stupid rules. Tom B

Well we are not all in agreement on that being a good solution. I agree with you that the un reimbursed and under reimbursed costs of hospitals are spread to those of us with insurance via overhead. They obviously have to be paid somehow. But raising my taxes to permit the government to pay for hospital services not funded directly today seems much like a zero sum game. Under your theory, my insurance costs may drop, but my taxes must surely go up. Nothing about this changes the basic COST of running the hospital, it only changes who the bills go to. Everyone keeps focusing on HOW medical services are paid for, private insurance or government. On a national level that is meaningless in the long term, as the solution must be not a change in how services are billed, but instead a reduction in the basic medical costs themselves, or a reduction in the total services received, i.e. restrictions and delays. When this bill passes, and they take a half trillion dollars out of Medicare funding, you will see more and more hospitals, then more and more doctors, follow Mayo's example of rejecting medicare. Tom B

I was Army enlisted, at the VERY end of the Vietman period (I didn't go) While I didn't really enjoy my time as an 11E, armor, the very best work of my life was after I joined EOD, Explosive Ordnance Disposal. They were the brightest bunch of guys I have ever met, highly motivated, dedicated, etc. In the decades since, I have sat through literally thousands of staff meetings with my employer, GE. Everytime they start talking about teamwork, I just about want to puke. Some of you, who worked in similar small teams were complete trust of others was simply required, will understand what I an trying to say. For the others, perhaps you just have to be there to understand. Tom B

I was stunned to read that they had used lethal injection. Until fairly recently they just bound your hands, knelt you down, shot you in the back of the head, and charged your family for the bullet. Tom B

The last two times I went to Israel, about 7 years ago, they had said screw the luggage scanners, and required opeing and hand inspection of all purpuses, carryon, and checked baggage. Tom B

Along the lines of the discussion on which aircraft we like/dislike, what about their key components? Let's start with the Merlin engine P51 Mustang started life with the Allison V-1710 engine, sans supercharger. The combined aircraft was a dog. The Brits say presto-chango, install a Merlin, and a legend is born. What aspects, engineering, manufacturing, and flight performance made the Merlin so special? And how did it compare to other engines, the ones with superchargers of their own? A measure of greatness is when other people steal your ideas. If the Merlin truly was so greatly superior to other WWII engines, then why didn't Goering scour the countryside to gather enough pieces of one to reverse engineer it? What is the real story of the Merlin? Tom B

I agree that they made payments. But at the time Lend Lease happend, it was far from certain that there would even be a UK to ever pay the money back. Given that, I think it fair to put it on the list. Whittle's engine was nice, and so was the improved radar and German cypher codes, but I would have rather had Bermuda, maybe the Tower of London, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Tate Gallery, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, etc. Tom B

http://www.sphere.com/world/article/europes-cap-and-trade-model-loses-billions-to-fraud/19274092 Did you guys notice that Europe has lost $7.4 Billion to organized crime in thier Cap and Trade system? First it causes the loss of many jobs, even industries to China and India, and now the plan itself has been raided by crime and fraud? The more I learn about cap and trade, the more stupid it looks. From here it seems to be more a power play to hide massive new taxes, than than an environmental improvement. Unless all nations play by the same output rules, it is meaningless to the environment. The CO2, and the jobs, will just move to China and India. And where will be be then? Tom B

I agree with you that Americans took smug and arrogant to a nearly unbelievable level after WWII. Were it not for France we might be in first place. But I know of no time in history when a nation has had such unilateral power, and not forcefully used it to a much greater extent for its own advantage. Examples? For five years we were the only nation with nukes. Did we use them for national gain after WWII? We could have used them easily in Korea for example, and given the balance of forces, even thouhg Russia had a couple of bombs by then, they could not have done anything. We didn't, despite horrible war losses. In barely more than a decade we have twice occupied oil rich land in Iraq, and are yet to try to just keep even a barrel for ourselves, even though we need far more imported oil than any other nation. Even after Desert Storm, when there was clear and absolute justification to keep enough oil Iraqi oil to at least pay for the war expenses we didn't. Lend Lease saved Europe, as did the Marshall Plan just a few years later. The US government, our taxpayers reallly, have funded more foreign aid since WWII than the rest of the world combined. We pay an unbelievable percentage of the UN budget, and what do we get for it? Largely a pain in the ass. The Balkans was clearly an internal European issue, and had zero impact on the US as a nation, as it had no oil or other resources we needed, and the war didn't impact our economy at all. Europe by then had a GDP that matches the US, and a very capable military, yet who did the majority of heavy lifting in that intervention? Do you think Europe or any other nations would show up in such numbers to stop genocide in Central America? We had absolutely nothing to gain in Vietnam or Korea. Yes we did a lousy job in both wars, but the intent was good. The list goes on and on. Yes we are arrogant and smug indeed. And we have done a lousy job at a lot of things over the years. Frankly I think we should do a lot less of everyting on the world stage. But for that to happen, other nations are going to have to step up and take our place. Which will? Tom B

The problem lies in the definition of LEAN..... and falling down. There are a sizable proportion of people who thing FAUX News is centrist Yes there is. It is about the same size as the group that thinks MSNBC is even handed, and who think that Dan Rather was just trying to report things, not cripple Bush's election chances when he ran the bogus news story, and in so doing committed career suicide. The same group who feels it was his obligation to run the story without doing any checks on the document's validity. Yeah, THAT group. Tom B