shaark

finddellschanze.com

Maybe not the best analogy. You kind of have it reversed. Cargo Cults go back to the late 1800s. The Jon Frum cult, probably the most interesting, started in the 1930s. One might even say that the Cargo movement was spectacularly successful, as the huge influx of 'cargo' brought by the US military during WW2 vindicated the beliefs of the adherents. Let's built some model aircraft, runways and warehouses. What's to lose?

Sad. Neil Armstrong died today. Go outside, look up at the moon, and give him a wave.

Did some research on extraterritoriality. The Ecuadorian embassy is NOT a little piece of Ecuador, nor is any embassy of any country. Still not sure about accreditation by the host country. Normal scenario is to have an diplomat's accreditation revoked, declare him persona non grata, and deport him. Wonder where a fresh application for accreditation fits in? UK would certainly refuse same for Assange, but would such a ploy create a grey area? Probably not. Assange, looks like I can't help. You in deep shit.

Don't really know. I imagine the originating country can call anyone/any citizen a diplomat. To enter a host country as a diplomat, I suppose the host country would have to recognize that status, and could refuse to do so, and refuse entry. Assange is technically in Ecuador, so leaving the embassy would be entering Britain. UK could, I suppose, say NO. Gets weird. Assange as a diplomat, though barred from the UK, gives the UK only two options:- Leave him there. Expel all from the embassy, prior to closing it, and Assange gets to go to Ecuador. Fun and games.

Quote"If Ecuador can't put him in an embassy car and fly him out, " Can't happen. Unpossible. _________________________________________________________________ I wonder if a practical way for Assange to leave the UK would be for Ecuador to grant him citizenship, make him a diplomat, and fly him 'home'. Wasn't done for Cardinal Mindszenty, who spent 15 years in the US embassy in Budapest, so maybe there are technical international rules preventing this. Of course, Mindszenty was Hungarian, in Hungary. Assange is not a British national, so --- UK government would probably like this situation, and Assange, to just go away.

You clearly do not appreciate how intelligent and valuable Congressman Akin is. He DOES serve on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. One can hardly imagine that Congressional representatives would appoint a "fucktard' to such an important and influential position.

Two other books relevant to the Nazi economy: By James Pool "Who Financed Hitler." "Hitler and his Secret Partners." Well researched, and well worth reading.

I did a few hundred jumps from AN-26s in the early 1990s. Cool jump ship. For a twin turboprop there is an amazing amount of space inside. We generally went with 70 -80 skydivers, though in Poland the authorities limited us to 40. Even with 80 jumpers, it looked like you could comfortably fit 50 more. De-pressurizing was great. Instant white-out when the ramp was cracked. Then the condensation would get sucked out the back like a mini tornado. The ramp dropped, and retracted forward under the fuselage, which meant you used the level cabin floor for exits. Jump run speeds were pretty fast, but it didn't take many exits to get to love the hard air. Many launched pieces would explode almost instantly, but if they flew well they looked cool. A typical eight way piece would get stood up vertically, then skid sideways away from line-of-flight at an amazing speed. Also fun to be last out, running from the cockpit bulkhead. Quite a distance. Love that machine.

I lived all winter with LEDs for lighting, 12 volt system. 600 amp hour of battery capacity, 400 watts of solar panels, and a very capable wind generator. 3,000 watt inverter, with 6,000 watt surge capability, for 220/240 volt ac. Electricity bill ---- $0 Quality of light was excellent. No problem with reading, etc. The replacement cost of the 'bulbs' is between $12 - $30, depending on source, size and manufacturer. Some special application bulbs are more expensive. While the quoted 50,000 - 100,000 hour life is probably reasonably accurate for simple LED bulbs, I found that the integral circuitry in large, complex LED bulbs was not so long lived. One $35 bulb I replaced had lasted less than 5,000 hours. Then again, while cheap, I seem to replace incandescent bulbs in my house very frequently.

>any thoughts? Down to Earth, maybe, and possibly feasible, how about a skydive from Space Ship 2? Planned max altitude is 68mls/110,000mts. Cost for one passenger:- $200,000. 6 seats available, plus two pilots. Speed at altitude will be approx mach3, so the suit used would have to take care of some friction heating, but nowhere near the heat of orbital re-entry. 6-way, anyone?

Why not consider "illegal immigrants' from a free market standpoint. This IS the United States, the supposed epitome of capitalism and free markets. Large corporations/multi-nationals make full use of the free movement of capital, and thereby can access the world's pool of labor in an efficient manner. For example, any corporation that manufactures in China has very low labor costs, no benefits/health packages to pay, little or no environmental restrictions, little or no tax to pay, etc. The result is cheap products for consumers, nice profits for the company, and really nice earnings for the top executives. Since the communications revolution a lot of office type work also can and has been outsourced. Same result. In a like manner a truly free market in labor could be instituted in this country. Think of it as INSOURCING. 1) Guest workers allowed in on time limited contracts. 2) No access to citizenship. 3) Marriage to a U.S. national not permitted. 4) Any children born here to a guest worker have no right to stay in the U.S. 5) Minimal health care. You get sick/injured, go home. 6) Abolish the minimum wage. With the above system, small businesses could avail themselves of the benefits that big businesses have been enjoying for years. And legally. Say you own a lawn care company. Imagine how much more money you could make if employees only cost $1-$2 an hour? (And with this new system, it would be legal!) And why the hell do fast food joints have to pay kids so much, when people from any 3rd world slum would kill for the chance to work for food? Or you run a D.Z. :- Import seasonal staff from any poor country. Packer :- $1 per sports/student rig; $2 per tandem rig. Tandem or AFF instructor :- maybe $5-$10 a jump. (And use small people from Asia or Central America, to maximize aircraft capacity.) S/L, IAD instructor :- haven't figured that yet. Pilot :- maybe $100/week. Office staff, etc. :- cheap. Result :- cheaper jumps for everyone, and at last a realistic profit for the DZO.. EVERYONE WINS ! (If you are a wannabe instructor, and from the U.S., suck it up. You are a capitalist, aren't you?) Health Care:- We could damn well dramatically reduce costs by getting rid of most of the overpaid doctors, nurses, etc., and replacing them with contract workers from the 3rd world. Yep. Just about any job could be INSOURCED. What an even greater country this would be.

______________________________________________________ Bush was not so stupid. He did right by his backers/handlers. Since 9/11 an incredible amount of taxpayers' money, plus an incredible amount of borrowed money, was funneled to the corporate elite. And it is still flowing. Calling it "crony capitalism", while true, diminishes what occurred. It was, and is, blatant theft. Not that such hasn't happened before, but Bush was man enough to take it to a whole new level. _______________________________________________ tanstaafl

Where I started, jumping from a C-182, round s/l was technically 2,000', though 1,800' or so was ok. Jumpmaster pay was a free hop and pop. After the last student jumped the pilot would do a descending right turn as you pulled the bag in, stowed it, and then dove out the door. Figure that a 'little' altitude also might be lost during the jumprun, then exit altitude would be ?????? 7 cell, F 111 days. ------ FUN Years ago in Z-hills I did a video/photo shoot for a friend doing a 'military' s/l from an Otter. Jump-run was 1,500'. After he left I stepped over the static-line and exited into a few front-loops during my standard 3' delay. The jumpers going to altitude freaked, thinking I had tripped and fallen out. Different background, different comfort zone. __________________________________________________ tanstaafl

What about "don't shit on your own doorstep?" Time and again we suffer when we do. Since the start of the industrial revolution we have become very efficient at producing a whole lot of extremely varied shit. We are not so good at getting rid of this shit, mostly happy if it is out of sight, thus out of mind. Every now and then that bites us in the ass, but hell, we still have a great standard of living. This CO2 thing, I suppose we were pumping out a lot last century, but the world is so big, we knew it could handle it. I'm getting a little concerned, though. So many of the poor third world people are not poor anymore. And they have started to consume like us in the West! Damn ingrates. Don't they know they are using way to much of our limited oil resources?; and burning a shit lot of coal; and what about all the forests they are cutting down? That's a lot more CO2. It's just not right!!! Next thing they will want to drive SUVs. All 5.5 billion of them. Aw shucks, we'll be right. What's a few more 100s of ppm of CO2 between friends. I know that in the past the earth had 1,000ppm, --- 1,500ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere, sometimes even more. Climate was a little different, or was that a lot different? Actually, I think I read that most of the present life on earth is not suited to that environment. No problem, we have a/c.. But how about we use this CO2 scare to our benefit? The West, and the US especially, has a huge depth of knowledge, education, technology, resources, etc. There would be enormous benefits in being leaders in efficient and clean technology, in all aspects of our society --- industry, agriculture, transport, housing, consumer goods, energy. More jobs, more wealth, cleaner air, land and water, better health, and a better standard of living. And how about less oil imports, thus less money to a lot of petro-dictators that don't like us? That bumper sticker that is kind of true now --- "Support al-Queda, drive an SUV"? I know if we get motivated we can produce SUVs that get 100 mpg!!! We just need to get motivated. The CO2 scare, allied with ever increasing oil prices, is maybe just what we need. __________________________________________ tanstaafl