Taz

Thanks

I'm just off really long numerous plane flights to get from Joburg to the freezing cold in Boston (via Chicago, don't ask), so I'm not feeling like a hottie, just like a grungie I'll be counting days till Eloy, starting..... NOW!

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"Fighting for peace is like fucking for virginity"

It's a nice turn of phrase... although sometimes fighting is a very necessary thing. Just not always, and not always for "peace". -T

That's beautiful! Congratulations!

-T

I can, but I become much more efficient at these tasks if allowed to liberally sample the very nice food in between... When I'm really hungry, cleanup is easy: put all extra food onto my plate, eat it, lick plates clean, quick rinse, all done!

oooh, please invite me! I will be an official taster!

-T

Here's me with some of my best friends... can you guess which one is me? (One of these things is not like the other...)

-T

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Well, I put up the poll and it is not mandatory to vote. If you do not like the choices, then do not vote! Choose the one that more closely describes you and your views.

Okay--absolutely. Your choices were "Pro-American" or "Anti-American". However, since you did not specify which "American" you meant (People? Government? Policy? Skydiving?) the door was open to clarify and make the distinction. If you were asking a more specific question, you could have worded it to remove any doubt that, for example, being "Pro-American" means being "Pro-American government." You did not. Hence, the commentary around the voting.

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It's obvious that there are people that are anti-American, but they love our country. Then why vote at all or vote anti-American?

Because you put up a poll with two choices. Did you offer two choices hoping that everyone would only pick one? Then why make it a poll? Why not just make it a statement? These things are interesting because people disagree, just as democracy works because it is supposed to incorporate multiple points of view.

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Say what you want, but if you want to demonstrate your dislike around our DZ, me and my colleagues would like to debate with you in our own special way. Please notify us so that we can make accommodations.

I doubt anyone here was planning on showing up at your DZ for a flag-burning. However, the forums are not your DZ. It's not cool to use intimidating language towards people with different viewpoints, especially when the question (which you wrote) was set up to offer more than one choice.

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The world has changed since 11 Sept 2001. Being in the financial services I lost some friends there. Imagine if 3,000 people lost their lives in one day; in your country.

I don't have to imagine it: I'm an American, I was in the United States on September 11, and I too lost people in the WTC. But to me, even the anger and rage and helplessness I felt on that day does not justify some of the ways in which the current government reacted. I live and work most of the year overseas, and I have seen firsthand the effect the "War on Terror" is having on people peripheral to the battle. I have witnessed the US military training and arming local militias in Africa to "find Al Qaeda operatives", a tactic that rarely works. These US-issued weapons are mostly used to consolidate the power of brutal warlords outside of US control. It's never as simple as revving up a "killer instinct" and then getting the bad guys. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

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Freedom isn't free.

I couldn't agree more. I think we just differ on the price. I am not willing to support the killing of civilians in faraway places, the arming and training of warlords who starve and torture their own people, and the sacrifice of civil liberties in one of the only truly free countries on earth in exchange for the idea that Americans will somehow be safer as a result.

Maybe the price of freedom is acknowledging that we live in an interdependent world and can never be safe or successful acting, as we have been, basically alone.

Blue skies,
-T

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I drizzled that over the tender pears and fresh cognac whipped cream. Dessert was served with grappa and coffee.

This is officially food porn. Why don't you come to Eloy and elaborate more on your theories of marriage by cooking us dinner? YUM!

-T

Nice! You're rockin! At the rate you're going, maybe we'll both do our 500th at Eloy, only it will have taken me several years longer than you

Any plans for #300?

Blue skies--T

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I consider myself anti-bush but defiantly not anti-american. I see a huge difference here!

I agree, since I said the same thing earlier in this thread... but I find it ironic that people who ask the pro/anti-American question don't seem to want to hear the answers many people have to give. They want to hear the "USA all the way, baby" answers, but those who try to distinguish between people and government are told off or told to go overseas. If there is so much freedom, where is the freedom for debate? Or is the word "freedom" just being used to demand total unthinking allegiance to every top-down decision? Total allegiance is certainly not why I love the USA or what makes me proud to be an American.

Things that make me proud to be an American are:

1. The incredibly quality and variety of skydiving talent in the USA

2. The spirit of innovation in building things (both within and outside the skydiving world)

3. The supposed ability to be who you are and say what you want to in a public forum (whether that's a hard-line libertarian or a gay transvestite Green Party campaigner)

4. All the spectacular drop zones!

There is no item on my list that involves purging people from the country who don't agree with you or everything the government does. There is no item that involves loving the government or being required to love the government. So, is anyone now going to tell me that because the things I love about America aren't the things they love, I should renounce my citizenship?

-T

Maybe his family is Christian and he will participating with them. In which case, it would be that much incredibly weirder if he were to be somehow "banished" from holiday festivities because he does not proclaim his belief in Jesus. Wasn't the tree a pagan thing to begin with, anyway?

Pro-American, anti-current US Government policy. As long as we can distinguish between the two.

-T

The polls don't mean anything, because people who could really tell you what America is up to in the rest of the world aren't listed in the telephone book for pollsters to call. Having recently returned from the Kenya-Somali border, I will say that the US has a growing military presence in Africa. They deny it in official statements, but I have seen the new military base in northeastern Kenya and it's not just a "refueling station." US taxpayer money is funding the training and arming of local militias in East Africa to supposedly combat Al Qaeda cells in Somalia; but since the US has little clue about Somali clan structures and the true ties of various militia leaders, it's leading only to further ethnic conflict in the region. Arming warlords is never the answer, yet the US is doing it not just in Afghanistan but in Africa as well. People on the ground are starving and being brutalized by repressive power brokers, the illegal gun trade is thriving, and the media is somewhere else.

It's impossible to make a judgment on whether America is "good" or "evil" without a broader perspective on what it is doing. And considering how few people know about the details "on the ground", I would guess that kind of perspective isn't coming any time soon. I'm not a journalist, but if I was I'd also bet that no major newspaper would want to carry my stories, even with photo evidence. By the way, my observations have been confirmed by an independent UN team of investigators, but the report may not be released publicly.

It's never just about Iraq, or about being patriotic. I'm as American as they come but I have the experience to know the truth is never in the media or coming out of George Bush's mouth.

-T

MissMae said she'd pick me up on the 25th, so I can be crossed off the list... maybe she has room for Aviatrr too? Dunno...

Thx--T

Cool, dude. Voodoos are very nice--might have considered buying one had I not had a big phat discount on a Mirage. I think it's more about fit than anything else, judging by my experience and what people here have said.

Blue ones--T

JUMP HARD! You know I love the southern hemisphere, but I miss altitudes over 11k... Someone should just cut up my credit card now, to save me from myself. Meeting people will also be cool, but I'm happy to meet them in freefall as much as possible!

Now I'm getting all excited... Are we there yet? I can't wait!

-T

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I started at like jump 20 and sucked. I found it vey hard to stay in dives. I then lost 30 lbs and it got soooo much easier. These little wirey aholes got it easy. Weight means a lot in Freeflying.

The best speed is being there... and whether you're a big buffalo or a "little wirey ahole" you will have to work to stay relative. I fall on the other end of the spectrum at 105 pounds, and when I started everyone was always like, "Come on! Go faster! Go faster!" It was a matter of technique and skills to speed up, and informing the people who fly at supersonic speeds because of inexperience that they also have to find a happy medium with me.

I love freeflying because I don't have to wear 20 pounds of weight to jump with others. Weight means less than body position, awareness, and skill in freeflying, which are actually things people can work on and improve. I couldn't gain 30 pounds if I tried (and I've tried!)

Dude, if you get your married butt out to the DZ on Sunday morning we are! I ordered the Unisyn harness, hip and chest rings, by the way...

Edited to add: It's a Mirage MXS and no matter what, it's gonna be more comfy than the rig I'm jumping now...

Thanks for the thread!

Arriving Dec. 25th at 12:29pm, Delta.

Will gladly provide beer for a ride

Well now...

I'd say the ability to make money appear out of thin air, and the ability to fly. That way I'll always be guaranteed a slot to altitude! Although my new riggie is red and blue and kind of has a WonderWoman theme going on. Given that I can't be a superhero I figured I'd blow all my cash on a bright red Mirage and at least pretend...

-T

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naked don't be a girl

Hey, now, I'm a girl and I love to jump naked!

I vote for a whole naked load with extra altitude... I was lucky and got a naked pilot on mine, too, but that might be pushing it

I'm sure there will be lots of people at the boogie willing to give you advice and help you out between your dives without going for a full coaching package. I did lots of that when I was learning to sitfly: I remember paying for one coach jump with Mike Ortiz. His camera somehow didn't turn on so I didn't get footage of the dive, which mostly consisted of me "doing the beetle" on my back anyway. It was actually much more helpful for me to debrief some of my jumps with him over the next few days and get some advice on the ground. Within five days I was okay for a four-way with more experienced flyers.

Just a thought for when the budget's tight. -T

Sounds like you're getting in right when I am... maybe sunshine and I can catch a lift. -T

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1. Get up early and watch the sunrise and the balloon jumps go off.
2. Jump like crazy til around 4:00pm.
3. Take a bit of a nap til around 7-8.
4. Par-tay all night long.
5. Sleep.

Sounds like a plan to me... I plan to be on at least one of those balloon jumps myself!

ARE WE THERE YET??

Excellente. I'll be coming from Boston via Atlanta, arriving at 12:29PM on Delta flight 1425. Having narrowly escaped the clutches of my family at the crack of dawn, it will be good to see another skydiver first thing in PHX!

-T