vonSanta

You're thinking like a human, and ascribing human interests and thought processes to potential alien sentient beings. Maybe what they're interested in is NOT "intelligent" life forms, but, oh, hydrogen, or crystal, or iron ore...now, why they'd be interested in that I dunno, but it's possible they're not looking for someone to communicate with...just explore, just see, just find out what's out there. I think that's Tom's point, as well as we have NO real idea what something like that would really be like, let alone life span, ability to handle mechanical items, and so forth. That's human judgment about humans, not about aliens. Ciels- Michele Mm, but it's also very human to suggest that *because* we lack any knowledge of something, there's a *good chance* it is a certain way. As in aliens being interested in earth, a little ball of dirt in a remote galaxy, which has only had advanced civilizations for a few thousands years. The universe is a Big Fucking Place. It is possible that aliens just randomly visits solar system and planets. More likely from human experience is that there is a selection criteria. All there is here can be found in other places, as far as raw materials go. IF we assume they go about it randomly, the number of aliens needed to even give a small probability of earth being one of the planet visited during a time there's an advanced civilization on it would be massive. We don't know anything about it, and we shouldn't claim so. Anything goes, including furry little yellow gods who decide what is yellow and what is not. It's possible

Hm, sort of defensive answer. I have no idea how you linked my comment together with foreigners blaming the US for what you mentioned, but I suppose there is a tenous link somewhere. My point, which I made in a rather indirect way, was that the world isn't black and white. Your generalization is too broad to be useful; however, if your assertion is that people with more of a lefty political attitude are more prone to frivolous suits than others, it's certainly interesting. Do you have any data to support it, or is it more an anecdotal thing, based on your own life experiences? Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

I do think they'd have better things to do than hook the earths atmosphere, drop down over small towns, only to be seen by isolated people. Unless they're pranksters. I like Douglas Adams' explanation of UFO's :) Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Republicans never make frivolous suits. Their internal gasses, once leaving their intestines, have the scent of freshly picked roses. I am beginning to get the hang of how things work in the US, no? Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Sometimes truth is a soothing thing, no? Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

That evolutionary drive has been built into us over millions of years. I can see the point about the male species wanting to spread his genes as far and wide as possible. But would you also say that for female, she would seek out a man that is stable, well to do and willing to stick around to raise the child. It seems like almost two conflicting points of view: one wants to spread his genes around, the other wants him to stay. Your post got me thinking. Now I dont know wether marriage is unnatural or cheating is natural. Agh, TGIF. Nah, the woman holds the good cards here; she'll just have some handsome daredevil deposit his seeds, and then hook up with a caretaker, convincing the latter that the offspring is either his or that it's a good idea to take care of it. Best of both worlds. And this stuff happens all the time in "the real world". Anyway, relationships are for dependent people. . They get what they deserve. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Man, that'd been me if I only lived in the US.... Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Heh, I keep seeing this image in front of me of todays younngster in the future. There they are at the old folks home with some brat washing 'em. The very cool-looking-back-in-the-times-above-the-ass-tribal-tattoo is now a wrinkled, speckled piece of previous art. The caretaker will have a serious case of "dude, I'm so not turned on by that, you mighta been a sexy thing in the past, but for chrissakes, we got ectoplasmic neurostemcells for that kinda mistake now" look on his face Tattoos are cool enough, but I gotta say I also have issues with the mass produced "popular right now" ones. Have a few acquaintances with those and every time they see an old timer wearing a what-was-popular-back-then tattoo, they make negative derogatory comments about it. I laugh internally because of the oh so sweet irony of their statements Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

I stand corrected. However. The younger person will have the same degree of understanding and be ale to give the "same amount" of consent, whether he/she sleeps with a 15 year old or a 19 year old. Arbitrary definitions, again. Where'd the 4 years come from? No such law where I live. The definition of what constitutes a child is VERY arbitrary, and has shifted a lot in western culture - not to mention the huge differences between cultures. Not that many years ago, someone aged 14 was considered not a child, but a young woman/man. In many cultures today, people that young are wed away. I'm not defending sickos right to go after young ones - my argument is about the definiton of "child". Aye, but see my point above. If the 15 year old has sex with another 15 year old, her awareness won't be higher. There clearly is, since I can go to bed with any 15 year old I want, without being labelled a pedophile. You can't. Is this good or bad? I dunno, and it's irrelevant to my point. And to my life, since I really really find teenagers annoying. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

I give the GOGOGO idiots a three seconds smile, followed by an extra check of the spot if they start their antics on me. 6 months ago, it was different, because I was even greener than I am now and didn't fully understand the math behind exit separation. I definitely agree with your sentiment. It's harder to do another pass if you've impacted with someone than it is to do the same when the dudes in front of you took too long. Been taught that every group is responsible for their own spot - don't like it? Go around. If people consistently are taking too long in the door, get some video, show the load organizer. But I'd be very hesitant to decrease exit separation because some guys in the back don't wanna risk having to ask for another pass. If they want to take greater risks - fine - just don't expose me to 'em. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Heh, except what constitutes a child is defined in an arbitrary manner. In Denmark the age of consent is 15. I had a girlfriend when I was 16 who was a year younger than me. In most US states I'd be a sex offender for having sex with her. It's pretty hard to say when a person has the mental capacity to give consent or not to. So we have arbitrary lines. We just gotta remember that they are just that - arbitrary lines. Not advocating anything here - just pointing out the differences in conclusions in different cultures. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Heh I just jumped with Tim Straus when I was in Russia. He left, Juan Carlos came, did a few with him too. The coaching helped a *lot*. If you meet Tim, tell 'im he's a fucking asshole Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Spending more than you earn is a problem, that's for sure. But if what you spend is about equal to what you earn, there's nothing inherently wrong with that. Being too worried about money isn't good either. There's no guarantee that one will live long enough to enjoy saved up pension money or what have you. We all have our own unique life situations.Me, I got no kids, no gf, no house, no car. Not even a driver's license. Pay my taxes and through 'em got full health coverage that'll take care of all medical attention should it be needed. Have no aspirations towards owning a home, because boring/sad/happy is the same feeling wherever I am. In a way I see material stuff as sorta distracting - if I had it all, I *know* I'd worry about losing it. No such worries now

Maybe a bit of miscommunication. When I say "exit separation", I mean the time between the one groups exits and the next - setup and fumbling around is included. The GOGOGO idiots started 3 seconds after one group had exited. We're checking line of flight and the other group that just jumped out. 3-4 secs is far too little here. 6 seconds is ok, but ideally it should be a bit more if there's a mixed exit order. IMHO. Which is the exact same pattern I described in a previous post. But thanks for briefing me again. Now that I'm in Denmark. Yeah. That'll help

Might work fine at some DZs, but keep in mind that some DZs have rules about not pulling high. At busy DZs, doing so can be dangerous for you and the groups coming after you. Doesn't work in, say, Russia. Unless you speak Russian. Fortunately, such places tend to have an intervall during which you must deploy your main. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Hey! What about Slovenia?? Were you and Claus dissing our girls without us knowing? Or were me or George in on it as well? You were definitely in, but probably too drunk to remember. We weren't so much dissing them as praising their...physical attributes. Or rather a subset of their physical attributes. I refer to the...ummm...ARTWORK we created that was destroyed if you want to know what subsets Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Heh, I think that'd be a rather futile task . I was more thinking of some of the jumpers. The ones that were there during the week as well as the weekend were good, but some of the ones that came during weekends did some stupid shit. Dunno their names (you're all Vasiliy's, Ivan's, Olga's to me ) though. Freefliers exits are too slow. Mi-8 takes up to 26 people onboard and flies with 100 km/h speed. If you wait 3-4 seconds, it is enough to separate from other 2-way freefly formation. If you wait more, people after you is going to land somewhere far from airfield... I disagree with you here. I'm gonna put up a scenario in the Safety And Training forum when I have some more time, so it can be discussed - I might very well be wrong, and if I am, I wanna know. Heh . Well, it's not about landing close. It's about people on the sidewind (what's the English name?) leg heading collision course towards each other, with one doing a left hand pattern and the other doing a right. There was no real order in the pattern that I could discern, other than "watch out for the spiralling shitheads" . Fortunately, most were conservative and it was quite OK, but it's unnerving when you have to brake hard because someone spirals down right in front of you and then turns, oblivious to your presence, to a collision course. Man, you scares me! I got one warning in winter (for a 180 approach, they are restricted at Aerograd) Heh did ya read what I got 'em for? First one: landing according to the windsocket, right next to the windsocket, on a windy day when the arrow appeared stuck on something. Second: straight in all the way after a bad spot; just shy of the beerline. I think had I been a Russia speaker, Roman wouldda talked to me, told me what I did wrong and not bothered with the card, but since he doesn't speak English, his easiest course to show me that I had erred was to show me the yellow (which is really ORANGE) card .

Last weekend I found out interesting thing. Foreign jumpers at the Kolomna... are the MOST UNSAFE there! Every day I heard S&TA screaming 'WHAT THE #### ARE YOU DOING THERE!!!' on some 'skygods' breaking all landing patterns, landing across the windblades, doing the most stupid things I've ever seen there. Heh, you know I love the Kolomna DZ DancinFlames, but I gotta say that you have some regulars there that are just as bad as the foreigners. The "GOGOGOGOGO" idiots I really hated. They're in place at just about any DZ, so I wouldn't say this is a Kolomna only problem. I'd turn around and smile, taking an extra two seconds every time those arseholes started their crap. Can't control the group after me, but I can control the separation between me and the group before me. Spot too long? Go around - I ain't gonna increase the risk of dropping down onto someone because someone think I'm too slow out the door (3-4 secs is not enough from the MI-8, no matter what some skygods think). We had a discussion about pulling low - some of the Danish dudes did it to get increased vertical separation - knowing full well that vertical separation is error prone and doesn't work that well. After a few close calls, some thought the extra risk of going a little lower actually decreased the total risk due to a lower chance of a freefall collision. After you see a dude or two go swooshing by in freefall as you sit under your canopy just below a cloud, you sorta start to think along those lines. In this respect, Russians were as much to blame as foreign skydivers. I *really* hated the GOGOGOGOGo assholes. Load organizing was confusing, with an occasional mixed load - freefliers, then belly jumpers, then freefliers. Probably a communications problem though, as the load organizers didn't speak much English. Took me three days to figure it out (by then I'd picked up enough Russian to catch his meaning). Usually there was an experienced Russian on the load making sure everyone exited in the correct order, which helped greatly. But load organizing is very confusing to a foreigner initially, since the first to go out to the planes are the last out and the load organizers don't speak English. You sorta have to look over your shoulder to see who you're going into the plane after. Or if it's the helicopter, you gotta check the group who went out ahead of you. We were briefed on the landing pattern, and it was basically ("if you come in from the left, do a left hand turn, from the right, do a right hand turn. Don't come in over the buildings. Don't land in the instructor/tandem area". I'd have liked a left or right hand approach better, and perhaps some kind of stack order, but the former may be hard to enforce due to the "no one over the buildings" rule, which is quite sensible. The spiralling down the pattern assholes cut us off a number of times. I had arguments with both Russians (Victoria the video-woman flies like Russian cab-drivers drive - aggressively, squeezing in if there's a chance they'll fit) and foreigners over this, so I don't think foreigners are solely to blame for this issue. I guess there are stupid foreigners just as there are stupid Russians. I got two yellow cards while I was there - one when I landed as the last man, out by the windoscket, where I was told I could land into the wind instead of following the red arrow, and one for landing outside the beer line area after a bad spot (straight in approach all the way) These are the only issues I have with Kolomna - other than this it's a kickass place. Great people, great coaches, great women-packing-in-bikinis

Oh goodie. My mistake. And I have no reason to think he meant me. How are things in Sweden Sørøver-Sally? Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

-Behaving like an asshole in the local clubs is not a good idea, especially if you don't speak Russian. Aww, c'mon dude, the girls were pretty fine, and that stupid Russian colonel couldda just learned English. Then I wouldn't have needed to tell him to fuck off. And I didn't behave like an asshole. Ask AltiChick. Or better yet, don't. Got thrown out of Plasma though. Long story, really not my fault. Plasma is pretty good overall, except for the ass-grabbing drunk gay guys who have to be dealt with. The chicken in the hole is just fine. I had two, and it tasted like small kittens. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Look for the dude in yellow freefly pants wearing a pink and purple rig. I should be kinda hard to miss, heh. Grega and Jerry81 are there too, so we're having a DZ.com meeting thing going. Heh, I did a couple of belly jumps with her. Even a 10 point two way. Not bad for a guy who hasn't flown on his belly for the last 100 jumps. Probably was her more than me though . Gotta go jump now. Look me up when you're at the DZ DancingFlame Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Well, I'm off. See you bums in Kolomna Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Will let ya know when I get home. One more day at work, and when that ends I'm heading off to a pal, then to Aerograd on Thursday . Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

I have "Idiocy" on my wall :D. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

Texas...isn't that a country close to the USA? Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst