metalslug

My feeling is that the 'code' is very likely to be mathematical in nature rather than linguistic. I thought it may be a map of some kind indicating binary values that correspond to astronomical distances between planets. 3 rings of code around a disk, 3 closest planets around the sun, of which the third is earth. I converted the | to 1 and the • to 0 and almost got hopeful too, but my theory soon fell flat: |•|••|||•••||||||••||•••| •||•••||||•|||•••|•|••|•• ||••••|•••||••||••||••••| If assumed to be binary would be: 1010011100011111100110001 0110001111011100010100100 1100001000110011001100001 which, according to my trusty Windoze calculator is: 21905201 13088932 25454177 Now, taking planetary separation distances: Sun to Mercury 35991000 miles (approx.) Mercury to Venus 31248000 miles (approx.) Venus to Earth 25761000 miles (approx.) The Venus to Earth distance comes close to the third binary value, but not really close enough, and the other two values are way out. Pity, I thought I was on to something.

I recently learned that St. Michael is regarded as the patron saint of parachutists, some references mention military parachutists in particular. One reference mentions that St. Michael refers to the Archangel Michael who lead a host of winged angels to drive demons from heaven. Can anyone confirm this connection and/or elaborate on how it came to be associated with parachuting ? I have found a link on the internet to a "Venezuelan Prayer to St. Michael, Patron of Parachutists". My understanding of Spanish is non-existent; I'd be happy if someone can translate it for me, I'm quite interested to know the words.

This one ?

I'm a little curious about this kind of thing. How difficult is it for the average male to use non-lethal force against a single dog, even a ferocious breed ? Perhaps I'm being naive, but I'm optimistic about my chances one-on-one with the average rottweiler,doberman etc. and I'm not a particularly tough person. Of course I'd suffer minor injuries too.. but I think I would "win".. and possibly even claim damages from it's owner. Has anyone here defended themselves against an attacking dog unarmed ? Was it a big deal ?

The Queen's English ? Much of english was put together from Latin, French and more other sources than I'm qualified to know about. To word this another way... "English is a language that lurks in dark alleys, beats up other languages and rifles through their pockets for spare vocabulary." Pick your favourite definition of English here.

Hornets seem to be getting a little scarce even in South Africa. However, I did recently notice a Hornet 170 (30 jumps) in a complete rig advertised for sale on a South African retailers website here. It's the 5th item on the list. I do not know if the canopy can be purchased separately. PS. Moderators feel free to nuke this post if it constitutes advertising.

The largest rental rig at my DZ with a BOC deployment system is a 210. I suspect that many of my skydiving peers have downsized from the big (ripcord) 285 and 230 student canopies for the purpose of learning the BOC deployment system rather than actualy wanting to downsize. I find myself in the same situation at the moment (AFF grad with 19 jumps), hoping to jump the 210 soon for the sake of getting off ripcords. Is this foolish ? If I am currently unable to perform all the canopy tasks in Bill's list on the big 285 or 230, should I stay on these canopies for as long as it takes until I can ? ..even if that would mean remaining on a ripcord deployment system ? We're often told to "ask your instructor"; The CI at my dropzone has already told me he would approve me doing my 20th jump on the 210 BOC system (preceded by a good briefing of course). Is it important to learn the BOC deployment system? Is it less important than being able to perform all the tasks on Bill's list on huge student canopies?

Hey, I appreciate this place as much as the next guy.. but there is such a fine line between showing appreciation and merely ingratiating oneself with the powers that be. "Talk is cheap.. but money buys the whiskey."

Did you perhaps get to read the Skyhook cutaway(s) at Aggieland thread ? Some of the testers that day were regular skydiving folk from these forums with some honest opinions. Worth a read.

Just by coincidence, we had James Bond at our dropzone this weekend. Well, that was his name anyway. First time jumper. Manifest initialy thought he was joking with them but his Identity document confirmed it. James Bond. Probably not many people with that name.

"...Prof. John Searl is the ONLY man in history to have built and flown an antigravity device called a LEVITY DISC , now called Inverse-G-Vehicle..." Read all about it at http://www.searleffect.com/free/overview.html However; I have my doubts as to the claims made on that website.

At the risk of stating the obvious, a person is increasingly likely to be incapacitated by larger wound cavity than a smaller one. A .45 FMJ penetrates about 10 to 15 inches of ballistic gelatin, creating a stretch cavity (or wound cavity) of around 1.6 to 2.4 cubic inches. A good .45 JHP bullet can expand to around .75 inches and penetrate 9 to 12 inches of ballistic gelatin, creating a stretch cavity of around 5.3 cubic inches. I absolutely guarantee you that the 4.6 x 30 caliber cannot possibly equal a wound cavity of that size. Assuming the average man has no more than about 12 inches of flesh to penetrate, the stretch cavity would be a mere 1.25 cubic inches, about one-quarter as effective as a good .45 ACP JHP. Granted; the shock effect from kinetic energy at a higher muzzle velocity would increase the 4.6's stopping power, but not hugely so. After that the bullet would exit out the back of the target and proceed on to hit whatever is behind, including ricochet surfaces... which is generaly not a desired result in CQB. The .45 and 9mm are more likely not to pass through the target. They would transfer nearly all of their energy to the target whereas the 4.6 would only transfer a fraction and use the rest of its energy only after it had passed out the back of the target. I doubt it would often happen that SWAT or any team involved in CQB would routinely be engaging targets at 200+ meters, I would also question the accuracy of a short-barreled, unscoped sub-machine gun at 200+ meters. The AR15 seems a more obvious choice at those ranges. If law enforcement has accepted this weapon for general CQB use I can only assume that decision was taken by a politician during an expensive dinner with H&K marketing personnel.

Yikes! That is, simply put, an awful calibre. 4.6 mm calculates to 0.182 inches. That's alarmingly small, IMO too small. The cartridges look like 'baby' versions of the .223 Remington in M16 variants. (Was this gun designed for rodent genocide ?) It probably can penetrate light body armor but in most close-quarters urban combat you really wouldn't want something like that. To take down a tough assailant with that gun you would definitely need to fire multiple shots, many of which are likely rip tiny holes right through the target, continuing on behind the target to ricochet of surfaces, strike objects, and potentialy harm innocent bystanders in proximity. I'd be much happier with the HK UMP 45; fewer shots required and less likely to present a ballistic danger outside of the target area.

No.. no.. The cop is pulling them over because she is not wearing a helmet! How many of you noticed that ?

Why metalslug ? Taken from a computer arcade game: "Super Vehicle 0001 - Metal Slug. ..refering to the heavy tank bullet used in the game. The game starts with an animated graphic of a character parachuting down (see my avatar image) and it just kind of came to mind as a name to use here.

I heard it mentioned before that some UK folks consider hopping over the channel and doing some AFF in France. You can take a look at the dropzone listings for France over here. I'm not sure if France necessarily has any advantages though, weather or otherwise. You may also consider other conmmonwealth countries too. At current exchange rates you could do AFF in South Africa for about £720 UK, which includes rental gear and video. Of course South Africa is a little further away and you would still have accomodation and logistical costs to consider. Whichever way you go, I hope you find the skies to your liking.

Quoted from Michael J. Kovac, Jr., M.D., P.C.

I see Neo's ability to control the sentinals this way: The entire machine world is programmed to recognise Neo as as anomale, an exception, that allows him to excercise a measure of control over the machine world, both the matrix and the physical robotics outside of it... much like a military missile with a self-destruct mechanism that can be triggered by a person in control if the missile is perceived as a threat to it's creator. This also leads me to believe that the "..code that Neo carries, that needs to be returned to the source,.." is perhaps a unique identifier of some kind, a binary signature that the machine world is programmed to recognise and obey to a varying degree.

"He rides the wild October sky. He shall not die, he shall not die." - The ScareCrows. Well done.

Literal translation : "If you are dumb, you will shit." (shit used here as verb, implying 'suffer')

I would say the 'fun factor' would depend on who's girlfriend I'm showering with.

...4 jump tickets, 3 jumpsuits, 2 new rigs... ...and a Partridge in a Pear Tree. But I'll settle for a kiss under the mistletoe.

Kelly Preston has done at least 4 tandem skydives aswell, apparently with TM Greg Hunter on the North Shore of Hawaii.

Occasionaly our company sponsors it's staff a recreational 'fun day'. Last time it was paintball, this time it was motorised go-carts and quadbike trails. I've never been on one before.. was racing along about 60km/h along a dirt track, over a blind rise and had to brake hard to avoid a deep dip in the road that loomed up to greet me. Hit the brakes.. skidding to the left.. overbalancing to the right.. and over she goes. My impact with the ground wasnt actualy so bad, I had a helmet and chest protector on (which broke at the shoulder from the impact). The scarey part was looking up to see the quadbike roll right over me, fortunately with the soft seat section hitting me and not the hot, hard, engine parts. End result is a bruised knee and some lost skin on my right side, no more serious than a clumsy canopy landing on a runway. Ah well, I'll be more careful next time.

This was a test by a famous American psychologist used to test if one has the same mentality as a killer. Many arrested serial killers took part in this test and answered it correctly. If you don't answer correctly - good for you. Now read carefully... It is a story about a girl. While at her mother's funeral, she met this guy whom she did not know. She thought this guy was amazing, she believed him to be so much her dream guy, that she fell in love with him but never asked for his number and then, a few days later, the girl killed her sister. Question: What is her motive in killing her sister? Give this some thought for a while before you scroll down... Answer: She was hoping that the guy would appear at the funeral again. If you answered this correctly, you think like a psychopath.